Comments on: Diabetes: For some misery, for others an opportunity

By: kevin l mcmahon

kevin l mcmahon — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:54:50 +0000

Here’s some real clinical results that shows what happens when technology streamlines data collection, analysis and review – the system used in the study is called GlucoMON-ADMS – been around for years. A comparable study of CGM in the same population is also linked. You can see easily that weekly review of the data is all that is needed to make a huge difference. That said, the sad thing is that the majority of patients don’t perform any kind of frequent review for trends. Tech can make managing diabetes easier. Tech can also make it harder. It all depends on the implementation. Randomized Controlled Trial links to Diabetes Care studies at http://type1techventures.com

By: Dad

Dad — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:40:07 +0000

Agreed. Articles like this actually do a disservice to all Type 1 diabetics. Your definition is incomplete. Would live to see Type 1 and Type 2 renamed to differentiate the two diseases. That may have been the intent in renaming Juvenile Diabetes to Type 1. I feel we have taken a step backward in this area.

Foolish people like Paula Deen are not helping.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/paula-deen-diabetes_n_1210049.html

I am the son and father of type 1 diabetics.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:51:54 +0000

Thanks for the article — I’m a Type1 myself! Always glad to see awareness being raised for Diabetes. However, this technology is nothing new and there are far more advanced forms of monitoring in the marketplace already. CGMs that track data and transport them via email and computer are the ‘norm’ in any sort of advanced Type 1 management program.

From the title I was hoping “opportunity” would be in reference to the health BENEFITS derived from a lifetime of elite management of Type1 diabetes v. the unhealthy habits that most “normal” people exhibit. Strict plant based diet, vigorous exercise, frequent doctor visits — these are the things that actually give Type1s a health ADVANTAGE over their more pancreatic-fortunate peers.

By: Sandeep Gautam

Sandeep Gautam — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:39:57 +0000

Kind of very weird. Our company, Rapidsoft Systems Inc, created wireless Bluetooth based software for Mobile Phones for reading data from a Glucometer three years ago. The Glucometer was made by one of our clients (Entrahealth Systems). The data was then sent to a server where it was stored and processed. The software was developed for various mobile devices (BB, J2ME phones). We have since then integrated many more mobile devices with medical devices. The use of Cable is so 17th century. Not sure what is unique to it. Sandeep Kumar, http://www.rapidsoftsystems.com

By: sybil

sybil — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:12:30 +0000

It is hard to keep up with the technology. Many of my patients who are elderly do not use computers at all and are used to writing things down. Others want to E mails and send data to me to interpret and send E mails back to them. While the technology is good, I like to have a patient in my office and review the data and comment on ways to get the numbers to improve. I find a direct discussion of data helps the patient how to understand ways to improve it. Sybil Kramer MD
http://wwww.diabeticsurvivalkit.com

By: steve crandall

steve crandall — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:51:57 +0000

This has been around the corner for about a decade now, but finally the pieces are in place. My understanding is there are several schemes for non-invasive, continuous monitoring. I saw one a few years ago based on dielectric spectroscopy, but it didn’t pan out — one or more techniques will work and the information gathering and handling is a solved problem.

Great stuff for those who can afford it or who live in a country with real healthcare. As you say there are real businesses here and in other forms of continuous health monitoring.

But with Type 2 diabetes there is the issue of prevention. Much of it can be prevented and doing so makes a lot of sense. In theory it is simple, but cracking it and similar maladies has proven to be enormously difficult. That is an area ripe for new approaches.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:01:15 +0000

Hopefully the approach of working with clinics and patients alike that companies like Sweet Spot and others are taking will improve this.

By: Hassan

Hassan — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:20:28 +0000

I think this is an intermediate step. I read some research which suggested that it would be possible to read blood sugars without the need to use a needle. Once thats in place, this app along with that ‘device’ would be ideal – no need to plug in and read data off your blood glucose monitoring kit.

I think this, along with the cloud could make things so much easier. Lets say the NHS started taking to the cloud and have a centralised NHS app store. Not only for diabetes, all kinds of things. This data could be fed into a rule base and if there is anything unusual or wrong, your mobile device would push a message to you and tell you.

The future is bright, the future is the cloud :)

Hassan
ShopForCloud.com

By: Marcus Grimm

Marcus Grimm — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:29:53 +0000

I have my BGs from my OneTouch transmit to my Medtronic pump. My doc’s office can download all of the data off of that. I also have the Glooko cable, which works fine. Unfortunately, they don’t have FDA approval (yet) to crunch the data, so it’s nothing more than a digital log book. But I like their strategy of getting it out in the marketplace sooner, rather than later. When the FDA approval comes, a simple update to the app will crunch the data that’s been input.

By: Om Malik

Om Malik — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:22:33 +0000

Chris

Trust me, I know how you feel about this. This whole process could use more streamlining. I think the medical establishment is taking to the iPad and hopefully that will create some opportunities.