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FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

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Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

#81

I would recommend anyone to experiment with this. I did, and found out I was more glucose sensitive than I expected. This led me to get more broad labs done, with which I was able to find additional treatable issues that are likely the cause. If I hadn't done this, I would have found out via symptoms years later, after irreversible damage had already been done. You are your only medical advocate, no one else is going…

What are 'treatable' causes other than food intake?

Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

#82

I would recommend anyone to experiment with this. I did, and found out I was more glucose sensitive than I expected. This led me to get more broad labs done, with which I was able to find additional treatable issues that are likely the cause. If I hadn't done this, I would have found out via symptoms years later, after irreversible damage had already been done. You are your only medical advocate, no one else is going…

I second, I wore it multiple times as a non-diabetic and it was very enlightening.

Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

#84

I would recommend anyone to experiment with this. I did, and found out I was more glucose sensitive than I expected. This led me to get more broad labs done, with which I was able to find additional treatable issues that are likely the cause. If I hadn't done this, I would have found out via symptoms years later, after irreversible damage had already been done. You are your only medical advocate, no one else is going…

This is why it made me upset to see this Doctor on TikTok telling people unless you have Diabetes, you don't need a glucose monitor and making fun of people who had one. Where is the harm in getting data on how your own body deals with glucose?

False positives in medicine can cause unnecessary interventions that carry their own risks. Believe it or not, there is an optimum level of ignorance for maximum health.

Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

#85

I would recommend anyone to experiment with this. I did, and found out I was more glucose sensitive than I expected. This led me to get more broad labs done, with which I was able to find additional treatable issues that are likely the cause. If I hadn't done this, I would have found out via symptoms years later, after irreversible damage had already been done. You are your only medical advocate, no one else is going…

This is why it made me upset to see this Doctor on TikTok telling people unless you have Diabetes, you don't need a glucose monitor and making fun of people who had one. Where is the harm in getting data on how your own body deals with glucose?

[deleted]

Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

#86
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, my point is that they’ll do it already when it’s not even reasonable to do so. So when they take your phone away, which can be done so more credibly, why would you expect more protections?

Do they? I'm not aware of cases (but generally not up to date on topics like this, genuinely curious)

Call it malice or ignorance, it is hard to tell. I have personally visited someone who did not get insulin for a whole night in jail, ended up with extremly high blood sugar (DKA) (s)he had to be hospitilized for three days. There were no penalties for the officers.

Basically someone with diabetes can seem to be a very unhealthy and drunk person, and people do not tend to take these people serisouly.

Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

#87
post #49
post #3

I'm T1D (insulin-dependent). I used a Dexcom for a couple years a while ago, back around the G3 through G5 era or so. I ended up stopping using it because my diabetes is very well managed, and I found it didn't make a huge difference to my management. With my insurance, each new sensor every week cost about $50, and would fail in various annoying ways: sometimes it would just stop working in the middle of the week, o…

> Each sensor also used a ludicrous amount of plastic for its applicator, like a tennis-ball-sized hunk of hard plastic, that you just chucked in the trash, every week. Erm, let's be a little defensible here. These sensors have to be stored in sterile packaging--that means thick enough to be a barrier. That means it also has to hold the sensor in such a way that a palette can be gamma irradiated. It also needs to be…

Eh, maybe, but the bulk of the applicator is just empty plastic molded to fit an adult's hand. I have to believe they could figure something less wasteful out (reusable applicator?) if they wanted or needed to. Regardless, it was just another downside for me weighed against the relatively few upsides that made me quit using it. It felt terrible to chuck all that in the trash, especially when I'd have to do it two days in a row because a sensor failed.

[1] https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/edit...

Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

#88

I would recommend anyone to experiment with this. I did, and found out I was more glucose sensitive than I expected. This led me to get more broad labs done, with which I was able to find additional treatable issues that are likely the cause. If I hadn't done this, I would have found out via symptoms years later, after irreversible damage had already been done. You are your only medical advocate, no one else is going…

I'd really love to be able to do that (experimenting) but i'm in the EU and haven't looked at the possibilities yet (i'm not diabetic).

However i recently saw a video of a woman that carried a glucose monitor (even if she didn't need one) as part of a study (she volunteered) and was able to correlate her mood and her weight take/loss with sugar intake.

I'm very curious about this. I've started a diet recently and after quitting many sources of sugar completely I'm very surprised how long i can go without eating and how little calories per day i can consume (well, as long as i have fat to burn at least).

If anybody wants to chime in and suggest a glucose monitor that i can get without prescription in EU (Italy) and from which i can pull off data, please do.

Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

#89

When your smartphone becomes a critical health device to support/treat a condition I wonder how that will impact case law around things like police confiscation.

Software as a Medical Device has been a regulated "thing" for years now, and in this case the Abbott Freestyle app is a mandatory requirement for the CGM To function. If the app can't connect to the CGM, the thing will make your phone beep incessantly. Similarly, if your blood glucose levels exceed "safe" thresholds, it will alert at full volume in a way you are not allowed to override. Frankly, this is as it should be, but it does indeed convolute things when the device interface (phone) is used for so much more, too.

Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

#90

I like this trend of the FDA making more and more things OTC.

Don't be fooled by the reason though > The markup on OTC products is generally higher than on prescription medications. https://www.eposnow.com/us/resources/how-do-pharmacies-make-... .

Is the FDA capturing any of that markup somehow? I fail to see how it would impact their decision process on approving if it had no impact on their incentives.
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