Constant glucose monitor, CGM

[cooked]

I know this has been asked before, but I intend to get a CGM for my wife, she really hates pricking her finger (I have to do it)  and I can't adequately explain to her that eating carbs raises your blood sugar. Apart from Bangkok Hospital in Bangkok I have been unable to find anywhere in Thailand that will get her fixed up. We live 6 hours drive from BKK, Buriram. 

Thanks.

[JensenZ]

4 hours ago, cooked said:

I know this has been asked before, but I intend to get a CGM for my wife, she really hates pricking her finger (I have to do it)  and I can't adequately explain to her that eating carbs raises your blood sugar. Apart from Bangkok Hospital in Bangkok I have been unable to find anywhere in Thailand that will get her fixed up. We live 6 hours drive from BKK, Buriram. 

Thanks.

Is she diabetic? Carbs raise blood sugar in everyone. It's normal. 

[jaywalker2]

CGM generally isn't recommended by doctors unless there is a specific need. I know my friend in Paris wanted to a glucose monitor but couldn't find a doctor willing to prescribe it.

[Celsius]

You can get an implant on Lazada.... around 3000b

[Lorry]

3 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

CGM generally isn't recommended by doctors unless there is a specific need. I know my friend in Paris wanted to a glucose monitor but couldn't find a doctor willing to prescribe it.

You mean to say CGM isn't always paid for by Europe's (tax-funded or social security) health systems. 

[jaywalker2]

4 hours ago, Lorry said:

You mean to say CGM isn't always paid for by Europe's (tax-funded or social security) health systems. 

No, he has private insurance. They told him he didn't need it  because he wasn't diabetic

[Sheryl]

3 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

No, he has private insurance. They told him he didn't need it  because he wasn't diabetic

 

Indeed no doctor will prescribe this for a non-diabetic and absurd for one to want one.

 

I think we can assume OP's wife is diabetic.

 

CGM is little used in Thailand and other than a few private hospitals I do nto know where one can get it.

 

 

[jaywalker2]

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

 

Indeed no doctor will prescribe this for a non-diabetic and absurd for one to want one.

 

I think we can assume OP's wife is diabetic.

 

CGM is little used in Thailand and other than a few private hospitals I do nto know where one can get it.

 

 

Apparentlty, this is a new trend and there are even "glucose consultants" to interpret the results.  My friend, for instance, who is non-diabetic, feels there is value in seeing what affect different foods have on his glucose levels so he can tweak his diet to avoid unhealthy spikes.  CNBC has a news story about the the rise of this market:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYy1zEHvXZ4

 

Here's a Twitter thread that discusses the pros and cons

 

 

https://twitter.com/BradStanfieldMD/status/1706000812097642776

 

[lexxy]

The tiktok guy has proven that eating vegetables before your carbs lowers your spikes, or drinking one shot of apple cider vinegar in water before meals also works. Interesting and fun to watch his videos

 

https://www.tiktok.com/@insulinresistant1?lang=en

[Sheryl]

2 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

Apparentlty, this is a new trend and there are even "glucose consultants" to interpret the results.  My friend, for instance, who is non-diabetic, feels there is value in seeing what affect different foods have on his glucose levels so he can tweak his diet to avoid unhealthy spikes.  CNBC has a news story about the the rise of this market:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYy1zEHvXZ4

 

Here's a Twitter thread that discusses the pros and cons

 

 

https://twitter.com/BradStanfieldMD/status/1706000812097642776

 

[gargamon]

2 hours ago, lexxy said:

The tiktok guy has proven

Hahaha. Medical advice from Tiktok. Hahaha 

[mstevens]

14 hours ago, Sheryl said:

 

Indeed no doctor will prescribe this for a non-diabetic and absurd for one to want one.

 

I think we can assume OP's wife is diabetic.

 

CGM is little used in Thailand and other than a few private hospitals I do nto know where one can get it.

 

 

 

Constant Glucose Monitors are a great tool for those who wish to see how they react to different types of foods, irrespective of whether they're diabetic or not. There are different types of carbs and sugars. Some people may react badly to fructose (commonly found in fruit and honey amongst other things), for example, with their blood sugar surging while others can eat the same thing and don't react quite the same. If you are really keen to understand how the different foods you eat affect your blood sugar and thus your body overall, and have the money to buy one, CGMs can be a very useful tool indeed to see what you react to.

[lexxy]

13 hours ago, gargamon said:

Hahaha. Medical advice from Tiktok. Hahaha 

The guy wears the monitor, tries different food and checks for results, The origins of the social media post are irrelevant. You have been added to ignore.

[Sheryl]

Some people have way, way too much time on their hands and , as the Thais say, "think too much".

 

If your HB1Ac is well within normal range and you are not overweight or have an excessive waist circumference,  then your body is coping just fine with your diet and it really does not matter that your glucose goes up more rapidly after certain foods than others. That is a normal temporary occurrence (and useful at certain times).

[cooked]

4 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Some people have way, way too much time on their hands and , as the Thais say, "think too much".

 

If your HB1Ac is well within normal range and you are not overweight or have an excessive waist circumference,  then your body is coping just fine with your diet and it really does not matter that your glucose goes up more rapidly after certain foods than others. That is a normal temporary occurrence (and useful at certain times).

My wife is diabetic and I don't find it normal that she is being told to not bother about what food she eats. She doesn't understand what carbohydrates are and this is why I want to enable her to check up on her blood sugar without the finger prick which she hates. I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, threw the meds away and through lowering my carb intake drastically got my levels down to 'normal'. I don't think that this is 'thinking too much'.

It's not a hobby 

[cooked]

On 12/23/2023 at 10:36 PM, Celsius said:

You can get an implant on Lazada.... around 3000b

Yes I know. So I put it in place myself, probably reading a badly translated instruction manual? First time, I want a professional to do it.

[Sheryl]

9 minutes ago, cooked said:

My wife is diabetic and I don't find it normal that she is being told to not bother about what food she eats. She doesn't understand what carbohydrates are and this is why I want to enable her to check up on her blood sugar without the finger prick which she hates. I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, threw the meds away and through lowering my carb intake drastically got my levels down to 'normal'. I don't think that this is 'thinking too much'.

It's not a hobby 

I wasn't responding to you nor referring to anyone who is diabetic or pre-diabetic.  I was responding to prior posts about a trend  of non-diabetics with no health issues doing CGM simply because they want to know how their body reacts to different foods. Which is way over the top IMO. 

 

If you were pre-diabetic then by defintition your Hb1Ac would not have been "well within normal range".

[cooked]

49 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

 

 

If you were pre-diabetic then by defintition your Hb1Ac would not have been "well within normal range".

It is now.

[jaywalker2]

6 hours ago, cooked said:

My wife is diabetic and I don't find it normal that she is being told to not bother about what food she eats. She doesn't understand what carbohydrates are and this is why I want to enable her to check up on her blood sugar without the finger prick which she hates. I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, threw the meds away and through lowering my carb intake drastically got my levels down to 'normal'. I don't think that this is 'thinking too much'.

It's not a hobby 

There are currently smart watches on the market that purport to monitor blood glucose (such as K watch), though their accuracy has been questioned. Apple is working on its own CMB but it will probably be a while before it comes to market.  Dexcom makes a glucose monitor that attaches to the arm with micropines, so it doesn't require constant pricing of the finger. It can also transmit the results to some smartphones.

[cooked]

18 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

There are currently smart watches on the market that purport to monitor blood glucose (such as K watch), though their accuracy has been questioned. Apple is working on its own CMB but it will probably be a while before it comes to market.  Dexcom makes a glucose monitor that attaches to the arm with micropines, so it doesn't require constant pricing of the finger. It can also transmit the results to some smartphones.

Thanks. I'll wait a year or two on that, I watched :  which indicates that these aren't suitable for following short term trends

 

[seabear]

I intend to buy a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) At Lazada there are 5 (?) brands available. Would anybody have some information?

Thank you.

[Startmeup]

 

On 12/25/2023 at 2:47 PM, cooked said:

My wife is diabetic and I don't find it normal that she is being told to not bother about what food she eats. She doesn't understand what carbohydrates are and this is why I want to enable her to check up on her blood sugar without the finger prick which she hates. I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, threw the meds away and through lowering my carb intake drastically got my levels down to 'normal'. I don't think that this is 'thinking too much'.

It's not a hobby 

If these were given out for free to anybody that wanted to monitor their health it would save billions in sickcare funding every year globally.

How many millions of people each year get diagnosed as diabetic? Which is almost always reversible through diet. There will always be people who dont care about their health but monitoring your glucose levels and the reaction of your blood sugar to various foods and to exercising is one of the easiest ways to have a healthier society.

Health and cures are not the goal though, lifelong medications and profits are. I looked into getting one in Thailand before and never found an easy solution.
 

[cdnvic]

Removed some bickering over a six month old post.

[tomazbodner]

6 hours ago, seabear said:

I intend to buy a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) At Lazada there are 5 (?) brands available. Would anybody have some information?

Thank you.

My better half using FreeStyle Libre (14 days). Accurate, with Android phone it needs to be activated with reader, then can be tapped with the NFC enabled phone and app. It's accurate (compared with blood glucose check - AccuCheck Instant) to within a couple of percent. But there are some downsides - you need to tap it to get readings and it only keeps last 8 hours so if you forget, the chart has a gap. Reader can be plugged into a computer and connected to their cloud service to provide full report, but the graph on the reader itself is quite limited. App on the phone is not very accurate first couple of days of replacing reader. Sometimes it says "Sensor error. Retry in 10 minutes", and of course has no automatic alerts when glucose is over or below limit.

 

Considering replacing with another brand, Sibionics, as it has about the same accuracy, it's just as easy to apply, but works with mobile phone and sends the data every minute, triggering alerts on breaching limits. Cost is same or lower than Libre.

 

There is Libre 3 which has all these features but it's very expensive in Thailand.

 

I am also aware of Dexcom G7 but haven't seen it available in Thailand.

 

LInks to where we get them from:

Libre: https://www.lazada.co.th//products/i4129320146-s16186087767.html

Sibionics: https://www.lazada.co.th//products/i5014122655-s21190569774.html

[Startmeup]

12 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

My better half using FreeStyle Libre (14 days). Accurate, with Android phone it needs to be activated with reader, then can be tapped with the NFC enabled phone and app. It's accurate (compared with blood glucose check - AccuCheck Instant) to within a couple of percent. But there are some downsides - you need to tap it to get readings and it only keeps last 8 hours so if you forget, the chart has a gap. Reader can be plugged into a computer and connected to their cloud service to provide full report, but the graph on the reader itself is quite limited. App on the phone is not very accurate first couple of days of replacing reader. Sometimes it says "Sensor error. Retry in 10 minutes", and of course has no automatic alerts when glucose is over or below limit.

 

Considering replacing with another brand, Sibionics, as it has about the same accuracy, it's just as easy to apply, but works with mobile phone and sends the data every minute, triggering alerts on breaching limits. Cost is same or lower than Libre.

 

There is Libre 3 which has all these features but it's very expensive in Thailand.

 

I am also aware of Dexcom G7 but haven't seen it available in Thailand.

 

LInks to where we get them from:

Libre: https://www.lazada.co.th//products/i4129320146-s16186087767.html

Sibionics: https://www.lazada.co.th//products/i5014122655-s21190569774.html

Are the products on Lazada genuine or sub standard rip offs? I have my doubts.
Not heard any issues with the Freestyle Libre from Australian users but cant say for sure.

[tomazbodner]

2 hours ago, Startmeup said:

Are the products on Lazada genuine or sub standard rip offs? I have my doubts.
Not heard any issues with the Freestyle Libre from Australian users but cant say for sure.

Genuine on links shared. Can't comment on others.