Freestyle Libre: going from 10 to 14-day sensors

My haul at the pharmacy. :laughing:

Side note: looking forward to using these 14 day sensors!

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What?!? Whereā€™s the jelly beans?!? Theyā€™re supposed to make everything better!!! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Absolutely, and I need more! These were actually all for my family (I canā€™t eat any of them; different health issues), as we had family movie night tonight complete with popcorn and (obviously) lots and lots of chocolate. :yum:

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I have a Libre question - if one had sensors in their ā€œstock pileā€ and then pick up a new batch of sensors today, is there a need (or way) to know which ones are 14 day sensors? :thinking:

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Unfortunately, yes, there is a need. The reader that goes with the 10 day sensors will not read the 14 day sensors (and vice versa). As far as a way to know which ones are which - the 14 day sensor boxes will have ā€œ14 dayā€ written across them, according to my pharmacist.

The good news is, if you have a 10 day reader, all you have to do is input your name and reader serial number on the FreeStyle Libre website to get a voucher for a free 14 day reader. Just be sure your pharmacy is filling it correctly, as they tried to give (and make me pay for) another 10 day reader. :woman_facepalming:

ETA: Iā€™d love to know how you managed a stockpile, since I only get three 10 day sensors or two 14 day sensors/month. :thinking:

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Just stumbled upon this and happened to pick up my Libre prescription earlier todayā€¦ soā€”whatā€™s going on?? Is this something all Libre users need to know, or are you all talking about something else??

ETA: All Libre users in the US need to know this. Are you using the 10 day system or the (newly FDA-approved) 14 day system?

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Adding some info since this is its own thread:

If you currently use the 10 day system (in the US), go to this FreeStyle Libre page to see if you qualify for a free replacement with the 14 day reader.

It took quite a bit of work with my pharmacy to get them to put it in correctly (as in, two trips to the pharmacy being told I owed $39.99 both times), so just be firm that it should be free, because it should.

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The 10 day system

Ok, I donā€™t understandā€¦ so I picked up my prescription and have put a new sensor in my arm. Is this no longer a 10 day sensor?? And if it is not, will my current reader not read it then??

There had been zero information provided to me, so I had no way of knowing there would be any change. Is this like a rollover, or was it something you needed to initiate??

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Itā€™s a switchover you have to initiate - they donā€™t automatically switch you - so your sensors should still be 10 day sensors.

Iā€™m updating my postsā€¦apparently the pharmacy screwed up my reader fill AND sensor fill. They gave me 10 day sensors, which I just discovered are definitely incompatible with the 14 day reader - you will get an error message if you try to use a 10 day reader with the 14 day sensors, and an error if you try to use a 14 day reader with 10 day sensors.

My pharmacist said the box for the 14 day sensors is completely different and says ā€œ14 dayā€ across the top.

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All that being said, you should switch over to the 14 day system. 1 hr warmup and lasts 14 days.

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Same per sensor???

One hour warm up??

Thatā€™s sweet.

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How are you stockpiling???

I had two pharmacies fill my prescription on the same day a couple of months ago. I ended up with three extra sensors. Then I didnā€™t get around to picking up the next prescription until a month lateā€¦ back to even. :angry:

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It IS sweet! Iā€™m really excited about that, though right now Iā€™m sitting waiting on the 12 hr (going to be overnight) warmup because I ended up with this 10 day sensor insteadā€¦theyā€™re ordering the 14 day sensors for me. Apparently Iā€™m their first to switch to the 14 day system.

I want to know how you managed to trick two pharmacies into giving you the same prescription! :laughing:

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I want to know, too. I dropped off the prescription at CVS, was told they wouldnā€™t have anything until the next day, took it to Walmart, waited for them to fill it, then got a call on my way home that my prescription was ready at CVS. It felt like winning one of those mega million lottery thingsā€¦ only without all of the money. :grin:

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So Iā€™ve got 2 people in my group who do NOT like the accuracy of their Libreā€¦ They both say there may be a little improvement if you are willing to wait 24 hours before starting up the sensor, but it sounds pretty soft. One is from Australia, and one is from Belgium, and neither are impressed.

Everyone Iā€™ve talked to on the 10 day seems to be happy, for the most part, with the accuracyā€¦ Do you think itā€™s sheer coincidence? Do you think the 14 day sensor could perform differently?? I got my confirmation for the 14 day system, but now Iā€™m nervous! @Millz, what do you think?? @Pianoplayer7008?

I had great success initially putting on a sensor 24-48 hrs before starting the warmup. I still do it, but Iā€™ve now had issues with accuracy since about April. Itā€™s fortunately mostly consistent inaccuracy - just runs 15-20 below my actual BG, so I still rely on it for trends and dosing decisions (for Afrezza - I wait until I see my BG start to rise before dosing it). Before that, though, putting the sensor on in advance actually made the difference between a wacky first couple of days to spot on numbers all 10 days. It was amazing.

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@Pianoplayer7008 and @Nickyghaleb - Thanks for for all of the info about the switch over to 14 day Libre.

My husband Gregg is Type 2 and is the family Libre user (Iā€™m a Dex user and love it). This is the first monitor heā€™s tried and has been using the Libre for about 3 months (thanks to users who posted their Libre experiences here on FUD). Itā€™s pretty darn reliable and accurate for him but he said the first 24 hours can be the least accurate time for a sensor (but hasnā€™t been an issue with every sensor).

He doesnā€™t have a huge ā€œstock pileā€, just had 2 sensors left when he picked up his latest RX, which is when the question came up. Now I know the packaging is different between the 10 and 14 day sensors.

@Pianoplayer7008, thanks for the info/ link to get a new, free 14 day reader. To start getting 14 day instead of 10 day sensors, did you request the change with the Pharmacist or did your Dr have to submit a new RX?

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My Dr submitted a new prescription. Despite the prescription specifically stating 14 day sensors, they still filled with 10 day sensors, so watch out if your pharmacy is prone to missing things.

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