Every once in a while, something comes along that totally changes your life. For many years, my husband, Tony, had blood sugar levels that caused his doctors to warn him about developing diabetes. Once he was even told to take a class in Diabetes prevention. Nothing really changed for him. His exercise routine stayed the same and his diet stayed the same.

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Six months ago, Tony’s A1c level shot up to 8.9 and his doctor put him on an expensive medication, Januvia. The medication worked great and his blood glucose level began to decrease. Our son-in-law, a cardiologist, suggested something outrageous. He told us to get Tony’s doctor to order a Continuous Glucose Monitor called Libre Freestyle that he would wear on his body to help him see immediately how the foods that he ate affected his blood sugar. It would not be covered by insurance because he did not have the diagnosis of Diabetes.

Tony went to CVS and he was able to get the discounted price of $64 for two sensors, each one would be used for two weeks. This was much less that he was paying out of pocket for the Januvia medication! It looks like a 1” wide round button and is placed on the back of his upper arm. After a one hour wait after installing the sensor, it began to read his blood glucose level. He used his I-phone to scan the sensor and receive the readings, and it even was transmitted to my I-phone too through an app called LibreLink. He needed to scan at least once every 8 hours to get readings for the whole day.

The first day he learned that pea soup would be something that he would not be able to eat. It made his blood glucose level go up to 200! Who knew! This actually made it fun for him to monitor his diet. He stopped eating bread and starchy foods like pasta, potatoes and rice. He ate more green and yellow vegetables and more meat, chicken and fish. He ate eggs, nuts and rich cheese. These foods did not affect his blood sugar. After 3 months he was able to go off of the Januvia and using the Libre Freestyle system and with no medication, his A1c level fell to 6.5! Eating this way and using the device, Tony lost 11 pounds! This is a wonderful device and we both recommend it highly. It truly has changed my life because I no longer have to worry about him, and it truly changed his!