The Freestyle Libre

Hi, 

In this blog I'll be talking about the new blood glucose machine called the Freestyle Libre. 

The Libre is a machine that tests your blood glucose levels without having to constantly draw blood from the finger. 

The Libre consists of a reader and two sensors, each sensor lasts two weeks. You first apply the sensor anywhere on your body that you find comfortable, then whenever you want to test your glucose level you simply swipe the reader at least 4 cm away from the sensor and it will give you your levels for the past eight hours. This is a very good feature because it enables you to see trends and also allows you to see wheather you are going up or down, assisting you with judging the dosage of insulin. 

I particularly like the Libre because it means that I can experiment with foods and insulin dosage to get the perfect combination allowing me to play my sport at my perfect level, meaning I can perform at the best of my ability. At first I thought that the sensor would be fragile and somewhat painful to apply and take off. However the application of the sensor was painless and extremely easy. I could not feel a thing when the sensor was applied. Many people think that because of the sensor it will limit them to being able to participate in contact sports however this is not true as the sensor is extreemily versatile.

If you have any questions about the Freestyle Libre please do ask me. 

Thanks.

Introducing myself.

Hi, my name is Jack White. 

Im a 15 year old student currently studying towards my GCSEs. I play a lot of sports at a high level including Hockey and Tennis. I was diagnosed with type one diabetes when I was 8 years old and have been experimenting with many different treatments and diets to see if there is any improvement or change. I've also been doing a lot of work to help raise money for JDRF which is an amazing charity that does a lot of  good work to help raise awareness and invest in research. 

I will be exploring treatments, diets, blood glucose devices, insulins and also the effects of stress and sport in the following blogs to come. 

Firstly, i have tried lots of diets including the 'Paleo diet' and 'Raw food diet'. Admittedly they weren't the easiest answer as it's incredibly hard for a teenager to give up gluten and sugar etc, especially with all the fast food that's available to us today. 

I've also been trying different treatments such as 'ultra sound vibrations,' 'homeopathic drops,' 'Chinese detoxification plasters' and recently I've been working with a 'autonomic response' practitioner that works with the five levels of healing as taught by 'Dt Klinghard' 

I'll go into more detail about all the treatments in later blogs although I found that simple things such as keeping mobile devices at least 2 metres away from you when you sleep gives off results including an increase in everyday energy, not only to diabetics but to everyone. 

As well as that I've been changing blood glucose testers to find out which one suits people best. I've been working with certain Accu-Check devices including the 'mobile' and 'Aviva expert.' 

Only recently have I started to use the Freestyle Libre which is astonishing. It's the start of the generation of contactless blood glucose devices, I shall be making a blog on the Freestyle Libre in a couple of weeks and will explain the pros and cons. 

Thanks, 

Jack.