If you or someone you know wears a continuous glucose monitor (aka CGM), you may know that calibrating them can sometimes be a chore when it doesn’t read as closely as we may like with our blood glucose monitor readings.
Three common reasons for this are either:
- A kink in the sensor canula, i.e. sometimes punctured skin can lead to blood getting through in it, causing multiple misreadings
- The distance between the CGM sensor & monitor or
- The higher blood sugars get, the less accurate these reading become
This declined accuracy is typically due to:
- Insulin resistance or “double diabetes” among those with T1D
- Severe chronic inflammation
- Chronic hyperglycemia
- Among others!
I’ve experienced this firsthand when I had my hyperglycemia issues before treating my gut & hormonal health, & I’ve spoken with many other T1Ds who can relate to this as well.
However, a recent study found that CGMs might be overselling blood-sugar drama!
Compared to trusty finger-prick tests, CGMs overestimated blood sugar levels and dragged out the glucose spike for 4x longer!
CGMs consistently made post-meal sugar highs look like a Fast & Furious chase scene, while finger pricking kept it real.
Conclusion?
Although more research is needed, if you have been experiencing something similar or know someone who is, you’re not alone!
This is the very reason why all of these CGM manufactures state that these devices should not replace blood sugar finger prick tests.
As always, just something to think about.
Okee dokee!
Done within a minute!
I’ll see you next week!