21 posts
What a CGM measures, which sensor to buy over the counter, how to get the raw data out as CSV, and the metrics and failure modes that decide whether the two weeks of data mean anything.
What post-meal glucose looks like in people without diabetes, where the 140 and 180 mg/dL thresholds come from, and a protocol for extracting real numbers from your own CGM export.
A working setup for longitudinal biomarker tracking: a schema that survives lab changes, your own analytical and biological variation estimates, reference change values instead of reference ranges, and trend fitting that does not fire on noise.
A1c and glucose disagree when either your glucose sampling is unrepresentative or your red cell biology and hemoglobin assay distort the glycation measurement. Here is how to separate the two with CGM data, a CBC, an assay method check, and a look at your genome.
A practical guide to wearing a continuous glucose monitor around training: sensor placement, interstitial lag, exporting raw CSV data, the metrics worth computing, and the artifacts that will fool you.
Standard continuous glucose monitors measure glucose only. Abbott's Libre Duo 10 Day adds a beta-hydroxybutyrate electrode on the same filament. Here is what each sensor measures, what the data looks like, and how to analyze it.
A continuous glucose monitor does not cause fat loss, but it is a good instrument for measuring how you eat. Here is what the data supports, how to run your own meal experiments, and the failure modes that will fool you.
A practical account of continuous glucose monitor insertion, comfort, accuracy limits, and how to work with the exported data if you are not diabetic and want a metabolic baseline.
Overnight glucose normally falls to its lowest point of the day a few hours after sleep onset. This page explains what a normal nocturnal curve looks like, how to analyze your own CGM data for real low events, and how to recognize the compression artifacts that mimic them.
Why a post-meal glucose reading in the 80s is usually a healthy result, why you can feel shaky at that number anyway, and how to tell a real reading from sensor noise using your own CGM and lab data.
A practical guide to wearing a CGM without diabetes: which sensors to buy, how accurate they are, what a normal glucose curve looks like, and how to analyze the raw data yourself.
What a post-meal glucose of 83, 87, or 94 mg/dL means, why the timing of the reading matters more than the number, and how to measure your own postprandial response properly with CGM and blood work.
A fasting glucose of 106 mg/dL places you just inside the prediabetes range by ADA criteria, but a single number carries more measurement noise than most people assume. Here is how to interpret it, what to measure next, and how to read your own CGM data.
What continuous glucose monitoring shows about post-meal glucose in people without diabetes: typical peak height, time to peak, return to baseline, and how to measure your own response properly rather than reacting to one alarming number.
A practical guide to choosing a continuous glucose monitor as a non-diabetic athlete, getting the raw data out, and analyzing it without over-reading sensor noise.
A working method for turning a raw Libre or Dexcom export into an ambulatory glucose profile, per-meal response curves, and metrics you can defend — including what the numbers can and cannot tell you.
What the post-meal glucose numbers are for people without diabetes, where the thresholds come from, and how to compute peak, time-to-peak, and incremental AUC from your own CGM export.
In the US, FreeStyle Libre 2 and 3 still require a prescription; Libre Rio, Dexcom Stelo, and Abbott Lingo do not. What each one costs, how they differ, and how to get the raw glucose data out.
A postprandial reading of 97 mg/dL is a normal, unremarkable value in a person without diabetes. Here is what the number tells you, what it does not, and how to read postprandial glucose properly from CGM or fingerstick data.
A CGM measures the output of your glucose system, not its input. Here is what a sensor can and cannot tell you about insulin sensitivity, and the paired measurements that make the trace interpretable.
Over-the-counter continuous glucose monitors are now sold directly to adults in the US. Which one to buy, what their accuracy numbers mean, how to export the data, and what to compute once you have it.