Live data from Hacker News

FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor

fda.gov

191–200 of 439 posts

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

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s some sage advice. People are often surprised when I tell them about the insane levels of pre-diabetes in the US: > The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion notes that approximately 96 million U.S. adults aged 18 years and older (38% of the adult population) have prediabetes, and nearly 80% of them are unaware that they have it. It’s honestly insane to continue a way of life that’…

The other insane thing is studies have shown that type 2 diabetes can be reversed by fasting. Fasting is problematic to the medical industry because it is zero cost. "Some studies found that patients were able to reverse their need for insulin therapy during therapeutic intermittent fasting protocols with supervision by their physician." https://clindiabetesendo.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/...

Other studies have shown that type-2 diabetes can also be put into remission for many patients with nutritional ketosis. So, there are potentially multiple approaches to try.

https://www.virtahealth.com/research

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

#192
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dexcom and Freestyle both have options (G7, FSL2) that have a much narrower form factor than the old sensors. They end up being far more reliable, because the sensor doesn't dislodge. The new Dexcom sensors are more accurate. Less drift and no calibration. Out of pocket cost is obviously your own situation but I think anyone with T1 should look at them. For me they are life changing, even moreso if you have a pump th…

> The new Dexcom sensors are more accurate. Less drift and no calibration. As someone using a freestyle libre who's never calibrated, how often do you need to calibrate it? Reason for asking is that I'm likely to switch to the g6 if I go with the TSlim X2 for looping. TIA!

No calibration is required for Dex G6/G7. I think you can optionally calibrate the G6 but I never have nor have I ever had to.

I am going to be biased: I both work on and use the t:slim X2. It is well worth it, especially if covered by your insurance. CIQ took me from ~70 to 85%, sometimes 90% time in range; my understanding is that it's the best closed loop algorithm out there currently.

Regardless of which pump you end up on, having a closed loop system will significantly improve your control and helps you get that extra little push from the 7's into the 6's a1c range, which I'm sure you know is tricky to do manually without lows.

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

#193
post #151
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just withholding the insulin itself: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/diabetes-police/

Wow, that article is wild. For those who are not aware, ketoacidosis is when your body metabolizes fat for energy in the absence of insulin. This produces byproducts (keytone bodies) that raise the pH of the blood. So, having ketoacidosis feels like having your blood turn to acid. Death from ketoacidosis is an excruciating death. Fermenting from the inside out as your heart pumps your increasingly acidic blood throug…

Can confirm, feels like crap.

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

#194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s some sage advice. People are often surprised when I tell them about the insane levels of pre-diabetes in the US: > The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion notes that approximately 96 million U.S. adults aged 18 years and older (38% of the adult population) have prediabetes, and nearly 80% of them are unaware that they have it. It’s honestly insane to continue a way of life that’…

The other insane thing is studies have shown that type 2 diabetes can be reversed by fasting. Fasting is problematic to the medical industry because it is zero cost. "Some studies found that patients were able to reverse their need for insulin therapy during therapeutic intermittent fasting protocols with supervision by their physician." https://clindiabetesendo.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/...

to be clear this isn't reversing T2 diabetes. Rather, it allows you to manage it. But the physical damage causing T2 diabetes generally remains

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

#195
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is that for healthy individuals, spiking blood glucose levels is not a problem. Did you get in to any of the research on that? Glucose is a problem for diabetics because they can’t regulate it, but healthy people can. At least this is loosely what I have heard, somewhat third hand. Any information is appreciated.

Not a doctor, but from what I have seen, there is a healthy amount of spiking from eating normal foods, but our modern diets are so sugar and carb heavy that the glucose spikes are way outside the range that our bodies evolved to handle. Hunter gatherers would maybe eat some berries here (much smaller and less sweet than modern berries) and there. The modern human eating pizza, tons of bread, ice cream, soda, etc. cr…

I have better life expectancy then them.

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

#196
post #152

It'd be pretty interesting to see that kind of data, but it looks like this product violates my policy on not buying hardware that requires a cell phone app to use, and my policy on keeping as much of my medical information as far away from my mobile device as possible. I'm not sure exactly who the app itself sells/leaks the data being collected to, but even having that kind of data on the device would make me uncomf…

My girlfriend as the Libre 3, and she has both the cell phone app, and a stand alone unit to store results. You can only use one or the other, not both at the same time (the Libre 3 uses Bluetooth). We have the stand alone unit because of insurance reasons.

Dexcoms also have small cell phone like devices you can use. I've never put a wifi password in I can recall.

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

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If having more information leads to worse outcomes, that's fundamentally a problem with how you're responding to the information, not with having the information.

> If having more information leads to worse outcomes, that's fundamentally a problem with how you're responding to the information, not with having the information. Not necessarily. Rohin Francis (Medlife crisis) has I think a video on overtesting, but for example, if you have a new technology that tests and suspects a tumor, which results in CT scans for patients, if millions of users use this tech there's a likely…

That's still the response though. You can simply say "Well, we expect an error rate of X with this new test, so in the absence of other risks factors we predict the actual odds of the condition are Y".

Then you can decide whether a test makes sense or doesn't make sense, given the tradeoffs of radiation and cost vs. the risks of harm.

In the real world, information absolutely can lead to harm, but it's still all in the response and how medicine and patients use information.

But as information gets cheaper and more common we can develop ways of dealing with it. If it was difficult and expensive to test for fever you'd see people in the medical profession warning against it because it could lead to overreaction.

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

#198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other insane thing is studies have shown that type 2 diabetes can be reversed by fasting. Fasting is problematic to the medical industry because it is zero cost. "Some studies found that patients were able to reverse their need for insulin therapy during therapeutic intermittent fasting protocols with supervision by their physician." https://clindiabetesendo.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/...

> Fasting is problematic to the medical industry because it is zero cost. No, fasting is problematic because people don't like it. Health conscious people don't understand how much resistance the average patient has to advice about lifestyle modifications, or how difficult it is to get patients to adhere to recommended lifestyle changes. A good example is sleep apnea and CPAP machines: In theory, a CPAP machine shoul…

Disordered eating is more dangerous then obesity.

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

#199

I'm a T1 diabetic, and CGMs are a great tool for blood sugar management. Combined with a closed loop system, they are literally life changing. I am glad to see an increase in access to live changing medical care for a disease that is mostly just bad luck.

T1D here too. Fun to see others having an interest in CGMs :-)

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

#200
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the needle in the CGM bothers you, don't let it. It's a quick, painless jab with a tiny needle at the beginning and then the needle comes out. The part that stays in your body is just a flexible filament made of plastic. I did this experiment as well, and the main thing it did was completely stop me from snacking. My habits got better because I could see how my BG could never return to baseline if I allowed myself…

My understanding is that for healthy individuals, spiking blood glucose levels is not a problem. Did you get in to any of the research on that? Glucose is a problem for diabetics because they can’t regulate it, but healthy people can. At least this is loosely what I have heard, somewhat third hand. Any information is appreciated.

With Type 1 Diabetes, your pancreas is no longer producing insulin, with Type 2, it's typically that it's not producing enough insulin. My child is healthy, but his pancreas stopped producing insulin years ago. He lives with T1D.
Post reply on HN