Takeaways

• A continuous glucose monitor (CGM) inserts a tiny sensor under the skin to measure glucose levels every few minutes (i.e., continuously).

• The CGM sensor pairs with an external monitor or a smartphone app to wirelessly transmit glucose readings for monitoring and review.

• CGMs have 3 advantages over glucometers. First, they eliminate the inconvenience and pain of fingerpricks. Second, they alert users to extreme blood sugar fluctuations in real-time, reducing the risk of medical emergencies. Lastly, they’re proven, safe, and effective.

Managing diabetes can feel daunting, especially when you need to check your blood sugar levels every single day. 

Depending on where you are in your health journey, you may already be familiar with glucose testing and taking diabetes meds regularly. All this can take time away from your family commitments or simply from enjoying life. Fortunately, there’s a better way. 

One of the advancements of modern medicine is called “continuous glucose monitoring”. It’s a technology to help people with diabetes avoid dangerous blood sugar levels. It’s convenient to use and provides peace of mind because it helps to manage diabetes more effectively than any other method could ever do. 

In this article, you will discover how continuous glucose monitoring works and how you can benefit from using it so that your diabetes journey will become as smooth and as safe as possible. In addition, you can get hands-on guidance from one of our specialized health coaches, who will take you by the hand and guide you on every step of your diabetes journey.

What is Continuous Glucose Monitoring?

Continuous glucose monitoring or CGM provides enormous benefits over the standard way of measuring blood sugar levels. It allows you to conveniently monitor your blood sugar all day and all night without you having to prick your fingers and with almost no time commitments. This method is not only quicker and safer, but it also spares you from having to prick yourself.

Depending on which CGM device you're using, you can receive sound alerts when your blood sugar is too low or too high. This can be a complete lifesaver should your blood glucose levels ever plummet. Some devices can even work in conjunction with an insulin pump to maintain healthy blood glucose levels quickly and painlessly.

If you want to delve into your blood sugar level details, you can download the sensor data to your computer or view it directly in a smartphone app. This way, you'll see a complete and accurate picture of your daily glucose trends.

How Does Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) Work?

Here at NOVI, we show our patients and coaching clients how to use Abbott’s CGM sensor called The FreeStyle Libre. This device works via a tiny sensor inserted under the skin, usually applied on the upper arm. The CGM sensor tests glucose levels every few minutes and pairs with an external monitor or a smartphone app to wirelessly transmit your glucose data for monitoring and review.

What are the Benefits of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM)?

If you're living with diabetes, managing your glucose levels is key. Continuous glucose monitoring can help you do just that by providing real-time information about your glucose levels. Here are some of the top benefits of using a CGM:

Benefit No. 1: You Don't Have to Prick Yourself

For decades people with diabetes have had to rely on pricking their fingers up to 10 times a day to get blood glucose readings. This method requires test strips, sugar meters, and lancets (the needle used to draw blood) whenever you need to track your glucose.

With a CGM, on the other hand, your glucose is tracked continuously every few minutes and gives you roughly 1,440 readings a day on autopilot. With this amount of data, you can spot trends and see how your body reacts to certain types of food, activity levels, or stress. This is invaluable to creating a treatment plan custom-tailored to your specific situation. With CGM, your physician or health coach can make laser-focused changes to your nutrition, fitness plan, and medication.

Benefit No. 2: You Can Avoid Diabetes-related Emergencies 

A continuous glucose monitor device (like the Dexcom G6 soon to be available in Singapore) allows you to create alerts for extreme fluctuations in your sugar level to help prevent dangerously high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) and low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) episodes. This can even help reduce the risk of diabetic coma or death.

If your blood sugar levels are fluctuating, you'll be alerted in real-time so that you can instantly do something about it. In addition, you can share your blood sugar data with your doctor, so they can help you prevent fainting or other medical emergencies. This can be a true life-safer and help you avoid costly emergency room visits.

Benefit No. 3: It’s Proven, Safe and Effective 

As CGMs are minimally invasive and incredibly effective, these devices are safe for most people with diabetes. There are just a few people for whom CGMs may not be ideal, especially children and teens who don't wear them as directed. However, CGMs are a viable option for almost all other people with diabetes.

CGMs have been around for decades and stood the test of time. However, the devices have become smaller and much more convenient to use in recent years. This is one of the reasons why continuous glucose monitoring has become wildly popular.  

Here at NOVI, we’re passionate about helping you take back control of your diabetes and make it as simple as possible. We offer coaching programs to help people with diabetes use CGMs and successfully bring their blood sugar back to healthy levels.

How to Get Even More Out of CGM with Health Coaching

CGM sensors are only as good as what you do with the data it monitors. If you're looking to get the most out of your CGM sensor, we've got you covered. Our team of experienced health coaches will work with you to understand all the sensor's information and how it relates to you specifically.

In addition, all our clients will get access to our NOVIFY app. This app layers all your data, including glucose sensor data, nutrition, activity, and weight data, to help you understand how your body reacts to diet, physical activity, and medication changes.

Our health coaches are trained to help you turn this data into actionable steps that fit into your daily life with ease. 

If you’re living with diabetes, using CGMs in conjunction with our coaching programs can truly make a difference and give you more freedom and security in your life. Find out more about NOVI Magnum.