Libre 2 - Free Trial

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Portugal1000

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Type 2
I ordered my Libre free trial yesterday. My number is 55 so not a disaster but diagnosed in Aug 22 at 53, did well and after 3 months was down to pre-diabetic levels. Didnt have a test for another year and now back up to 55. I have been referred for Oviva so hoping to start their program soon. I had been using the normal pin prick monitor every now and then but could never keep up with it so thought this might be better. Never used anything like this before so would welcome any tips, experiences please.
Thank you.
 
Portugal1000 said:
I ordered my Libre free trial yesterday. My number is 55 so not a disaster but diagnosed in Aug 22 at 53, did well and after 3 months was down to pre-diabetic levels. Didnt have a test for another year and now back up to 55. I have been referred for Oviva so hoping to start their program soon. I had been using the normal pin prick monitor every now and then but could never keep up with it so thought this might be better. Never used anything like this before so would welcome any tips, experiences please.
Thank you.
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Hi, I sound in a similar siutation to yourself was diagnosed last November with an HBAC1 of 55, they did a follow up two weeks later and it was 53. I have also been referred for the Oviva Path to Remission which I am due to start next month. I did a free trial with the Libre and it was the best thing I did in the beginning. The main thing I wanted it for was to check which foods and drinks made my blood glucose levels spike so I could alter my diet accordingly. Its very helpful for this sort of thing so I would definitely advise doing it and making a "good" and "bad" foods list. This enabled me to bring my average levels down and eat more of the foods that didn't affect my BG negatively and less of the foods that did. I liked it so much I subscribed and now pay for the sensor every two weeks. Its helped me to lose nearly 3.5 stone since November amongst increasing my steps and reducing portions. Good luck with your journey.
 
Libre (and other Continuous Glucose Monitors - CGMs) can be fantastic pieces of kit to aid of diabetes management. But, they have limitations which have been described in this thread.
Many people who get frustrated with Libre do not understand these limitations so I encourage you to take a read. \

The other thing that can scare some people is the quantity of data. Remember - you are in charge, not the diabetes. If you are finding information overload (or obsession), you can ignore your phone.
 
helli said:
Libre (and other Continuous Glucose Monitors - CGMs) can be fantastic pieces of kit to aid of diabetes management. But, they have limitations which have been described in this thread.
Many people who get frustrated with Libre do not understand these limitations so I encourage you to take a read. \

The other thing that can scare some people is the quantity of data. Remember - you are in charge, not the diabetes. If you are finding information overload (or obsession), you can ignore your phone.
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Yes I can understand the information overload becoming too much. I was a bit like that at the beginning and my wife told me to stop looking at it constantly :rofl:. Just use it to aid diabetes management not run it for you. Well I will find out how accurate mine has been soon as I have my three month follow up hbac1 test in the morning. Libre is estimating it at 5.8% (40 mmol)
 
Personally my HBA1 C at the lab is always higher than the Libre estimate.
 
grovesy said:
Personally my HBA1 C at the lab is always higher than the Libre estimate.
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That's what I thought to be honest as most people say they come in low. I will be happy to have come down any to be honest I was 52 so if i can come down into prediabetic range I'd be very happy. Would you mind me asking how much more it normally is are we talking a lot or little? Thanks
 
I have a sinocare CGM which I quite like. It gives accurate BG at low levels which agree with the stick method but when my BG is high the CGM reads lower than the stick method but I think that is because the CGM runs 15 minutes behind! The stick is up to date perhaps. I am a newbie so others may have a better idea.
The CGM goes up and down as expected but is continuous you dont have to put your phone to your arm to read. It gives an indication of what foods are good and bad. Salad good, porridge and bread bad! It gives an indication but I understand your HBA1C is different to the readings because the reading is your BG now and the HBA1C is an average for 3 mnnths of how your sugar sticks to your blood.
 
I just finished my first Libre 2 and was delighted with it. Two tips - having a covering material handy, and screenshots.

You might not need any covering for the sensor and from what I've read online most people have no problems. The sensor seems to stick to the skin very well for most people unless it is dislodged with some force. I managed to lift one edge of it off the skin accidentally when I was drying myself after a shower, forgetting the sensor was there, and it wouldn't stick back down properly. A quick look online told me that people use various types of straps and bandages to prevent this from happening. I put a large sticking plaster over it and that worked, but the plasters kept coming off when I was changing my clothes. I bought a roll of the kind of transparent bandage known as 'second skin' which is typically used over new tattoos. It's a bit like very sticky cling-film, though thicker. I chose it because it's cheap on Amazon (compared to other popular Libre-protection options) and I'll likely need to use it again in future - 'tattoo aftercare waterproof bandage' will find it. It stayed stuck, keeping the sensor very firmly in place, and because it's so thin and flexible it didn't catch on my clothes when changing and didn't pull on my skin when I moved so I was able to forget it was there. I poked a small hole in it after applying, to uncover the hole at the top of the sensor, which according to the Abbott support site is necessary to allow moisture to escape from the sensor.

The Libre app provides a real-time graph that is 8 hours wide. Once that time passes though all the available graphs in the app or on the LibreView report-generator website are daily, 24 hours wide and quite small, which means fine details are lost. The immediate impact of exercise on BG is not visible on the 24 hour graphs for example. If you would like to preserve as much information as possible around meals and exercise, for reference in months and years to come, I'd suggest taking screenshots to supplement the data that is stored long-term on the LibreView system.

I went to extremes with this as I want to be able to compare the effects of various meals in future, when I hit my weight loss goal and if/when I go off medication for example. I wanted to create repeatable meal experiments. I logged meals and exercise in the Libre app and created log entries two hours after eating to record the data points I wanted, then took screenshots and put the data from the Logbook function together into a single image for each meal. I've attached an example below. Such extremes are likely only for nerds like me, though you can see how logging meal details and taking a screenshot might be a useful reference in future if you every get another Libre.

Beef stew baby potatoes 34 min walk.png
 
I woke up with BG of 7.8 which seemed high considering veg and salmon for dinner 12 hours earlier! Had Weetabix and toast to check whether it was better that porridge and oats. BG went to 14.5! and is still 9.1 after 3 hours so looks like the bread and weetabix need to go and have bacon and eggs only! I use Sinocare CGM and I am keeping with it until I sort the correct diet for me. I think I am going to end up eating salad and eggs!
 
lordburnside said:
I woke up with BG of 7.8 which seemed high considering veg and salmon for dinner 12 hours earlier! Had Weetabix and toast to check whether it was better that porridge and oats. BG went to 14.5! and is still 9.1 after 3 hours so looks like the bread and weetabix need to go and have bacon and eggs only! I use Sinocare CGM and I am keeping with it until I sort the correct diet for me. I think I am going to end up eating salad and eggs!
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I must admit you are the first person I recall using the Sinocare CGM so I hope it is helping you.
It maybe better not to hit your system with 2 high carb foods at once so try the weetabix with full fat Greek yoghurt or the toast with eggs as that would hopefully ameliorate the effect of the carbs being fat and protein rather than all carb.
 
Thanks for the advice. I am still trying to find breakfasts that allow me to eat toast. I can do bacon and egg, scrambled egg, yoghurt and berries twice a week each but I like one piece of toast with each!.
If I could just limit my spikes to 10 at breakfast, my lunch of salad and feta cheese hardly increases my BG and my evening meal is a piece of meat and veg (I need to be more strict of volume!) No biscuits, no alcohol, no fun!
 
lordburnside said:
Thanks for the advice. I am still trying to find breakfasts that allow me to eat toast. I can do bacon and egg, scrambled egg, yoghurt and berries twice a week each but I like one piece of toast with each!.
If I could just limit my spikes to 10 at breakfast, my lunch of salad and feta cheese hardly increases my BG and my evening meal is a piece of meat and veg (I need to be more strict of volume!) No biscuits, no alcohol, no fun!
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You can still have alcohol in moderation if you choose the right drinks, dry wines, spirits with diet mixers and someone has mentioned some decent low carb beers recently.
 
I will go back to alcohol after my blood test but at a reduced rate! I gave up whisky last year and I rarely go out with the lads and have a few beers but I bought myself a wine chiller last year and filled it with wine which I drank! So on the wagon for the foreseeable (except for a weeks holiday with fewer beers).

I read I only have to be under 10 for 70% or the time which I think I can manage just!
 
I had a bad day today and ate a cheese and ham toastie, some pringles and a kinder beuno for lunch. Its the first time I have had a binge since November so I watched my CGM with close eyes expecting it to hit a massive high. It did rocket but only to 11.1 which wasn't as bad as I had feared and I was down to 7.5 in less than two hours after my first bite. As a relative newbie myself is a spike like that ok as a one off or is that danger territory in people's opinions?
 
Steve1984 said:
I had a bad day today and ate a cheese and ham toastie, some pringles and a kinder beuno for lunch. Its the first time I have had a binge since November so I watched my CGM with close eyes expecting it to hit a massive high. It did rocket but only to 11.1 which wasn't as bad as I had feared and I was down to 7.5 in less than two hours after my first bite. As a relative newbie myself is a spike like that ok as a one off or is that danger territory in people's opinions?
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That sound pretty normal and you were below 8mmol/l in 2 hours which is the criteria that people who are type 2 not on insulin will be looking to aim at. Don't forget it is only because you have the CGM that you are aware of being at that level prior to the 2 hours.
 
Leadinglights said:
That sound pretty normal and you were below 8mmol/l in 2 hours which is the criteria that people who are type 2 not on insulin will be looking to aim at. Don't forget it is only because you have the CGM that you are aware of being at that level prior to the 2 hours.
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Yes moment of weakness as a rule I try to limit to a maximum one type of carb per meal but obviously I went carb crazy. Had my hbac1 test this morning and diabetic eye screening lunchtime so felt I deserved it. Eye screening was all clear so crossing fingers for the hbac1 result now
 
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