Applied for a free trial of a CKM (Continuous Ketone Monitor)

I didn't even know they existed. I pay a lot for my ketone strips (glucose strips and CGM I get for free).

The free trial has now ended. Instead they are doing a Black Friday offer (still £54 for one )

I'll try to avoid making any suggestions either way about whether you get one; I'll just make some comments from what I recall of my experience.

Understandably I had a number of reservations - not wanting to risk my health or lose my money and details to a scam - especially since there was (and still is) very little information about the product out there on the web (Youtuber Lindsey Murphy has a little bit). Ultimately though I used some common sense about what personal information I provided and chose to just throw £65 out there to see what would happen.

The sensor arrived within a fortnight. The box contents and the sensor application process are very similar to what you'll have experienced with the Libre 2. Both those sensors are about the same depth, although the Sibio is a different shape. I found that a patch for the Dexcom G6 fitted nicely.

I'd anticipated being a bit like a beta tester so wasn't surprised at having to install Apple's Testflight Developer software to get the Sibio App to work - but I believe that is no longer the case as the App has now been properly released. Also, some of the language wasn't great e.g. 'Time in Ketones' instead of 'Time in Ketosis' etc.

You can select to display the previous data for one, three, seven and fourteen days and it also provides values for the 'highest level' and 'time in ketosis' for that period. The Y axis range is 0 - 1.5mmol/L unless any of the values are higher in which case it changes to 0 - 5.0mmol/L. You can also read individual data points along the graph by touching the screen at that point.

I couldn't come to any conclusions about the accuracy of the readings at low ketone levels when comparing with my finger-prick meters but I was disappointed with the readings at higher levels. I'd drunk some exogenous ketone ester and, whilst the sensor's graph reflected what I expected to see, the values (max that I saw was 1.6mmol/L) fell well short of the two finger-prick meters ( 3.1 and 4.1). So in its current form I certainly wouldn't trust it to provide ketoacidosis alerts and that's what I'd imagine a health service would want it for. However, just like CGMs, I think it has value in being able to display trends.

Anyway, hope that helps.

LMAO! Wasted my time with that post then!

KennyA said:

I've always found the peestix do the job well enough.

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They can stop working after a while. Not because you aren’t making ketones but because you’ve become adept at using them and use them rather than pee them out. Blood and breath testers don’t have that limitation

IanBish said:

I was accepted for the trial, and have the CKM on at the moment. I'm almost not burning fat at the moment. The highest level I got to so far was 0.6 mmol/L. So I probably won't bother getting any more after this one expires. I was only really interested in if I was burning fat or not. I've burnt over three stone (42lbs) of it so far, so I must have been in ketosis at some point.

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You can lose weight without being in ketosis. And being in ketosis isn’t automatically the same as fat burning. The first can take just days (even less if you’ve been there a lot and become more readily flexible) and the latter quite a few weeks of ketosis.

IanBish said:

But I managed it without starving myself, or feeling remotely hungry. I assumed, therefore, that I was using my stored fat for energy.

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That’s great. It obviously worked.

You can use stored fat for energy without ketosis. Anyone who loses weight is using stored fat. They arent all in ketosis. I’m not saying you weren’t (I’ve no idea), just that losing weight isn’t proof of ketosis.

KennyA said:

People do report that - me, I'm still showing pinks and purples.

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I stopped showing after a couple of months. If it works it works.

But its as well to know this might happen rather than assume you got knocked out of ketosis and get all worked up over nothing.

IanBish said:

Hello,

Yesterday, I applied from a free trial of a Continuous Ketone Monitor. I already have a free trial of a Libre 2 CGM, so I thought I might give it a go. Anyway, I haven't heard anything back, so I assume I was unsuccessful. Nice of them to let me know!

So I just wondered if anyone had tried one of these new CKMs, and if so, what was your experience? I may actually buy one, as I'm curious to know if I get into ketosis.

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There was a post on diabetes forum, I applied and I got one! I didn’t going via their website. Well there was a ‘to do’, you would NIT believe what o pi ravel force had done to the box, must have put a 30kg package on it! I complained to Libre company who’ve sent me another monitor. I’m waiting till I’ve got free time from my swimming to try it out.