CGM Freestyle Libre3 Questions

[happily single]

I recently began wearing a CGM (Freestyle Libre 3) and its interesting to see the changes in my blood sugar. I am pre-diabetic and have no other major health issues.

During the day I am within range over 95% of the time. I will occasionally get a Low Blood Sugar Alarm or an Out of Range alarm (even if the phone is in my hands). I have a message into my PCP, but while I'm waiting for a response

I'm having issues with two things:
1. Every single morning starting at about 3am and going until 6am I got woken up with the blaring, loud Low Blood Sugar Alarm. It gives me a reading in the 50's. I clear the alarm and then it says my levels are in the "normal range".

Any tips on how to stop this from happening? I did the research and follow all the guidelines: Making sure my levels are stable before bed, having a high protein snack before bed, etc, I don't drink alcohol, etc.

2. When I do get these warnings the low reading lasts literally a minute and rebounds to normal. I'm only in my first week of wearing the device so I'm not sure if the device is faulty or just the way my body works. Is it normal to go from 100 to 54 back to 95 all within 4 minutes? I'm giving basic numbers, but this is typically what I am experiencing.

 

[lanejudy]

DD and DH both use the Libre 3+.

1. is probably positional -- how you are lying and where the sensor is located. Next time you change the sensor try adjusting the location slightly. Probably not the best option, but we've been known to turn off the alarms at night. This seemed to be an issue for DD in particular when she first started using Libre3+ but hasn't been a problem recently.

2. As noted above, it's the sensor and your position in bed. Your glucose isn't really that low -- it's a false low. If it was a real low you would not bounce back that quickly. Any time you are concerned about a reading you should test manually. I think Libre3+ is compatible with the Freestyle Precision Neo test strips. Likely insurance won't cover them but I pick up a package at Walmart for about $15.

ETA: when it gets into the lower ranges, we've found the Libre sensor runs about 10 points lower than a finger prick. For example -- the alarm goes off with a reading of 64, but a finger prick shows it's 74. That's not with the positional lows but regular readings.

 

[happily single]

DD and DH both use the Libre 3+.

1. is probably positional -- how you are lying and where the sensor is located. Next time you change the sensor try adjusting the location slightly. Probably not the best option, but we've been known to turn off the alarms at night. This seemed to be an issue for DD in particular when she first started using Libre3+ but hasn't been a problem recently.

2. As noted above, it's the sensor and your position in bed. Your glucose isn't really that low -- it's a false low. If it was a real low you would not bounce back that quickly. Any time you are concerned about a reading you should test manually. I think Libre3+ is compatible with the Freestyle Precision Neo test strips. Likely insurance won't cover them but I pick up a package at Walmart for about $15.

ETA: when it gets into the lower ranges, we've found the Libre sensor runs about 10 points lower than a finger prick. For example -- the alarm goes off with a reading of 64, but a finger prick shows it's 74. That's not with the positional lows but regular readings.

How the heck do you turn the alarm off? I was able to turn off a few other alarms, but from everything i’ve read, we were unable to turn off the low glucose alarm.

I agree with it being about 10 points lower than a finger prick. I tested myself this morning and the fingerprint was 15 points higher than the monitor.

When I change out the monitor I’ll be careful of placement and see if it is a positional thing. I do tend to flip flop from right to left side all night

 

[lanejudy]

How the heck do you turn the alarm off?

Since I am not the wearer, I use the LibreLinkUp app and under Settings I can turn on/off all alarms as well as customize the range for alarms.

DH uses the reader, and I just checked but that doesn't seem to have a Setting for Urgent Low (default is 55). Maybe we have it on vibrate or something; he rarely goes that low but when he does it's almost always his position during sleep. The reader does have settings to turn on/off the low/high/signal loss alarms and customize the level for the low/high alarms.

DD uses the Libre3 app for iPhone. She isn't here at the moment for me to look at it it, but I think we played around with it for a bit and found a "Silent Mode" that she uses at night. I'm pretty sure she either has the low/high/signal loss alarms either turned off or set to vibrate because it really flusters her to have an auditory alarm go off.