FreeStyle Libre

I recently got the FreeStyle Libre which is a continuous blood glucose monitor.  I believe the I will get the most benefit from being able to easily see my glucose response to various foods I have been eating.  I've already noticed that I get very high glucose while in the sauna at the gym, but it comes down quickly after that.

The FreeStyle Libre is an small disk that is placed on the back of your arm with an adhesive tape.  Each disk last 14 days and is read with a meter or an iPhone app.  I have only used the iPhone app myself.  The Libre takes readings every 15 minutes and stores them for up to 8 hours.  Those readings are transferred to your meter or app when you manually take a reading.

Things I like:

  1. Ease of use - During my steak experiment I've been trying to take readings every 30 minutes after eating for 2 hours.  It's much easier with the Libre, taking just seconds. 
  2. Graphs of  your history is available for eight hours, even if you forget to measure.
  3. Average daily graphs lets you easily see how your glucose tends to change throughout the day.
  4. I just need my iPhone to take a reading.  No extra meter to carry.
Things that could be improved:
  1. Only 8 hours of history are stored on the disc.  Often I will have a gap missing when I measure in the morning, depending upon how long I slept and how closely I measured before bed and after waking.  I wish it would store 12 hours instead.
  2. While it takes reading every 15 minutes for a graph, you can't get exact numbers for any of those times, you just see the graph line.  It would be useful for figuring out just how high a particular food spiked your glucose.
  3. I have knocked two sensors off my arm early.  Both were around the 12 day mark, so the adhesive was not as strong as it was in the beginning.  I find I catch it occasionally on a wall as I walk or in a T-shirt I'm taking off.
  4. The readings don't always match my blood meter.  It seems to take a few hours for the readings to settle down after putting on a new disc.
Last 24 hours with a gap while I slept
Logbook of Manual Readings
14 Day Average Pattern 
Overall I think this is a great tool to better understand how your body reacts to different situations and I would recommend it for those trying to closely monitor their blood glucose despite the limitations.

I don't know what my next blog post will be about, but until then you can read my previous post about the Keto MinneFest Kickstarter being sold out.





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