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Tracking Blood Sugar

eric.jain.name

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Re: Tracking Blood Sugar

#2

Post by ouid »

I know someone who could benefit (either psychologically or medically) from a sort of holter monitor for her blood glucose levels. Are you the person who wrote this? If so how did you get your prescription?

Re: Tracking Blood Sugar

#6

Post by mtgx »

ouid wrote: post #2

I know someone who could benefit (either psychologically or medically) from a sort of holter monitor for her blood glucose levels. Are you the person who wrote this? If so how did you get your prescription?

You may be able to get this soon, too:

https://www.pkvitality.com/ktrack-glucose/

It works the same way. It's 2x more expensive but it's a watch.

Re: Tracking Blood Sugar

#7

Post by troydavis »

ouid wrote: post #2

I know someone who could benefit (either psychologically or medically) from a sort of holter monitor for her blood glucose levels. Are you the person who wrote this? If so how did you get your prescription?

I’m not the author, but the author simply asked their primary care doctor for one and I know others who have done the same. Next time you’re at the doctor, just explain that you want to be proactive about health and ask for one.

Make sure to get the 14-day version: https://www.freestylelibre.us/system-overview/freestyle-14-d.... It’s about $80 (cash to a pharmacy, not through insurance) and includes 2 14-day patches.

Over the next year or two, performing at least a few weeks of real-time monitoring per year will become standard practice among those who consciously monitor their health. With the Libre, doing a few weeks per year is no harder, and not much more expensive than a home blood pressure cuff. It’s not even all that expensive to do year-round.

(I don’t think this should require a prescription, but in the US it currently does.)

Re: Tracking Blood Sugar

#9

Post by troydavis »

jwr wrote: post #3

The Freestyle Libre requires a prescription (why?) — is there another similar system that does not?

No. In the US, all similar products require a prescription. This is by far the best available option (no fingerstick calibration, longest-lasting sensor, easy mobile app, etc.). Basically, get this one. It’s $80 including 1 month of sensors.

I believe the thinking is that people need a professional to discuss results with. I understand that perspective, but I don’t agree with it, and I definitely don’t agree that having someone to discuss results with should outweigh the increased access/adoption of over-the-counter sales. This is the first product that makes it practical - even easy - and completely painless for non-diabetics like me to track blood glucose informationally, so perhaps this will change. That said, the FDA has made other overly-conservative decisions, like disallowing fingerstick A1c tests (which don’t require fasting or a full venous blood draw) for first-pass screening of diabetes: http://www.onsitehealthdiagnostics.com/blog/a1c/, https://twitter.com/troyd/status/1018150306125758465.

Re: Tracking Blood Sugar

#10

Post by atomical »

> Fasting glucose and A1C tests done over the past few years show me at low risk for diabetes. But these tests don’t necessarily capture how much blood sugar “spikes” after meals–something that may be a better predictor of disease risk.

It's hard to take the author's concern seriously when he is at low risk. A better take is that he's just curious.

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