Me and my new Libre Freestyle

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Hi LJC

Abbott are indeed very good a customer service (on the phone - Don't bother trying the email I have never had a reply). I tend no to put my sensor in 48 hours before I activate it. It seems to match a lot more closely after a bit of settling down time. I put one in two days before the other one finishes and then activate it when the other stops.

Enjoy using the Libre
 
We love ours! Just this lunch time did a finger prick ready to bolus and got 24.9 😱😱
Libre was reading 6.8 and falling slightly - hmmm...
Washed hands and pricked again and got 8.1, that's a bit more like it! Sometimes it's useful just as a double check, as long as the numbers are in the same ballpark I don't worry if they are not exactly the same!
 
SB2015 said:
Hi LJC

Abbott are indeed very good a customer service (on the phone - Don't bother trying the email I have never had a reply). I tend no to put my sensor in 48 hours before I activate it. It seems to match a lot more closely after a bit of settling down time. I put one in two days before the other one finishes and then activate it when the other stops.

Enjoy using the Libre
Click to expand...
Thanks that's a good tip about 48 hrs befor activating the sensor, I've noticed mine is more settled today ,( hope I haven't tempted fate here) not that it was that far out yesterday.
 
Sally71 said:
We love ours! Just this lunch time did a finger prick ready to bolus and got 24.9 😱😱
Libre was reading 6.8 and falling slightly - hmmm...
Washed hands and pricked again and got 8.1, that's a bit more like it! Sometimes it's useful just as a double check, as long as the numbers are in the same ballpark I don't worry if they are not exactly the same!
Click to expand...

I've done that, it sure wakes you up doesn't it.
 
It's helped me spot that at least for breakfast I need to bolus earlier. I have a sharp rise soon after eating brekky and a sharp fall just before I retest around two hrs later
I assume this is the correct thing for this.
 
Ljc said:
It's helped me spot that at least for breakfast I need to bolus earlier. I have a sharp rise soon after eating brekky and a sharp fall just before I retest around two hrs later
I assume this is the correct thing for this.
Click to expand...
Yes, I can bolus for up to an hour before eating breakfast! 😱 Varies (as ever!) from person to person 🙂
 
SB2015 said:
Hi LJC

Abbott are indeed very good a customer service (on the phone - Don't bother trying the email I have never had a reply). I tend no to put my sensor in 48 hours before I activate it. It seems to match a lot more closely after a bit of settling down time. I put one in two days before the other one finishes and then activate it when the other stops.

Enjoy using the Libre
Click to expand...
I have to leave it 24 hours to settle down, then it's usually pretty accurate.
 
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Libre showed a fairly even line during the night 🙂 .
Today my Libre is generally showing around 2 points lower than my nexus., which is fine by me. As I've increased the time between bolus and eating breakfast I did a one, two and three hour check after brekky , literally as I was picking up the Libre to do the three hr test I noticed those first warning symptoms, Libre showed 3.9 though the graph was clearly heading downward the arrow was showing an even trend , my nexus showed 6.3 . Think I need to dig out some control solution for my nexus as I believe what my body was telling me, the Libre just proved it.
I wonder if my body thinks spring is in the air
 
I got a bit confused by the level arrow; I think it actually means the level is changing very slowly. I thought it meant it was constant but there is no arrow in that case.
 
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Mine regularly shows a couple of points lower than my test machine - really annoying if you try and use the time in target feature! Quite often when it does that, you then notice a while later the Libre says your sugars are rising and then stops at a point closer to your actual figures. This is why I can't see it being approved by the NHS in the foreseeable future - I don't think they'll think that the accuracy is sufficient. If I took Libre to the GP and showed them my results on Libre without cross referencing with my test machine, they'd probably want to take my driving licence off me!

I doubt the accuracy of my testing machine at times as well - I can do three tests within 5 minutes and get results ranging from 5.3 to 8.8 (and its an approved one which I've had less than a year) - Libre at the time was reading 6.6 ... makes you wonder why we bother trying to fine tune our levels!!!
 
Ginny03 said:
I doubt the accuracy of my testing machine at times as well - I can do three tests within 5 minutes and get results ranging from 5.3 to 8.8 (and its an approved one which I've had less than a year) - Libre at the time was reading 6.6 ... makes you wonder why we bother trying to fine tune our levels!!!
Click to expand...

I've had this discussion with Americans before. As I think we all know, meters are highly imperfect tools that give us a guide to very roughly where we are. However, in the UK, we have a bit of an advantage. Bear with me...

On another (US-based) board I frequently, there are frequently a lot of T2s who agonise over the fact that their morning reading has gone up from 82 to 92 and seem to think this is a massive problem - because hey, that's a whole 10 points higher, isn't it? When I've suggested that it's meter variance, they get very stressy about how inaccurate their meter must be, if a reading can be a whole 10 points out. Yet here, 82 to 92 is 4.5 to 5.1, which I think most of us wouldn't even register really as being different readings - I mean, that's really the difference between whether or not you farted between blood tests.

I suspect two of the (several) reasons why Americans tend to be a bit more aggressive about diabetes control than us is that culturally they tend to be a bit less cynical about the abilities of technology and they use a measurement system that makes very small variances look massive. I once went through a stage of converting all my UK readings to mg/dl as a test to see what it did to my control, and the result was I found I had rather a lot of hypos as I was overcorrecting readings that really didn't need any extra help.
 
@DeusXM , very true.
Also I'm peeing myself with laughter here ,
(that's really the difference between whether or not you farted between blood tests) :D

With the Libre when entering insulin doses it only allows full units to be entered.

I'm finding the graph much more useful than the even (right pointing ) arrow.
Thanks for tha tip @DeusXM .

@Radders , Thanks for that, I assumed the even arrow meant it wasn't changing . Ive not had an absent arrow yet, I'll probably Be shocked if it does happen.
 
Hi Ljc

If you need half unit insulin dose to be available, you can enable it as follows,

Click the "cog" icon at the top left.
Scroll down and select Professional Options
On the Health Care Professional screen select yes and click next
Enter the Unlock code "CAA1C" and click done.
Select Dose Increment
Choose either "1 unit" or "0.5 unit" and click done.
 
@Garry , Thank you I've just altered mine. it also has a dose calculator there , which I might find handy later on.
 
Since I got the Libre I started to download the data from that and my handset (and pump for me) into Diasend. It collages them all for me and puts times when I have ten and injected onto the Libre graph, which I found useful. I am also able to share this data with DSN/ consultantwhich makes email conversations a lot easier as I can just refer them to the data for a specific date. It might save you u the bother of entering insulin doses into the Libre?

Having said all that I have just returned to my tried and tested manual records as I find it better for me to do a weekly review with info about what I did on that day alongside the results. I shall still do the download, as it saves a lot of time at appointments and gives me the full 30 minutes to ask the questions I gather.
 
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Well my pump obviously includes all my BG tests when it downloads, in fact it doesn't download, the insulin doses are also recorded of the handset, so I just download the handset, and I send an email saying look at yesterday, blah blah or whatever I want to show them.

I've never heard Diasend even mentioned at my clinic, but there again they are joined at the hip to Roche.
 
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At least with this sensor my Libre readings have never been higher than my nexus , their is a maximum of 2.0 difference between the two, which is not very much at all. Yesterday it happened again, mild hypo symptoms started and because of what happened on Thursday out of curiosity I checked with Libre 3.3 with a slanted down arrow, then my nexus 6.4
I'm going to order some more sensors as I'm now hooked and n my Libre 🙂
Plus I had an email from Abbott, a chance of winning a years free supply of sensors if you place any order with them only one or two days left,
 
Thanks @Ljc , I don't usually check my emails so would have missed this. Definitely putting in an order for my next load of sensors early!
 
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After reading your experience I was tempted to try, but as I have regular massages and chiropractor treatment, and like to expose my arms in summer, I have decided to stick with my part NHS/Self funding strips.
 
Like the Libre system a lot. Up Scar-fell pike in the pouring rain & perfect BG. Finger test not on the cards ?
 
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