Another LO this morning. Pretty sure I scanned overnight and did not act to treat the low but did lower my basal rates. I think the big culprit here is hormonal effects hitting later than expected. I’d already dropped basal rates by a bit, but dropped them an additional 30%, so hopefully that will be the end of the lows. I’ll definately be ordering a MiaoMiao this wee!
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I’ve been using the Libre for a week and though I’d update with some of my thoughts so far about how it compares to the Dexcom G4/G5.
Overall, I am really enjoying the Libre. I like the sensor much better than the Dexcom sensor. It’s circular and flat and doesn’t seem to jostle around as much as the Dexcom sensor did. Maybe because of that, it also sticks much better. I’ve been wearing it for a week, and there are no signs of the tape even starting to peel up. It is stuck as firmly as the day I inserted it, and that’s through showers and heat.
Speaking of showers, one of the best things about the Libre is that showers don’t mess up the sensor. There’s no ??? to deal with. I can scan immediately after getting out of the shower and get readings. Sometimes the Dexcom would be out for half an hour after exposure to water.
I really like that there are no alarms. You don’t realize how much those grate on your nerves day after day until they are gone. I do miss alarms overnight. I have spent a majority of overnights high or low because of the lack of alarms. I will be getting the MiaoMiao just for overnight use. But during the day, I check enough that I really do not need alarms. (It’s also neat that I can see how often I scan the reader; an average of 36 times a day for this first week.)
The first 48 hours of the Libre seemed to be 2 mmol/L off my blood sugar. It had me worried, but once those first 48 hours passed, the Libre has usually been within 0.5 mmol/L of my meter and sometimes within 0.1 mmol/L. I was testing throughout the day for the first few days, but I’ve tested only once or twice a day lately.
The Libre seems to respond to changes in blood sugar much faster than the Dexcom did. Sometimes the Dexcom took an hour to show any changes from meals I ate, and the Libre shows changes immediately. Same with recovering from lows. The Dexcom sometimes would show 30 minutes of low blood sugar when, in reality, it had already come back up. The Libre shows the rise much more quickly.
Lastly, of course, is the fact that the Libre has a 14-day sensor and only a 60-minute warmup window. I’m not sure if this differs in the US, though.
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I have been on libre for about 3 months now, former Medtronics. One thing I became aware of is it is very accurate for me except for low or really high. It seems to read lower undr 80 than FS and lower on the very rare trip over 250. But other than that love it.
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Today my Libre was reading 3.9 mmol/L (70 mg/dl) and my meter read 4.1 mmol/L (73 mg/dl). So even at lower and higher levels, it’s pretty dead on so far.
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Wow Jen, thank you for this review! My Dexcom has been very wonky lately too, I am really thinking of putting the Libre on next week. I am happy to hear that the accuracy is pretty good.
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Interesting! I used to have no problems whatsoever with my Dexcom. It has steadily become less reliable over time though, and between that and the terrible customer service, hearing about your experience makes me seriously tempted to give the Libre a try at some point…
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I’ve found that the times the Libre is inaccurate, it’s almost always due to lag. For example, this morning my Libre said 4.9 mmol/L and my meter said 7.8 mmol/L. That’s pretty far off…except ten minutes later the Libre said 7.9 mmol/L. So I think it just has a lag during rapid spikes or drops, just like the Dexcom.
I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t like it as much as the Dexcom, and am surprised to say I like it more. I think it’ll be even better once I get the MiaoMiao and a new phone (right now I have to use the reader to scan, because my phone is too old for the LibreLink app).
That’s another thing I like, the reader has WAY more functionality than the Dexcom reader did. You can look back at not only the previous eight hours (which is what it shows when you scan) or the previous 24, but can also scroll back to see previous days. You can see an AGP graph, histogram, average glucose broken down by time of day, and low glucose events broken down by time of day for the previous 7, 14, 30, or 90 day period. You can also go in and look at the logbook of individual scans and other events that you’ve entered. Maybe this has changed with the newer Dexcom receivers, but on the G4 I always thought it was a bit useless that you could enter events but not see them anywhere on the receiver once they’d been entered.
For someone on MDI, the reader would be the perfect way of tracking everything especially since it’s also a glucose and ketone meter, so only one device to carry). For me, I’m looking forward to having the Libre data on my phone (in which case you don’t need the reader, except perhaps as a backup), because my phone data will also be on my phone as soon as I get my YpsoPump.
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this has been very helpful to me bc the Dexcom did not work out on my body (for a MULTITUDE of reasons).
i am in the process of being approved by Mecicare for the Libre and am very excited to hear all of your good news about its success.
thanks for sharing!!! 
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Good luck with coverage, @daisymae! I am so happy for you. I am waiting for my Ypsopump paperwork to go through and arrange a training date, so I’m also in that excited-waiting phase.
I have not been swimming with my Libre yet, but I’ll probably try doing that in a couple days. With how well it has stayed stuck through showers and exercise, I can’t imagine swimming will be a problem unless I hit it on something that rips the sensor out.
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i really hope it works out in the pool. i am going to use some skin tac beneath it before i stick it on my arm. that shouold do the trick, i hope.
my pharmacy just called and said that they ordered the reader for me. i have to pay OOP for it, but it’s only about $80 and that lasts for 3 years of coverage. not bad. certainly beats the price of all the test strips i go through. (i finger stick about 20 times each day, and my insurance covers only 10 times per day, so its very very costly) (my endo says i am my own CGM 
)
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Wow! Here the reader only costs $49, though the price just went up to $57 in many stores, except Costco, which is where I got mine for $49. That is only about $37 to $43 in US dollars, depending on if you use the cheaper or more expensive price. Seems even the Libre supplies are marked up like crazy in the US!
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everything is marked up like crazy in the US!!! 
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I just removed my first sensor, so thought I’d give an update.
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The sensor sticks very well. I literally could not start to peel the tape up, much less get it off, without using Remove (Uni-Solve). No tape-peeling at all even after two weeks of use.
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I have never seen a site that looks so good after removal! No irritation, redness, or raised marks at all. Two seconds after removal I couldn’t even tell where it had been except for the stickiness.
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I’m happy that the sensor warm-up period is only 60 minutes instead of two hours.
Also, I just ordered a MiaoMiao today (at its reduced price) so am looking forward to getting that up and running when I receive it. I plan to only use it overnight for alarms, but if it’s annoying to take on and off, then I’ll just keep it on all the time.
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So I just put my first Libre on tonight. I still have my Dexcom attached, I have a few days left on it. My son thinks I look hilarious with a dex, Libre and pod on. Lol!
i picked up the reader from CVS 2 days ago. it ended up costiong $60 US, not the original $80 that i was quoted. 
so i’ve been approved and been wearing the fsl for 4 days now. the first 2 days were full of wonky readings, but then it snapped into place and has been cosistantly 10 points higher than my meter. i am used to that already. no worries. easy enough to calculate the difference 
funny thing has been happening though; EVERY time i begin prepping for my swim, walking to the pool, getting changed into my swim suit in the locker room, swimming, and then doing everything in reverse, my fsl decides to play a game with me; i go from being extremely accurate from the day before, the night before, the evening and overnight before, the morning of, and then i start to do my insulin pump prep, and BAM, the fsl stops working. it will begin shooting upwards from normalcy to 50 points higher with an upward arrow. and by the time i get to the pool, it reads so off that theres no use in even bringing it down to the pool with me. i leave it in my locker.
it isnt till ive been back home for between 1/2 hour to 1 full hour that it gets back in sync. i think that it has a mind of its own.
anyone ever have any crazy experience like this one??? it baffles me completely.
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That sounds really strange. Does it happen before you’ve gotten into the pool? The only reason I can think of is the delay between blood and interstitial fluid. Is your BG stable during this time?
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completely. weird, huh??? 
Is the Libre water proof ? Adequate for showers? I hope so.
How do you use the Libre during sleep, if swiping, or waving the reader over the sensor to take a reading is necessary? Maybe there is something I’m not understating about the way Libre works. Dexcom is collecting information and displaying in ‘continuously’. Does the Libre also collect BG information continuously? Is the waving to display the instantaneous BG reading?
I am thinking about the Libre instead of the Dexcom. Dexcom seems bulky. The Dexcom alarms, while could be a life saver, can also be annoying.
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If the alert is not helpful, then you can change the threshold so it doesn’t happen until the BG gets farther out of range. You can turn the alerts off entirely if you’d rather have peace than protection (with the exception of the Below 55 alert, which can’t be disabled.) And you can set a day vs night schedule with less stringent alerting at night so that you sleep better while still staying out of real trouble, or you could choose less stringent alerting during the day on the assumption that you will be paying attention while you are awake. You have complete freedom to say what time day starts and what time night starts.
The current Libre isn’t intended to keep you safe by alerting you to a developing danger. It’s just intended to make it easy to check your BG whenever you feel like it. The Libre 2 is supposed to be a true CGM with alerts when it becomes available.
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