Continuous glucose monitoring made me continuously crazy: A personal journey through the world of wearables and metabolic health
Victoria Song, a senior reporter at The Verge, embarks on a personal journey with continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), exploring their potential benefits and pitfalls for non-diabetics. Song, who has a family history of Type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), is intrigued by the idea of using CGMs to optimize her metabolic health and manage her diabetes risk. She purchases two over-the-counter CGMs, Dexcom Stelo and Abbott Lingo, and begins a year-long experiment, testing the devices, reading studies, and consulting with researchers.
Song discovers that CGMs can provide valuable insights into glucose trends, but they also come with challenges. She experiences elevated morning glucose levels, which are concerning due to the Dawn Phenomenon. This leads her to schedule doctor's appointments and hyperfixate on her diet and exercise, even though her A1C levels remain normal. Song also learns that side sleeping can lead to inaccurate overnight glucose readings, adding to the complexity of interpreting CGM data.
As she continues to wear the CGMs, Song becomes obsessed with the food on her plate and starts to overexercise, leading to disordered eating and social anxiety. She begins to feel stressed about being stressed, and her relationship with food and exercise becomes strained. Song eventually decides to stop using CGMs for personal optimization, but continues to use them to test new features.
In the end, Song finds that her metabolic issues are best addressed through medication and lifestyle changes, rather than CGMs alone. She is grateful for the improvements in her health, but is hesitant to frame CGMs as a silver bullet for demystifying and optimizing metabolism. Song concludes that while CGMs can provide valuable insights, they should not be relied upon as the sole solution for managing metabolic health.
