Libre sensor reading 'stuck'

S

Standup

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 3c
My recently replaced (this morning) sensor has been reading 2.9 for the last 90 minutes with a downward arrow. Doing a finger prick test I've been between 5 and 6.

I'm guessing its a faulty sensor or is there anyway to 'reset' it? I've restarted the app several times and also moved out of range but its not budging. Or is this part of the bedding in of a new sensor? I've found them more inaccurate in the first 24 hours but nothing like this.
 
Standup said:
Or is this part of the bedding in of a new sensor?
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You could try waiting and seeing if it improves.

My guess is that sometimes the little tube doesn't go quite deep enough or gets bent so it doesn't work right, or something like that. If that's the case, it's not impossible that general movement and time might move it somewhere where it does start working. Up to you, really. I don't think it would be wrong to report it as a faulty sensor, but if you don't have another you can put on you may as well leave it on and see if it improves.
 
Thanks. I thought I'd give it till before I go to bed before putting another sensor on.

I finally found the page on Abbot's website so will log it. Do you normally tell your GP? Just thinking about whether they track sensors for costs?

Edit: It's just moved up to 3.2 so something is happening 🙂
 
Standup said:
Do you normally tell your GP? Just thinking about whether they track sensors for costs?
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No. If a sensor is faulty Abbott should replace it so there's no extra cost to the NHS. I'm pretty sure my GP wouldn't be interested even if I found a good way of informing them, beyond considering changing to Dexcom One if Libre really didn't seem to be working for me.
 
It’s weird but mine had also been stuck at 2.9 for about half an hour even though my finger tester is saying 5.6 and now 6.2.
I think it will catch up, I’m sure but it’s annoying.
 
Looks like it wasn't stuck but under reporting by 4 units as when my BG rose so did the sensor. At 3.5 on the sensor I was actually at 7.5 and then when the libre was at 5.6 the finger prick was 9.5 and so on. Anyway I've replaced it as that too much of a variance to set the alarms to especially if it decided to correct itself when I was sleeping.

I know they're more about trends but to be four units out in the middle of the range suggests it was faulty or as Bruce said the needle was not quite there. I was going to report it but the serial number is light grey on white in very small print so probably not 🙂
 
I inserted a new one yesterday - and the thing refused to 'Start'. No spares cos that was the second one of the current 2. B nuisance - but there again it is the very first one that's done that. Stuck like excrement to a blanket and the filament looked fine other than a very minor sign of dried blood around it, and said to husband, well I said 'Oww' when it went in, didn't I ? But no sign of liquid red stuff on my arm after removal. Just a bally nuisance not having one to hand when such things occur, when we were going out with rellies to try a place we've not been before, so back to sheer guesswork about carbs. As chef daughter was with us she commented that it wasn't much use to me knowing the calories in anything whatsoever without the carbs.
 
I've had pretty much the same experience, still am in fact. Seemed to be stuck around 2.8 yesterday afternoon, moved a bit from time to time up to 3 but was always well below the finger prick. After dinner it started responding better and has sort of worked all day today after literally sleeping on it but insists on being 2 full points below what my finger tells me. I was ready to report it but doubt that I would get very far as I'm sure it's within their acceptable range. It is a b nuisance as it keeps bleeping at me and I'm fine. If I'm having to do as many finger pricks as before and then do my own interpretation it starts to feel a bit pointless using the thing. Who knows what tomorrow may bring.
 
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Its the first time I've had problems but then this is only month 4. I did feel totally lost without it though. I'm hoping my confidence will improve as time passes but at the moment I have slight panics just when I switch sensors.

I could probably just about cope with being two points out but as Merluza says its a lot of finger pricks to check a) your well being and b) is the sensor at least being consistently wrong. Hopefully there will be no push back from the GP when I have to renew my prescription early although they've been pretty good so far and that as a newly diagnosed type 3 its going to take a while (and a lot of needles, strips etc) to settle in to the routine.
 
It is odd how quickly you come to rely on it, and trust it. I'm only into month 4 using one as well although I've already had problems with another sensor. I just tell myself that I lived for decades doing finger pricks so if the Libre packs up I can go back to the old method and trust myself.
 
Merluza said:
It is odd how quickly you come to rely on it, and trust it. I'm only into month 4 using one as well although I've already had problems with another sensor. I just tell myself that I lived for decades doing finger pricks so if the Libre packs up I can go back to the old method and trust myself.
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I'm only on month 4 full stop. Can't imagine relying on finger pricks all the time considering how I can drop from 7 to 4 in a matter of minutes.
 
Standup said:
Its the first time I've had problems but then this is only month 4. I did feel totally lost without it though. I'm hoping my confidence will improve as time passes but at the moment I have slight panics just when I switch sensors.

I could probably just about cope with being two points out but as Merluza says its a lot of finger pricks to check a) your well being and b) is the sensor at least being consistently wrong. Hopefully there will be no push back from the GP when I have to renew my prescription early although they've been pretty good so far and that as a newly diagnosed type 3 its going to take a while (and a lot of needles, strips etc) to settle in to the routine.
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If you report the errors to freestyle they are pretty good at sending replacements so you will not need to reorder sooner unless you haven't got enough spares at home, I always have at least 3 at home just to make sure I have enough. On holiday once I did have 2 fail in a row and was down to my last one. I was glad I had taken 3 spares, for a 1 week holiday otherwise back to the old finger testing, and I wouldn't have had enough with us.
 
Standup said:
Thanks. I thought I'd give it till before I go to bed before putting another sensor on.
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When using Libre I found it useful to put a sensor in 24 hours before I needed to activate it. This allowed it time to settle into my arm and I found that that overcame the wobbly first day and made fora more reliable start. Not sure whether people still do this.

Where there were faulty ones Abbott always replaced them. They asked for three pairs of reading BG and SG as evidence of the problem.
 
Yes, for me this is just an irritant but for you I think it's more serious.
 
SB2015 said:
When using Libre I found it useful to put a sensor in 24 hours before I needed to activate it. This allowed it time to settle into my arm and I found that that overcame the wobbly first day and made fora more reliable start. Not sure whether people still do this.

Where there were faulty ones Abbott always replaced them. They asked for three pairs of reading BG and SG as evidence of the problem.
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Interestingly it seems to have settled down, I'm two days in now. It was getting closer last night and another night sleeping on it may have done the trick. I might try what you suggest next time.
 
Yes, I always apply my new sensor the day before I need it and give it time for my body to react to the intrusion of a foreign body suddenly being fired into it and then activate it when the old sensor actually expires the next day. This also means that I can apply it at a time that is convenient to me and if the changeover is going to happen when I am away from home, it is just so easy to start the new sensor which is already on my arm and peel off the old one.

@helli refers to this issue as "insertion trauma" and is one of the many excellent points she listed in the thread below about the limitations and quirks of CGM which I think anyone using CGM should read. These are not what the manufacturer tells you, but what users of this forum have found from sharing our experiences of using Libre....

H

Thread 'CGM limitations and precautions'

Moderator Note: This helpful reply was copied from another thread as it details some of the commonly experienced limitations of continuous glucose sensors.

MarinaDE said:
My blood sugar has been in perfect range for days now, but although I haven't changed anything, I'm starting to get very short periods of hypos while I sleep and this morning I had a hypo alarm.
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If these are very short periods of lows and occur overnight, they are more likely to be compression lows - when pressure is applied to a sensor, it will report a false low. The reason I say this is more likely to happen at...
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