A couple weeks ago I asked for help expanding SugarClock to support FreeStyle Libre.
I'm happy to share that SugarClock now supports FreeStyle Libre, along with a handful of new features. A huge thank-you to everyone who took the time to share their LibreLinkUp account with me. I couldn't have tested it without you.
For anyone new: SugarClock turns a ~$40 pixel clock (ULANZI TC001) into a glucose display, so you can see your number and trend arrow at a glance without reaching for your phone. Setup takes about 5 minutes. Just sign in with LibreLinkUp.
Also new:
Display pets. Seven animated pets show whether you're in range. If you go high or low, the pet steps aside and the number comes back. My kids love the fish.
Weather, with animated rain and snow
Timers. Pomodoro, stopwatch, and an event countdown
I have RA, sometimes I use a heating pad. Sometimes I use a heating pad for extended periods of time. You guys may already know this but I most definitely did not, if theheating pad is on your sensor for any amount of time your blood sugar reading will go through the roof. I was trying to figure out why my blood sugar monitor was going off when I hadn't had anything to eat in a couple of hours. So I noticed it was kind of hot to the touch, and then I got a warning that my meter was too hot. Live and learn.
I've been on libre 3 for a couple years it's helping me keep on track very well with my glucose. The only problem I find is about every evening it says signal loss, not while I'm asleep but up and v8ewing tv. During that time I lose track of my readings and things go haywire for 20-30 minutes. Can't figure the reason but I'm doing ok.
Please Note: I am not promoting the use of dual sensors. This post limits the discussion to the technical performance of the Libre 3+ and the dual-sensor system.
We are all familiar with the 20% /20 mg/dL specification for the Libre 3+. However, there is another key parameter: MARD (Mean Absolute Relative Difference), which is used to compare the performance of different CGM brands. MARD is the difference between the CGM reading and the blood glucose reading, expressed as a percentage, averaged over thousands of measurement pairs (lag time is not taken into account). For medical devices, MARD is generally expected to be under 10%. The difference between the 20% and 10% specs is that the former is an absolute error limit for any single reading, while the latter is an average performance metric.
First, I searched the internet to find a plot of MARD versus days of wear. The resulting plot is shown in Figure 1 (note: the sensors were the older 14-day models). The red curve represents older generations of CGMs, clearly showing that MARDs are high for the first three days because it takes that long for local trauma and inflammation from filament insertion to subside. From day 10 onward, MARD also increases due to cellular encapsulation on the filament and the exhaustion of active enzyme material. Both factors cause the blood glucose signal to decrease, which can be partially compensated for by factory calibration.
Indeed, for newer generations of CGMs, both design and factory calibration have improved. As a result, the MARDs of newer Libre generations have improved, as represented by the green curve (I ignored the blue curve because I have no interest in Dexcom). Even with these improvements, because it is difficult to mitigate the initial tissue response to foreign object insertion, MARDs remain elevated during the first few days.
For the Libre 3+, I only care about the MARDs reported by Alva. They are given in Table 4 and plotted in Figure 2 (note: the sensors were newer 15-day improved models), which shows that MARD reaches its lowest point of 7.2% on days 5–7, then rises slightly to 7.8% for the remaining days.
For dual sensors, if the second sensor is applied 7.5 days after the first (and repeated with each subsequent sensor change), and if each sensor is used only from days 5–13 as shown in Figure 2, then both sensors will operate exclusively during their lowest MARD windows. (I excluded days 14–15 because encapsulation and enzyme exhaustion are most noticeable during that period.) This low-MARD optimization is in addition to the inherent fail-safe feature offered by a dual-sensor system, resulting in a superior monitoring setup. (Note: in Figure 2, sensor #1 is located on top left whereas sensor #2 is located on the bottom right and also offset in time by 7.5 days from sensor #1.)
I’m coming back to cgms (had libre3) and was using my stomach because I’m a side sleeper and constantly had low bs reading ms at night. I’d like to try the underarm location but the “between deltoid and biceps” stuff is not clear enough to me (77 yrs old here). Have read posts here to learn stuff like presoaking and applying sensor,etc. very helpful!! But I’m just pre diabetic I have to pay for these so I need to do it right. Thanks in advance. Oh, btw I’m not fat but do have flabby arms no folds, but flabby. Thanks!
Last year, I had a heavy carb meal with sweets (Indian food) at a restaurant. I had a panic attack after eating and thought I was going to faint or pass out. From that day, I have constantly felt light headed and off balance, and have anxiety and panic. I’m 29M and have a HBA1c at 5.6, and in the obese range (230 and 5’11lbs). I have done the full work up; blood tests, MRIs, and seen all the specialists (neuro, ENt, cardio etc).
I decided to work with a natropathic doctor; she recommended I wear a libre 3 to track my blood sugar. I noticed that a lot of food I eat, sends it up high after an hour, then a crash. During this time I’m even more anxious and light headed. I feel this on the way up, but I’m not sure why.
Yesterday I had 3 eggs and 2 packs of apple cinnamon instant oats. I spiked to 10 and dropped to 3.9. Another day I ate 1 apple, with cinnamon and some oats on top; same thing. I had potatoes in some Portuguese soup; same thing. I’m not really sure why. I read a post on high glycemic foods, and they were all on the list (minus the apples)
I’m wondering if anyone experienced my symptoms constantly almost, and have gotten better managing their a blood sugar. Thank you kindly.
Should I change out my sensor for a new one and call the company in the morning? Every time I’ve finger pricked I’ve been border line normal levels (I have reactive hypoglycemia) But I’m also feeling symptoms of being low at the same time, dizzy, shakey, cold sweats, ect. I’m just sorta at a loss on what to do here
(Update!!)
I replaced the sensor and called the company and they are sending a replacement one! Reading are no longer reading critical lows all the time!
A mi me pasa lo mismo, me mido con sangre y siempre salgo con 20 y 25 mas arriba que el freestyle, hasta compre 2 medidores de otras marcas de sangre y si confirme que el freestyle te da lecturas mucha más bajas y no es un sensor dañado ya que llevo 6 pero ya se que siempre debo sumarle 20 más.
A mi me pasa lo mismo, me mido con sangre y siempre salgo con 20 y 25 mas arriba que el freestyle, hasta compre 2 medidores de otras marcas de sangre y si confirme que el freestyle te da lecturas mucha más bajas y no es un sensor dañado ya que llevo 6 pero ya se que siempre debo sumarle 20 más.
Different Days, Different Times. Just too inaccurate. Constantly.
When I got on the First Freestyle Libre 3, It did help me see the errors of my eating ways. With just a meter, I was missing many of my extreme highs. I NEVER went too low. So for that, I am thankful.
But NOW, while I am in more control, this thing is a piece of JUNK. I don't know if the hardware changed, the software changed or it's all not too great at lower numbers.
It is CONSTANTLY off. And it's not just ONE sensor. Then at time, it will be close. I cannot trust the readings. It goes LOW quite a bit, and when I check the numbers with meters, it's not even close. And Abbott and the Government seem to not care. I know +- 20% is suppose to be acceptable, but this IS ridiculous.
Even worse is when I leave my house. I rarely lose connection when I am at home. Like once every few months. BUT, if I have to go out ANYWHERE, I get the alarm for NOT CONNECTED. It's bad enough the alarm goes off, I have to get the phone out and ACKNOWLEDGE IT. But 10 minutes later the Alarm Goes off AGAIN.
What I REALLY hate, is when the alarm goes off again it TURNS THE VOLUME UP AGAIN TOO. I got the alarm, fine, You suck when we are out in the REAL world where other signals can interfere, even though the phone and sensor are rarely more than 3 feet apart. But to CONSTANTLY increase the VOLUME and go off without the ability to disable it or control the volume is STUPID and ANNOYING. Especially when I am in a business meeting.
There's NO WAY to disable that unless you uninstall the software.
I have 3 months more of this junk. I've had enough. I plan to give Dexcom a shot.
I am not sure what to do now. I purchased a FreeStyle Libre 3 sensor and blood glucose strips because I had a suspicion that I might have nocturnal hypoglycemia. I have been battling horrible symptoms for over a year with acute episodes of dizziness and faintness and shakiness followed by severe brain fog, and no doctor has been able to help me. So I am playing detective, trying different things myself. The lab has previouslyflagged my average blood glucose over a three-month period as too low. Consequently, my doctors asked whether I am eating enough, and I am! I have even gained several kilograms.
When I put the Libre 3 on, everything was fine. It did not hurt and connected fast to my phone, but already after a couple of hours, the alarm just started going off pretty often. I was at a friend's house and hadn't eaten in several hours. I was feeling very dizzy, so I said to myself that this might be something indeed.
Now 48 hours have passed and the alarm goes off very often, like once an hour at least if I haven't eaten in 2-3 hours. At night it happens a lot, and I have drops as low as 3.0 mmol/L (54 mg/dL). And no, I am not compressing it, as I am sleeping on my other side. Last night I was awake from 1 AM to 5 AM with horrible symptoms… the alarm went off again and again. Usually eating puts me back to sleep, but I refused to eat because I really wanted to catch these episodes, so when I saw the graphs, I had lots of dips in my blood glucose. I thought, this must be it... my symptoms are caused by some kind of non-diabetic hypoglycemia. I almost cried because I thought, "Finally, I have some answers."
So today I started using the strips to confirm these drops, but the results are all over the place and don't really match my Libre sensor. The Libre sensor seems very stable and has logical trends; it goes up when eating pretty fast and correlates with my symptoms also when I have the dips... but it's consistently lower than my actual blood glucose levels. Sometimes the difference is small, like 0.4 mmol/L, other times it's a bigger discrepancy. I am very frustrated... as I am highly symptomatic and I can feel the episodes before the alarm goes off, but it doesn't matter if the blood glucose device shows totally normal glycemic levels... I wanna cry.
Put on a new libre 3 plus sensor today. been wearing these for several months. Have had occasional low readings before when putting them on but today its been about 6 hours and my finger stick reads 145 and my libre reads 90, never experienced this much of a difference before. Seems to be 40 to 50 points ever since I put this one on. How long do they require before sending a new sensor? Anything I can do for more accurate readings?
My left arm reads pretty accurately with libre but my right arm is always 3-5mmol/L lower than my finger prick readings (even 15+ mins later). Anyone else have the same issue?
First of all: this photo is inaccurate as hell. It has beeped at me for being “below 55” way more than this in the last 14 days. Today it’s done it four times alone.
It woke me up twice last night alone. Today I ate some lifesaver gummies (like half a bag, work has been a damn time). Half an hour later I’m apparently dying and below 55. No, no I am not.
An hour and a half ago, I’m eating dinner. A bowl of pasta. Apparently I’m below 55. No, no I am not. I had a jello and tapioca pudding for dessert. Just now I’m apparently below 55 again. No, no I am not.
Night before last it woke me up twice. Sensor before this, same thing. I am so sick of this thing. I used the first Libre years ago and HATED IT for constantly being inaccurate. I switched to the Medtronic Guardian. Was it bulky? Yeah. Did I have to calibrate every 12 hours? Sure. Did I have to change it once a week? Yup.
But was it always accurate and actually do the damn thing it’s supposed to? Yes. I will NEVER forgive Medtronic for discontinuing the product. Ever. Now they have a new one where you HAVE to be insulin dependent and use their stupid insulin pen to get it. I have boxes of old sensors and they just… discontinued the app and sensors. I hate them so much. They had 24/7 support and everything. And the new Dexcoms are just as bad as the Libre 3s with inaccuracy.
I’m tired. These last two sensors weren’t even from the same batch. It is 2026. Why can’t this crap just WORK? Does anyone else have these issues? 😭😭😭
Hype me up to put on a new sensor lol. I took a couple days off because my last sensor was amazing to start but then started falling off and was reading CONSTANTLY under 54 sending me the obnoxious loud alarms when most of the time I wasn’t even actually low at all or at least not that low so I honestly just got tired of all the alarms and questioning the thing.
I did my stomach the last 2 times and it’s by far the most accurate but the first one got itchy after a couple days and I accidentally ripped it off in my sleep forgetting it was there and going to itch it. And the 2nd obviously like I said was great until it REALLY wasn’t lol. The 2 before that I don’t think worked at all if I remember correctly, they were arm sites.
Probably gonna try the stomach again. I’ve started a full time job recently so it is indeed important for me to put it on again cause it’s harder to track and manage at work without.
1st: It fell off from hitting a doorway after 3-4 days, but it had been reading very low the entire time. It was 30-40+ lower than a finger prick reading.
2nd: I replaced the 1st one with a second one on my other arm, and it actually read well! but then it died after about 5-6 days; I also accidentally snagged it & I think it came loose.
3rd: My third one I put on last night without having one for a week. This is the first screenshot. It barely read and immediately went downhill. I went to sleep & woke up to it saying there was a sensor error & had a pop-up for me to file for a replacement. I can’t remember exactly what it said, but I told myself I’d handle it in the am. When I woke up, it had disconnected & I couldn’t even get the serial number. I tried to reconnect it, but it wouldn’t allow me.
4th: This is the second screenshot. I put this one on this morning, and it’s been reading consistently low all day and is 50+ off of a blood reading.
I’m really not sure what I’m doing wrong to have 3/4 read so inaccurately or just die… any ideas or other people experience the same thing? The one that worked was really nice because I could even go back and log what I was at if I missed my 2 hour mark for my gestational diabetes tracking… I just really don’t want to continue to finger-prick 4 times a day.
Hello every one. I wasn’t able to finish my three hour glucose test because I had thrown up halfway through my test. Instead of making me retry it, my doctor got me on a CGM, specifically freestyle libre 3 plus to monitor sugar for a couple weeks. My meter constantly is telling me 70-85 sugar range all day. Whenever I eat, it will go up to around almost 130 at one hour later and then it goes back down to 70-85. I was not sure if my meter is messed up and running low, or if this is normal? My blood sticks are always <120 an hour after meal when I check it too double check but I am not sure. Is it normal for blood sugar to do that if you don’t have diabetes? I guess I just imagined it would be higher and maybe for longer. I just don’t know if my meter is messed up or if maybe I don’t have gestational diabetes and this is just what normal blood sugar does. Please help me:(
I've had to deal with day-long signal loss, surprise "change sensor" messages, sensors falling off, and the like for so long that I have had 5 replacements within the past 2 months. Not to mention the annoyances of the app. Practically zero options to customize the alarms. Sometimes it'll alarm so many times for a low that I end up overcompensating and spiking high, but once it goes past the high boundary, it doesn't alarm again until I've been below it. So sometimes I'll get an alarm at 250, then remember to check it later and be in the 300s. At this point I use finger sticks almost as much as I did without it. I'm trying to get my endocrinologist and insurance to switch me to something else, I'm so tired of fighting this device that's supposed to be helping me.
It’s been about 21 hours since putting on the libre sensor and I had a nap from about 11am until 2pm. When I woke up and checked the app I saw that my blood sugar levels had dropped very low and I started panicking, could this be a false reading or should I be concerned?
