Dexcom Stelo is the 1st glucose monitor for those with prediabetes condition

About one in three Americans, or 125 million people, are prediabetic or have Type 2 diabetes. Dexcom‘s Stelo glucose monitor is for those people and I’ve found it works pretty well. It’s available today as the first blood sugar monitor for people who don’t have diabetes yet, no prescription required.

I’ve been wearing the Stelo for a couple of weeks and makes it easy to understand what happens to your body when you eat foods with a lot of carbohydrates or sugar. The biosensor is available for purchase today at Stelo.com for people in the U.S. 18 and older not using insulin.

Instead of just a one-time test, Stelo provides an over-the-counter sensor that can collect data 24/7 that shows in near real time your glucose levels on an app on your smartphone. The personalized insights can show you the impact of the food you ate about an hour ago. With this data, prediabetic people understand what food, exercise and sleep can do to their glucose levels.

Dexcom got on my radar back in 2020 when I wrote about the Dexcom 6 sensor. Back then, it was bigger and it had a shorter battery life. The march of Moore’s Law and other design updates has now made Stelo into a more useful product. But as I noted in 2020, let’s talk a bit about why this matters.

Why blood glucose levels matter

Back in 2020, you had to get permission from a doctor to use a Dexcom product, as it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration only for use by Type 1 diabetes patients who need to monitor their glucose levels to figure out their insulin shots and control their diabetes symptoms.

As a tech narcissist, I’ve been interested for years in how technology can deliver a “quantified self,” or data about myself and how I live. Back then, I couldn’t say that the data I had collected so far, from step counters to sleep monitors, had really taught me anything really useful — until I tried out Dexcom’s monitor as a product test, even though I did not have Type 1 diabetes. It turned out not only to be a good health care story but also a great data story.

The Dexcom G6 Pro gave me insights into how my body was behaving moment to moment, and how I can take charge and control how I feel. For me, this was a kind of academic fascination. But for Ric Peralta, for example, a 47-year-old man who has been living with diabetes for 12 years, it makes a huge difference in how conveniently he can monitor glucose levels and manage life-or-death situations.

This kind of insight that we both got from data is something I would expect to learn from a Star Trek Tricorder.

Glucose monitors measure the level of sugar in your blood. For diabetic patients, this is critical. Diabetes affects tens of millions of Americans and at the time it was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. The traditional standard of care for glucose monitoring was a fingerstick meter, which was painful as some patients had to test their blood by pricking their fingers up to 12 times a day.

In a patient with Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas can’t produce the hormone insulin, which helps the body absorb sugar and remove it from your bloodstream. For Type 2 diabetes patients, their body may not be able to produce or process insulin effectively. Either condition means people have to inject themselves with insulin to take their glucose levels down. But they can only do this if they can accurately measure their blood sugar levels in real time, something that hadn’t been possible or convenient until recently.

If someone like Peralta spikes above their limit or falls below the lower threshold, they face big health risks. If your blood sugar is too high, it can damage your blood vessels. The lows, known as hypoglycemia, can lead to hunger, trembling, heart racing, nausea, and sweating. It can also increase the risk of other problems like heart disease, stroke, nerve problems, and kidney disease. It is a deadly problem, possibly leading to coma or death. An injection of insulin can head off high blood sugar, but Peralta said that, in the past, the amount of insulin to inject was often a guessing game.

The Dexcom G6 was pretty non-invasive. A nurse showed me how to attach it to the left side of my belly (now it goes under your bicep). There was a tiny pin prick when I activated the device, which poked a needle into my skin. After that, I couldn’t feel it anymore. The monitor itself was a little over an inch long and it was glued to my skin. I was able to wear it for 10 days and take showers with it. It automatically uploaded the measurements of my blood sugar in real time to my iPhone. It never fell off.

I was astounded to learn that eating a big pile of spaghetti was one of the things that could push my blood sugar level off the charts and even put me above the 180 milligrams per deciliter threshold that doctors considered to be high. Again, I was more in a prediabetes state. I did not have Type 2 diabetes, which you can get if your pancreas ceases to function properly over time and does not provide enough insulin to take the glucose out of your blood. If you don’t correct your diet, someone with prediabetes can move into a Type 2 diabetes state with severe health consequences.

If your blood sugar drops too low, as it can for athletes, you may find yourself out of energy and unable to engage in physical exertion.

Stelo’s innovations

With Stelo, tracking glucose just got easier, with no prescription and no fingersticks needed. It is specifically designed to help people with Type 2 diabetes not using insulin and those with prediabetes
reach their A1c goals and potentially slow the progression of diabetes.

Stelo is a small biosensor worn on the back of the upper arm that leverages Dexcom’s most accurate glucose sensing technology. It is specifically designed to provide the 125 million Americans with Type 2 diabetes not using insulin and those with prediabetes with powerful, personalized glucose insights.

“Dexcom has been at the forefront of glucose biosensing for 25 years. With the launch of Stelo, we’re defining a brand-new category and once again setting the gold standard for people to easily take control of their health,” said Jake Leach, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Dexcom, in a statement. “Now, millions more have access to 24/7, easy-to-understand glucose insights that can inform their daily lifestyle choices and support behavior modification.”

The benefits of glucose biosensing have been shown when used alone, or alongside other diabetes and weight management medications. Studies show the use of Dexcom glucose biosensing by people with Type 2 diabetes is associated with clinically meaningful improvement in time in range, A1c and quality of life.

“Dexcom glucose biosensors are an essential and proven tool for diabetes management – driving strong clinical outcomes regardless of medication use9 and even potentially slowing the progression of diabetes,” said Thomas Grace, MD, head of clinical advocacy and outcomes at Dexcom. “In a world where GLP-1 use is becoming increasingly more common, glucose biosensors like Stelo can help make those medications more effective.”

Key features of Stelo

You prick your skin when you attach a Stelo sensor under your upper arm. But there are no fingersticks, ever. It’s the only over-the-counter glucose biosensor designed for people with diabetes that doesn’t require any fingersticks.

You can wear it up to 15 days, and it’swaterproof. It has the longest biosensor battery life on the market with the highest waterproof rating. This is far better than the 10 days that the sensors lasted in the Dexcom 6 generation, which was aimed only at people who had diabetes as a prescription.

It has a personalized, easy-to-use app. Provides daily, weekly and session summary insights that can help
form healthier habits.

And it has spike and pattern detection. The only over-the-counter glucose biosensor for people with diabetes featuring spike detection, designed to identify meaningful glucose variability as it happens so users can make informed changes. It takes about an hour for food to hit your bloodstream, and when it does, Stelo detects the spike in glucose which can be harmful for diabetics. Whenever I ate a carb-heavy or sugar-ladened meal, my blood sugar spiked and I got a notification from Stelo.

The device has proven results with Dexcom glucose sensors: Using Dexcom glucose sensors like Stelo helps lower A1c for people with Type 2 diabetes and may help slow the progression of diabetes. Only
Dexcom glucose sensors have been associated with significant improvements in glucose and
cardiovascular risk reduction measures as early as three months.

Effortless ordering, delivered directly to your door

Stelo improves access to critical health technology for people with Type 2 diabetes not using insulin and those with prediabetes who might not have insurance coverage for prescription glucose biosensors. Stelo is currently available for purchase in the U.S. at Stelo.com and is FSA and HSA eligible.

You can pay as you go, as it costs $99 for a single pack of two sensors (total wear time up to 30 days). You can also pay for a monthly subscription where you subscribe and save 10%. You pay $89 per month for an ongoing subscription, with two sensors (total wear time up to 30 days) delivered every 30 days.

Stelo is now part of Dexcom’s overall portfolio of glucose biosensors, with a user base of more than 2.5 million people globally. The Dexcom portfolio in the U.S. consists of the Dexcom G6 and Dexcom G7 Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems, and now Stelo, collectively designed to address the needs of people with all types of diabetes and prediabetes.

Each product in the portfolio is built for the people who use them, making it easier than ever for healthcare providers to get patients started with the glucose biosensor best for them. Dexcom G6 and Dexcom G7 are designed for people with diabetes using insulin or who are at risk of hypoglycemia and who have insurance coverage for glucose biosensors.

Both systems require a prescription and are reimbursed by 97% of commercial insurers in the U.S., Medicare nationally and Medicaid in most states.5 Stelo is designed for adults with Type 2 diabetes not using insulin or prediabetes who seek behavior change and optimized health and who do not have
insurance coverage for glucose biosensors.

San Diego, California-based Dexcom’s monitor lets you know when a glucose spike outside of your normal band happens in the moment. That enables you to adjust your habits and make informed changes.

The app also has activity, meal and sleep logging. You can easily track your glucose to reveal how food,
exercise and even sleep can affect your glucose levels. The app also comes with expert-curated information, practical tips, and inspiring guidance. It works with iOS and Android smartphones, as well as Apple Watch and health-tracking apps.

Using the Stelo

I have had a Stelo in my arm for a couple of weeks. As noted, it doesn’t hurt when you embed it into your skin and then tape it tight so it doesn’t fall off. Since I am in a near prediabetes state, the Dexcom folks recommended I keep the band narrow in terms of the band where it says I should stay.

So my normal range was 70 mg/dL to 140 mg/dL in terms of my glucose count. I started to travel just as I wore it and so it captured my life as I started to eat more carbs (normally I avoid them) while on the road. Just about every meal was pushing me above the band, resulting in “glucose spikes” in terms of mg/dL count. It was regularly going above 140 with each meal, with the results showing up about an hour after I ate.

With the app, I could categorize the foods that pushed my glucose higher, and I could learn to avoid them over time in order to keep my body in the recommended range. This gives me more info for regulating my body on my own, and fodder for a conversation with the doctor. I’m looking forward to seeing more of what it will do when I exercise a lot and drive my blood sugar lower — but not too low.

Anyway, If you’re in need of more transparent information about yourself and are in a prediabetic state, I suggest you consider getting one of these.

Disclosure: Dexcom provided me with a Stelo sensor to test the product.