Continuous Glucose Monitoring is a new method of accurately tracking your glucose levels consistently and accurately throughout the day. At Track Your Max, we endeavor to provide our clients with a detailed understanding of their metabolism, hormones, and biochemistry with the use of modern technology. With our help, patients are provided with empirical data on an ongoing basis to help optimize their health needs.
Track Your Max in Webster has the most up-to-date health and body resources to serve your health and fitness needs. Utilize the advanced technology and tests that can provide a complete picture of your health. One of the most exciting new inventions is the Continuous Glucose Monitoring System or CGM for short, this is changing the way diabetes is treated and the general population is affected.
What is continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)?
A CGM is a small medical device that continuously measures your blood glucose levels. The reading levels are sampled at regular intervals, this gives a nearly real-time view of your glucose levels over the course of the day. The system is composed of a small sensor, a transmitter, and a display monitor. A sensor implanted just beneath your skin is responsible for measuring your blood glucose levels every 24 hours. A transmitter conveys information to a portable device or cell phone. Our patients rave about the smartphone mobile application that displays the data collected by the CGM.
How does CGM work?
The CGM system was intended to be simple and convenient. To utilize the CGM, you insert a small sensor into your abdomen or arm via a cannula (a thin plastic tube that is slightly deeper than the top layer of skin). The tube then collects the fluid that is interstitial (the fluid that surrounds cells in your body) and takes glucose measurements from that fluid. A single sensor can last up to 14 days and can be worn continuously.
A transmitter that is connected to the sensor allows the device to send wireless data to a remote monitoring device that displays the data in a simple-to-read format. Our appliances have the capability of receiving information directly from your smartphone. You can even program your CGM to send warnings and notifications when your blood sugar levels increase too much or decrease too little.
Traditional fingerstick meters or blood glucose meters are obsolete. While they were revolutionary in their day, they cannot provide constant glucose updates as the CGM can.
Benefits of Continuous Glucose Monitoring
Continuous glucose monitoring can help you automatically monitor your blood sugar levels (glucose) over the course of the day. This enables you to observe trends in real-time, which allows you to make more informed and educated decisions about how to balance your food, exercise, and medicine.
For those with diabetes, type I or type II, it’s a superior alternative to the traditional finger-prick and provides greater options for constant measurement and data collection. However, even those who already have prediabetes or simply want to learn more about how their bodies process food and energy can use the CGM system to gain insights that were not possible or inconvenient in the past.
At Track Your Max, we utilize the Abbott FreeStyle Libre for all of our CGM services. If recommended and approved by our certified physicians, our office will insert a CGM during your consultation. You’ll be asked to keep a food journal, but will not have to make any additional lifestyle changes for the next 14 days. During the subsequent discussion, the physician will review the CGM data with you in order to assist you in understanding the trends in your blood sugar as well as the effects of different foods on your metabolism. After you and the doctor discuss your health concerns, you can create a treatment plan that is specific to your metabolism.