Someone gave me a sample one and I want to test it against my dexcom because it is cheaper etc and eventually they are making one with alerts. Does this have to go on the arm? I heard eventually the sensionic under the skin meter will be here as well.
Do you have it and how do you like it?
Did you mean Freestyle Libre?
Yes, sorry, I had forgotten the nameš¹
This post may be helpful, comparing readings from dexcom and Libre.
Thanks, I will read that. Did you wake up and test?
Here are a couple of sites that might help.
I was part of a group who did the trials for this meter. Itās a meter you scan, donāt have to stick your fingers, you scan a āsensorā in your arm. Itās not a CGM, it does not show trends, alerts, itās not a running glucose monitor.
Yes it goes on your arm although some have had success with alternate sites I donāt use them because if I get a faulty sensor I want to be able to get a replacement from Abbott. Skintac will make sure the sensor doesnāt come off (I had a some that popped off after a few days before I started using Skintac).
I had a Blucon Nightrider Transmitter but it broke last month after less than six months of use. I just got the MiaoMiao in the mail today and it was very easy to setup and itās waterproof unlike the Nightrider. Much better customer support as well with a 1 year warranty.
The Libre sensors themselves are pretty accurate (usually within 10mg/dl of finger stick) but it varies from person to person. It does show trends but currently without a third party transmitter no alarms. The second generation with alarms just debuted in parts of Europe though. Iām overall pretty happy with it and it is more affordable than Dexcom unless you can extend your Dexcom sensors. Btw, I love the Spike app that you can use with the third party Transmitters. Itās absolutely awesome, easy to use and frequently updated with new features.
It is continuously measuring glucose values under skin, and does show trends when the sensor is scanned. But by itself does not give real time alerts.
However, it can be used with additional devices to get real time alerts, as others have posted.
What are the night rider and mia not even sure what those are? Your answer is pretty confusing thereās a lot of information here but not very much explanation of how youāre supposed to use any of the stuff or what it is. I assume they are transmitting to your phone or something like that but does the device not do that? I thought someone told me that the Libra does that itself. The reason Iām trying this is because of the new one is going to have alerts and it might be more accurate for me than dex. although I do not want to wear a sensor on my arm but I will test it out and see how it goes.
Thanks Phil and everyone. So I suppose the alerts will come into your phone when they make one with alerts? I have an older phone but I am planning to get a new one soon so I guess I will be able to use the apps needed with these other devices or with a Libre if I decide to switch to that. Iām thinking that the under skin sensor might be the best for me so I donāt have to deal with constant changing of sensors but I donāt know how I will react to having something in my body for that long either.
I believe it is a CGM actually I have seen graphs people posted it in an article posted here. As others have said you just have to use it with a different app / device. It is kind of crazy that they would make this with all this data and not give you any way of looking at it ā so you have to use the outside apps to see all of the data.
The new one is going to have alerts so I guess if it transmits to your phone you can have alerts as well like dexcom. Iām not sure if these alerts are also going to have trends and arrows which I need also.
saw this on Twitter #CGM today and thought Iād share:
Comparing xDrip calibration of FreestyleLibre via MiaoMiao, OOP which uses Abbottās algorithm to generate real time CGM and a G6.
Yes, MiaoMiao improved the outcomes a bit, but I saw the same issues across two sensors. Moral? Always understand how āgoodā your CGM source isā¦
The comments received contain some interesting tidbits, including āthermal variation under the skin drives the variability in the tiny substrate layer that houses the glucose oxidase. Itās factory calibrated to produce a number, but should be adjused based on the thermistor output as it affects the catalyst efficiency.ā (hence the reason many of us see lower than actual CGM readings when we awake)
Thanks, looks like I have alot of reading to do.
āThe FreeStyle Libre 14 day sensor automatically captures the glucose concentration in the interstitial fluid every minute. It also automatically records the glucose concentration every 15 minutes, storing that data in a rolling 8 hour log.ā
The Nightrider and MiaoMiao are third party transmitters that are not approved by the FDA or other regulatory agencies. They send the BG readings every 5 minutes to your phone so that you can get alarms when your BG goes out of range. They run from $150-200 which is why I was disappointed that the Nightrider broke so quickly.
The scanner that is meant to be used with the Libre sensors works by swiping the scanner over the Libre sensor in order to get your BG reading as well as a graph of the last 8 hours and a trend arrow. There is a Libre app out now that does the same thing but I havenāt used it.
The Libre does not independently transmit any readings to a phone or the reader and the second generation Libre which is only available in parts of Europe right now does not work exactly like a full CGM either. It will ring when your BG goes high or low but you will still have to scan the sensor in order to find out what your BG is.
Hmm sounds like a pain having to scan it. And an 8 hour graph is not enough. I need trends as well, not simple alerts. I guess Dex is best for me for now but Iāll try this.
So the 3rd party transmitters do the scanning and allow the sensors to function real-time with a phone app like I am used to with Dexcom receiver? Trends, arrows, graphs are then limited by the app capability?
Good to hear cause thereās no way Iām going to set an alarm clock to wake me several times each night.
Yes and in my experience there isnāt much the apps canāt do. Currently the Spike app (itās only for iOS phones) that I use has about 6 different alarms with many customizations available like different alarms for the time of day to whatever sounds you want them to make AND frequency. They just added glucose predictions along with the arrows, graphs, etc.
Abbott is coming out with the Freestyle 2 - will have Bluetooth and alarms. Will be same price as the Libre 1 . Not in North America as of yet 