Abbott Freestyle Libre: Review

Hi everyone!

Well it's fair to say I haven't blogged in quite awhile. I'll discuss why I've been slacking on my blog another time, but for now, I felt the need to write a quick post all about the new Abbott Freestyle Libre blood glucose monitor. If you're not diabetic, this blog post might not appeal to you, but if you are, I hope you can share my excitement over this new gadget.

So without further ado, I will give you a run-down of this device, sent from a magical realm to help you with your diabetes management.

Unlike me, you might have total control over your diabetes (type 1) and you might think "Chloe, I've got this, I don't need anyone's advice". If that's you, congratulations and please ignore this post. However, unfortunately, 11 years on and I'm still just as clueless as I was when I saw my first "HIGH" come up on the nurse's glucose monitor the day I got diagnosed.

I struggle with stabilising my glucose levels, or as I call them, my sugars. I've posted numerous blog posts on my diabetes management, and I think in more or less every one of them, I've talked about my inability and struggle to actually stabalise them. Leaving my house to go to work at 7 mmol/l? No can do, I'll panic about going low when driving and then I usually do go low...I tend to drop quite quickly.

So, what do I do? I over correct and glug down a glass of orange juice or crunch on a biscuit on the way out the door. Sometimes I'll have to sit and wait until my levels go up before I head out, which is a pain. What would I like to do? I'd like to be able to leave my house with my sugars at 7mmol/l and keep an eye on them while driving, or while walking down the road without having to do an invasive sugar test (which by the way, is slightly impossible when driving or walking).

What is the solution? There isn't one... or so I thought. Introducing Abbott Freestyle Libre. No, I am in no way sponsored or anything like that, so don't fear, I'm here to tell you the honest truth.

The truth? It's a dream come true. I know, I know, it's a bit lame to be so excited over a machine that tests my sugar levels. Leave me be!

This machine isn't your standard finger prick, test strip and wait 10 seconds for your results. Nope, this pocket sized device allows me to SCAN MY ARM and give me my sugar reading instantly. I kid you not.

Basically, you have a reader (touch screen, I know), a sensor and a sensor applicator. If you're a pump user, like myself, this application of this sensor is quite similar to the Medtronic Paradigm Quick-set Infuser, but far less painful. Pop the applicator on the back of your upper arm after you swipe with an alcohol wipe, and press down firmly. The needle shoots in (yes it does stay in your arm the whole time, but you'll get used to it, don't worry) and you're left with a white, two pence piece coin size sensor on the back of your arm.

Grab your reader and scan to calibrate the sensor (it takes 60 minutes for the reader to sync with the sensor). Each sensor lasts 14 days, after that, it no longer works and you need to remove it and replace with a new sensor.

The downside? It's expensive. If it's your first time purchasing it, on the Abbott website, you can buy the starter pack for £150 (or there about) but you receive tax relief on the final amount. Within the starter pack, you get the reader and two sensors (so, a month's supply).

You can then buy each sensor separately once you've used your starter pack. Each sensor separately is around £55 which is a quite a substantial amount for only two weeks supply. However, now I'm working, I'll hopefully be able to save up and use this more frequently. My glucose readings have significantly improved since using this as I'm able to check them 80 times per day if I wanted to (yes, I actually did that on my first day of using it!)

You can also sync this device up to your laptop and download the data, allowing you to see your trends and graphs on screen! Again, here I go getting excited over graphs and statistics, please don't mind me.

Anyway, that's enough for now but if you have any questions regarding this device, please feel free to drop me a comment, tweet or email and I'll get back to you!

Thank you for reading,

Chloe x

REEBOK'S CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL GUIDE

I'm sure I don't have to remind you that Christmas is TEN days away... you could even class it as NINE days (as today is nearly over!) until that massive Christmas dinner is sat down in front of you on your lovely decorated dinner table with that mouth watering desert which makes you put on 10lbs before you even eat it!!

If you're anything like me and find it hard to keep up with keeping fit over the festive period, fear not because Reebok has your back.

I thought this guide was extremely important not just to lose weight over Christmas but to keep yourself fit and healthy. Being diabetic, I want to promote a healthy lifestyle as much as possible (you'll see at the bottom of this post I run a campaign called 'Take Back What's Yours' which I'd love for you to all get involved with - details at the bottom OR you can read about it here)!

Here's a great little fitness guide you can adopt into your daily routine, not JUST over the festive period but every day in general!

Reebok Helps You Stay Fit Whilst Festive With The Christmas Survival Guide

As Christmas is fast approaching and the abundance of food near, Reebok’s Master Trainers have created a Christmas Survival Guide to help you stay on track of your fitness goals whilst still enjoying the fruits of the festive period.

Incorporate little exercises on a daily basis – they will add up!

Start the day balanced. When brushing your teeth stand on one leg to activate the core and work on your balance and stabilisation. You can try this with your eyes closed if you are brave… as this will affect the effort required to stand still and tall

Get up 10 minutes earlier in the morning and warm up for the day by incorporating some exercises. An interval training with 40 seconds work and 20 seconds rest will get you started – just repeat 10 times. Exercises: burpees, plank, lunges, glute bridge, press ups, jumping jacks, squats, side plank (20 seconds each side), glute raise, single leg squat

Climb the stairs – lose the lift or escalator when out and about, or at home, just climb the stairs a couple of times for no reason other than to start to shift the lbs. Climbing three flights will burn approximately 15 calories. Not much but over a day/week it all adds up.

Be food wise – keep it simple, count chemicals not calories

Counting calories can often be overbearing. Of course you should watch the amounts and types of food you eat but everyone’s got a different physique and activity level. It’s impossible to put everyone in the same boat.

Start by reducing the chemicals, try to keep it natural. Cook rather than have a ready meal. Avoid processed foods and stock up on natural foods. This will provide great fuel for your body. By omitting toxins such as sugars we keep our blood levels balanced, which not only keeps energy levels even but also reduces risks of health issues based on that.

A swap a day

Why not swap something every day? 

Swap a coke for water

Swap a sandwich for a salad wrap

Swap a beer for a wine spritzer 

Weight loss 

If your main goal is weight loss, look at yourself in the mirror. Weight loss on a scale doesn’t always reflect the loss of fat. Always remember: you didn’t go to bed one weight or dress size and wake up the next day with a transformed body, so don’t try and lose extra overnight. Work out a schedule that works in the long term and take little steps every day.

Rewarding yourself

It’s important to reward yourself if you’re doing a good job and staying on track. Instead of getting out the chocolate pralines, reward yourself with things that don’t go in your mouth. Book yourself a massage, book that boat trip or go for a walk in a beautiful forest and just enjoy the view. 

Team up

Surround yourself with people on the same mission and you’ll empower each other to keep going, keeping levels of motivation up.

Why wait? 

There is no better time to start than RIGHT NOW. Give yourself the best Christmas gift – a fitter, healthier you. Look and feel great at the Christmas party or for New Year. Exercise can help improve both your physical and mental health as soon as you start and you will feel energised. Exercise is also a great stress reliever. Exercise regularly and you’ll be all set for that Christmas shop everyone else is getting stressed out from.

Plan

We are all different – what works for you might not work for anyone else. If you’re not sure what the best approach is for you, you can always get external help and contact a personal trainer for assistance.

Reebok has kindly provided the opportunity to join FREE fitness classes that might be going on where you live, so do check out the link below because it's well worth it!

❅ Reebok provides ongoing and free fitness classes for local communities as part of the brand’s vision to make fitness, health and wellbeing truly accessible to all. To check out and book onto any free fitness classes that may be happening in your area, visit: http://fitness.reebok.co.uk/FitnessEvents/Events-landing/

Before I go!

If you'd like to join me on my 'Take Back What's Yours' campaign which is all about empowerment in diabetes, bullying, self-esteem, anxiety & any other medical or mental health issue, please check out this link to more information on what we do! We'd love to have you on board so do get in touch by email or tweet me! If you just want a chat about diabetes or if you don't necessarily know many people with the condition, feel free to email me! My links are below!

Email: ChloesConcept@gmail.com

Twitter: @ChloesConcept

Thank you again!

Chloe x

Diabetes Type 1: My story & Insulin Pump experience

So I've been wanting to write this post for a long time now. As you may know, I run a campaign/platform on this blog is for bullying, self-esteem, anxiety and other issues of a similar nature and the feedback I've had has been amazing and I really appreciate everyone's kind words.

I thought I'd add an extra item onto my campaign/platform and that is to also provide support to anyone with the medical condition that is diabetes. This will also be a part of it's own series on my blog, so I'll regularly be posting advice, recipes, tips and general little posts all about diabetes! I've had diabetes for nearly 10 years and I never really knew many people with it whilst I grew up. I was diagnosed at the age of 11 so I was old enough to just about understand it but too young in a way to know the impact it would have on my life. This is not a sob story or a post looking for sympathy in any way, shape or form, it's purely to provide support for people, like myself growing up with diabetes and help them with any problems they may have or even if they just want to talk about it!

Like I said, I was diagnosed at the age of 11 and I remember I had a really bad knee so my mum took me to the doctors. I'd recently lost a lot of weight, was drinking 24/7 and had serious dark circles under my eyes. We didn't really think anything of it and put it down to stress as I had started comprehensive school only a few months prior and I hated it so much I didn't want to go. Luckily enough, after the doctor checked out my knee, my mum told her of my symptoms and she replied "Oh, we better get you checked out with the nurse, you could have diabetes". We were so unsure of what diabetes actually meant, we kind of thought I'd be in and out of the doctors surgery in no time at all. Unfortunately, when I was checked by the nurse, she told me to pack a bag and head down to hospital straight away to be admitted. I felt totally confused and disorientated. So we headed down to the hospital and that's where I stayed for more or less a week. After being seen by every doctor, nurse and medical staff under the sun, I was finally discharged and sent home. I really didn't have much of a clue what to do except I knew I had to give myself numerous injections everyday. I had great support from my mum and dad and the rest of my family, my friends were great about it too.

One thing I remember hating about having this condition was having to do injections in public, eat in class and also do glucose tests in class. I felt uncomfortable whenever I had to eat biscuits during lessons and the teacher would ask me to put them away because they didn't know, but luckily someone in my class would always say "she's diabetic, she has to eat!" but I was still embarrassed and hated the attention it brought!

I never really felt like having diabetes stopped me from doing anything I wanted to do. I still went out with friends, I still went on holiday, I still got good grades, I still got a part-time job, I still passed my driving test, I still went on school trips which I'll get onto later.

Even though you might feel like having diabetes is hindering your life and lifestyle, try and turn it into a positive. You're probably eating healthier than you ever were before, it could be a whole lot worse and you get to eat sugary goods when you're glucose levels are low. See, win-win right?


As I got a bit older, I had to increase the amount of injections I was giving myself. My glucose levels were constantly high 20s and this started to have an impact on my life. It made me feel ill constantly and I knew I had to find another solution. That's where my insulin pump comes in. One of the diabetic nurses informed me of a pump that was coming out soon and they were doing trials with small groups of people to see how we got on with them. I had to learn all about how the pump worked (which was draining) and I had to learn how to carbohydrate count. You might have heard of this before, you might have not. I'm still trying to get to grips with it myself! If you'd like me to do a post on carbohydrate counting, please let me know and I'll get that done for you! :)

In October 2008 I finally properly transitioned from injections to an insulin pump. It started off a bit rocky, having trouble inserting the pump and getting it to deliver the right amount of insulin but I soon got the hang of it. Below I'll go into more detail about how the pump works! The pump has given me so much more freedom than I could ever imagine having. Instead of injecting 4+ times a day, I'm now injecting once every 2-3 days. Crazy right? This pump allows me to go out and eat without having to pull out my injection pen, it allows me to eat more of what I want to eat, it allows me to have the odd treat every now and again, it allows me to feel more normal rather than being reminded of diabetes each time I went to do something, as I'd usually have to take my diabetes into account for whatever I was about to do. I even went  to L.A and San Francisco with my sixth form which is something I never imagined I'd be able to do because of my constant injections and lack of flexibility but the pump gave me that flexibility so I was able to go. I'm not saying if you're on injections that you can't go away on your own without your parents, but I felt more comfortable knowing they were with me if I was on injections, but with my pump I felt confident enough to take complete care of myself... mind you, it didn't stop my parents from worrying!


So I'll introduce you to my insulin pump now and show you how it works and the equipment that goes with it! Sorry if it's a bit confusing, I'll try to make it brief but if you have any questions about it, I'll leave my contact links at the bottom so you can email or tweet me with your questions! :)

My Insulin Pump!

This is called an Infusion Set. The blue part of it is the part that is inserted into my stomach (not the top part of the blue, the underneath!) and that has a needle on it when you take the blue cap off.

This is called a Reservoir and this is inserted into the vile of insulin which you'll see below, in order for the insulin to enter the little bottle which says Medtronic on it with the measurements.

This is the vile of insulin I use.

This is called the Quick-Serter and this is used as the "trigger" to insert the Infusion Set (see image 1).

This is the Infusion Set inserted into the Quick-Serter.

...And here is my pump! So small, it's easily hid and tucked away in my pocket or clipped onto my jeans!

I hope this is helpful! As previously mentioned, this is the beginning of a brand new series on my blog and part of my campaign/platform!

If you'd like to take part in this blog series, please let me know! I'm always looking for bloggers to take part in my campaign/platform so if you're diabetic and you'd like to help out, I'll leave my links below! If you're not diabetic but you'd still like to help out, my campaign/platform also includes issues such as bullying, self-esteem, anxiety and issues along those lines! Here's a direct link to a post that explains everything so if you think that's for you, get in touch!

If you'd just like to talk or would like any advice, please do not hesitate to contact me on any of the links I leave below as that's what I'm here for!

Get in touch: 

Twitter: @ChloesConcept

Email: ChloesConcept@gmail.com

Tumblr Ask: http://ChloesConcept.tumblr.com/ask