by Abbott|4-week CGM|Wearable Glucose Tracker|See your glucose response to food, exercise, sleep|Continuous Glucose Monitor & App to support your health goals|Works with iOS and Android|UK Only

Waited till the 14 days was over to give full review. Fitting : very easy with the instructions, the adhesive was fine by itself although could buy extra coverings App : the app integration works seamlessly once the devise is connected the data was connected, twice had slight issue with Bluetooth connectivity but was easily resolved by either restarting phone or Bluetooth. Information : while it’s obvious that you will get higher spikes from excessive carbohydrates compared to protein and fats the data given gave more nuanced insights, ie for me not all carbohydrate quantities were equal, so elicited a bigger response than others, yes one could work out possibilities vis glycemic index etc but the visual in the moment readings were very useful and allowed one to play with strategies and see in real time if they worked. I only bought one but will get more at a future date to explore my choices again once insights integrated. Well worth the expense for those that want to understand this aspect of their health. For diabetics a different model is available.

I bought one of these five months ago and was very pleased with how easy it was to set up and use to monitor my glucose levels. After a period on a changed diet I bought another to see where I am now. So: The first one wouldn’t pair properly, the sensor said it was faulty so I sent it back to Amazon which replaced it the same day - very impressive. The replacement sensor fell off my arm so I refitted it but it would not work at all. As for unit one went through the troubleshooting stuff but no joy. Maybe this is a pair from a bad batch but for me the product is far less dependable now. I’ve asked for a refund.

I am writing a longer review to share my experience using the Lingo CGM. For 4 years now I have skirted around the edge of being pre-diabetic, and have changed my diet using advice from my GP practice and info on the internet. But every HbA1c test result came back between 38 and 41, the normal range being 21 - 41. I dropped weight from 76 kg to 65kg but no change. Finally my partner and me both got a lingo CGM and having the same diet we compared readings. What we found is that certain foods such as bread, rice etc caused huge spikes in my blood sugar as compared to my partner. A week of monitoring without changing my diet was a revelation on how bad my blood sugar levels were, and how high my lower limit was, 5.6 instead of 3.1 for my partner. After the first week and a few adjustments to my meals, my spikes reduced, and very soon my lower level dropped to 3.1. This is the level when the liver kicks in and pumps sugar into the blood. So in summary, what I could not fix in nearly 4 years of trying I managed to fix within a short period using the Lingo CGM. I hope this review helps others and I look forward to my next HBA1c blood test result in 6 months.

This works well, but I wish it was showing total range, not being limited to normal ranges only. It could provide an insight to and prompt those who don't know they are prediabetic/diabetic to seek professional advice. I'm on my 3rd one (previously bought directly from Abbott), one of the sensors turned out to be faulty and after a long chat with their customer support (they have to follow their script) they'd sent me a replacement. I'm going to use these CGMs for a bit longer to get into the habit of eating the right foods and the right time for my body and then see if I can manage without them. I am prediabetic and for now my goal is only to flatten the spikes, I don't need to know the actual reading of my glucose. The app (for Android) does work ok, but it does occasionally need to be reinstalled.

Unfortunately the monitor dramatically understated my supposed glucose levels - I was really worried I was hypoglycaemic! I ended up buying a traditional pin-prick monitor to try and work out what was going on. This pin-prick monitor shows an 8mmol/l difference 😱. That’s a lot! Because the device looked like it was working, it’s taken me 8 days to realise there was a problem with it. I’ll be honest, I hated it. This is one of the most stressful things I’ve used in a long time. The constant measurement of your blood sugar, trying to relate it back to what you ate and how you feel is really horrible. It is easy to become obsessed, and that’s not healthy at all. I have a strong family history of diabetes, so wanted to understand how my eating habits could be improved to reduce my risk, but I don’t think this is a useful or healthy way of achieving that. The monitor pretends to be up-to-date to the minute, but if you read the literature there is actually a 15 minute lag in the results because they are actually measuring the fluid around your cells, not your blood. This means it is inviting you to make judgements on results in real time, but which aren’t actually real! It would be much better and healthier for the user if the monitor showed the 15 minute lag rather than pretending it is up to the minute. So I really don’t recommend, unless under medical supervision. And that is even before you take into account the fact the sensor wasn’t working properly, but there was nothing to indicate that there was a problem apart from some strange results. I would definitely recommend against buying.

The biosensor was easy to apply and stayed in place pretty well, until the last couple of days when it started to come off after I knocked it. I was expecting to feel it being put in place, but couldn’t feel it at all. Once in place I didn’t know it was there, until knocking it in the last couple of days. I can see it would be useful for people who want / need to monitor their glucose levels but to be honest, after the initial novelty had worn off, I had to make a conscious effort to pick it up and log in. I’m sure it would be very useful for those athletes who are working on improving performance but I didn’t feel it was necessary for myself at the ‘general fitness’ level. Also quite expensive.