It’s been about 3 months since I’ve been using the Abbott Freestyle Librecontinuous glucose meter (CGM) and I’d like to provide an update.

There are still a few minor issues with this CGM that I’ll touch on here but for the most part, this device has far surpassed my expectations with regard to real time feedback that the CGM provides with regard to lifestyle and diet changes.

The report that I just downloaded from my reader for the last 2 weeks provided some key insights that I’d like to share in this post.

Dawn Phenomena

The Dawn Phenomena relates to seemingly mysterious rises in blood glucose a couple of hours before you wake and eat breakfast.  It is something I’ve written about before and even with stick meters it’s easy to verify but the CGM provides rock solid evidence of this.

See from the graph below how many of the days over the past 2 weeks show a spike in blood glucose around 5:00 or 6:00 even though I don’t eat breakfast until around 8:00.

12-Hour Delay With New Sensor

In the manual of the sensor and reader it clearly states that there is a 12-hour period from when you install a new sensor where data is not logged.  I don’t know why this is but I suspect that it takes time to have the sensor sampling tube and electronics conditioned to the new location and it’s a minor inconvenience knowing that I’ll get 10 full days of continuous glucose monitoring.

You can see the gap in the graph below.  The sensor 10 day limit ended on 16-SEP-18 so I removed the old sensor, installed a new one and data started to be logged about 12 hours later.

Exercise Effects

I’ve seen the effects of exercise on my blood glucose the day after and the CGM really highlights this.

On 15-SEP-18 (a Saturday) I walked 22,277 steps (9.77 miles) and you can see my blood glucose on Saturday night and Sunday morning was very low even though I ate a hotdog (with a bun!) Saturday afternoon.

Gaps In Measurements

For some odd reason, there are hours where data is not logged with this CGM.  For the most part, these gaps always occur when I’m sleeping and this could be due to me rolling over on my side and the pressure on the sensor causes it to not log the data.

OK, that is all I have to report now but more will be coming later.

As a reminder to those that are new here, I am a type 2 diabetic that manages my disease by following the Paleo lifestyle and continuous feedback is a must when deciding what lifestyle and diet changes affect my blood glucose.  If you are a type 1 or 2 diabetic, please see your physician and get a prescription for a CGM so that you can manager your disease in the best possible manner to prevent a certain, slow, painful death (which is inevitable if you continue to ignore the data).