CGM brands, pricing, accuracy

[Anonymous]

I know this is a touchy topic…. I’m hoping to start a non judgmental thread to ask about pricing, accuracy, need for prescription etc. for a continuous glucose monitor.

I get ads all the time on Facebook and would love to try one out for a month or so, but would rather not go through the hassle of doctors, insurance, year long memberships, etc. And I’m also very curious about accuracy - has anyone measured them against a traditional fingerprint glucose monitor?

I’m the caretaker for a diabetic pre-teen and would like to understand the impact of different foods and activities better. I understand that it will be really different with a fully functioning pancreas, but I still think I could learn more about different foods and how to help her if I also better understood the effects of food on my own body.

Any feedback on accuracy, pricing and brands?

[Anonymous]

Sure. The cheapest way to get a prescription I found by far was through a site called tastermonial. They are now writing prescriptions for the Freestyle Libre 3. For me at least it is much more accurate than the Libre 2 was (I compared both to an Accu Chek Guide finger stick, which is very accurate).

Don’t pay attention to anyone who wants to gatekeep this technology for you. I think it’s great. It helped me get from prediabetic to normal, and to learn what foods spike my blood sugar and which don’t - some of these were not at all in line with conventional wisdom, or glycemic index lists. Bodies are different. You might as well learn about yours!

Best of luck to you.

[Anonymous]

I used Signos for 3 months even though I’m not diabetic. I listen to Dr Mark Hyman’s podcast and he talks about them a lot. I’ve also heard of Levels and Nutrisense. I didn’t compare prices. It wasn’t covered by insurance but I used flexible spending account dollars. You don’t need a prescription.

It was helpful to see which foods rose my blood sugar - usual suspects including potatoes and Diet Coke. I learned that Nick’s ice cream didn’t - good news. Walking after meals helped. It’s good info because spikes then cause crashes. The days I was completely even I felt awesome.

I recommend

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this is a touchy topic…. I’m hoping to start a non judgmental thread to ask about pricing, accuracy, need for prescription etc. for a continuous glucose monitor.

I get ads all the time on Facebook and would love to try one out for a month or so, but would rather not go through the hassle of doctors, insurance, year long memberships, etc. And I’m also very curious about accuracy - has anyone measured them against a traditional fingerprint glucose monitor?

I’m the caretaker for a diabetic pre-teen and would like to understand the impact of different foods and activities better. I understand that it will be really different with a fully functioning pancreas, but I still think I could learn more about different foods and how to help her if I also better understood the effects of food on my own body.

Any feedback on accuracy, pricing and brands?

If you run a search on this forum you'll get tons of info on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure. The cheapest way to get a prescription I found by far was through a site called tastermonial. They are now writing prescriptions for the Freestyle Libre 3. For me at least it is much more accurate than the Libre 2 was (I compared both to an Accu Chek Guide finger stick, which is very accurate).

Don’t pay attention to anyone who wants to gatekeep this technology for you. I think it’s great. It helped me get from prediabetic to normal, and to learn what foods spike my blood sugar and which don’t - some of these were not at all in line with conventional wisdom, or glycemic index lists. Bodies are different. You might as well learn about yours!

Best of luck to you.

How did you get a prescription without a diagnosis?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure. The cheapest way to get a prescription I found by far was through a site called tastermonial. They are now writing prescriptions for the Freestyle Libre 3. For me at least it is much more accurate than the Libre 2 was (I compared both to an Accu Chek Guide finger stick, which is very accurate).

Don’t pay attention to anyone who wants to gatekeep this technology for you. I think it’s great. It helped me get from prediabetic to normal, and to learn what foods spike my blood sugar and which don’t - some of these were not at all in line with conventional wisdom, or glycemic index lists. Bodies are different. You might as well learn about yours!

Best of luck to you.

How did you get a prescription without a diagnosis?

Google tastermonial. Note that the prices do not include the sensors themselves. In my case, once the prescription was written by their doctor, my health insurance covered at 100%. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a type 1 diabetic (currently a teen, diagnosed at 3), please keep in mind that foods (type and amount), activity, and hormones may impact a child/teen very, very differently than they impact you as an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure. The cheapest way to get a prescription I found by far was through a site called tastermonial. They are now writing prescriptions for the Freestyle Libre 3. For me at least it is much more accurate than the Libre 2 was (I compared both to an Accu Chek Guide finger stick, which is very accurate).

Don’t pay attention to anyone who wants to gatekeep this technology for you. I think it’s great. It helped me get from prediabetic to normal, and to learn what foods spike my blood sugar and which don’t - some of these were not at all in line with conventional wisdom, or glycemic index lists. Bodies are different. You might as well learn about yours!

Best of luck to you.

How did you get a prescription without a diagnosis?

Google tastermonial. Note that the prices do not include the sensors themselves. In my case, once the prescription was written by their doctor, my health insurance covered at 100%. YMMV.

What condition was your prescription written for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sure. The cheapest way to get a prescription I found by far was through a site called tastermonial. They are now writing prescriptions for the Freestyle Libre 3. For me at least it is much more accurate than the Libre 2 was (I compared both to an Accu Chek Guide finger stick, which is very accurate).

Don’t pay attention to anyone who wants to gatekeep this technology for you. I think it’s great. It helped me get from prediabetic to normal, and to learn what foods spike my blood sugar and which don’t - some of these were not at all in line with conventional wisdom, or glycemic index lists. Bodies are different. You might as well learn about yours!

Best of luck to you.

How did you get a prescription without a diagnosis?

Google tastermonial. Note that the prices do not include the sensors themselves. In my case, once the prescription was written by their doctor, my health insurance covered at 100%. YMMV.

What condition was your prescription written for?

tbh, not sure. There was a medical questionnaire, but only to make sure that they didn’t have some other condition that they didn’t wanna mess with. It was clearly a rubber stamp.

It’s exactly like getting a medical marijuana prescription. CGM providers fall into one of two categories: money-seekers, and true believers. Money-seekers do it to make $ so of course they’ll give you a prescription. True believers do it because they truly believe that the prescription they’re offering can improve health, so of course they’ll give you a prescription. Either way, the results are the same.

FWIW I do think that Tastermonial are true believers, not money-seekers. They do glycemic control studies and seem really interested in identifying low G.I. foods. They also don’t charge nearly as much as the lifestyle companies.