Over The Counter Continuous Glucose Monitor?

[yakers]

Anyone geting or know about the now OTC CGM from Dexcom? The Dexcom Stelo Glucose Biosensor . Price? Quality? Avialability?

 

[braumeister]

Not available yet.
They will let you know when if you sign up here: Stelo, the first FDA-cleared glucose biosensor available without prescription | Dexcom

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Abbott also recently received FDA clearance for two over the counter CGMs.
Press release -

Abbott Receives U.S. FDA Clearance for Two New Over-the-Counter Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems

Abbott's consumer biowearable, Lingo™, is designed for general consumers who are looking to improve their overall health and wellness Libre Rio™ is designed for adults with Type 2 diabetes who...

abbott.mediaroom.com

 

[Route246]

I use Abbot Libre 3 for 10 weeks now and my eating and snacking behavior has greatly changed. Gave up candy almost altogether and I used to eat a lot of M&Ms, Reese's, etc. Haven't tested A1C yet but I hope it goes back to "normal" range after this behavioral change. All of this without pain or frustration, just instrumentation so I can get immediate feedback due to my actions. It works for me.

The elephant in the room is, HOW MUCH WILL OTC MONITORS COST?

 

[tulak]

I suspect the OTC monitors will be similar in pricing as the prescription monitors, at least from the start.

I’m planning on trying a CGM later this year, assuming they are available. I think it’ll be a useful exercise to see how my body reacts to different foods.

 

[audreyh1]

It seems that when something is not covered by insurance (example Cardiac Calcium Score) the price settles to quite low.

What little I see perhaps $150 per month now.

 

[tulak]

It’s not exactly like calcium score, since glucose monitors are covered by insurance if you’re diabetic.

Idk how pricing will play out, but hopefully it’ll get cheaper with time. I think initially the pricing will be comparable to insurance rates, but we’ll know soon enough.

 

[audreyh1]

The big breakthrough is OTC availability to us not diabetic. This monitoring is extremely useful before you get into trouble with diabetes/metabolic health.

I’m OK with $150 a month initially as I would use it for a month then maybe one month a year at most. Costco I expect will carry the product. They tend to have better pricing on pharmaceuticals.

As other folks have reported learning exactly how your body responds to each food is extremely important.

 

[tulak]

Agree, not trying to find a loophole to get a prescription is a big win.

I’m hoping to try it for 2-3 months, when I’m not traveling and through parts of the holidays. That should give me a good enough understanding. After that, maybe I’ll try it for a month every year or so to see how it’s going.

I have a friend that’s been doing it for a few months (not diabetic) and it’s been interesting to hear their results.

 

[audreyh1]

Honestly from what I read 2 weeks continuous monitoring is plenty to really learn what matters, but I’m sure it’s very individual.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Pricing -
Abbott's Lingo is active in the UK and priced at ~$110 per unit, good for 14 days.
I would expect Dexcom's Stelo to be similarly priced, speculation was around $100 when they first announced FDA approval.

 

[tulak]

Stelo has released their glucose monitor for the general public. $89/month with subscription, otherwise $99/month.

I ordered mine today. I’ll try it for a few months and then decide if I’ll continue, probably stopping after the new year. I want to see how badly the holidays impact my body. Lol.

 

[joesxm3]

Stelo has released their glucose monitor for the general public. $89/month with subscription, otherwise $99/month.

I ordered mine today. I’ll try it for a few months and then decide if I’ll continue, probably stopping after the new year. I want to see how badly the holidays impact my body. Lol.

I ordered a Stelo and it came a couple days ago. I have not yet set it up.

I now notice five strange Bluetooth items on my phone with the name "net". These seem to have appeared about the same time as my Stelo package.

Are you liking your Stelo?

Any Shell users seeing these strange Bluetooth items?

 

[audreyh1]

Stelo has released their glucose monitor for the general public. $89/month with subscription, otherwise $99/month.

I ordered mine today. I’ll try it for a few months and then decide if I’ll continue, probably stopping after the new year. I want to see how badly the holidays impact my body. Lol.

Thanks for the update. I might look into it this fall.

Where did you order and what stuff? Is it just the biosensor and then download the app?

 

[joesxm3]

I ordered from stelo.com and it arrived in two days.

It is just two small boxes. One two-week in each.

The device is inside an applicator that you press against your arm then push a button. A needle inserts a wire under the skin and a small disc is attached with adhesive. There is a plastic over over also held on by adhesive.

You need to create a stelo account after downloading the app. I have not gotten past that step yet.

Btw it seems that the stelo is not the source of the mysterious five new Bluetooth items all named "net".

I unplugged my cable modem and that did not get rid of them. I did do a Tesla update a few days ago. That will be the next thing to rule out.

 

[euro]

Looks like the Stelo is just a stripped down version of the Dexcom 7. No "Hi/low" alerts, no insulin pump functionalities, etc. However, it looks like a perfect choice for people who just want to monitor how food intake affects their glucose levels and don't need all the bells and whistles. The fact that it lasts 15 days instead of just 10 days for the Dexcom 7 is another plus. Glad these things are finally available over the counter. It's taken a crazy long time for no obvious reason. They are HUGELY useful for anyone who wants to know how food affects them.

 

[steelyman]

Looks like the Stelo is just a stripped down version of the Dexcom 7. No "Hi/low" alerts, no insulin pump functionalities, etc. However, it looks like a perfect choice for people who just want to monitor how food intake affects their glucose levels and don't need all the bells and whistles. The fact that it lasts 15 days instead of just 10 days for the Dexcom 7 is another plus. Glad these things are finally available over the counter. It's taken a crazy long time for no obvious reason. They are HUGELY useful for anyone who wants to know how food affects them.

That’s interesting, thanks for your comments. The ability to check glucose level is a big deal especially if you don’t need a meter and test strips.

 

[tulak]

I ordered mine from stelo.com and received it in two days too.

As Joesxm3 mentioned, it comes in two small boxes. I installed mine a few days ago. It’s a bluetooth device that sync’s with your phone every 15 minutes. It samples in 5 minute intervals and they say you should keep your phone within 20 feet, otherwise I suspect you’ll miss a sync, which I think happened to me once.

The bluetooth device is called DX01Ux on my iPhone and there’s only one device.

The Stelo app is basic and my biggest frustration is that you can’t look back more than 24 hours. I have it setup to sync data with Apple Health, so I can view longer timelines there. It still would be nice if I could view the data in the Stelo app.

Otherwise, it was easy to install and seems to be working well. I had my first glucose spike today (whoopee!), where I went from around 90 to 155 mg/dL after eating a subpar restaurant meal. I received a notification of the spike on my Apple Watch while still at the restaurant.

Overall, my glucose levels are pretty stable. I do wonder about the accuracy and have read complaints on reddit, but my fasting glucose from my previous labs are about the same as Stelo. Either way, I’m more interested in trends, so as long as the readings are consistent, if it differs by some amount that’s ok.

I’m still early on in this experiment, but so far it’s been interesting. I’m guessing that 2-3 months of doing this will be more than enough.

 

[joesxm3]

I was afraid that the app would be lacking. Is there a way to unload to a data file if you don't have an Apple watch?

My type 1 friend warned me that the glucose values would be time lagged by 10 or 15 minutes compared to the finger sticking due to the different sampling methods.

As you say, probably best to just view the change trend rather than the absolute numbers.

I have both keto-mojo and metene finger stickers. I find that they can differ by 10 or 20 sometimes. The keto-mojo instructions say the the FDA requirements have a wide accuracy tolerance.

Did you have any trouble attaching it? I watched the videos and have the idea but I am still nervous. I may try to attach it tomorrow.

 

[tulak]

You mean Apple Health?

Dexcom has all of your glucose measurements. The Stelo app is limited, but you can install their Clarity app which lets you generate reports for up to 90 days. It creates a PDF based on your data. I haven’t fully explored this, but it looks like there’s a lot there. I also read that you can view your data on their website, but I haven’t tried that yet. I don’t know about exporting data on non-Apple devices. The only option I had in the Stelo app is with Apple Health.

As for attaching it, I was a bit worried, but it was painless. You push the button and wham, it’s attached. Didn’t feel it all and it’s real quick. I attached it to the back of my upper arm, as they recommend.

 

[joesxm3]

Thanks. I found the user guide while you were answering. It seems there is a Google Health app that I can sync to like you do.

Well moving into the space age here. Glad I did not try to get a CGM for $800.

Thanks for making this thread and tipping me off early. I even got to show off on the Dr. Brewer chat and say that I ordered it before any of them knew it was available.

 

[audreyh1]

I ordered mine from stelo.com and received it in two days too.

As Joesxm3 mentioned, it comes in two small boxes. I installed mine a few days ago. It’s a bluetooth device that sync’s with your phone every 15 minutes. It samples in 5 minute intervals and they say you should keep your phone within 20 feet, otherwise I suspect you’ll miss a sync, which I think happened to me once.

The bluetooth device is called DX01Ux on my iPhone and there’s only one device.

The Stelo app is basic and my biggest frustration is that you can’t look back more than 24 hours. I have it setup to sync data with Apple Health, so I can view longer timelines there. It still would be nice if I could view the data in the Stelo app.

Otherwise, it was easy to install and seems to be working well. I had my first glucose spike today (whoopee!), where I went from around 90 to 155 mg/dL after eating a subpar restaurant meal. I received a notification of the spike on my Apple Watch while still at the restaurant.

Overall, my glucose levels are pretty stable. I do wonder about the accuracy and have read complaints on reddit, but my fasting glucose from my previous labs are about the same as Stelo. Either way, I’m more interested in trends, so as long as the readings are consistent, if it differs by some amount that’s ok.

I’m still early on in this experiment, but so far it’s been interesting. I’m guessing that 2-3 months of doing this will be more than enough.

That sounds so interesting. Thanks much for the details. Glad the Apple Watch gives notifications.

Thanks for all this information folks! Please keep it coming as you gain more experience.

 

[steelyman]

Again, thanks for the interesting posts. I went to the Dexcom website and found user manuals for the Stelo. I was curious about accuracy and ability to calibrate the system (enter manual BG readings to adjust accuracy). It wasn’t clear about calibration but they do list reported accuracy across days of wear (1-15). It appears that it varies, especially when the sensor is first inserted and when approaching end-of-life. This agrees with my understanding.

 

[joesxm3]

Since we are tracking glucose level, I would like to point out that this is the best we civilians can do but falls way short of diagnosing pre-diabetes.

There is a ten year period before conventional screening identifies problems where the glucose level remains normal but only because the body is increasingly producing more insulin to control the glucose level.

Insulin is causing damage during this period of hyperinsulemia.

The way to test for this is to do an oral glucose tolerance test measuring fasting insulin and insulin at one hour intervals.

Dr. Joseph Kraft who developed this tested 15,000 people and only 2000 were normal. He went so far to say "any patient with coronary artery disease who does not have diabetes simp!y has not been diagnosed yet."

Dr. Kraft has a book. Ben Binkman, Dr.Ford Brewer are good you tube sources to learn more. Blink an has a book called "why we get sick".

Unfortunately it is very hard to find a doctor to order this test which requires being at the lab two or three hours.

My doctor said " I've never heard of that test. I would never order it. I would not know how to interpret the results."

 

[braumeister]

The way to test for this is to do an oral glucose tolerance test measuring fasting insulin and insulin at one hour intervals.

Probably true, but very uncommon. But you can get a fasting insulin test (different from the typical fasting glucose test). Between that and the A1C test I think you can have an excellent idea about that part of your health.