My Libre has arrived!

[rebrascora]

Well I blew my trumpet far too loudly yesterday and consequently got a visit from the DF yesterday and she's stayed overnight.

I didn't have any lunch after my porridge breakfast and was busy trimming horses feet yesterday afternoon which is physically hard work but not anaerobic or anything. I was a nice steady 5.9 before I started and 3 hours later I was shocked to find I had gone up to a whopping 11.1. Took 2 correction units but then 2 hours later I had a further 3 for my dinner. Had a good portion (for me) of new potatoes straight from the garden with beef goulash and lots of veggies and 2 hours later I hypoed. Got things up to a nice steady 5.6 at bedtime but took half a unit less of Levemir and woke up on a 3.8 had a small hypo treatment and then an hour later bolussed 5 units (2 for DP and 3 for porridge) but NR kicked in much quicker and I hypoed again (quite a nasty one) before I got porridge made. Arrgh!

I have just started using my Salbutamol inhaler so wondering if the steroids have upset things a bit.
Hopefully I will get back on track today but that kyboshed my TIR and Low Glucose episode figures!.... Teach me to boast!

 

[trophywench]

Why on earth couldn't you use a bolus calculator? If you use 30% of the amount of insulin you need for carbs, to account for protein, you add 30% to the carb value. So 100g weight of protein, enter 30g in the carbs box.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hopefully I will get back on track today but that kyboshed my TIR and Low Glucose episode figures!.... Teach me to boast!

Always happens to me too after a gpod day or two’s graph.

Dont forget that the official recommendations for ‘ideal‘ TIR are to aim for 70% or more between 4 and 10, with less than 4% below 4 - so I suspect your results are still pretty perky!

 

[rebrascora]

Thanks Mike, it is good to know that other people have this random cycle of a few really good days followed by things going haywire for a few days and then back on track. I am now on my third day of inexplicable, mostly too high, readings. Either it is because I am ailing something or because I had to start taking my preventer inhaler again. Really quite tight chested at times hence starting to use my inhaler but stomach upset too, which obviously isn't asthma, so not sure what it is but just don't feel right. At least I have ruled out porridge causing the inflated afternoon readings as went back to having an omelette this morning and I am back up in the 10s this afternoon despite 2 corrections which have made almost no difference. Then just when I have given up, I come plummeting down into a hypo but even with the smallest hypo treatment, I am back up to 9 or 10 again before I know it, where I seem to be quite stable. My BG steadily decreases overnight despite my reduced basal but at least it means I start the day on a reasonable reading, but after that, normal rules no longer apply. Going to try upping my daytime basal tomorrow.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Thanks Mike, it is good to know that other people have this random cycle of a few really good days followed by things going haywire for a few days and then back on track.

I suspect all of us do, apart from those not using a CGM or Libre (who also do, but don't know about it).

 

[trophywench]

Not a steroid inhaler ?

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, it is a steroid inhaler, which is why I suspect it.

 

[trophywench]

Par for the course Barbara - tiddly increase in basal usually sorts it.

 

[rebrascora]

Hopefully so. Just odd that night time basal needs are still very low and only daytime seems to be affected, when I am taking inhaler morning and evening.

 

[mikeyB]

I had a day just like yours last week. Don’t know whether it was the Seretide inhaler, a bit of a cold, (or both) or just the DF. I do know that next day I stayed in range all day, without making any change to basal, which leads me to suspect it was just one of those days. Trouble is, once they are on the record there’s no facility to enter “DF day” or, indeed, to scrub the day off the record. Ruins the TIR figures.🙄

 

[rebrascora]

Sadly I am now 3 days into these erratic readings and my TIR is only just hanging in the 70% region by a thread! Got to be the steroid inhaler. I remember I had the same problems over Christmas when I had stopped taking the inhaler and then had to start again. I only need it seasonally, but seems I need it earlier this year. Normally I am OK without it until September. To make matters worse my morning Levemir didn't inject as well as usual and my skin was wet when I removed the needle so I think some leaked out and I had a large bleb, so that won't be helping today's readings.

 

[Goldiebrowse]

So excited my Libre has arrived at the appointed time and I am actually feeling quite brave about applying it straight away. I have read the quick start guide and given my chosen arm a good scrub with soap and water and an exfoliator glove to remove any dead skin as I do tend to have slightly dry skin and I want to give it the best chance of adhesion I can. I have been outside working in the garden since doing that to let it dry off thoroughly, so I should be good to use the alcohol wipe, let it dry again and then apply. I have set up the reader with correct time and date etc.

Do I need to read the full manual before I go for it?
I have set my range as between 4 and 9. Is that reasonable?

Anything else I should know before I apply it? I am not going to be using my phone at this stage so will just be initiating it with the reader.

I love how small the reader is! It will make scanning when I am out riding a doddle!

Libre are amazing, I’ve had mine for two years and it’s revolutionised my diabetes care. What I have found is door frames or small opening can be a pain if you catch it as I’ve lost a couple of sensors but to be fair they have been replaced. I’ve also had two go awry and abbot will ask for blood readings so I also use the strips at meal times, as you can program your carb ratios into the reader (in professional section on reader). If you using phone I don’t think you can then use the reader on the pod? But I always use the reader. Allow time if treating sudden changes as pod is around 5 minutes behind actual reading, you can also program in insulin times etc so the meter shows you how much active insulin you have, great if you need to address a spike.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

If you using phone I don’t think you can then use the reader on the pod?

You can. Just make sure to initialise the sensor with the Reader, then you can use both as is convenient. (I mostly use my phone, but sometimes when I'm out walking using the reader is a bit more convenient (can take a few goes to get the right spot on the phone whereas the reader is easier).)

(The readings (and any other data) don't transfer between the two, so if you scan only a few times a day you might need to be careful to make sure you scan with the right device at least once every 8 hours to get all the data.)

 

[Goldiebrowse]

Cheers @Bruce Stephens I had heard of issues so was erring on side of caution ☺️

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Cheers @Bruce Stephens I had heard of issues so was erring on side of caution

In basic usage there's no problem: initialise with the Reader and you're OK (used to be that you needed to scan with the phone within an hour of starting up a new sensor but that's also no longer the case).

Presuming you also use LibreView (and I think it's worth using even if you diabetes team doesn't require you to) there have been issues about using both the phone app (which can upload data as you scan) and uploading from your Reader (at one point the software didn't correctly combine the two things) but I think they've solved that in some fashion. (I still just use the phone app for that, just in case.)