Options to Libra 2

T

TonyB

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Being a pensioner, not a poor one but just a bit above getting any "Benefits" of any kind.I am finding £100 a month a bit of a stretch on my Spending money.
Is there a cheaper way to continously measure my blood sugars. ?
You read about these Wrist Watches on Amazon that do the job but read on and get told they do not work
Any suggestions as £1300 a year for a disc to stick on your arm is expensive
 
The “best” cheaper i option I found when I was self funding was to not use a Libre all the time.
I used my Libre as a tool to learn how my body coped with different foods and activities but didn’t need this all the time.
I would spend two weeks with a sensor analysing the results and learning the best approach for the food I ate over the next four weeks without a Libre. Then I would repeat again learning more about food and activities with the next two weeks of Libre.
Assuming your diabetes is not managed with insulin, without the risk of hypos, do you need Libre all the time.
 
TonyB said:
Is there a cheaper way to continously measure my blood sugars. ?
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Do you need to continuously monitor your bgs? What are you doing with the information, what decisions are you using the data for?
 
Once , things settle down if they ever do and I am happy with after meal spikes I will stop the Libra 2--- BUT Hypos do creep up on me usually in the middle of the night . Not often. Occasionally at work early pm. I have Jelly Babies with me Always but not a roll or anything to back them up.
 
TonyB said:
Once , things settle down if they ever do and I am happy with after meal spikes I will stop the Libra 2--- BUT Hypos do creep up on me usually in the middle of the night . Not often. Occasionally at work early pm. I have Jelly Babies with me Always but not a roll or anything to back them up.
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how are you using the libre information to stop after meal spikes if you don’t use blood insulin? Could it be whatever dietary changes you are making that are causing the hypos?

Many of us coped with hypos for many many years before cgm, so long as you have warning signs the occasional hypo isn’t a concern and I wouldn’t say the libre is a requirement for them. If you don’t have any warning signs for hypos then you can perhaps use this to get you cgm on prescription, but will also likely lose driving licence.

You don’t specifically need a roll or sandwich after a hypo. If it’s a long time till your next meal and so you do need some slow carbs you could carry a cereal bar or wrapped biscuit or similar.
 
TonyB said:
Once , things settle down if they ever do and I am happy with after meal spikes I will stop the Libra 2--- BUT Hypos do creep up on me usually in the middle of the night . Not often. Occasionally at work early pm. I have Jelly Babies with me Always but not a roll or anything to back them up.
Click to expand...
Are the hypos through the night genuine hypos or "compression lows" ie a false low reading caused by lying on the sensor in your sleep? It is really important to double check any low Libre readings through the night with a finger prick before treating unless you genuinely feel hypo, because false low readings due to lying on the sensor in your sleep are a common failing of the sensors.
 
TonyB said:
BUT Hypos do creep up on me usually in the middle of the night . Not often.
Click to expand...

Do you also have a fingerprick meter @TonyB ?

Overnight, if you lie on the sensor it can compress the interstitial fluid ans prevent it flowing properly around the sensor filament, which can give rise to false low readings.

On the sensor trace, this can sometimes look like a steady-ish line with a sharp dip downwards, then back up again.

And yes those alleged non-invasive glucose watches aren’t regulated, and are not worth wasting your money on.

I do wonder if a fingerstick meter with affordable strips might offer you a cost-effective option? Something like the Gluco Navii, Tee2, or Contour Blue with 50 strips for £10, would be the equivalent of almost 250 strips for the cost of a 14 day sensor.

With before and after checks 3 meals every day, and a couple of extra random checks, you’d get over 31 days from those, sonabout half the cost, for very good coverage.
 
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