Why is my freestyle libre inaccurate
FreeStyle Libre Accuracy Issue / 6 Tips For Accurate Sensor Readings
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are your freestyle library sensor
readings off and are you getting tired
of constantly checking the blood sugar
and comparing the sensor readings to the
readings from the glucometer
then keep watching because in this video
i'm gonna share with you six tips
on how you can immediately improve your
library sensor readings accuracy
let's go
[Music]
hey welcome back to my channel if you're
new here my name is tom
i've been type 1 diabetic for over 30
years and on this channel
i help you navigate your diabetes
journey so let's talk about my six
favorite tips on how to
improve accuracy of freestyle brace
sensor readings
you can start executing these tips right
now and they will not cost you anything
because you don't need to purchase any
additional supplies
any courses or any other nonsense like
that
these tips are absolutely free of charge
just as everything else that i share
with you on this channel
so if you haven't yet make sure you
subscribe and click the little bell
button so you'll get notified any time i
release a new video
guys please keep in mind i'm not a
medical professional and everything i
share here is not medical advice
what i share here is my personal
experience and what helped me
improve the accuracy of my library
sensor readings
and if you are really struggling with
the libre sensor accuracy
then make sure you watch the whole video
because i sorted my tips
from the little ones to the most
powerful ones that a lot of users don't
know
and that might save you quite some money
especially if you self-fund
freestyle library sensors my most
favorite tip number six
is don't expect your library sensor to
always give you exactly the same reading
as your glucometer because no testing
device is 100
accurate all the time really no sensor
and no glucometer is 100
accurate so every sensor and every
glucometer
will give you slightly different reading
from what you would get
if your blood was sent to a laboratory
for a blood sugar test
the rule of thumb is that each
glucometer or sensor
can be up to plus minus 15 percent off
that's the margin of error within
which not only freestyle library sensors
but also glucometers are calibrated
so if your glucometer reads 122 and your
library is 90
your actual blood sugar might be
somewhere in between
for example 104 and in this example both
libre and glucometer would be 15
off just in a different direction my
most favorite tip number five
is keeping in mind that the sensors are
taking readings from interstitial fluid
and these readings are approximately 10
minutes delayed
from what the actual blood sugar is so
during the times when your blood glucose
is rising or falling
quickly for example after eating or
taking insulin
the difference between sensor and
glucometer can be even higher than the
15
that i just talked about because the
information your sensor gives you
is 10 minutes old when the glucose
levels are rising quickly
sensor readings may be lower than the
blood glucose levels
and when the glucose levels are falling
quickly
sensor readings may be higher than the
actual blood glucose levels
my most favorite tip number four is to
avoid certain beauty products medication
and temperature changes abbott
specifically says that products which
include these two things
i have no idea how to pronounce them but
i know that they are included in certain
skin care products
might negatively impact accuracy of
readings
a number of freestyle library users also
reported inaccurate readings after
taking medication like ibuprofen
or paracetamol some users even argued
that vitamin c might negatively impact
accuracy of sensor readings as you know
and as i always remind you i'm not a
doctor
so please take these experiences from
other library users with a grain of salt
as something to consider but not as a
strict scientific
fact now if you go to sauna or take cold
showers
you might have noticed that these rapid
temperature changes
have negative impact on the sensor
readings usually when the sensor is
exposed to very high temperature like in
sauna
it will give you higher readings and
when it's in a very low temperature
in a cold shower or when you swim in a
cold water
it might give you slightly lower
readings so consider not making any
treatment decisions based on the sensor
readings right after getting out of that
sauna
or right after getting out of that cold
shower my most favorite tip number three
is stay hydrated we are all recommended
to drink at least two liters of water
every day
and since the sensor takes readings from
interstitial fluid if you don't drink
enough
there's just not enough interstitial
fluid to take the reading from
makes sense right so stay hydrated
my most favorite tip number two is
sensor calibration
and guys this is not something that the
manufacturer tells you to do
and i don't advise you to that either
unless you know exactly what you are
doing so how does the calibration
work well basically you tell a
third-party app on your phone
what your blood glucose from a
glucometer is at certain point in time
and the app compares the data from
glucometer
to the data coming from the sensor and
if these two numbers are different
the ad will calibrate any future
readings from the sensor to closer match
the blood sugar readings from the
glucometer to calibrate your freestyle
library sensor
you need a third-party transmitter for
your library such as miami-2
and a third party app on your phone the
most common apps that users
use are xtrip plus tomato or glim
and i will include the links of both the
third party transmitter and the third
party ads that i just mentioned
in the video description for you to
check i was thinking of making a
separate video to show you how exactly i
calibrate my sensor
so please let me know in the comments
below if this is something you would be
interested in
or just give me a thumbs up or thumbs
down to indicate whether this is
something
you would want to see in the future on
my channel and now let's get to my
number one
favorite tip for freestyle library
accuracy
you see sometimes we all follow all the
manufacturer instructions and
recommendations
sometimes you might even follow all the
tips that i just gave you
but your sensor might still give you
inaccurate readings
and the reason might be quite simple
just because the sensor is faulty
you know sometimes it happens sensor is
faulty and all these instructions
all these tips will not work anyway and
if that's the case
you are definitely entitled to get a
free replacement from abbott
the manufacturer of freestyle libre this
process follows the terms and conditions
that might be slightly different from
each country
but let's look at the extracts from
these terms and conditions
for uk for example in the uk the
paragraph 20 of terms and conditions
says
that if during the 14-day period it
becomes clear
that your sensor is not fit for its
intended purpose
and develops a fault you are entitled to
reject the faulty sensor that you have
received
and receive a refund or require abbot to
replace the faulty sensor free of charge
this is what we're talking about here
this is what we probably want to get
if our sensor is faulty we want to get a
free replacement
in those cases you should contact about
customer caroline
to report the issue if you are
requesting a replacement you typically
need to prove
that your readings were outside of
certain margin of error range that might
be slightly different for every
country and the overall rules might be
slightly different for every country so
i will include
links to the major countries freestyle
libre websites
where you can check the exact terms and
conditions for your specific country and
what exactly you need to do
to request a replacement guys the tips i
mentioned here are applicable to
all freestyle brand models if you're
using freestyle library 2 which is the
second generation
you might have noticed a slight
improvement in the accuracy especially
on the first day of the sensor life
with freestyle library 2 abbott was also
able to reduce the lag
between the sensor readings and blood
sugar readings from glucometer from 10
to 5 minutes so that sounds really
promising i would be curious
is freestyle library 2 already available
in your country
and what country are you watching me
from let me know in the comments below
what country you are watching from and
what model of
freestyle libre you are currently using
by the way i recently went through a
four week challenge where i compared
readings from freestyle library 1
and freestyle library 2 to readings from
glucometer
if you want to see how freestyle library
2 did compared to
libre1 and a glucometer click on the
video here and watch that video
or click here to watch another video of
mine
thank you for watching and i will see
you in the next taipan talks video
ciao