If you could manage your type1 or type2 diabetes more easily and accurately, would you do it? Well, now you can with an innovative device called a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). Continuous glucose monitoring profoundly changes lives by giving people clearer and more precise measurements of their blood sugars in real time. If this sounds like it could change your life, keep reading to learn more about CGM and its benefits.
How Does Continuous Glucose Monitoring Work?
CGMs are an innovation on handheld glucose monitors which read small blood samples taken by as many as ten finger pricks throughout the day. Instead of this, your CGM obtains accurate blood sugar readings from a small, implanted device. The readings may be downloaded to a computer smartphone, and the patient can share this information with his or her healthcare provider.
Placed just below the skin on the arm or abdomen and secured with adhesive tape, this tiny device reads glucose levels frequently, usually every five minutes. Then, the information is transmitted to a handheld device or app on the patient’s smartphone. The implanted device is changed out every one to two weeks.
Is Continuous Glucose Monitoring Worth It?
One of the most commonly praised benefits users talk about is far fewer finger pricks. More than a nuisance, finger pricks hurt, leaving fingertips sore and scabbed. With CGM, a tiny needle in the patch stays under your skin all the time to detect your glucose levels, and you could go down to two finger pricks a day depending on your case.
Other advantages to this state-of-the-art system of diabetes management include:
- Prevention of blood sugar highs and lows (hyper- and hypoglycemia) resulting from too much or too little food or activity
- A high degree of accuracy for individual blood sugar levels and for tracking blood sugar trends over time (over 24 hours or over a week, as examples)
- Fewer trips to the hospital emergency room, urgent care center or primary care physician’s office for blood sugar stabilization
- Prevention of serious diabetic complications, such as vision loss, kidney damage and peripheral neuropathy
- Lower A1C, a blood test done through your PCP which tells blood glucose levels averaged over the past three months
Finally, continuous glucose monitoring gives diabetics and prediabetics an additional tool in safely managing their health. As the old saying goes, knowledge is power, and CGM empowers conscientious patients in staying as healthy as possible for the long term. Also, for people who are at risk for developing diabetes (it runs in their family, or they are already prediabetic), continuous glucose monitoring provides a layer of vigilance and encourages better lifestyle choices.
Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring in Oviedo, Florida
At the Diabetes and Weight Loss Center, family nurse practitioner Adriel Perez helps patients develop the perfect plan to manage their prediabetes or diabetes. He uses CGM, dietary plans, and many other evidence-based medical treatments to help his patients feel like diabetes doesn’t have to take over their lives. He and his staff are passionate about helping people use all the available tools to manage their diabetes and to live their best lives.
To learn more about continuous blood glucose monitoring, call us for a consultation at (407) 890-1876 or request your visit here. We look forward to discussing CGM with you soon!
