FreeStyle Libre experiences

Yes, though I forget to change them out regularly, so I’m sure that doesn’t help (but it still hurts no matter if it’s brand new or old).

i just thought i would put my 2 Cents in: i use (and have used) quite a few different meters during my life as a D, and i have found that if i test myself from one meter agaist another, using the same finger and the same blood drop, my mters will read closely, but not always. i have found that my ContourOne reads consistantly lower than my One Touch Ultra2, and that my other Contour meter reads higher than the first one mentioned. and, my old One Touch Ultra reads somewhere in between the others. i find it best to stick with one meter instead of making yourself crazy. pick the meter that you like the best, and just use the one you believe to be the most accurate. if you do get a wonky unexpected reading from your meter, i encourage you to re-test, and if you feel it important (which i often do when i get a strange BG#) test then against another meter.

also, eric once made a very helpful suggestion to me (arent all his suggestions helpful :wink:) : he said that i should bring my meters to my next endo visit, and when they draw my blood, test my meter against that vein blood. that blood sample will be the most accurate of all and will give me the best idea for which meter is for me.

hope this helps, and best of luck with your new sensor. currently i am on my 3rd trial of the freestyle 14 day sensor. i find it a tremendous tool in figuring out how i am trending, how my basal rates are working for me, my ICRs, how i respond to different foods and then how to make corrections, etc. i bring it back into my endo next week and they download it in their office; then we review it together. i doubt very much that i will ever get another cgm. i was on the dexcom for 1.5 years (about) and i hated it. i am probably the only one who had such a miserable experience with it, though :wink: live and learn.

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Thanks! So far I haven’t even bothered testing my meter against other meters (I’m too cheap/lazy - that would require ordering strips for the OneTouch meters I have). It’s the differences between my meter and the Libre that are driving me crazy.

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I’m still here, despite what my Libre says (so far it says I’ve been low 55% of the almost 4 days it’s been recording data). It’s still reading at least 20-40mg/dL off at all times, which means all night when I’m in the 70/80s, the Libre reads 40s (or just LO). Same for fasting periods between meals. The daily graphs just look awful! I’m tempted to call Abbott tomorrow and see what they think.

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i dont think there there is ever a truly exact matching up between any of these devices. you can test from 3 different meters with the exact same drop of blood and you will get 3 different results. i think what is most important is keeping in a steady range (whatever that range is for you, personally) when i was on the dexcom, what i did find most helpful about it was that i could see whether i was going up or down and to be able to respond to that drop or rise and to learn my body’s responses to different foods. it help me set my basal rates, my bolus needs, etc. i was able to see what my body needed and when (not what other’s needed). it was an excellent tool for my education about my D. and, as excellent as the dexcom is, it is not 100% of the time in sync with finger stick meter readings. (thats why you are expected to recalibrate it from time to time).

this is not to say that the LIBRE is as good as the dex or better. just different. personally, for me, i am simply too skinny for the dexcom and do not wish to need to interact with Abbott as a vendor company for the FREESTYLE (i think that their customer service is inadequate and not worthy of my money or my time nor a company i wish to trust with regards to my body…but this is just me, and YDMV. IMHO.) i dont in any way mean to put you off. cgm’s can be very very beneficial. most Ds i know would give up their pumps rather than their cgms. i am just not one of them.

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Yeah, I can’t even rely on it for trends, unfortunately. Last night, for example, I was at 123 on meter, 109 Libre (thought it might finally be lining up). 30 minutes later, I checked before heading to bed, and Libre was in 60s. Checked with meter - 118.
Tonight, I checked before dosing a correction/bolus for a snack - 150s on meter, 100 on Libre. Checked 30 mins later before I started eating - 60s headed down on Libre, 147 on meter. :woman_shrugging:

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I really feel for you, for us the CGM is very close to actual most of the time. However, after using them for more than a year, there could be any number of reasons that your sensor isn’t close that has been discussed in the thread above. CGM’s aren’t perfect tech.

I will tell you that after a few months of every other week insertions, we got much better at them over time, as well as having a chance to try different places on the body and found for us that the back of the arms works best. But we only found this out after trying a bunch of other places.

I would definitely call Abbott and try and get another one, but just like every other piece of dia tech, it takes a few months of daily use to really get the hang of it.

Edit: Full disclosure, The lab I got my PhD from created the designs for the Libre back in the mid-90’s, so I am not unbiased.

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i am wondering if this problem might be connected to the particular sensor that you are wearing right now. perhaps the sensor is flawed and needs to be replaced with a fresh one. when you contact ABbott, make certain that you bring this up emphatically. request a replacement.

(and this is what brings me to my feelings about not dealing with their company: i had a miserable experience with their tech support and the rep that i was dealing with. Dexcom is an incredible company with superior, excellent customer service. they go beyond the line of duty to insure safety and confidence in their customers. i did not have this experience with Abbott. the reason i am using their 14 day trial sensor is b/c it is 100% covered by my Medicare, and even if it is off a bit, it still can be helpful. also, i am continuing to do many many finger sticks throughout the day. i am not running blindly :wink: )

i am very sorry to hear about your troubles and the frustrations you must be experiencing. again, i encourage you to call the company and speak with a rep or someone in tech support. best of luck to you. :sunny:

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Thanks, y’all. I’ll call them tomorrow, and I do still have two sensors here, so I’m planning to give this a decent trial run. It’s not like I’m testing THAT much more on my meter than normal, so it’s not much different from what I’ve been doing all along; not a problem to keep it up.

See, to me that’s just cool! I’ve seen (well, heard about) the Libre working great for some people, so I know it’s either a me thing or a sensor thing (or a bit of both?), not the system itself - I still think it’s an awesome system, even if it ends up not working out for me.

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@Pianoplayer7008, I agree with @Chris, I think you should definitely call Abbott on it. There are three reasons imho:

  • your signal is really awful if it’s low non-stop

  • we have not had good reports of Abbott Customer Service, so testing this further is important. In particular, will they replace it? Dexcom certainly would.

  • I am a cheapskate. So I would still use this sensor for another few days, but compensate in my head for the average error (although some of the random use certainly use the ReliOn, but I don’t think much of the bias). So this way you’ll get a few more days if you get another sensor.

I’m hoping they’ll replace it since it is low nonstop. Even when it’s been close to the ReliOn, it’s still always lower.

That’s what I’m planning to do. I even ran out for a quick errand today with just the reader in my pocket rather than taking all my d supplies because I knew to just add 20-30 to the readings to keep an eye on it while I was gone (I did test with my meter before leaving to make sure I was in range). Not something I would make a habit of, for sure, but it worked out for that.

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i totally understand what you are saying; i am lazy too. but it might help you to feel more comfortable to see if you have either better results with similar BG #s or if the Libre is still very much off. it will just give you a little more info that could ease your mind and will help you to make a decision about the sensor. maybe you need to try a diff sensor and/or change your site location. sometimes that will work out for you. but as i have said before, call Abbott customer support and report the problem ASAP. they should replace the sensor for you (or they should!!!) you paid for a working sensor; if it is not working, that is their responsibility.

i use to have endless problems with my dexcom and their customer service/tech support always replaced sensors without ever making a fuss. they would ask several questions (i suppose to gather info about their product, etc) but after that they would say “thank you for using Dexcom” and then we would hang up. and, if i requested it, they would FedX me the new sensor overnight.

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I just got off the phone with Abbott - they asked several questions, then emailed me an ereplacement card to take to the pharmacy for a new reader and sensor. :slightly_smiling_face: LOL hopefully their major misspelling of my name won’t cause an issue at the pharmacy - Analisa is a new one…

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A new “reader”? That is very strange.

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Hey Analisa!

This might stick :slight_smile:

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Some of our Dexcom sensors aren’t so hot either, but many of them remain spot-on most of the time, or we can bring them back to spot-on. So I think you can’t really know until you have gained some experience with it. I would not lose hope at this time, not at all.

We are also much better at getting good numbers than we used to be. We are much better at insertion, at keeping the sensors on, and at calibration you don’t care about that, obviously).

(edit) just noticed @Michel’s post… Analisa!

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@daisymae, I have read several times about your problems with the Dexcom. I have always wondered if it was not in part due to technique: we found out that technique is a big part of what makes our present Dexcom experience good. We have learned a lot from many people here, and have become quite proficient ourselves.

Do you think it might be worth trying it out again, with the benefit of this community? We have a lot of wikis already on Dexcom, and I’d be glad to write up more info on areas that you need, if you’d like to try again. I know that without forum support our Dexcom results would not have been very good.

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I thought so, too, but the letter reads “Freestyle Libre Reader and Sensor” all in the same slot on the order.

It’s not the worst internet alias. :wink:

I’m hoping when I switch to a new sensor, I’ll have more luck. Time will tell!

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i would consider it, yes. but i no longer think my health insurance would cover it. i already own both the G4 and the G5 receivers, so i would only need to pay for a transmitter and sensors. but i truly dont mind finger-sticking it throughout the day. (my finger tips mind, though :wink: )

i will discuss this with my endo. maybe i could do a trial run for 2 weeks or so and see how it goes. and as a swimmer, i like that its water-proof!! (as opposed to the Libre which is not)

thanks for putting the suggestion out there for me. i do get jealous that there are so many of you FUDs who benefit tremendously from it.

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Really too bad if that’s the case

If it works out, if you let me know the procedures you need, I could document them as well as I can, and the other members on the forum can complete what I write (I’ll make it a wiki)!.

I hope you can make it happen!

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