Libre - when to give up on a sensor?

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Jha19

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This morning my Libre 2 woke me up saying I was 4.1and subsequently fallen to 2.9. It was also reading low for a fair bit last night (ending up in a lot of snacking). In comparison on finger pricks this morning I was 8.7 and 6.8.
When do I go this is more than a glitch and swap out the sensor? (Annoying as my last sensor failed competent on day 10)
Also is there something I might be doing wrong?
 
Have you called abbot or reported it online to ask what they suggest?
 
Could you have been lying on the sensor. If you are getting false lows through the night particularly, then that may be the cause as the sensor compresses the tissue under it when you lie on it and that either changes the composition of the fluid in the tissue surrounding the sensor or affects the way the filament works. This should resolve after 10-15 mins of the pressure being removed. It is important to check any low readings hypo before treating, particularly if the Libre shows a sudden dip which might indicate you have rolled onto that side.
All that said, some people are experiencing a lot of problems with Libre 2 so you may be one of those unlucky ones. I hope you are reporting the faulty ones to Abbott and getting replacements. I would ring Abbott before removing it unless the sensor tells you to change it.
 
Night time lows could be compression low - false lows that occur when you apply pressure to the sensor such as when you lie on it.

Constant lows are more likely to be a faulty sensor unless you have not been wearing it for long - some of us find that our bodies take a while to get used to having an alien object inserted in our arms. I tend to apply my sensor 48 hours before activating for this reason.

If your sensor is older that 2 days, I would recommend reporting it to Abbott.
 
Did you do your finger pricks at the same time as your Libre scans? It isn’t clear from what you’ve said. My blood sugar could easily go from 3 to 8 or whatever in a short time in the morning. Also, you talk about lots of snacking. Perhaps that’s had an effect.

I’d always finger prick check a low and I’d certainly check repeated lows if they didn’t make sense.
 
Thanks for all the tips... Will report it later... it's still seems to be reading significantly low, so probably not from being slept on, been in six days now...
 
Inka said:
Did you do your finger pricks at the same time as your Libre scans? It isn’t clear from what you’ve said. My blood sugar could easily go from 3 to 8 or whatever in a short time in the morning. Also, you talk about lots of snacking. Perhaps that’s had an effect.

I’d always finger prick check a low and I’d certainly check repeated lows if they didn’t make sense.
Click to expand...
Finger prick I've done today have been within a few minutes of a scan. I often finger check lows and to find sensors read low most times, but only by a small margin.unlike these...
I usually have a snack before bed, (and lately been quite low before bed some days) and check I'm 7ish or definitely heading that way before turning in. It took more carb than usual to get a reading near 5...
 
Jha19 said:
Thanks for all the tips... Will report it later... it's still seems to be reading significantly low, so probably not from being slept on, been in six days now...
Click to expand...

Just report it you'll have replacement in few days, they will ask for libre readings & bg readings to check that sensor is faulty, just procedure nothing else.
 
I don’t use my Libre reader at all when grubbing around in the lows, because it just isn’t accurate enough. Nor when recovering from a hypo, because of the delay. By far the easiest way to distinguish a compression effect from reality is to do a blood test. Job done.

A few months back, I was woken by a reading of 2.9. A blood test showed 1.8. Slightly different recovery tactics😉
 
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