Phone need to be close for cgm

[curlygirl]

I am using libre 2 at the moment. Reader and phone but scanning not full cgm. I set off reader initially so no alarms on phone but can use both.
I am wondering how close phone has to be to use full cgm for libre 3 or 2 if not using reader. Also is the situation the same for dexcom g7? Really what I would like is to use the reader and the phone but I do not think this is possible but not sure about dexcom.
If I get libre 3 or g7, or update libre 2 and do not use the reader how near does the phone need to be and is it necessary to have phone near all the time?
I do not carry my phone around the house so it is often in separate room. If using full cgm...libre or dexcom, what would happen? Does it still show reading when I go to the phone or do you have to connect again each time?
I prefer the reader near overnight as switch phone off. I am trying to see what is possible and what system would help so I can talk to the nurse again. Tried looking at sites but real use of libre and dexcom with cgm and reader or just with phone is not clearly answered so hope answers and experience on here could help.
Not sure if all alarms can be silenced on libre 3 or dexcom g7 but that is another thing to think about for which is option to look at. Thanks

 

[Sally71]

Dexcom can connect to two devices, so either reader and phone or pump and phone, both need to be within about 6 metres. If you leave your phone in another room it will drop out of contact and you'll have to give it time to reconnect again (can take a few minutes). I think the sensor can hold about 3 hours worth of data so if you reconnect within that time it should give you the full information, if you've been offline longer than that you'll have a gap in the graph.

 

[curlygirl]

Thanks @Sally71 I appreciate the information. The 3 hours could be a problem if out of range esp. overnight as would not show a lot of data if did not connect...

 

[Inka]

Thanks @Sally71 I appreciate the information. The 3 hours could be a problem if out of range esp. overnight as would not show a lot of data if did not connect...

Silly question, but do you not keep your phone your bed? I use the Dexcom receiver with my G7 rather than my phone, but the only time I’ve dropped connection is when I’ve left the receiver in the house and gone down the bottom of the garden. I’ve found the 6 metre thing to be pretty accurate.

 

[Lucyr]

If you start libre with the reader you will not have rtCGM on the phone. You can use the phone to scan as now.

If you start libre with the phone you will have rtCGM but can’t use the reader. You’d need to start keeping the phone in the same room as you. You can scan to fill in any gaps from times it’s been away from you.

 

[curlygirl]

Silly question, but do you not keep your phone your bed? I use the Dexcom receiver with my G7 rather than my phone, but the only time I’ve dropped connection is when I’ve left the receiver in the house and gone down the bottom of the garden. I’ve found the 6 metre thing to be pretty accurate.

Thanks @Inka. I do not have the phone switched on overnight at all. At the moment i have the libre reader by the bed and scan if I need to. I would like full cgm option but not if it means having the phone on me all the time. Reader is an optiin with dexcom and cgm I think but not libre...

 

[helli]

What is your concern about having your phone near the bed?
You should be able to silence notifications (except the CGM alerts).

Regarding being away from the phone/receiver, I find that it reconnects over BlueTooth when it is range.
But as my pump is controlled via mu phone, I do not separate myself from my phone very much (except when in the shower). I also use my phone for controlling music and lighting at home so I have no reason to be separated.

 

[SB2015]

My closed loop pump system uses bluetooth between the pump and sensor, which works all the time as they are both attached to me. That manages my insulin deliveries, corrections, …. Alarms will sound on my pump, (and on my phone if it is near enough and I choose that option).

My phone is used to pick up the data from the pump when they are close enough together. I can see more data on my phone, and also look at various displays of the data. The pump app also downloads my data every day to those I am sharing my data with.

I am not sure how other loops work, but on this one I don’t need my phone with me to be using the pump in a closed loop, the phone is just used to process and share the data. The disadvantage of my system is that I have to access my pump to do boluses etc whereas others can do this on the handset or phone.

 

[rebrascora]

HI. I was a dedicated Libre reader user until 3 weeks ago when I lost my reader (Devastated!) Anyway, I had acquired a second hand iphone as a back up because I knew my own phone (Motorola) was not compatible, so I fired up the iphone and have been using that since including with the new rt CGM after I managed to update it on Friday. Like you I am not attached at the hip to my phone and regularly park it up somewhere in the house or my stables and wander off out of range. Once the Bluetooth loses signal you get a gap on your graph but the Libre holds data for 8 hours so provided I scan within 8 hours of loss of signal, the data gets filled in. The alarms obviously don't work whilst the signal is lost. It might just be that my phone bluetooth signal isn't strong but I lost signal the other night when the phone was on the bedside table charging and I rolled across to the other side of the bed (to find a cool spot) This is only a double bed so we are not talking silly distance and the alarms did not work during this time as a result, so this was not an ideal situation as I woke up hypo and had been in the red for several hours. (not badly as I would have woken up sooner but not ideal.)

What I also don't like is that I took my hypo treatment and dropped straight back off to sleep without scanning or recording my carbs, it was just a BT reading on the phone. I know I should have stayed awake and retested after 15 mins but I very rarely get hypos that need more than 2 JBs or double dip. I woke up again sometime later and CGM was still showing me as hypo at 3.8 but I was unable to double check when I took the hypo treatment because I didn't scan or make any note at the time, so I had no means of knowing if it was 20 mins before or an hour ago, in which case I would likely need more hypo treatment. In reality I should have finger pricked, but I ate another JB which was the wrong decision as 10 mins later my levels started to rise sharply. Your readings only record in the daily log when you scan or make notes on them, so I wasn't able to go back and log that hypo treatment because there was no event to note it on, if you see what I mean.

I have another 6 days to go with this sensor and my phone with rtCGM before I can go back to using a new reader and not bothering with LibreLink on a phone and whilst I am trying to keep an open mind, so far after a few days, I am not finding rtCGM particularly beneficial and there are certainly drawbacks and I am not keen on having to use my phone all the time as the reader is just so much more convenient for me and my lifestyle, so I may well be going back to my old system of just using the reader this coming Sunday..... but I am open to having my mind changed in the meantime.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I am not finding rtCGM particularly beneficial and there are certainly drawbacks and I am not keen on having to use my phone all the time as the reader is just so much more convenient for me and my lifestyle

No, I think it works best if you ordinarily glance at your phone often (because then it's convenient to see your BG too), and I guess that'll apply to many people but not all. (Or, in my case, my watch shows the BG which is obviously convenient. But would probably be annoying for someone who didn't like wearing a watch.)

 

[curlygirl]

Thanks @helli

What is your concern about having your phone near the bed?
You should be able to silence notifications (except the CGM alerts).

I just find I do not sleep as well with the phone next to me even if it is silent.

I am not sure how other loops work, but on this one I don’t need my phone with me to be using the pump in a closed loop, the phone is just used to process and share the data. The disadvantage of my system is that I have to access my pump to do boluses etc whereas others can do this on the handset or phone.

I have the ypsopump which is possible to loop with libre 3 or dexcom. I am not using it as closed loop at the moment but am hoping to, but not sure if I would have to have the phone on me all the time whether that would work. I can bolus on the pump or via phone app and at the moment use reader and libre 2 at some times of day and at night and phone sometimes.

New technology is amazing, but also need it to work with how my life is and wondering if full cgm and loop can be done in a way that works or just to keep using the pump which I love and appreciate a lot with the scan of libre 2. I have wondered if libre 2 scan function will be phased out however and it become necessary to use a phone with it like it is with libre 3...

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I have wondered if libre 2 scan function will be phased out however and it become necessary to use a phone with it like it is with libre 3...

My guess would be no. I'd guess they won't change Libre 2, and what's more likely is that Libre 2 will be phased out and replaced by Libre 3. And as that happens, I presume they'll come up with something for people who don't have a phone (I'm pretty sure someone in Germany said there was something they were offering there).

 

[rebrascora]

My guess would be no. I'd guess they won't change Libre 2, and what's more likely is that Libre 2 will be phased out and replaced by Libre 3. And as that happens, I presume they'll come up with something for people who don't have a phone (I'm pretty sure someone in Germany said there was something they were offering there).

I think someone from mainland Europe posted that they have now actually brought out a reader for the Libre 3 to cover that option for people, so hopefully they will roll that out here in the UK too as I really feel that suits my management best. It might be nice if the reader had rtCGM capability and I don't think that would be difficult to incorporate, but I am a tech dinosaur so what do I know!

 

[Pumper_Sue]

am wondering how close phone has to be to use full cgm for libre 3 or 2 if not using reader. Also is the situation the same for dexcom g7? Really what I would like is to use the reader and the phone but I do not think this is possible but not sure about dexcom.

You can use both at the same time with Dexcom. Think it's about 6m from phone or reader it picks up the signal ok.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

It might be nice if the reader had rtCGM capability and I don't think that would be difficult to incorporate, but I am a tech dinosaur so what do I know!

I presume it'll be like the Android thing they've given to some patients in the UK (so basically a phone). Changing the reader would likely be harder for them to do.

 

[Inka]

I just find I do not sleep as well with the phone next to me even if it is silent

I ‘switch off’ my phone at night (but not really switch it off) by plugging it into recharge and putting it on silent. Psychologically, to me at least, my phone is ‘off’. I don’t think about it and I don’t look at it. I have priority calls set up so I know I won’t miss an emergency call so I don’t have to think about that. At the moment it’s on my bedside table because of an electric socket issue, but it’s been across the room as well, which gives a bit of distance from it.

The G7 receiver is very good @curlygirl It’s small yet has the graphs on the main screen along with your current blood glucose. It has High, Low and Urgent Low alerts which can be adjusted.

 

[Proud to be erratic]

Your readings only record in the daily log when you scan or make notes on them, so I wasn't able to go back and log that hypo treatment because there was no event to note it on, if you see what I mean.

@rebrascora, unless I've misunderstood something in your narrative, you can add notes (or actions like food or insulin) retrospectively into the logbook. Go to the logbook page for the appropriate day and select add note, then change the time to whenever you need that entry for (hour then minutes as 2 actions) then add your note or action. Select Done, exit and you'll find your entry has been saved.

 

[rebrascora]

@rebrascora, unless I've misunderstood something in your narrative, you can add notes (or actions like food or insulin) retrospectively into the logbook. Go to the logbook page for the appropriate day and select add note, then change the time to whenever you need that entry for (hour then minutes as 2 actions) then add your note or action. Select Done, exit and you'll find your entry has been saved.

Thanks for that Roland. I had no idea you could do that!

 

[helli]

I think someone from mainland Europe posted that they have now actually brought out a reader for the Libre 3 to cover that option for people, so hopefully they will roll that out here in the UK too as I really feel that suits my management best. It might be nice if the reader had rtCGM capability and I don't think that would be difficult to incorporate, but I am a tech dinosaur so what do I know!

There are people in the UK using this.
It is basically a dumb phone with one app on it. Pretty big thing to be carrying around along with our other stuff, imho. I guess I would be less likely to lose it down the back of a chair like the current Libre 2 reader.

 

[curlygirl]

I think someone from mainland Europe posted that they have now actually brought out a reader for the Libre 3 to cover that option for people, so hopefully they will roll that out here in the UK too

I have seen pictures of a reader for libre 3 on the german site. It looks same as libre 2 reader, not a phone. I asked if this was going to be available in uk and was told to talk to diabetes team but they had not heard of it. If the libre 3 gets more people using it maybe they will make them available...