WIth continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), you can track your blood sugar (blood glucose) all the time. It lets you see how your body responds to things like food, exercise, sleep, stress, and medications. It may reveal patterns that you can’t detect with occasional finger pricks or lab tests.
People with type 1 or type 2 diabetes are most likely to use CGM, but a continuous monitor can provide information to other people like those with prediabetes or people who are interested in links between blood sugar and mood, food, or other factors. Here’s what to know about CGM and how to take advantage of it if you’re trying to prevent diabetes or manage blood sugar.
What is Continuous Glucose Monitoring?
Continuous glucose monitoring is another way to monitor blood sugar. It gives more information than traditional methods like fingerstick testing, which you can only do a few times a day. In contrast, a continuous glucose monitor is placed under your skin. It measures your blood sugar every 1-5 minutes, or around 300 times daily, without pricking your fingers. In contrast, people with diabetes who use traditional finger pricks to test blood sugar may need to test up to 10 times a day.
Who Uses CGM and Why?
Traditionally, people with type 1 diabetes use CGM to improve blood sugar control. People with type 2 diabetes, especially if you’re on insulin, are also likely to use CGM. More people are using CGM now. People with prediabetes and people who like tracking their measurements are also increasingly interested in CGM.
A CGM can help you with these.
- Supporting healthy behavior changes by showing you immediate consequences of your choices like what you eat and how much you sleep
- Creating your daily blood sugar management plan
- Reducing the risk of severe (Level 2) hypoglycemia, which can be scary and dangerous
- Reducing anxiety around managing blood sugar
What You Can Learn from Using a CGM
A CGM can provide a wealth of information.
- A blood sugar reading every few minutes throughout the day and night
- Alerts for high blood sugar and low blood sugar when you are out of range, which can be life-saving
- Analysis like graphs showing your blood sugar over time
- Trend arrows showing if your blood sugar is rising, falling, or steady at that moment, so you can make better decisions on whether and what to eat, whether or how much to exercise, and other behaviors
With so much information, you can also be more likely to learn how specific factors may affect blood sugar. Here are some examples.
- How specific foods may affect blood sugar differently, such as crackers versus nuts
- Effects of portion sizes and combinations, such as a plate of pasta versus a half-plate of pasta and a half-plate of salad
- Role of timing, such as breakfast versus a late-night snack
- Patterns during and after exercise
- How different activities affect blood sugar, such as light walks throughout the day versus resistance training versus high-intensity interval workouts
- How blood sugar changes during stress, sleep deprivation, and illness
Insurance and Self-Pay: Cost of CGM
Insurance is likely to pay for a continuous glucose monitor if you have type 1 diabetes or you have type 2 diabetes and you are on insulin. You may also qualify if you have type 2 diabetes and are not on insulin, especially if you have low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, frequently. Coverage usually includes the CGM and cost of the disposable sensors they use, which usually last 1-2 weeks.
Insurance isn’t likely to pay for CGM if you don’t have diabetes, since a CGM is a medical device for diabetes management. Self-pay options may cost about $100 per sensor and $400 for a reader or transmitter. If you’re interested, your healthcare provider may be able to help you find an option to use for a couple of weeks so you can learn how different foods, activities, and other patterns affect blood sugar.
Realistic Expectations and Caveats of CGM
A CGM isn’t perfect. There’s a time delay between when the measurement is taken and when you see the value of the measurement, which means you’re seeing a value that’s a few seconds behind. It’s also important to remember that you still may need to do finger pricks when you have a CGM. A finger prick may be necessary to help calibrate the sensor or confirm a reading.
Using a CGM when you don’t have diabetes or prediabetes can be interesting, but it can also potentially lead to excessive focus on each lifestyle choice you make. Micromanaging or becoming obsessive about blood sugar can be unhealthy if it causes stress or treatment fatigue, especially without substantial physical benefits.
If you choose to use a CGM, be sure to do so under the supervision of a qualified healthcare professional. You may see a lot of numbers, graphs, and other information. It’s best to check with a provider to make sure you understand what the information is telling you, and what you might want to do about it. Never make changes to your medication or diabetes care plan without involving a qualified healthcare professional.
If you’re thinking about trying a CGM, identify why you want to. What are you hoping to get out of it? Are you willing to find out about insurance or the out-of-pocket costs? Have you thought about the risks and benefits? If you’re still interested, talk to your provider and see if it may be right for you!
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