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by Aurornis 831 days ago
> Where is the harm in getting data on how your own body deals with glucose?

We have a relatively good indicator of long-term glucose levels: HbA1c blood testing. It's included in a lot of physicals now because it's relatively cheap. It's not 100% sensitive to every possible condition, but it's quite good as a screening mechanism for the general population.

CGMs will often give an "estimated HbA1c" value based on statistics from the collected data.

The challenge with CGMs is that it can he harder to know what's "normal" or not than you might think. There are a lot of stories of people becoming unnecessarily worried about occasional spikes or dips that are virtually inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
1 comments
crimsontech 831 days ago
At the age of 45 I had never had an HbA1c test. I found out I had T2 diabetes from getting a CGM as part of a health study I applied for, and seeing my blood glucose was at 22mmol (it should be under 10). I ordered a finger prick test kit from Amazon assuming the GCM was faulty but it wasn’t. After this I went to the doctors who confirmed with an HbA1c and put me on Metformin.

It certainly should be part of routine checkups in my opinion, but I had never had more than blood pressure check and a weigh in from my doctor.

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bialpio 831 days ago
Where are you based? I have it tested annually, but only after moving to USA (from Poland). I don't remember if I had such a test done earlier - I think I might have had it done as a part of screening for whether I'd be allowed to go scuba-diving or something else sports-related.
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crimsontech 830 days ago
Sorry I should have mentioned that in the post. I’m in the UK, so National Health Service.
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Aurornis 830 days ago
HbA1C has been checked by all of my primary care providers across several locations in the US.

I also had an insurance provider who gave us a cash bonus if we had it tested (they paid) every year for a while.

It’s surprising that some doctors aren’t checking it still.

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QuercusMax 830 days ago
I've had it checked as part of a yearly blood test in the past, but at my last doctor visit a week ago, they did an instant A1c test. Came back in just a couple minutes. Love to see these type of advances in care rolling out.
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