What should you know about CGM for type 2 diabetes?

Continuous glucose monitoring measures glucose in fluid beneath the skin and sends readings to a receiver or phone. It can show whether glucose is rising, falling or staying steady, including patterns that a single finger-prick reading may miss. A sensor reading is not the same as a diagnosis or a treatment instruction. Symptoms, medication timing and the wider care plan still matter, particularly when a reading does not fit how you feel.

Ask your diabetes team how to place, scan and replace the sensor, and how to respond to alerts. Record meals, activity, illness and medicine changes so recurring patterns can be interpreted. Confirm an unexpected or conflicting reading using the method your clinician recommends before making a major treatment change. Keep the sensor site clean and follow instructions for skin care; seek advice about persistent redness, swelling or drainage because diabetes can increase the impact of skin infection.

Get urgent help for severe or persistent symptoms of Hypoglycaemia, such as confusion, seizure or inability to safely take glucose. Seek emergency care for very high readings with vomiting, deep or rapid breathing, severe weakness, dehydration or confusion. A CGM alarm should prompt you to follow your agreed sick-day or low-glucose plan, not to ignore symptoms or repeatedly change medication without guidance.

Would CGM add useful information to my current treatment? Which alerts matter for me? When should I confirm a sensor reading, and how will we use the pattern data at follow-up?