Best way to use FreeStyle Libre 2

Tips, Tech & Gear
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Hi everybody, it’s my first post here. I’m Italian so forgive my English :slight_smile: My mum is a Type II and my grandmother was too. At 48 years old I feel I’m slowly entering in a prediabetic phase of my life and I’ve decided not to be passive.

First of all, I want to take the full control of what I eat (I use to eat a lot of carbs …) and to do that I got a CGM to check out how what I eat influence my glycemia (I’m an engineer and I think I can find the energy to start a new way of life - or eat - if I have a numerical approach …).

As mentioned in the object I got a FreeStyle Libre 2 and I’ve done a little bit of search to find which is the best way to use it for my purpose: understand how the glycemia change when I eat a specific food to get control of glucose spikes.

I hope this was not discussed before, but it doesn’t seem to me.

Basically, I found three different ways (with different apps) to use FreeStyle Libre 2 without the need to buy an external hardware (MiaoMiao or others):

  1. the original app LibreLink

  2. Juggluco

  3. oop 2 in combination with xDirp+

This is what I’ve understood about these solutions.

LibreLink

LibreLink is the original Abbott app, is very user friendly and allows to note down what you eat.

It is also rich in numbers (average reading, periods of more frequent spikes and so on).

Unlike the other two solution, the sensor must be scanned to have a real time reading. Despite that, the sensor saves all the readings in a period (8 hours?) so when it’s scanned the app get the “current” reading and the last X hours of readings. Is it right?

So → if I want to have all my records saved I’ve to scan the sensors every X hours.

Juggluco

Juggluco is a very good app developed by a private (thanks a lot bro, I saw you attend this forum). The app is easily connected with the phone by Bluetooth so that can get the readings constantly without scanning the sensor. A big advantage of this solution is that the app could be connected with a few smartwatches (Samsung galaxy 4 for example) having readings and alarm always easily available.

Unfortunately, I don’t know if the app is user friendly to analyze data as LibreLink (current data but above all the historical ones) and (very important for me) if it can manage what I’ve eaten.

Last but not least, I saw that Juggluco can update readings on a xDirp+ server.

Very important to know is that, after the sensor is scanned with this app, it can’t be used LibreLink anymore with that sensor (right?). Moreover, LibreLink should be blocked to get the best performance with Juggluco.

Oop2 + xDirp+

Is a very similar solution to the previous one, actually I’ve difficulties to appreciate the differences.

In this case is also possible to calibrate the sensor with the classic finger measure, but I’m not sure how much this can improve the performance of the sensor.

Beside that also in this case the app could be connected with some smartwatches.

All the 3 apps have alarms.

Now the question: what do you think is the best solution for me? My first preference goes to Juggluco, but I need to check If I can note down the food I’ve eaten.

Sorry for the post length, I’ve thought that summarize the little bit of research I’ve done could be useful for others.

Alessandro
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Libre has Libreview which gives a lot of charts and is free and the ap on the phone gives quite a lot of information too. But it does not allow you to calibrate the sensor as an outside ap can. I’m not sure as a prediabetic that is important though. You are not dosing insulin, you are trying to spot the trending/reaction to food. By the way, exercise to bring down your numbers works really well. It makes the insulin you produce work better. Walking, biking, swimming before or after you eat really helps.

But there is also Libre 3 now which sends real time readings every minute to your phone. Scanning is not necessary.

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Thanks for your reply Marie I wasn’t aware about the new FreeStyle libre 3 I’ll have a look.

Don’t want to go OT, but thanks a lot to focus the question of the physical exercise too, I read a lot about that and I’m absolutely convinced of that. As far I know phisical exercise push the Glut 4 transporter to reach the cells membrane favoring the glucose absorption from the blood.
I’m a biker and I start to run recently. I just wonder if the aerobic activity is the best one for this purpose.

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Another app without the need to buy a transmitter is Diabox, but this app is not available in Google or Apple app stores. You have to get it from https://www.bubblan.org/setup/

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I much prefer the libre3 to the libre2 for a variety of reasons, but it’s still far from perfect, and it still can’t be calibrated. It’s also 3x the cost on my plan ($75/month as opposed to $25/month), if that’s important to you.

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Hi I’ve started with libre 2 cause I got a test sensor.

Last friday I’ ve decided to start with Juggluco and the experience is very pleasant.

I found it very easy to set up and I’ve used it to start the sensor too (actyally I didn’t used libre link at all).

As expected on the app’s site, with Android 13 I’m experiencing randomly a few loss of bt signal (about one a day) but the app notify it and it’s enough to stop and restart bt connection to get the signal again.

At a very first sight the way to note down eaten foods it’s not so effective, but we know, app’s purpose is another.

I’still have to look for connecting a xDir+ server (still don’t know what can provide in addition).

Unfornately my Gamin Fenix 6 doesn’t run the Kerfstok app at the moment so I can’t use it check my glycemia.

If someone is interested to get other infos about the app operation don’t exitate to ask.

Alessandro

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PS In Italy without any medical prescription the libre 2 costs about 65 € (about 68 $ at the current exchange) and last 14 days.

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What is wrong with entering food in Juggluco? In Juggluco you can enter every number under whatever label you want (left middle menu->New Amount.) The labels for these numbers (Amounts) you can determine yourself under Left menu->Settings->Number Labels.
For carbohydrates, it also has the additional possibility to let Juggluco calculate the carbohydrate content of a meal out of its components and it contains a food composition database for that.
Juggluco also has the possibility to send amounts of insulin and carbohydrates entered in Juggluco to Libreview or xDrip (via a Nightscout server inside Juggluco).