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It would be useful and probably safe for a diabetic that is not using insulin. Even pre diabetics, just understand how your blood sugar reacts to various foods

by lokar 3y ago

It would be useful and probably safe for a diabetic that is not using insulin. Even pre diabetics, just understand how your blood sugar reacts to various foods and activities is really helpful for people trying to manage the disease.

FireBeyond 3y ago
If it's not accurate, it's not going to be helpful. I'm a paramedic, and for both IDDM and NIDDM patients, watching those numbers, etc., and experimenting, or "chasing the numbers" often leads to more problems than not. The issue for those patients is that hypoglycemic states are acutely problematic in a short time frame AND lead to decreased alertness, impaired judgment and decision making that can make all these things easily cascade. And when the numbers are off? It's very dicy. It's not just akin to monitoring your life metrics.
- salad-tycoon 3y ago
  For everyone else, DM = diabetes mellitus and ID and NID = insulin dependent and non insulin dependent, as best as I can tell. Insulin dependent patients could be considered to have severe diabetes or type 1 (autoimmune/“kid” diabetes). In a nut shell. I think even something that is directionally correct could be useful for “pre diabetes “ or non diabetics. A little color coded read out instead of numbers and a general trend may help to keep the numbers at the forefront of your mind. IMO, the susceptible population that I try so hard to get them to start thinking about changing lifestyle just tend to not think about how it is affecting their health and they prefer to wait until they have “full on diabetes” requiring medication. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion, maybe a green, yellow, red color gradient would help.
  - FireBeyond 3y ago
    You make a good point here, and yes IDDM -insulin-dependent (Type 1), NIDDM (Type 2), as you say (although for clarity - it is fairly uncommon, but possible to get adult-onset IDDM). If you were wanting to capture trends in pre-diabetics and maybe are looking at ranges, as you said, that could be a useful tool, definitely. "Lifestyle, not (directly) health". Hah, next step, watches that take your A1C blood labs (simplifying, but often used to get a good picture of average BGL over the last three months or so).
    - lokar 3y ago
      The A1C helps, but there are a lot of people who for whatever reason are just not great at taking care of themselves. They don’t do any more reading/research after the Dr explains it to them, they won’t/can’t track carbs and won’t use test stops. They are really disconnected from how their body reacts to food.

by lokar 3y ago

FireBeyond 3y ago

If it's not accurate, it's not going to be helpful. I'm a paramedic, and for both IDDM and NIDDM patients, watching those numbers, etc., and experimenting, or "chasing the numbers" often leads to more problems than not. The issue for those patients is that hypoglycemic states are acutely problematic in a short time frame AND lead to decreased alertness, impaired judgment and decision making that can make all these things easily cascade. And when the numbers are off? It's very dicy. It's not just akin to monitoring your life metrics.

salad-tycoon 3y ago
For everyone else, DM = diabetes mellitus and ID and NID = insulin dependent and non insulin dependent, as best as I can tell. Insulin dependent patients could be considered to have severe diabetes or type 1 (autoimmune/“kid” diabetes). In a nut shell. I think even something that is directionally correct could be useful for “pre diabetes “ or non diabetics. A little color coded read out instead of numbers and a general trend may help to keep the numbers at the forefront of your mind. IMO, the susceptible population that I try so hard to get them to start thinking about changing lifestyle just tend to not think about how it is affecting their health and they prefer to wait until they have “full on diabetes” requiring medication. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion, maybe a green, yellow, red color gradient would help.
- FireBeyond 3y ago
  You make a good point here, and yes IDDM -insulin-dependent (Type 1), NIDDM (Type 2), as you say (although for clarity - it is fairly uncommon, but possible to get adult-onset IDDM). If you were wanting to capture trends in pre-diabetics and maybe are looking at ranges, as you said, that could be a useful tool, definitely. "Lifestyle, not (directly) health". Hah, next step, watches that take your A1C blood labs (simplifying, but often used to get a good picture of average BGL over the last three months or so).
  - lokar 3y ago
    The A1C helps, but there are a lot of people who for whatever reason are just not great at taking care of themselves. They don’t do any more reading/research after the Dr explains it to them, they won’t/can’t track carbs and won’t use test stops. They are really disconnected from how their body reacts to food.