Meant to add we'll be chatting with his DSN to see if a CGM is possible. He is 22 though, so they might not talk to me. He's somewhat lazy at checking and probably has ADHD (referral made).
Yeah it got to a point where I had to take over and make those sort of decisions. I’m 28 now and glad I did have the conversations with my diabetic nurse!
Medtronic Simplera CGM to replace Guardian 4
“ It is a disposable CGM that follows the stying of FreeStyle Libre, being easy to apply and half the size of a Guardian 4 sensor (but similar to Libre 2, not the newest Libre 3 sensor. “
We’re having issues with supply of Libre2 with my son’s pharmacy. They owe him 4 (two months supply). Useless they are
Not as simple as that. The sensors are not available through the usual same/next day wholesalers. Only available for pharmacies to order direct from Abbott and then shipped by UPS. Can wait nearly week for deliveries, especially with bank holidays. At my work, our monthly bill for Libre 2 sensors is £4000! My boss orders in once a month but you can understand why pharmacies don’t want that much stock of one item sitting on a shelf.
Not had a graph like this for a while for that long!
Show us your percentage in range! That’s exciting to watch in the first month as it gets bigger and bigger.
Medtronic Simplera CGM to replace Guardian 4
Oooo… the Guardian is pain in the ____ to apply single handed.
This is my time in range from today which I’m fairly happy with for now with it being so soon going onto it. 
I must admit i’m struggling with the new way of thinking when it comes to correcting hypos and the pump wanting to give me insulin even though my bloods are low.
Just picked one of these up to use over next few months to try to improve my diet a little and see if it gives me a little more energy as have been feeling lethargic recently
As expected, my average is in a healthy range, but some of my spikes look a bit sinister. Baked potato and pineapple cottage cheese for lunch today shot it up to 10 for a couple of minutes before dropping back shortly after. I dread to think what’ll happen next time I eat a bit of cake!
interestingly the highest spike in todays daily graph is around 8.5, it’s not showing the 10 reading. Does it not map the very short peaks, and if not how do you know you’ve had them unless you are watching the numbers in real time? Is there a way to review the peak numbers?
is the goal to avoid peaks? Or are peaks fine as long as they come down quickly and the average is in normal range?
There will be an overview piece where it should report time in range (whatever you've set that as), time above and time below range.
Spikes are going to be short-lived for a non-diabetic, so it may not show it on graphs unless you zoom right in to the timeline (if you can).
If I don't eat anything, the pump and Dexcom solution is working very well indeed. I'm needing to work on the food intake - I seem to get a spike that takes a while to come down so I suspect my dosing solution isn't quite right, so something I'm experimenting with. Really wouldn't go back though, it has been a brilliant improvement.
@J-R Yep. About 6 months ago I noticed my hba1c was on a bit of an upward trajectory so coupled with fact I was having a few low energy moments on the bike, decided to get a set of these and make steps to better diet. Had them for months in the cupboard so finally thought I’d test them out
My fasting blood sugar appears to be fine, my ‘post 2 hrs after dinner’ appears to be fine, but every time I eat anything it shoots up to over 9, albeit only for a few minutes before dropping down again. No idea if that’s meant to happen to tbf, Certainly I’m not running round the room on some kind of sugar rush
for some reason I thought my graph would be far more ‘flat’ than it is..OP’s seems pretty wavy also.
Yes, that sounds normal...eat any carbs and there will be a rise, but it shouldn't last long. Depending on how fast acting and how many carbs you eat, the spike may go up a bit higher or a bit lower...
My fasting blood sugar appears to be fine, my ‘post 2 hrs after dinner’ appears to be fine, but every time I eat anything it shoots up to over 9, albeit only for a few minutes before dropping down again. No idea if that’s meant to happen to tbf, Certainly I’m not running round the room on some kind of sugar rush
Mine only spiked if I ate simple carbs eg a load of white bread, if I ate a 'healthy meal' it would rise a bit, but no where near 9.
are you taking the ‘not above 9’ number from the graph on the app, or from the libreview page? My app graph has never been above 8 but I’ve seen readings of 10.
So clearly the app doesn’t capture peak values if shortlived.
I used a CGM from the ZOE study for a couple of weeks. What they say and what I learned along the way is:
- With exactly the same intake of carbs individual non diabetic people's responses varies widely, from almost no response to a big peak followed by a dip below normal levels. ZOE says this is at least partly caused by variations in individual's gut microbiome.
- You may get low energy periods a while after taking in a lot of simple carbs (such as cake at a coffee stop) because your big peak is followed by a glucose crash. I've certainly had this happen to me a few times. Your body starts to make lots of insulin to get rid of the big blood sugar peak and you start exercising - with both these mechanisms working together most of this sugar gets eliminated and you get a blood sugar low until the body eventually returns to equilibrium.
- Methods to control this include avoiding simple carbs (eg cake), or only eat the simple carbs immediately before you restart your ride so the extra sugar is immediately used in you muscles as it gets into your bloodstream, or eat something like nuts 10 mins before any simple carbs, take in your carbs as part of a meal including plenty of fats because this reduces the rate at which your body digests and absorbs glucose. Generally this seems to work for me, but we are all different so it may not work for you.
That’s really insightful
sounds like are you saying that if you are one of those folks that have a higher peak you’ll be more likely to suffer after a cake stop . Which I can relate to unfortunately
Maybe worth looking at Jessie Inchauspé instagram or website to get an idea of the variaton in glucose graphs and some of the factors that can influence the level of spikes.
I see a few people on here are doing the Zoe thing.
One question.
1. Do you think it's worth it?
Of course, I'm assuming no one lies about Q1 just to make a bit of a saving.
So the trial is £300 from what was said ☝️
A pal suggested that just paying for the app / advice subscription for 4 months (at £50/month) gave you all the knowledge and feedback you needed. Is that what others think?
So it would be £500 for that...same question as @Onzadog, do folk that have done it think it's good value?
Looks to be £300 for the initial test kit and then a sliding scale of monthly subscription depending on how long you want it.
No denying it's a big chunk of cash but if it really is personalised then maybe it's worth it.
I've seen others online suggest that you might as well just buy his book and eat better, but it's not clear if those people actually went through Zoe or are just bagging on it.
1. Do you think it’s worth it?
Having done it, no, not worth the money.
Was interesting, but I would recommend just buying a Free Style Libre yourself.
Think I paid something like £450 all in. Their App is just shite - whatever you eat it's bad for you, unless you only boiled cabbage and broccoli for the rest of your life. Anything which tastes of anything and it tells you you're poisoning yourself. I've never come across anything so demotivating in my life before. I just deleted it.
Just buy his book and you can read about how you're poisoning yourself with everything you eat for £425 less...
Thanks for that, a very definite stance there 😃. So the gut biome bit didn't really make a difference?
So the gut biome bit didn’t really make a difference?
The initial results were interesting, but not really worth £450.
The App and the continual monthly thing isn't worth anything IMO.
The basic message is you want a good gut biome and for that avoid processed foods and try and eat as varied a diet as possible eg 20 different food types a day, 40-50 a week.
NB Not as hard as you think as nuts, seeds and spices each count as one, so a handful of mixed nuts and seeds and 6 spices in a curry can get you half way there...
We've both changed what we eat as a result as I try and vary my diet much more than I used to eg I have eaten the same sandwich for lunch for several years on the trot every day! Now I make sure it's different every day of the week.
The other weakness of Zoe, is you don't get a second gut biome test, so they score you on day 1 and then you change your diet, but never find out if it worked...
Also, f*** me nuts are expensive. Now have a handful on my cereal in the morning and costs a small fortune...
Book plus nuts it is then 👍
