It can help your health but I'm concerned how often the data will get abused.
FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
71–80 of 439 posts
Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
#72Earlier 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…
Where do you put the needle thing? Does it get in the way of everyday things?
The sensor typically goes on the back of your upper arm (your tricep). You can accidentally bump into things with it, but it was infrequent enough that it didn’t bother me.
The needle is only used in the application of the sensor. It’s spring-loaded and retracts after the sensor is attached. I hate needles, but I found that the tape on the sensor provided enough stimuli to overwhelm my brain and not really feel the needle when it went in.
Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
#73So the ones already all over amazon aren't supposed to be there?
> So the ones already all over amazon aren't supposed to be there?
In the US, I only see the finger prick type. I do see the FreeStyle Libre3 but it requires a prescription
Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aside from the fun, how did it go? Find anything surprising or insightful in the process? It sounds like an experiment I’d like to do for the purpose of optimizing my daily habits and establishing a better mental model for how my eating habits impact me throughout the day. But I really dislike needles.
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.
Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
#75Earlier 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…
Where do you put the needle thing? Does it get in the way of everyday things?
No it never gets in the way. I would not recommend doing it unless you are a diabetic, the results are not that interesting. It took me two years to get used to smacking that needle into the upper arm/stomach/leg, spending up to 20 min -40 min getting over the fear was not a fun time.
Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
#76I'm currently wearing the Freestyle Libre 3. It communicates with the app every minute. I have something between pre-diabetes and diabetes so I have a slight chance at being able to treat my condition with diet/weight/exercise. Its definitely changing my behavior--I'm aware that it is not as accurate as the stick test but I have a plot of my blood sugar throughout the day. Currently I'm consuming very little carbohydrates. I've learned from my own data what foods will cause my blood sugar to spike.
The app is missing some obvious features, and people are right to complain, but its way better it seems than devices that came before.
Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
#77I 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…
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/...
Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
#78I wish Theranos had worked on a more reasonable goal - like an implantable CGM. I had T2D, well controlled now, my A1C is below the diabetic diagnostic range. I used CGMs, and they taught me a lot about how my body reacted to food and exercise. But I sweat a lot and they would always fall off, halving the useful life of each monitor. I would probably still use them from time to time if they didn't sweat off; and if a…
I used to have this problem as well, so I talked it over at my endo office. They suggested that I order some specially shaped stickers to keep them on, but instead I just bought some Kinesiology Tape (hansaplast, but also exists store-brand). 10cm of that works perfectly, even for heavy contact sports combined with sweating (and many showers).
Just make sure you cut a small circle from the tape overlying the breather hole of the sensor - that hole serves to let moisture buildup from underneath the sensor escape.
Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
#79I 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?
Re: FDA clears first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor
#80I dove into CGMs a little bit about a year ago, mostly just for fun. Yes, I paid money to some online prescription mill for CGMs (Abbott Freestyle Libre 3, IIRC), and then put one in my arm (the applicator is a short syringe section that has the monitor tube threaded into it, so the tube stays in your arm and your skin under the monitor remains broken) for a couple weeks. Just to see how various foods would affect my…
At least for me the readings that it shows are not accurate (when verified with old style finger pricking glucose monitoring machine). These CGMs are good for knowing the general variability of glucose level in your blood based on your diet exercise etc; I don’t trust the absolute numbers from CGM like Freestyle Libre - haven’t used any other one though yet.
This is highly personal thing it is apparently very inaccurate for some people, I've never been below or over dangerous levels without it giving a warning. What has happend once or twice over the decade I've used it is that it will get stuck in a bad reading, so you do not see the variations. It has always got unstuck when I've gone below 3.5 mmol/liter or so.