Type 1 for 34 years

[SharonC]

I’ve just recently been given the Libra Sensor it’s transformed my Diabetes and after all those years doing finger tests I feel liberated lol. Your thoughts please ?

 

[Pigeon]

I’ve just recently been given the Libra Sensor it’s transformed my Diabetes and after all those years doing finger tests I feel liberated lol. Your thoughts please ?

Welcome! Yes it's great isn't it?

 

[helli]

Hi @SharonC
I too am a Libre'tte (??).
I never had a problem with finger pricking except not knowing what was happening between the pricks. THe libre gives me so much more information.

I would add a small note of caution - make sure you understand its limitations and don't become 100% dependent upon it.
- many of us find that it can be out for the first day or two after applying as our bodies acclimatise to the foreign object in our arm. I insert my Libre a couple of days before activating it for this reason.
- CGMs and Libre, measure Interstitial Fluid and apply an algorithm to work out the blood glucose value, This could mean a delay of 10 to 15 minutes, Libre 2 attempts to accommodate this delay but this can result in "overshooting" when the trend changes such as when you treat a hypo or start exercising.
- Libre are calibrated to be most accurate at "normal levels" (between about 4 and 9 mmol/l) and can become very inaccurate outside this range, Therefore, it is recommended to check with a finger prick before correcting a high or treating a low (unless you are obviously hypo)
- sometimes, Libre readings can drift over the lifetime of the sensor. Therefore, I make sure I do a finger prick test at least once a day when my levels are stable and "in range" to check that the sensor is still "accurate enough"
- some Libre fail. Some people seems to be more susceptible to failures than others and human nature is that more people complain. If you sensor fails, Abbott usually replace them. I have always called them but they have been advertising their online service which may be more convenient.

 

[nonethewiser]

Same here, wish libre was around years before, something so simple can change quality of life.

 

[SharonC]

Hi @SharonC
I too am a Libre'tte (??).
I never had a problem with finger pricking except not knowing what was happening between the pricks. THe libre gives me so much more information.

I would add a small note of caution - make sure you understand its limitations and don't become 100% dependent upon it.
- many of us find that it can be out for the first day or two after applying as our bodies acclimatise to the foreign object in our arm. I insert my Libre a couple of days before activating it for this reason.
- CGMs and Libre, measure Interstitial Fluid and apply an algorithm to work out the blood glucose value, This could mean a delay of 10 to 15 minutes, Libre 2 attempts to accommodate this delay but this can result in "overshooting" when the trend changes such as when you treat a hypo or start exercising.
- Libre are calibrated to be most accurate at "normal levels" (between about 4 and 9 mmol/l) and can become very inaccurate outside this range, Therefore, it is recommended to check with a finger prick before correcting a high or treating a low (unless you are obviously hypo)
- sometimes, Libre readings can drift over the lifetime of the sensor. Therefore, I make sure I do a finger prick test at least once a day when my levels are stable and "in range" to check that the sensor is still "accurate enough"
- some Libre fail. Some people seems to be more susceptible to failures than others and human nature is that more people complain. If you sensor fails, Abbott usually replace them. I have always called them but they have been advertising their online service which may be more convenient.

Thank you for the information a great bit of advice. Being a novice I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. Thank you

 

[SharonC]

Same here, wish libre was around years before, something so simple can change quality of life.

Absolutely agree. I’m still doing random finger tests just to compare. As naturally a bit anxious but on the whole am very happy

 

[Peely66]

I agree. Wonderful bit of kit and until this sensor I'm wearing now they have been pretty accurate when compared with finger tests. This is the first one that seems to be out and I'm getting a lot of hypo alarms which are just not hypos when I do a blood test. One thing I am starting to notice is quite how much fat slows down the absorption of carbs. That's the kind of information that might have been hard to pick up without Libre.

 

[SharonC]

I agree. Wonderful bit of kit and until this sensor I'm wearing now they have been pretty accurate when compared with finger tests. This is the first one that seems to be out and I'm getting a lot of hypo alarms which are just not hypos when I do a blood test. One thing I am starting to notice is quite how much fat slows down the absorption of carbs. That's the kind of information that might have been hard to pick up without Libre.

Thank you for your message. Interesting isn’t it. Even after 34 years I’m still learning. That’s an interesting point about fats and carb absorption. I’ll try and see what happens. Back in the day it was U100 syringes and a clumsy big testing monitor, progress eh albeit a long time coming. Thank you again

 

[nonethewiser]

Absolutely agree. I’m still doing random finger tests just to compare. As naturally a bit anxious but on the whole am very happy

Wise to keep doing random bg test, like any device nothing is 100% reliable.

As pump user libre has been so useful in getting basal rates spot on as many pump users might vouch for.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

That’s an interesting point about fats and carb absorption. I’ll try and see what happens.

It's the kind of thing that's mentioned in the structured education like DAFNE, BERTIE online, and mytype1diabetes. Such courses are unfortunately sometimes only offered to relatively recently diagnosed people (after 6 months or so) so those of us diagnosed in the last millennium can be forgotten about.

Back in the day it was U100 syringes and a clumsy big testing monitor

Which were wonderful upgrades on what came before, of course. I'd also mention the really good lancet devices like the Accu-Chek FastClix. Getting a drop of blood is vastly easier with one of those than with naked pointy bits of metal.

 

[SB2015]

So pleased that you now have the Libre @SharonC . For me it was a complete game changer. It showed me so much of what was going on in between meals and as you are finding it taught me so much about how my BG behaved with different foods.

Glad to have you on the forum and look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

For me it was a complete game changer.

Me too. In my case it was showing I was going hypo every night, and (obviously) fixing that made me feel much better!

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Love, love, LOVE my Libre!
So pleased that you have been prescribed it and are finding it beneficial.
I have the original which doesn't have the alarms but it is so accurate and reliable for me that I have declined the chance to upgrade to Libre 2. Some people have experienced a lot of failures and inaccuracies with Libre 2, so I am sticking with what I know and works for me. Why fix what ain't broken!

If you are doing random checks it is important to choose a time when it is showing your BG levels are nice and stable because of the time lag with blood and interstitial fluid.
Many of us apply our new sensor a day or two before the old one is due to expire and give it time to bed in and the tissue surrounding the filament to stop reacting to a foreign body being fired into it, before we activate it. This seems to give better accuracy from the start than just the 60 min warm up period and doesn't seem to have any negative effect other than having a sensor on each arm for a day or two.

Have you discovered the Time in Range/Target function? This is a much better way to assess your diabetes management than an HbA1c and giving you a wider target range (3.9-10) and a percentage to aim for within that range (70%) to me has changed my whole perspective towards my diabetes and since I can maintain about 90% TIR most of the time I feel like I am really "winning" whereas with the 4.7 targets before meals i felt like I was failing all too often and that demoralized me. Now If I get up to 94% TIR I want to really push hard to achieve a new personal best (97%) I know that I will drop back after that as it isn't sustainable long term and I accept that but it makes a bit of a game out of it rather than managing a serious health condition and it enables me to mentally manage my tendency for perfection with a sort of give and take approach. It really has taken a lot of the mental weight off me. I hope you find similar long term improvement in your mental perspective towards your diabetes as well as your diabetes management itself.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Great to hear you are having such a positive experience of Libre @SharonC 🙂

It’s great finally seeing what‘s going on between the dots isn’t it!