New Libre 2 user

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Finwiz

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Installed Libre 2 this afternoon for the first time and have successfully calibrated it to Android phone.

The sensor seems to plot a graph on the phone app. My questions are:

1. I have read it takes 24 hours to give proper readings. Is this true?
2. When I hold the back of the phone near the sensor, it does not ping / vibrate. Is this because the sensor takes continuous readings for 8 hours? I know the phone works as it did calibrate with 2 pings / vibrations and took an hour to start.
3. When I change the sensor, will I need to wait for 24 hours to get readings?

Thanks
 
Finwiz said:
1. I have read it takes 24 hours to give proper readings. Is this true?
Click to expand...
No. Some people find it's better to apply it and leave it a while before initialising it, but Abbott doesn't recommend that and many of us find it doesn't seem to make much difference.
Finwiz said:
2. When I hold the back of the phone near the sensor, it does not ping / vibrate. Is this because the sensor takes continuous readings for 8 hours? I know the phone works as it did calibrate with 2 pings / vibrations and took an hour to start.
Click to expand...
Whether it makes a noise or vibrates when you scan it is determined by settings in the app. (Also, probably, by the phone. I can't seem to get it to vibrate though it does make a sound.) Shouldn't matter because as you say, the app should be receiving readings once a minute or so.
Finwiz said:
3. When I change the sensor, will I need to wait for 24 hours to get readings?
Click to expand...
No. Just an hour while the new one is starting up. (So yes, there'll be a one hour gap which is a bit annoying.)
 
Bruce Stephens said:
No. Some people find it's better to apply it and leave it a while before initialising it, but Abbott doesn't recommend that and many of us find it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Whether it makes a noise or vibrates when you scan it is determined by settings in the app. (Also, probably, by the phone. I can't seem to get it to vibrate though it does make a sound.) Shouldn't matter because as you say, the app should be receiving readings once a minute or so.

No. Just an hour while the new one is starting up. (So yes, there'll be a one hour gap which is a bit annoying.)
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot that. My app is set to vibrate and so is the phone ( I know because the phone did ping / vibrate when I calibrated it), Now holding the phone near it does not ping / vibrate. I guess the test would be after 8 hours without scanning it with the phone to see what happens.
 
Bruce Stephens said:
I find the same, though it does scan (it shows the current value).

Presumably you can see whether the graph is more or less up to date?
Click to expand...
Only been 3 hours but seems to be plotting. Will see the accuracy when I finger prick this evening.
 
Finwiz said:
Thanks a lot that. My app is set to vibrate and so is the phone ( I know because the phone did ping / vibrate when I calibrated it), Now holding the phone near it does not ping / vibrate. I guess the test would be after 8 hours without scanning it with the phone to see what happens.
Click to expand...

Can you explain what you mean by "calibrated it"? As far as I am aware, Libre 2 cannot be calibrated.

I always try to apply my sensor the night before my old one is due to expire so it gets about 12 hours bedding in time before I start it. As Bruce says, there is still an hour gap between the old one expiring and the new one giving readings, but I generally find that it is reliable and comparable to a finger prick BG, from the start doing this, provided that I test when my BG levels are stable and in range when I compare them.

Have you seen the thread on the quirks and limitations of Libre and other CGM....
forum.diabetes.org.uk

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. 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...
forum.diabetes.org.uk forum.diabetes.org.uk
 
About a month ago, my Android phone performed a system update from v12 to v13, at which time it lost the vibrations associated with NFC and my Libre 2 sensor.

I also put the new sensor on my other arm (#2 of 2!) about 24 hours before the current one expires and the new one needs to be activated, in the hope that this period will assist the arm to recover from the trauma of having the needle stuck into it. I have no evidence that this improves the accuracy of the BG readings, but it seems a strong possibility (whatever Abbott may say!)...
 
John Gray said:
About a month ago, my Android phone performed a system update from v12 to v13, at which time it lost the vibrations associated with NFC and my Libre 2 sensor.
Click to expand...
I wondered about that, but someone else had the same phone, same version of OS, same app version, and they get the vibration and I don't. I'm guessing it's a setting somewhere or other, but I can't see it. I'm not that bothered, it's only slightly irritating.
 
I always use my readings after the 1hour start-up. After the software upgrade last Summer you no longer need to scan unless you been away from your phone and it's lost contact. Otherwise you automatically get a new reading via Bluetooth every minute
 
Possibly a silly question, but when I first got my sensor recently I kept forgotting to press the scan symbol before trying to scan. Are you pressing the scan symbol and getting the Ready to Scan window come up before holding the phone to the sensor?
 
Narrow said:
Possibly a silly question, but when I first got my sensor recently I kept forgotting to press the scan symbol before trying to scan. Are you pressing the scan symbol and getting the Ready to Scan window come up before holding the phone to the sensor?
Click to expand...
That isn't required with Android phones.
 
Now if I try to scan, I get the vibrations but no sound. I am using a Google Android phone.
 
DaveB said:
I always use my readings after the 1hour start-up. After the software upgrade last Summer you no longer need to scan unless you been away from your phone and it's lost contact. Otherwise you automatically get a new reading via Bluetooth every minute
Click to expand...
I understand it gives you one minute readings for 8 hours. Do eight hour cycle restart every time you scan?

So, do you loose the night readings or does one need to scan before going to bed (to manage night readings)
 
Strange - the readings on the phone just stopped and the graph became a solid black line. No number reading on top either. Tried to scan again but errors - "smart phone unable to scan the sensor" and another error "Glucose reading is unavailable"

I restarted the android phone and turned Bluetooth off and on. Got the readings back but small period is blank.
 
Finwiz said:
I understand it gives you one minute readings for 8 hours. Do eight hour cycle restart every time you scan?
Click to expand...
Once upon a time, the sensor had to be scanned (didn't send data automatically, or rather it did but that was only used for alarms). The sensors store the last 8 hours of data (4 readings an hour) together with a few more recent ones (I'm not sure they've said much about that but I'm guessing it's 5 minutes at 1 minute intervals or something, for giving the arrows). So you had to scan every 8 hours or you'd lose some data (because it's going to be overwritten).

Now it shouldn't be necessary to scan at all: the signals that used to just be used for alarms are used by the app for the main graph. You can still scan (and that would be useful if you were away from your phone for a while, for example).
 
One further question - if the phone is away from me, say more than 15 metres, will it auto connect to the sensor when I pick up the phone again or do I need to scan to get it recording?
 
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