Raynauds disease and cgm

[AliBal]

Hi I have had dynamics disease since childhood and recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. As the weather has turned cooler I am already suffering with trying to get blood for blood glucose measurements and experiencing painful tingling most of day and night. I am trying to find out as much as possible 're criteria for libre sensor before my consultant appointment at the end of this week. Can anyone assist please . ?

 

[helli]

I too have Raynauds. In the past I asked about a CGM as it was difficult to get blood out of my fingers when cold or stressed (e.g. when having a hypo). This is not a criteria for Libre. I was told to keep my hands warm and offered drugs to help with the Raynauds.
This was before Libre was available but it is still not a Libre criteria.

Thankfully, I was able to justify a Libre due to more than 8 finger pricks tests per day. I needed a month of evidence for this.

 

[mikeyB]

Hi @AliBal, welcome to the forum.🙂

You needn't just take blood from your fingertips. Most fingerprickers and testing systems have an alternative head for the fingerpricker, usually clear plastic. That's for taking samples from any part of the body that is within sight and reach. The fact that they do supply an alternative head shows that this is not an uncommon problem. Abdomen, arm, leg. are just as informative and accurate as the fingertip. In public. I'd go for the forearm.

If you haven't got that alternative head, contact the manufacturer for one. They should be able to send you one at no cost.

 

[AliBal]

Hi @AliBal, welcome to the forum.🙂

You needn't just take blood from your fingertips. Most fingerprickers and testing systems have an alternative head for the fingerpricker, usually clear plastic. That's for taking samples from any part of the body that is within sight and reach. The fact that they do supply an alternative head shows that this is not an uncommon problem. Abdomen, arm, leg. are just as informative and accurate as the fingertip. In public. I'd go for the forearm.

If you haven't got that alternative head, contact the manufacturer for one. They should be able to send you one at no cost.

Thank you I have a glocojet and will look this up

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

If you need to refer to the NHS England mandatory criteria for Libre on prescription you can find the link here:

NHS England » NHS England flash glucose monitoring guidelines for CCGs

If you don’t work in the diabetes field, or know someone with type 1 diabetes, you may not have heard of Flash Glucose Monitoring or Libre. This is something that CCGs now need to know about thanks to new mandatory criteria from NHS England. People with type 1 diabetes require insulin treatment...

www.england.nhs.uk

It’s in the subheader towards the top of the article.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi @AliBal, welcome to the forum.🙂

You needn't just take blood from your fingertips. Most fingerprickers and testing systems have an alternative head for the fingerpricker, usually clear plastic. That's for taking samples from any part of the body that is within sight and reach. The fact that they do supply an alternative head shows that this is not an uncommon problem. Abdomen, arm, leg. are just as informative and accurate as the fingertip. In public. I'd go for the forearm.

If you haven't got that alternative head, contact the manufacturer for one. They should be able to send you one at no cost.

I always wondered what that spare clear top was for. Love it when I learn something new and useful. Of course if I had bothered to read the instruction booklet it probably tells you that.... but who reads instructions manuals.... until something goes wrong ....and then you have to.

 

[grovesy]

I am not sure if I have got mine or whether I threw them away.

 

[MrDaibetes]

Hi there, the best advice I can give is read the criteria that @everydayupsanddowns provided a link to. Write a list of why you think you would benefit a libre and provide evidence from that criteria list. Let us know how you get on. Good luck and take care.

 

[helli]

You needn't just take blood from your fingertips. Most fingerprickers and testing systems have an alternative head for the fingerpricker, usually clear plastic. That's for taking samples from any part of the body that is within sight and reach. The fact that they do supply an alternative head shows that this is not an uncommon problem. Abdomen, arm, leg. are just as informative and accurate as the fingertip. In public. I'd go for the forearm.

I vaguely remembering being told, if you take blood from a different part of your anatomy, you have to calculate a correction to the reading. As I lost my clear cap many many years ago, I never did it so quickly forgot what the correction is.
I recommend @AliBal discusses this at his upcoming appointment to confirm rather than risk inaccurate readings.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I vaguely remembering being told, if you take blood from a different part of your anatomy, you have to calculate a correction to the reading. As I lost my clear cap many many years ago, I never did it so quickly forgot what the correction is.
I recommend @AliBal discusses this at his upcoming appointment to confirm rather than risk inaccurate readings.

I can see warnings about not relying on them for hypo checking and similar warnings about quickly changing BG. So I suspect there's just a timing consideration: some bits of skin gets less of a blood flow than fingertips. I'm skeptical about the idea of a correction. But it's always as well to ask.

(The jargon to search for seems to be alternative site testing or AST.)