In order to manage my Type II diabetes, I use a special glucose monitoring device called a FreeStyle Libre. It’s a button-shaped sensor that attaches to my upper arm, and I can take instant blood sugar readings with my cell phone.
I started using the FreeStyle Libre in 2018, and of course, I blogged about it.
At that time, FreeStyle Libre was a 10-day use product, but they eventually upgraded it to a 14-day use product. And yes, I blogged about it as well.
Last month, my endocrinologist recommended I try out a new FreeStyle Libre product, the FreeStyle Libre 3. Like my previous FreeStyle Libre products, it attached to my upper arm, and I wore the button for 14 days. But unlike my previous products, this one automatically sent updates to my phone, whereas the previous units only interacted with my phone when I touched the phone to the button. So I’m getting peaks and valley reports in the middle of the night, I can wake up and see a line chart that shows when I’ve been above and below my target goals.
Oh, and if I go too far over my target glucose levels, the phone beeps like a smoke alarm. In other words, don’t sneak that candy bar unless you’re ready to make everybody at work wonder whether we’re in a fire drill or not.
I tried the FreeStyle Libre 3 and it worked out well for the first time. Then, 14 days later, I tried a replacement button.
SENSOR NOT RECOGNIZED
Let’s tap it again.
SENSOR NOT RECOGNIZED
It’s a brand new sensor. Maybe I received a bad one. Ripped the sensor off. Ouch. Applied another one.
SENSOR NOT RECOGNIZED
Okay, this stopped being funny. I contacted Abbott Laboratories, who asked for the lot numbers of the defective sensors and promised to send replacements – which they did.
It was after the phone call that I realized something.
And I checked my phone.
Apparently the new FreeStyle Libre 3 requires a download of new software. Yeah. I did that already.
But what they didn’t tell you was that you have to uninstall the old software and reboot the phone. The old software was trying to read the new button and blocking the new software from accessing the information first.
Ugh. I hate technology that has its own personalities.
Well … I still got the program to work, and on the positive, everything seems to be fine with this new software and this new FreeStyle Libre 3 glucose monitoring system.
Trust me. Anything that keeps me from going back to the old days of spring-loaded lancets and piercing my fingers and bleeding on test strips and grumbling over the results and writing all that information down in a paper diary and bringing those results to my endocrinologist and having her give me a disdainful look … if I don’t have to go back to those ancient times, I’m fine with that.
But man oh man, could you make my life just a little less complicated, Abbott Laboratories? Yeesh.
Chuck The Writer 
This is why people say they hate technology. It’s not technology, per see. It’s that they make it too complicated.
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Like you, Chuck, I have type 2 Diabetes. Have had it since it was diagnosed in 2010. For readings, I use One Touch Ultra test strips, which my insurance covers. Works great.
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