r/diabetes • u/WitchAndTheWolves • 1d ago
Is my son’s libre faulty? Type 1
My 12 year old son has cystic fibrosis. His cf team want to check that he isn’t pre diabetic (as this can start in people with CF around his age) We had his sensor fitted by the CF hospital team today at 3pm. I was told to wait a while for it to calibrate before scanning. I have since scanned it a few times to see if it’s working but I keep getting a screen, after the scan complete notification, to replace the sensor.. then it goes back to this screen. Does this mean that his sensor isn’t working, or do I just need to wait a while longer for it to calibrate? The hospital have told me to contact them if there are any issues, but I want to be sure that this isn’t normal before potentially unnecessarily contacting them tomorrow.
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u/ithrow6s Ketosis-Prone Type 2 & PCOS | Dexcom Stelo 1d ago
My guess is faulty sensor, yeah
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u/WitchAndTheWolves 1d ago
Thank you so much, I’ll contact the hospital tomorrow. May I ask, in your experience, are these sensors prone to faults such as this? I only ask as he also has autism, and gets very overwhelmed when any kind of invasive procedures are carried out, and I’d rather ask them if there is an alternative way to do this if that is the case
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u/ithrow6s Ketosis-Prone Type 2 & PCOS | Dexcom Stelo 1d ago
Honestly yes, sensors are very hit or miss. Sometimes you'll run into a good batch and won't need to replace for several months, and other times they're just bad.
Can you do something to make the sensors more fun for him? Stickers, robots (if he's interested in that stuff), telling him that the doctors think he's so cool that they want to look at him some more?
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u/Uncle_Jimmy T1 2016 MDI 1d ago
I went a good few years without any issues with my Libre sensors. The last year or so I’ve had some issues, but it’s maybe 1 in 10 I have to replace. Most of those are from the alerts not working which shouldn’t matter for you right now if you’re just checking for pre-diabetes.
I’ve only had this issue once, so hopefully a replacement for you will get it sorted. It sounds like a CGM is going to best for your son, the other way to check blood sugar levels would be regular finger pricks.
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1d ago
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u/WitchAndTheWolves 1d ago
I’m hoping that this is the case as he also has autism and finds the application procedure quite invasive. He’s had the sensor on for 6 hours now and it’s still showing the error screen, but I was hoping that it just needed to settle. Fingers crossed!
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u/morbid909 1d ago
New sensors take 1 hour before they work and interact with the app. If it’s been longer than 1 hour since application and still get this message then it’s faulty. Sometime the needle part bends if it’s not flush when you fit it so doesn’t pierce the skin