6/17 Benny AMPS 312 +3 175 +4 106 +5 55

[Ben&Squirrel]

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...ps-hi-2-333-4-120-5-90-9-123-pmps-134.264695/

Another interesting morning for Ben. I'm not sure what is different that is causing these curves, although obviously I'm (knock on wood) glad to see them!

He got a Freestyle Libre 2 yesterday. Unlike the Libre 1, it has alarms on it for high and low bgs. During the night, the low bg alarm came on (I had set it at 100, but you can set it at other values). I gave him some food and we all went back to sleep. No more low bg alarms went off during the night. This could be a game changer for me, because sleep is a big deal.

Hope everyone is having a good day and not being buffeted around by heat, rain, flooding, or anything else.

 

[Ben&Squirrel]

+5 is 55.

 

[Bandit's Mom]

He has been looking good the last 2-3 days! Boy did he respond to the threat of an increase.
The Libre is a great tool but it has been known to give some wonky readings, especially in lower numbers. if you get a reading that looks off, you want to cross-check that with a ear poke.

Fed a little LC at +5? Get a +6? That was quite a drop - can't tell if it was the Libre reading lower.

Both @alio and @Roxana & Henry are using the Libre right now and have found some significant differences in the readings between the Libre and a meter. You may want to check out their condos and spreadsheets just to read about that.

 

[alio]

his could be a game changer for me, because sleep is a big deal.

The alarms are awesome, especially as you are learning your cat's patterns. There is one you cannot disable, and the lowest you can set it to is 55 (the only way to stop it from going off is to disable bluetooth). If Benny starts surfing in the low 50s (according to the Libre), that alarm is going to interrupt your sleep - a lot.

The other thing that can cause a low reading is the sensor being compressed into the body - like if your cat sleeps on it, it can start reading low.

Every time so far I've tested Cinna with a meter when the Libre says he's in the 50s or lower, he has been higher. So take those lower numbers with a grain of salt and definitely check with a meter before you treat for a hypo that might not actually be there.

It's a great piece of kit, but it's definitely better for trends than raw individual numbers.

 

[Ben&Squirrel]

The Libre is a great tool but it has been known to give some wonky readings, especially in lower numbers. if you get a reading that looks off, you want to cross-check that with a ear poke.

Yes, I'm doing that, because they are definitely not identical. I've gotten fairly close readings between the Libre and the manual meter but they seem to have more variability than the manual meter. I will check out the condos and ss from the users you mentioned. If I can get a sense that the Libre is stable, I can live with it as different.

I have some testing fluid on order, as well as some manual test strips you can use with the Libre, so I'm looking forward to seeing what information I get from exploring with them.

Fed a little LC at +5? Get a +6?

Of course--you taught me to do that. He's trending a bit up.

The other thing that can cause a low reading is the sensor being compressed into the body - like if your cat sleeps on it, it can start reading low.

Every time so far I've tested Cinna with a meter when the Libre says he's in the 50s or lower, he has been higher. So take those lower numbers with a grain of salt and definitely check with a meter before you treat for a hypo that might not actually be there.

It's a great piece of kit, but it's definitely better for trends than raw individual numbers.

Thanks--this is great information! I've been testing with the regular meter at the more extreme values. I hope the Libre is usually erring on the side of being higher so that it does not increase the chance of a hypo.

 

[alio]

What I've found with the Libre is that it can take a day or so to settle down and not give readings that are all over the place. After that it is pretty predictable but occasionally still throws out some weird numbers.

For Cinna, when it reports >100 and I test with a meter, he's normally below 100. When it reports <60, checking on a meter he's normally 60-70. I'm not sure what it's like in higher ranges because Cinna was already in the blue/green zone when I started using it.

The best feature it has is the graphs, the average glucose and daily trends are what I look at. They average out all the wonky readings and can give you a good sense of what a typical day looks like.

 

[Ben&Squirrel]

What I've found with the Libre is that it can take a day or so to settle down and not give readings that are all over the place. After that it is pretty predictable but occasionally still throws out some weird numbers.

For Cinna, when it reports >100 and I test with a meter, he's normally below 100. When it reports <60, checking on a meter he's normally 60-70.

Good, I will watch this and see what the pattern might be for Ben. He's still usually at higher levels, although good in the past couple of days.

I'm not sure what it's like in higher ranges because Cinna was already in the blue/green zone when I started using it.

She has done really well! I'm hoping Benny follows in her paw-steps.

 

[Roxana & Henry]

Bhooma said it well, Libre can be super wonky. Henry is at high numbers and the higher the number the bigger the variance. I took today some really wonky readings but I no longer stress about it. As long as he is not in hypo it's all good. I always check when the Libre starts giving me lower readings. Some times the Libre will give you the occasional check glucose in 10 min message (supposedly the glucose is going down too fast up or down and it has trouble reading it). Occasionally the scanned numbers are different than the numbers downloaded. The libre gave me heart attack recently when it showed 40 and it was nowhere near that. AT was showing 138 or something. I also compared different human meters and got nowhere. They all have variances so the best is to pick one and do the ear prick when the Libre goes wonky. I do pay attention to the libre arrows - steady, going down or up fast or slow. but even those do not trust. I once did and stuffed Henry with MC and turns out it was a bad read. So when in doubt do ear prick and then make a decision.

 

[Ben&Squirrel]

Some times the Libre will give you the occasional check glucose in 10 min message (supposedly the glucose is going down too fast up or down and it has trouble reading it). Occasionally the scanned numbers are different than the numbers downloaded.

So that's what the "check again in 10 minutes" message means!

 

[Roxana & Henry]

So that's what the "check again in 10 minutes" message means!

Generally yes. It can also mean the sensor failed if you keep scanning after 10 min and you get the same message. That happened to me once. I learned that I have to put a onesie on Henry to stop him from bothering the Libre so it can last the full 14 days.

 

[Ben&Squirrel]

I also had a sensor fail; I only figured this out after a couple of days of the error message, lots of shaking my phone, deleting and reinstalling the app, etc. Good to know what the message means under normal circumstances.