Libre 2 low glucose alarm issue

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martinnharvey

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Type 2
Hi All

Apologies in advance for the long post but any help is appreciated.

I'm new here but have been type 2 for 30 years and have been managing it fairly well but recently I have an issue

I have recently been having an intermittent issue with low blood sugar at night with no awareness.

I was luckilly woken up by a wrong number at 1am and found my blood sugar was 2.1. I always check before bed and it was over 10 so it dropped to 2.1 in 3 hours. There was nothing different. I had been exercising (as normal) and had eaten but not injected more insulin than I normally do.
Needless to say it worried me and as I live alone I wanted to get some warning of it if it happens again and I dont get a random phone call that wakes me up.

I got one of the Libre 2 sensors as they were doing a free trial and it said it had warning alarms for low blood sugar and it works great but I dont think the alarm on my iPhone would be loud enough to wake me up at night.

What I would like to know is, has anybody else solved this issue. I thought about an external Bluetooth speaker linked to the phone so if the alarm went off it would play through the speaker but unfortunately the speaker powers off after 15 minutes of no signal so that's no use.

Any Thoughts?

Thanks

Martin
 
I find the vibrate signal from my Libre reader wakes me, and even wakes my slightly deaf husband up on the opposite side of the bed, because the surface it’s on is hollow, so the vibration is amplified. Could you try putting your phone on an empty tin, so the vibrate function shakes the whole tin? (Heavy sleepers used to do this with alarm clocks, in the days of those wind up clocks with bells on top. I’m showing my age here!)
 
It sounds like you need to do basal testing to sort out your insulin doses. Just because it’s the dose you always take doesn’t make it the right dose.
 
Hi and welcome.

Sorry to hear you have experienced a nasty nocturnal hypo and that it has possibly been going on for some time. That is most concerning. Hope you find Libre a huge benefit (as most of us do).

Putting your phone in an empty glass/tumbler is also supposed to help amplify the sound and vibration, so it might be worth experimenting with different options and see what makes it loudest to you before going to bed.

I agree with @Lucyr that you need to look at your insulin doses and see if that needs some adjustment. I always need to reduce my night time basal insulin dose on the days when I have done more exercise/activity/physical work and increase it on the days when I have been more sedentary. In the last week I have needed to reduce it 3 days in a row and the last 2 days it has needed an increase back up again. It is not something that is set and never needs adjusting and I think it is one of the many benefits of Libre that it illustrates this, so that you will hopefully learn from it when your dose needs reducing.
It is an amazing bit of kit, but do make sure to double check with a finger prick if it alarms through the night as it is not 100% reliable and if you lie on the arm where the sensor is, it can cause what is called a "compression low" showing you hypo when in fact your BG levels may be fine or even high, so always double check with a finger prick before treating.
 
I have made sure I check and adjust the insulin on the days when I exercise and it hasn't happened again but it shook me up a bit.
Having the sensor has made it a bit easier to check and I'm currently waiting to see wether I can get them on prescription otherwise I'm going to have to find the money to pay for them :-( as they are too useful to not have.
I'll have a play around with trying to make the alarms louder.
Does anyone know which alarm setting it uses from the phone in the app as if I could choose a louder one it may help
 
I don't think you have a choice of sound via the Libre Link app but I believe if you use the Xdrip app, you can change the alarm sounds. I am a total tech dinosaur so this is just relaying info I have read on the forum about it. @helli or @Benny G use Xdrip with Libre I believe so can hopefully advise on that.

There is new NICE guidelines coming out soon which will enable some Type 2 diabetics to get Libre on prescription, so it is worth checking that out and approaching your nurse or GP or ideally consultant if you are under one as they will have more clout to prescribe and be more up to date with the new guidance. Many of us Type 1s self funded until we managed to get it prescribed and I think all of us would agree it is worth every penny, even if it means forgoing other things. I used my family birthday money and it was the best present anyone could have got me.... Of course I then had to find the money after that but I was incentivized once I had used it for a month!
 
On the iPhone you get a choice of alarm, Standard or Custom. Custom is a high pitched beeping and Standard is a tritone sound which is standard on the iPhone for a notification of a text message. I wondered if you could change the Standard tone to one of the louder tones as changing them in the iPhone settings doesn't seem to make any difference.
There are 7 different sound settings for Text Tone, New Voicemail etc and everyone I have changed the phone to doesn't make any difference.
Unless the app is hardcoded to use the tritone one.
 
I still have Libre 1 which doesn't have the alarms and I am fortunate enough that my body wakes me up when I am high or low but I have an alarm on my reader set to vibrate at 6.30am when my basal insulin dose is due, and I keep the reader either under my pillow or in a PJ breast pocket when I have one (or just sleep with it lying on my chest (as I usually sleep on my back) and that works well enough to wake me up. Sometimes I have to fish around in the bed to find it if I have rolled over in my sleep, but it's never fat away. Not sure I would want to sleep with my phone though! The reader is a lot smaller!
 
martinnharvey said:
On the iPhone you get a choice of alarm, Standard or Custom. Custom is a high pitched beeping and Standard is a tritone sound which is standard on the iPhone for a notification of a text message. I wondered if you could change the Standard tone to one of the louder tones as changing them in the iPhone settings doesn't seem to make any difference.
There are 7 different sound settings for Text Tone, New Voicemail etc and everyone I have changed the phone to doesn't make any difference.
Unless the app is hardcoded to use the tritone one.
Click to expand...
Could you use one of those baby alarms? No idea if that would work for you.
 
martinnharvey said:
On the iPhone you get a choice of alarm, Standard or Custom. Custom is a high pitched beeping and Standard is a tritone sound which is standard on the iPhone for a notification of a text message. I wondered if you could change the Standard tone to one of the louder tones as changing them in the iPhone settings doesn't seem to make any difference.
There are 7 different sound settings for Text Tone, New Voicemail etc and everyone I have changed the phone to doesn't make any difference.
Unless the app is hardcoded to use the tritone one.
Click to expand...
I have an Android phone, but maybe the LibreLink app is similar. You have a choice of lots of sounds. Try this...

Go to the 3 bars top left of the LibreLink app and select Alarms. Then "Low Glucose Alarm" and tap on it.. then tap on "Sounds/alarm tone" then "advanced" and "sound". Mine then has a choice of 33 different alarm tones!

You can do the same with the "high glucose" alarm and the "lost signal alarm". I have 3 different noises selected so I know if it is high, low or lost signal.
 
martinnharvey said:
Hi All

Apologies in advance for the long post but any help is appreciated.

I'm new here but have been type 2 for 30 years and have been managing it fairly well but recently I have an issue

I have recently been having an intermittent issue with low blood sugar at night with no awareness.

I was luckilly woken up by a wrong number at 1am and found my blood sugar was 2.1. I always check before bed and it was over 10 so it dropped to 2.1 in 3 hours. There was nothing different. I had been exercising (as normal) and had eaten but not injected more insulin than I normally do.
Needless to say it worried me and as I live alone I wanted to get some warning of it if it happens again and I dont get a random phone call that wakes me up.

I got one of the Libre 2 sensors as they were doing a free trial and it said it had warning alarms for low blood sugar and it works great but I dont think the alarm on my iPhone would be loud enough to wake me up at night.

What I would like to know is, has anybody else solved this issue. I thought about an external Bluetooth speaker linked to the phone so if the alarm went off it would play through the speaker but unfortunately the speaker powers off after 15 minutes of no signal so that's no use.

Any Thoughts?

Thanks

Martin
Click to expand...
For less than £30 you can get an Alexa. Echo Dot (other ?Alexa enabled devices are available). It may be possible to link your alarm to this which can have a loud persistent alarm. I tried to research is with mixed results. Might be worth a chat with Libre techies.
 
Pattidevans said:
Go to the 3 bars top left of the LibreLink app and select Alarms. Then "Low Glucose Alarm" and tap on it.. then tap on "Sounds/alarm tone" then "advanced" and "sound". Mine then has a choice of 33 different alarm tones!
Click to expand...
Oh yes, it does show that! I'm sure I looked previously and couldn't find a way to change the alarms, but there are the usual options.
 
Hi. I have Type 3c diabetes, which is also known as brittle diabetes. I keep my glucose fairly well under control using NovoRapid and Toujeo. However, I can have peaks and troughs which bear little relationship (though some) to food intake, insulin or exercise. It depends on how my (injured) pancreas is behaving that day.
I find Libre 2 invaluable for keeping on top of things, especially using the alarms. However, I am deaf in one ear and have decreased function in the other. During the day, using hearing aids there is no problem hearing the alarms on my I Phone, but at night it is a different as my hearing aids are out. If I’m sleeping on my deaf ear I can hear the alarms, but the other way round I can’t.
To improve matters, on my I Phone‘s accessibly area I’ve switched on the flashing lights when there is a notification. I’ve also bought a Bluetooth speaker to amplify the sound of the alarms.
When I scan my Libre sensor I hear the noise through the speaker, but when there is an alarm it only comes through the I Phone and not the speaker. It seems that my phone can’t receive and send simultaneously.
Is there an answer to this conundrum?
 
Welcome @Neil S 🙂 I can’t answer your question, I’m afraid, but I’m going to tag @helli and @Benny G as they have good tech knowledge and may have some suggestions.
 
Thanks for the tag @Inka
Unfortunately, I am not an iPhone user so not sure what options are available @Neil S.
A few random thoughts to consider
- would you be woken by a vibration? If so, could you put your phone or Libre Reader under your pillow?
- there are a few unofficial apps you can use with Libre. I don’t know if xDrip4iOS would allow you to direct alarms to your speaker.
- would a vibrating watch help? It could be useful to investigate the options with an iPhone.
- is there a possibility to connect the alerts to a Bluetooth activated light that same on in the night?

Sorry, I do not have any specific solutions but hope you can find something.
 
Thanks for your suggestions.
I charge my phone at night and I’m reluctant to put it under my pillow in case it overheats. It might be an unfounded worry.
I asked Abbott about an Apple Watch linking in, but they said there isn’t the capability. I’m hoping Libre 3 will have it.
I’ll look into the light idea, but I fear it will come down to the IPhone not receiving and sending Bluetooth simultaneously.
 
Thanks for all your help. I think I’ve come up with a (relatively) low tech/ Heath Robinson solution.
I’ve ordered a splitter connection for my IPhone. It has a male lightning connection and a female lightning connection, along with an female audio Jack. To the Audio Jack I’ll connect regular speakers. The theory is that the phone will charge and be able to give audible alarms from Libre at the same time.
If that works then I’ll buy a Roberts Radio under pillow speaker on which I can set a higher volume.
 
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