honest answer: for most non-diabetic patients, a CGM for 1-2 months provides excellent behavioral insight and then diminishing returns after that. My recommendation:
Worth it for 4-8 weeks if:
- You want to understand your individual glucose responses to foods
- You're trying to optimize meal composition and timing
- You want to see how exercise affects your glucose
- You find data motivating for behavior change
Not necessary long-term if:
- Your A1c is stable and normal
- You're not on insulin or sulfonylureas (no hypo risk)
- You don't find the data actionable
A reasonable approach: buy 2 months of Libre 3, do your food experiments, learn your patterns, then stop. The knowledge stays with you even without the sensor. You'll know which meals spike you and which don't.
One caveat: if you have a strong family history of T2D, a 2-week CGM can reveal post-meal patterns that A1c and fasting glucose miss. Some "normal" A1c patients spike to 180+ after high-carb meals — that's not truly normal glucose regulation.
Last edited: Aug 9, 2025 at 1:45 PM