[__jf__]

Yep the FreeStyle Libre 2 is great. I bought one a few weeks ago to satisfy my curiosity. I'm a non-diabetic. It was around EUR 70 including shipping and lasted exactly 2 weeks. Sensor insertion was easy, quick and painless. 1-minute resolution with 8 hour memory between swipes. Curiosity satisfied!

[SirensOfTitan]

I bought a Libre 3 a couple weeks ago—I’m not diabetic, but there is some early Alzheimer’s in the family that might be related to diabetes.

…so far, I’m finding it wildly inaccurate. It shows trends well enough, but blood glucose is anywhere from 0-40 mg/dL off from a finger prick test depending on the day. I couldn’t imagine relying on this thing as a diabetic.

[wpietri]

Did you learn anything from the 2 weeks of data? E.g., did it inspire dietary changes?

[__jf__]

I was primarily struck by the awesomeness of this whole autonomous glucose regulation thing. My last meal is usually around 18:30 in the evening and during the night glucose would fluctuate around 4.5 mmol/l between 4.0 and 5.0 in 1 hour periods, like a crappy PID controller that needs a firmware update. Other nights it would be flat instead of fluctuating, but unfortunately two weeks were too short for a controlled experiment, meal repeats and figuring out what caused the difference. Some nights it would show a couple of hypo's where glucose would drop to 3.5, quickly to be countered by an increase. I didn't notice a thing.

Additionally every morning before my alarm went off, I could see my glucose increasing, most likely preparing for wakeup, all by itself. Amazing!

It gave me a new-found respect for these otherwise invisible processes happening in this fleshy vessel on autopilot with closed cockpit doors. I only got to peek through a small window during 2 weeks.

[beardface]

Now imagine having that entire responsibility yourself, having to do it all manually. That's what we type 1 diabetics do every day!

The nighttime fluctuations could be legit changes in glucose level, but could also be weird sensor issues. The sensor will often give low readings when lying on it in your sleep. These are referred to as 'compression lows'.

The morning glucose spike you noticed is called the 'dawn phenomenon'. I inject a little insulin every morning to counteract it.

[notshift]

For me, I found that sleep quality was correlated with my blood sugar levels dipping too low during sleep (which I was able to address by eating fewer low quality carbs during the day).

In general you'll be able to basically see in real time the glycemic impact of all the foods you eat. Which would probably be helpful to a lot of people - you can find all the info online, but having the physical real time stats in front of you makes a difference.

But mostly its what you'd expect. High carb, fast digesting meal -> blood sugar spikes, then drops in accordance with you feeling tired afterwards. Eat keto -> blood sugar is mostly stable.

[lozenge]

There's a startup that combines a 2 week FreeStyle sensor with some blood tests, online courses and other things aimed at improving your diet.

https://joinzoe.com/

Now that I know how little the sensor costs, I would say that's definitely the better option...

[benguillet]

Where did you get one?

[notshift]

I think they might have been able to get one because they're in Europe, while in the US it requires a prescription. But you can just find a doctor who will prescribe one for you. (You will still have to pay out of pocket regardless).

Could be wrong on the above but that's been my understanding/experience.

[__jf__]

I ordered directly on Abbott's FreeStyle website.