I’m Stephen Dixon, I’m a presenter on Sky News and I’ve been living with Type 1 diabetes for 29 years.

I was blown away when the FreeStyle Libre system was launched, the ability to know what was happening with my glucose all the time ^φ, but without the feeling of being ‘tied’ to a continuous glucose monitor.

That did make me wonder what the benefit would be of a change to the FreeStyle Libre 2 system. I know from some of the people I have chatted to that there is a desire for alarms and, as a bit of a technology geek myself, I couldn’t resist giving it a try*, just to see if it was worth me changing my prescription.

Surprisingly straightforward transition

It was nice to discover that it is just as easy to use as the original system so there was very little new to learn.

I tweaked the alarm levels slightly to make them more appropriate for me**, but I wasn’t really expecting to use them – I thought, because my awareness is pretty good on both ends of the scale, that they’d never really go off – that was a rookie mistake!

The joy of the FreeStyle Libre 2 system– or the surprise of it – has been how the alarms go off when I’m really not expecting them to. Every time, whether it’s high or low, it has come as a bit of a shock!

Alarms for quick action

The huge benefit of that though has been that I have been able to react SO quickly. I have been able to take action to raise or lower my glucose levels immediately as a result of getting a real-time notification. That has given me a level of control I just didn’t know was possible before.

Because I tend to have my devices on vibrate mode, because the phone never stops, I just get a discreet vibration, so I get this extra crucial information but without it feeling intrusive^◊.

My top tips

So if you’re thinking of trying it out – these are my key bits of advice:

1. Don’t panic about it being something new – it’s easy to use just like the original system, just with added benefits.

2. Experiment with the alarm settings. There’s a real benefit to the alarms being totally flexible.

3. If you have a loved one who keeps an eye on your levels via the LibreLinkUp app^§, they get notified too if you hit an alarm level. There’s something quite reassuring about getting a text just checking that you’re ok!

4. You’ll enjoy that you can react so quickly to glucose levels that are too high or too low. It’s really empowering.

5. And finally, enjoy your fullest life!

The FreeStyle Libre 2 system gives you all the benefits of FreeStyle Libre system with the added reassurance and safeguards of alarms. And if you’re anything like me, you can spend the next two weeks marvelling over the technology!

Stephen Dixon is a journalist and TV presenter, poet and cat lover, who lives with Type 1. You can follow Stephen on Instagram @stephendixontv and on Twitter @skystephen