←back to thread

Continuous Glucose Monitoring

(www.imperialviolet.org)
116 points zdw | 1 comments | 30 Jun 25 02:09 UTC | HN request time: 0.216s | source
Show context
bix6 ◴[30 Jun 25 04:32 UTC] No.44419401[source]▶
I believe these cheaper devices are not very accurate ie accuracy range of 20% which is a fairly wide window. I’ve also heard there are many things that can impact your glucose even with the same meal like time of day, exercise, stress, sleep, etc. So if you actually want to find the patterns you’d need the expensive CGM over many months.
replies(5): >>44419457 #>>44419543 #>>44419778 #>>44419855 #>>44429602 #
loremm ◴[30 Jun 25 04:40 UTC] No.44419457[source]▶
Is that true? I have no perspective but it's relied on by diabetics and if since they can't regulate it themselves, if the readings are off and they gave themselves insulin, they would know it is wrong. Maybe the OTC ones is different than the diabetic one but I didn't think so
replies(5): >>44419506 #>>44419508 #>>44419744 #>>44419757 #>>44419765 #
1. nmehner ◴[30 Jun 25 05:30 UTC] No.44419757[source]▶
As a diabetic having alarms is the most important thing. Measurements are not that accurate (neither is the finger prick method: If sometimes get a difference of 20% comparing two measurements from both hands). But also the "ok" range of 3.8 mmol/L to 10 mmol/L is quite large and levels can rise/drop 20% in minutes. So it is still quite helpful.

With the CGM there is also an additional delay of about 15 minutes in the measurements. Mostly you want to be triggered when something strange happens and then you do a manual measurement to confirm.

A false alarm of low blood sugar is annoying, but it is a lot better than collapsing. You can relax a lot more if you know you will get an alarm.