Sounds cool if i didn't have to have micro needles in my arm. Anyone wear one of these things? I figure it useful for a month then after that you have a sense on what impacts your glucose…
As a t1d who's been using a cgm for like 8 years at this point, having it there constantly is objectively better, and you normally don't notice the needle (needs a bit of fat though). Fairly routinely, I'll go a couple of days without because the installation is a bit of a pain, and my blood sugar is invariably worse on those days. A big part of it is the reduction in cognitive load devoted to managing your blood glucose. You don't have to estimate what it's doing, just decide on the right action to take. It can wake you up when you're going low, which is much better then waking up in a cold sweat and devouring your kitchen refrigerator from the hunger.
Also, the alternative is pricking your finger so it bleeds, which is much less pleasant.
One thing op doesn't talk about is close loop systems, which automate some of the insulin delivery using the sensors. They're still in the very early days, but they're generally good at dealing with random variation or overnight highs.
It's crazy that we've kind of been capable of this for almost a decade now. You can buy all the parts to make an artificial pancreas, and use open source software from GitHub to get them to talk to each other, but none of the biotech giants want to put the parts in a box and sell it as an artificial pancreas because the liability would be insane. One little firmware glitch could literally kill a ton of kids in their sleep.
My 10 year old is a type 1 diabetic and wears a Dexcom CGM. It isn't really a needle that's in your skin (for 10 days in this case), it's a flexible filament. It is delivered/inserted into you skin via a special insertion device.
There's so many things that can affect your blood glucose level that it can be maddening to deal with as a diabetic. Mood, activity level, time of day/night, different foods take longer/shorter to raise your blood sugar, etc.
I had an IV needle stuck in my arm for a couple days when I had appendicitis. If it weren't for the tube hanging off it, I would have hardly known it was there. I barely felt it going in, either. I'm quite sure a CGM is even less obtrusive.
I'm not an expert on this stuff, but usually the needle is usually only present while installing the IV. After it's placed, the needle is removed, leaving only the catheter.
I wasn't sure if appendicitis would need something larger perhaps?
Anyways, the Dexcom pods are similar to an IV in the way the insertion needle and sensor go in together then the needle retracts.
Yep I used levels health for a month and it was extremely useful.
Beyond that, I mostly eat the same stuff all the time so I know what it's going to do to my glucose even without the CGM telling me about it.
I still would like to give it another few months to narrow down all the other environmental factors - sleep, exercise, stress, alcohol etc. and see how my blood glucose reacts.
Needle in the skin is a non-issue. You won't feel it at all. It's like keeping a bandaid on for a month.
Yep, but there are a lot of environmental factors that the link above talks about. Stress, Sleep, Alcohol Consumption etc. all matter and the effect varies by individual.
What was incredible was how well the glucose level predicts cravings. I just ate as I usually do and almost every time I had a sugary snack (cookies etc.) I'd notice that my glucose level was low just prior to the snack.
The goal is to find out which food is tasty, provides satiety and keeps glucose from dropping too much.
I eat an Indian + Vegetarian diet with rice being the primary carb. Rice causes pretty sharp rise in glucose and a pretty steep crash after insulin is released leading to cravings etc. One behavioral change that was permanent was that we got rid of one variety of rice that's really bad (Sona Masoori) and replaced it with Basmati. We also mostly eat Quinoa or a mix of Quinoa + Basmati for our primary carb now.
Interesting - thanks for sharing. Also - you don't cook quinoa and basmati at the same time do you? That would be a super time saving way to enjoy those two at the same time.
Also, the alternative is pricking your finger so it bleeds, which is much less pleasant.
One thing op doesn't talk about is close loop systems, which automate some of the insulin delivery using the sensors. They're still in the very early days, but they're generally good at dealing with random variation or overnight highs.