Please note: This post is not meant as medcal advice and you should always consult your doctor prior to doing anything. This is simply my observations of 2 devices that I have been using with the recommendations of my medical team.
I haven’t updated for a while, but thought I would share about becoming a diabetic cyborg.
For around 3 or 4 months now, I have been using the Freestyle Libre Flash (FGM) Glucose Monitor which is a sensor that allows me to have continuous access to my glucose levels by a simple scan of a sensor. This then gives me 8 hours of glucose levels and I can see where it is trending, either up, down, or staying stable. This helps me know how to treat in real-time and allows me to therefore have a lot better control of my glucose levels then when I was doing blood glucose tests. While the Libre does give me glucose readings, it is different than a blood test. As opposed to the blood test, the Libre reads interstital fluid, which means it uses an algorithm to determine glucose levels. This is the same way that a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) tells you what your glucose level is – but unlike a CGM, the Libre, which is a FGM, there are no alarms if you are trending high or low, but there is still about a 15 minute delay. For people with hyper or hypo unawareness, this may not be the best thing to use, but I seem to be able to usually feel these, so it works for me. The sensor itself is quite a bit smaller than the CGM sensors which is something nice and as I have been wearing it, I really don’t even feel that it is there.
And then about 2 weeks ago, I started on the OmniPod Insulin Delivery System, which is an insulin pump that is completely tubeless and allows me to receive a continuous dose of insulin over a 24 hour period and then further allows me to give additional bolus doses of insulin when I eat or when my blood glucose levels are higher than the target range which I have set with my diabetes education team, including my nurse and endocrinologist. The Omnipod allows me to have a small pod that I wear on my body which is prefilled with insulin and is then controlled by a device called the Personal Diabetes Manager (PDM) which has a variety of features including a blood glucose meter built in. In the couple weeks tat I have been using the device, I have seen my glucose levels stabilize quite a bit and I look forward to seeing my newest HbA1C levels.
It has been interesting becoming a diabetic cyborg, but it seems to be helping me get control of my diabetes and for that reason along, I think it is worth it. The freedom to do more and just eat more of what I want is a definite benefit as well.
If you want to learn more about these things, you can check out:
I should also mention (if you didn’t realize by my domain) that I am in Canada so this information is more than likely more relevant to Canada, but both systems are available in North America and worldwide.