My Abbott FreeStyle Libre Journey | Review and Experience

I can no longer remember when I was diagnosed with diabetes –it’s been that long. And if you’d ask, Yes, I wasn’t monitoring my glucose levels back then. I would only visit my doctor whenever I would be available. My mom also has diabetes and she would prick my finger to check my glucose and push me to go see the doctor together with her. After getting the list for my meds, I buy them, take them religiously and that's it. I am such a lazy lady and stubborn. And as they say, there will come a time when you'll reach a certain age when you will finally want to be physically active, eat and be healthy. It was June 2019 when my husband and I made a decision to enroll in a fitness club so we can live more actively and healthier and be able to cope with our little boy's growing up needs. Everything was going well, our weight started to drop slowly, we still ate what we wanted but in moderation. In short, we were changing our lifestyle and  I was also improving on my dancing skills J We went to visit mom and she would still randomly prick me to check my glucose and she was so happy that I was on track.

2020 came and until now we are still in a pandemic situation, we can't visit mom and she can't visit us too. The fitness club needed to close, and we are just doing some physical activities at home but sometimes we feel too lazy to move because we are working during the night shift. And because we are at home, food is life! We actually have a weighing scale to check that we don’t go back to our previous weights before this fitness journey. Everything was good but I wasn’t sure about my glucose levels – I just took medicine. 

With all these happening, I was able to try a product from Abbott making diabetes management easier. Abbott was very generous in terms of educating me about the product through an onboarding session for them to explain what the new product is all about. 

The new product I am referring to is the FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring system. I am sharing with you the benefits and things we need to know about FreeStyle Libre. 

The Experience:

When the sensor was finally attached to the back of my upper arm, I was a bit cautious that it might fall. Every time I move, I had to check the sensor from time to time. It is true, it stays even when taking a bath so unless it is removed with force, the sensor will stay on your arm. (Here's a tip, wash the area of your arm first with plain soap and let it dry before attaching the sensor.)

 

Reading my glucose levels was a lot easier and fun! Even my little boy knows how to operate the reader and pretends to be my doctor, checking my reading every time I wake up. It gave me more inspiration too to watch out my eating habits, made me decide to move whenever my readings started to spike, and it made me conscious of my whole daily routine. It was so convenient that after like a few days, it already became normal for me to check my glucose reading anytime, anywhere. 

After 14 days, it was time to remove the sensor. The reader, was a small touchscreen device but stored a lot of information such as:

-Graphs of my glucose readings 

-My average glucose reading and whenever I am within, below or above my target glucose range 

-How many days I have been using the sensor

And after my 14 days, all I need to do is purchase a new sensor and use the same reader to continue tracking my results. But the best part is, all these information can also be seen online through LibreView. All you have to do is sign up for free, download and follow the installation prompts. Make sure you have the reader and cable with you because you would need to connect it to be able to get all the information. Just follow the on-screen instructions to upload your data. 

After the transfer, watch all your information unfold and this was truly magical for me! I saw my 14-day results on a daily or weekly basis. It had graphs and very detailed information of my glucose readings and I was totally amazed. The best part is I could share the information with my doctor remotely for him to assess if my medicines were doing me good. This was very helpful especially during this time of pandemic. I was afraid to go out and have myself checked in clinics or hospitals because I don't want to be exposed. So, having the FreeStyle Libre was the best solution I had, and it is available online through Lazada and in selected Mercury Drugstore branches. For those who think it is pricey, yes it can be but for me, it was worth it after all the information and the times I got to scan which made me worry less if I was on track. It actually changed my eating habits as well - just eating in portions rather than my old routine of eating to my heart’s desire. 

This is my overall data and can also be categorized by week etc. It's all available for download

 

Overall experience was great, I would say if you can save up for a sensor, do so because I think eventually, you'll learn how to handle your routine. The reader is just a one-time buy and you can use it for all your succeeding sensors. For someone like me who has been avoiding checkup and routine finger pricking just because I was stubborn, the FreeStyle Libre was indeed of big help. 

Here's the link where you can purchase your Abbott FreeStyle Libre: https://www.lazada.com.ph/catalog/?q=freestyle+libre&_keyori=ss&from=input&spm=a2o4l.10450891.search.go.6bc135aeyqn8Zl