First things first I must say that in my 44 years as a Type 1 diabetic here in the USA I have never once had a pharmacist even offer to assist me with my diabetes. I did once have a pharmacist dispense a bottle of Humalog when my prescription called for a bottle of Levemir. When I got home and informed him of his error over the phone he said, "Thank goodness it was you, most diabetics would not have even noticed the error!" Anyway, having a pharmacist weigh in on diabetes management is a real first for this American and all I can say is Canadians are fortunate if this is the norm! That said this is an excellent introductory video on the Libre system. Far better than the info provided online by Abbott the manufacturer of the system. Thanks to you both! I was one of the first people in the US to do home blood glucose monitoring and have been testing via finger sticks since 1980. As I suffer from an extremely unstable of Type 1 diabetes there have been periods when I take in excess of 20 bG tests a day. I once ran the numbers through a calculator and I think it worked out to in excess of 160,000 bG tests! Given the calluses that have formed on my fingertips I sometimes have to prick my finger 3-4 times to get a large enough drop so if someone told me I'd stuck my fingers 200,000 times I would believe it. Given that I must say that in the 3 weeks that I have been using the Libre 2 CGM system it has been a real pleasure to have been able to "scan" rather than "stick!" While fairly expert at managing my diabetes I am new enough at using the Libre 2 to still be on the learning curve. Overall I have been impressed with the ease of use and my first sensor was generally accurate to within 10% of the my glucose meter reading, with occasional lapses to 20%. Sadly my second sensor is often 20/30 % low when compared to my Bayer Contour Next readings. That said as you no doubt realize using a glucose monitor to assess the accuracy of a CGM system is a bit like measuring the distance from Montreal to Vancouver with your car's odometer and then re-driving the same route in your wife's car to check the accuracy. In other words which odometer is more accurate? Or, worse yet, is either one of them accurate? A few years ago I contributed articles on diabetes management on the Internet and I talked 3 meter manufacturers into each supplying me with 2 of their meters and 500 test strips. My plan was to conduct a 4 week comparison test of the 3 systems in an effort to determine which was the most accurate. The test was aborted at the end of the first week when it became apparent to me that all 3 meter systems were commonly returning results that were as much as 30/40% off! Today's glucose monitoring systems have improved somewhat but they still leave much to be desired when it comes to accuracy. For what's probably the most thorough study of meter accuracy ever conducted check out the Diabetes Technology Society's tests at www.diabetestechnology.org/surveillance.shtml. In all fairness it's hard to fault the Libre's accuracy when judged against the equally inaccurate glucose monitors available. The real benefit of the Libre 2 is that when bG starts to get unstable you can keep quite close tabs on it by taking readings frequently! This is particularly valuable following meals when the amount and timing of preprandial insulin has been difficult to assess. It also allows frequent monitoring during exercise and as an active outdoorsman I am able to keep close tabs on bG while cycling, climbing, kayaking, etc. The two areas where I would most like to see improvement are 1)better accuracy and 2)more notational options and the ability to modify notes for longer than 15 minutes. At age 75 I have developed the infamous forgetfulness of old age and I sometimes forget to record insulin dose, meals, exercise, etc. By the time I realize my error it's too late. I'll close by thanking you both for this excellent video. Much appreciated and I shall recommend it to others.
First things first I must say that in my 44 years as a Type 1 diabetic here in the USA I have never once had a pharmacist even offer to assist me with my diabetes. I did once have a pharmacist dispense a bottle of Humalog when my prescription called for a bottle of Levemir. When I got home and informed him of his error over the phone he said, "Thank goodness it was you, most diabetics would not have even noticed the error!" Anyway, having a pharmacist weigh in on diabetes management is a real first for this American and all I can say is Canadians are fortunate if this is the norm! That said this is an excellent introductory video on the Libre system. Far better than the info provided online by Abbott the manufacturer of the system. Thanks to you both! I was one of the first people in the US to do home blood glucose monitoring and have been testing via finger sticks since 1980. As I suffer from an extremely unstable of Type 1 diabetes there have been periods when I take in excess of 20 bG tests a day. I once ran the numbers through a calculator and I think it worked out to in excess of 160,000 bG tests! Given the calluses that have formed on my fingertips I sometimes have to prick my finger 3-4 times to get a large enough drop so if someone told me I'd stuck my fingers 200,000 times I would believe it. Given that I must say that in the 3 weeks that I have been using the Libre 2 CGM system it has been a real pleasure to have been able to "scan" rather than "stick!" While fairly expert at managing my diabetes I am new enough at using the Libre 2 to still be on the learning curve. Overall I have been impressed with the ease of use and my first sensor was generally accurate to within 10% of the my glucose meter reading, with occasional lapses to 20%. Sadly my second sensor is often 20/30 % low when compared to my Bayer Contour Next readings. That said as you no doubt realize using a glucose monitor to assess the accuracy of a CGM system is a bit like measuring the distance from Montreal to Vancouver with your car's odometer and then re-driving the same route in your wife's car to check the accuracy. In other words which odometer is more accurate? Or, worse yet, is either one of them accurate? A few years ago I contributed articles on diabetes management on the Internet and I talked 3 meter manufacturers into each supplying me with 2 of their meters and 500 test strips. My plan was to conduct a 4 week comparison test of the 3 systems in an effort to determine which was the most accurate. The test was aborted at the end of the first week when it became apparent to me that all 3 meter systems were commonly returning results that were as much as 30/40% off! Today's glucose monitoring systems have improved somewhat but they still leave much to be desired when it comes to accuracy. For what's probably the most thorough study of meter accuracy ever conducted check out the Diabetes Technology Society's tests at www.diabetestechnology.org/surveillance.shtml. In all fairness it's hard to fault the Libre's accuracy when judged against the equally inaccurate glucose monitors available. The real benefit of the Libre 2 is that when bG starts to get unstable you can keep quite close tabs on it by taking readings frequently! This is particularly valuable following meals when the amount and timing of preprandial insulin has been difficult to assess. It also allows frequent monitoring during exercise and as an active outdoorsman I am able to keep close tabs on bG while cycling, climbing, kayaking, etc. The two areas where I would most like to see improvement are 1)better accuracy and 2)more notational options and the ability to modify notes for longer than 15 minutes. At age 75 I have developed the infamous forgetfulness of old age and I sometimes forget to record insulin dose, meals, exercise, etc. By the time I realize my error it's too late. I'll close by thanking you both for this excellent video. Much appreciated and I shall recommend it to others.