Hi there. Mom of a teenage boy with Type 1. We have been using the Libre with success but are running into problems with it staying on when my son has a long, warm shower or goes into a pool or hot tub. My impression was that these sensors were waterproof. We are not covered by insurance so it is getting expensive having to replace so frequently. Any thoughts?? Is the Dexcom better?
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The Libre is water-resistant, unfortunately not waterproof. From their site (http://www.freestylelibrepro.us/patients.html):
“Your sensor is water-resistant and can be worn while bathing, showering, or swimming as long as you:
Do not take it deeper than 3 feet (1 meter)
Do not keep it under water for longer than 30 minutes at a time”
I think there’s a thread on this by @daisymae, who tried swimming with it.
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ive had two replaced by customer service. You have to have the serial number for the sensor that falls off. sometimes they ask you to send it back.
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when i tried out the Libre sensor, i was told by the CDE that it was waterproof and that i could swim with it. i made it very very clear to her that i would be in the pool for 2 hours, 4 days a week. i didnt want there to be any miscommunications or misunderstandings. she promised me that it would be fine. so off i went. well, the first 10 days it stayed on just fine. when i went to have it downloaded, i literally had to tug it off.
i wanted to have a second go with it as i made some basal changes in my pump and wanted to get a sense of how well those changes were working for me. so, i payed OOP for the second go-'round ($300 )
the second one lasted 5 days and then fell off. i called the company and was told that in fact they were not waterproof and if they stay on longer than 4 days, that is considered ample time for my Endo/CDE to get enough info out of it (they refused to replace it). and, their tech support was as rude to me as their customer service was. i decided i did not want to deal with a company that treated me that way (also, i needed something that was indeed waterproof to accommodate my lifestyle and this was clearly not the tech for me).
daisy mae
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I’m not sure about the Libre sensors as far as water goes or whatever, but we’ve bought these patches/stickers to prolong the life of the Dexcom and have been really happy with them:
SIMPATCH Adhesive Patch for FreeStyle Libre - Pack of 30 (Tan) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078H3CWZ9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_jR-pBbZ22BR2Q
I think they’re helpful to stop the stuff from falling off.
In other news, we love the Dexcom, although fully admit it’s not perfect for hard exercise BG tracking. But for trends and the day-to-day stuff it’s helpful. And should theoretically be covered by some insurance for a T1.
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I use Simpatch on my Libre sensors; they help!
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I’ve been a grifgrip fan for a while. I used to use the 14 day libre sensors and stuff inevitably started peeling after a week or so… I found I can slap some opsite around the edges at that point if needed. If things keep peeling you can snip the peeling part with some scissors and slap more opsite on. Now I’m using enlite sensors and they’re only good for 6 days so the peeling isn’t so much of a problem.
My first line of defense would be a Grif Grip or a Simpatch. We change our Grif Grip weekly on a Dexcom and easily get two weeks out of each sensor.
If you want more “stick” than the covers allow, then consider adding SkinTac.
I’ve been meaning to get some Grif Grips for Eric to try - because the Simpatch ones look really… medical - like a giant bandaid. And the Grif Grips are so cool (c’mon, an orange rocket ship! And a navy or green or purple alien! So rad!!). But when I decided to get them we were leaving on an international trip in a couple of days so Amazon prime and the Simpatch won out.
Also, I did call OmniPod and ask if it was fine to cover the entire pod up and/or put a sticker with a strap across it (Grif Grip offers this) and they were really enthusiastic about it being fine. I wonder if the Libre would hold up to that? I believe I recall once seeing @John58 with both a Dexcom and a Libre (separately) under some Opsite or something on his arm, so I assumed it was fine. 
Yes when I was trying out the Libre I initially used SkinTac under the donut area of the sticker plus Opsite sealed over the whole shebang. Libre worked fine under that Opsite (as does Dexcom G5). I later found that a Libre with no added SkinTac or covering always stuck fine for me, never had trouble with Libre not sticking even with swimming and sweat.
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I ordered blue simpatch to use on my Libre, and it doesn’t have a cutout for it, so it covers the whole thing. I haven’t noticed any issues from that compared to when I don’t have anything on it.
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Ha! I got all excited that you’d ordered a shape. I wanted to know what cool blue shape you’d selected. Then I realized that it’s just the GrifGrips that come in rad shapes.
Dang it. I thought it was a cliffhanger. But it was just a circle. 
Life’s short. I’m ordering some tonight. Ha! The small things that make sucky things better. (I tried to come up with something more politically correct than “life’s short” - asked Eric, he then jokingly suggested YOLO, which cracked me UP!) Anyhow, Grif Grips happening soon!
LOL yes. I’m switching as soon as I’m done with this box, because I’m tired/bored with the design. It does feel like I’m wearing a big bandaid still, and the bright color only attracts more attention, which I wasn’t thinking about at the time.
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Mars Explorer Ships and Monsters ordered in plenty of colors with plenty of cut options requested (I’ve previously emailed GrifGrips customer service and they said they could do a bunch of the different cut options if asked on one pack of Grips).
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I liked the 4 pod ones pictured on the right. “View window top” vs “view window bottom” kind of reminds me of “diamond shreddies.” https://fameable.com/diamond-shreddies-rebranding-case-study/144/