Libre alarming through night

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Charisma

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi,

I use the freestyle libre 2 and I love it! After being diabetic for 20 years it’s given me so much privacy back in the way I test and dose in public!
I also suffer a lot with anxiety over lows through the night so the alarm to tell me I’m low is a god send!
However, quite often it is alarming and wakings up to say I’m going low, when I do a blood test I’m not actually low (not even close to it!) it doesn’t do it every night but last night it happened twice and as u can imagine the break in sleep leaves me really tired! Has anyone else had this problem and worked out why it happens?? I assume it’s the way I sleep and am leaning on it but I can’t really change that so I assume I’m going to have to learn to live with it!
 
Are you lying on your sensor?
Libre (and CGMs) suffer from compression lows - when you apply pressure to them, such as when you lie on your arm in your sleep, they record false lows.
You can usually see this on the graphs with a sudden dip which quickly jumps back up when you turn over.

If this is the case, maybe you can find a different place to put your next sensor - some of us favour one side over the other when they sleep, or higher or lower on your arm.
 
That would make sense.. interestingly by the morning the lows no longer appear on the graph so I asssume the sensor picks up that it was an error.. I wear it on the inside of my arm and alternate arms. If I wear it on the outside or back I keep catching them on things and they ping off! ☹️
 
Hello @Charisma I too use the L2 and love it. As you say it does give you a lot of freedom and assurance on lo's and hi's and the only time I had a Lo alarm of a night it was for real.
Can't think why it is happening for you ONLY of a night as if your alarm settings were wrong it would do it through the day too which you say it isn't.
One thing when your alarm goes off what does your L2 reader say your level is eg [not the warning message] but the actual figure like 3.9 or less?
 
It’s usually in the 3’s with a straight downward facing arrow! Last night it did it 3 hours apart too, so it’s not as though it thought I was still low, it’s like It thought I’d gone low again!
I thought it might be quite common but maybe not!
 
Following on from what @helli says the hole in the top of the sensor should not be covered as the sensor uses air flow in its measuring.
You can google it to find the specifics but it mentions moisture, temp and air flow in its technical description.
 
Another vote for it being caused by a compression low.

I alternate arms but I have found that my brain has become aware that I should not roll onto the side where my sensor is, in the same way as your brain stops you rolling out of bed etc. It becomes a subconscious thing once you are aware you need to avoid it. If I do roll onto that side I seem to wake up and I have found that if I tuck my other hand under that elbow it just lifts the arm enough for there to be no pressure on the sensor, but most of the time I sleep on my back and sleep soundly.
 
Just been to see the diabetic nurse - she said the libre 2 can be set so it vibrates if your glucose goes low - anyone know how to set that as mine doe not do that. Been getting a few lows recently, so they just reduced my metformin by 75% and told me I am no longer diabetic- now i am “Non diabetic hyperglycaemic” apparently.

Hope you all still talk to me and I am still welcome on the forum
 
Hello @BlueArmy get your reader press it on select the gear icon on the screen 2nd one down in the display says Sound & Vibration is it on?
Best
PS you do have a Libre 2.
 
yes I have libre 2 but no reader- use my iphone
 
Ahhhhh @BlueArmy if you activate your phone it will show your last 24 Hrs graph. Top of the page are the 3 menu lines which you click on.
Press this and see the display, 3rd one down says ALARMS there are a whole lot of steps to follow but I have not done this as I use my reader for this.
My phone is an Android one.

Best
 
yeah i busted the user manual out after checkinf the alarms, think you need to set the alarm to vibrate on your phone then the sensor mirrors it. Will know next time it alarms
 
Charisma said:
If I wear it on the outside or back I keep catching them on things and they ping off!
Click to expand...
Having had a few sensors get caught on door frames, I now put a tegaderm or equivalent over the sensor. The information I get is worth having it there even if it is a bit messy by the end of it.
 
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