Continuous Glucose Monitoring has made my role as a caregiver easy

Diabetes impacts all age groups and there has been a rise in the number of people living with diabetes. 

I have two family members who have been living with diabetes since long. My mother and my father-in-law. I witness their challenges to manage this health condition everyday. When one member of the house is living with diabetes, it’s a sign for others to reflect, not only about  one’s own fitness, but to also provide  care to the  family member with diabetes. 

Diabetes can be managed with a good diet, physical exercises like walking / yoga and  medication as the doctor recommends. Proper mental care with less stress and more optimism helps keep one’s blood glucose levels under control. I feel the role of every caregiver is extremely important as they have to ensure more positivity in the house along with good physical and dietary care.

As a caregiver myself, I have been very careful about the same. Following a two-hour meal plan, daily exercises, regular checks on sugar levels, keeping some sweets handy at home to deal with sugar fluctuations, these have all been a part of my daily action plan to look after my parents   with diabetes. While a lot of this is manageable, one task that is the very  difficult is to watch our loved ones pricking themselves every few hours to  monitor their sugar levels.

Recently, I was supposed to check my mother’s  sugar levels 4 times a day for a span of a week. While we followed a routine for the first two days,  by  the third day my mother gave up saying she was unhappy  with the daily pricks. Moreover, I had forgotten that the strips used for testing had to be purchased.  I remember being tensed and  running from one pharmacy to another to buy these testing strips.

When I consulted my diabetologist , she advised us to go for continuous glucose monitoring using a flash glucose monitoring device like Freestyle Libre instead of the traditional blood glucose monitoring method. 

Flash Glucose Monitoring versus Blood Glucose Monitoring

Traditional blood glucose monitoring provides glucose readings that represent distinct points in time. However, we do not get information about  how the glucose levels have been changing, or where they are headed. In these cases,  it is difficult to track  glucose fluctuations.

Flash Glucose Monitoring provides a complete picture of glucose variations over the last 8 hours. It shows the current glucose reading and how the glucose levels are changing. All this  by just scanning the reader over the sensor. It gives an 8-hour history and trend arrow showing if the glucose level is going up, down or staying steady.

FreeStyle Libre – Flash Glucose Monitoring System

FreeStyle Libre is a revolutionary product that helps track glucose levels without finger-pricks. It is a sensor-based glucose monitoring system that comes with a reader and a sensor. The sensor is applied on to the back of the upper arm and can be worn for up to 14 days. One simply needs to swipe the reader over the sensor to get a complete picture of the glucose levels.

It is a very convenient method of monitoring the sugar levels as it automatically measures and stores glucose readings. The readings can be taken even through your clothing. It shows up to 1440 readings per day. It is approved in a broad range of patient population – Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, in pregnant women, children and young adults. 

What we like about FreeStyle Libre 

I purchased FreeStyle Libre  for both my mother and my father-in-law basis our doctor’s suggestion. Since then, life has been easy for all of us !

• First, it liberates you from routine finger pricks. 
• Second, it is a painless one-second scan. 
• Third, it shows glucose readings quickly by just scanning the reader over the sensor. One can see the current glucose reading, eight hours of data & trend arrow that shows where our glucose is heading. 
• Fourth, it is water-resistant and very easy-to-use.
• Fifth, it stores 90 days of glucose data. 
• Sixth, it gives better insights of one’s sugar levels that are tracked continuously so we can see the patterns and trends. 
• Seventh, it is an all-in-one product with dual capability testing. 

The FreeStyle Libre system is clinically proven to be accurate, consistent and stable. It improves a person’s lifestyle and helps monitor diabetes and effectively manage it.

This product is a boon for my family. I can now take care of my family hassle-free, tension free, anywhere anytime!!

Know more about Continuous Glucose Monitoring. 

Buy Now: FreeStyle Libre Glucose Monitoring System

Disclaimer: This post is in collaboration with FreeStyle Libre. However, the views and opinions expressed here are my own.