I was just poking around the internet when I came across the Dexcom Stelo. It looks like a G7 geared toward non diabetics. Interesting. Does anyone know anything about this or have any perspectives?
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I think what I read it is essentially the G7 without alerts. Just tapping T2 revenue source.
Wonder in that use case something that might be used a few times a year to confirm treatment is sufficient?
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That’s how my T2 friend uses it since she is not on insulin but is on a maintenance dose of Mounjaro. Early on I gave her a couple of G6 sensors so she could learn how food affected her blood sugar. That was an eye-opener!! Now she only needs to check occasionally.
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That’s a great idea - for folks who might wonder about what their glucose levels look like over time, and how diet might affect it. For about $100, you get two sensors.
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I just found out about the Dexcom Stelo, which seems like a G7 designed for people who don’t use insulin super interesting concept! It’s over-the-counter, too, so no prescription is needed.
Also, if anyone uses Not Just a Patch, they already make patches that fit the Stelo. I love that they’re focused on comfort and supporting the diabetes community.
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I tried a few before making the switch to G7. I got a Black Friday price of $70 for 2.
I thought it was as accurate as the G7 and at least for me more accurate than G6. I was having terrible accuracy with the G6 and it was driving me a little nuts.
The only problem I had was a HIGH failure rate. I purchased two sensors but ended up getting 8 sensors total because of failures on day 5 or 6. So this was about a year ago - maybe they’ve improved the failure rate.
If you are not on insulin I would think the Stelo would be a no brainer. Who wants all the false alarms for no reason? The app was pretty great and tracked what time of day was problematic after a couple of week and had other insights as well.
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It’s an end-run around the US prescription requirement, same as the Abbott Lingo. Here’s Abbott’s marketing spiel:
There’s a big non-diabetic market for continuous BG monitoring, there’s a lot of money, but the US insurance companies won’t pay and US doctors, apart from Sports Doctors, won’t prescribe. The medical versions have been used in sports medicine for years; with a doc’s prescription and no need for insurance (there is a lot of money in sport).
Abbott tapped the market and Dexcom responded (at least I think it was that way around).
In the US it is illegal to use those for any form of IDD; T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T* we have to get the prescription, pay the money. I think pretty much everywhere else except the UK is not impressed with requiring prescriptions to test blood glucose; it makes no sense. Why would any government think that having its citizens know their own BG is contrary to their interests?
The Abbott Lingo is explicitly not recommended for any diabetics (or wasn’t, they need to re-up their payments to the FDA):
The Lingo is hobbled by not reporting BG levels above or below certain values (as opposed to simply not having alarms). It seems to be a Libre 2, last time I saw anyone express an opinion.
The Stelo certainly seems to be a G7.
So far the FOSS guys don’t seem to have tried to connect to either; it’s a bit moot outside the US and the UK where the whole prescription thing is a big issue (albeit for different reasons). It will be interesting to see whether they are, in fact, equivalent to their legitimate siblings and whether it is the apps which are hobbled, not the sensors. I know what I’d do, polemically; if someone asked me to do that I’d just walk out.
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Thanks for sharing this! I’ve had a few sensor issues too, but using Not Just a Patch really helped keep them in place and last longer. Good to know Stelo’s app has solid insights though!
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No problem.
The sensor errors were not related to adhesive. No problems with them sticking. They would just all of a sudden on day 4 or 5 stop and the app would declare sensor error.