An end to finger pricking?

3 August 2010
3 Comments

I see that Reuters (and many other sites) have reported that an implant has been tested in pigs which measures and transmits blood glucose levels wirelessly. It’s not exactly mentioned where ultimately this would be transmitted to, but there is a mention of cellphones.

Apparently this has been tested in pigs and worked in one for a year, the other for ten months – wahey! The not-so-wahey bit is that the implant is actually 3.8 by 12.7 cm – where on earth are they implanting that puppy?! Crikey!

I have to say though I love the sound of this, taking the CGMS to the next level – no regular changeovers of sensors, no chance sensors can fall out, and no…

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By Nic on 3 August 2010 at 10.45 am
Posted in CGMS, Hypos & Hypers, Monitoring, Science & Research, Technology & Equipment
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Blatant consumerism.

28 March 2010
3 Comments

I went out to brunch with Aaron and another friend Flash yesterday. My husband was looking after the baby, so I left him with the nappy bag and all the other baby paraphernalia, and packed myself a separate bag (normally I keep all my stuff in the nappy bag too to save taking more than one bag). Unfortunately, I also left my BG tester in the nappy bag.

I remember times long ago when I would regularly go out without my tester, but since all this pregnancy malarky I guess I’ve gone a bit OCD with the need to know my BG, so not having my tester was playing on my mind a little (and I was planning to be…

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By Nic on 28 March 2010 at 10.57 am
Posted in Monitoring
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“What does it feel like when you’re high?”

8 February 2010
29 Comments

…. ok, ok – I’m sure there are a few of you witty ones who were thinking of drug references when you saw this headline…. not so, I’m sticking with the diabetes for now.

I was on the phone to a woman the other day. She has an eight month old son with type 1, and I’ve had several chats with her over time about what it’s like. One of the things she mentioned to me in our recent conversation is that she has some, but ultimately not very much, idea of what it’s like to have high blood sugars. There is a limit to how well her young son can articulate it, and of course she can’t feel it…

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By Nic on 8 February 2010 at 9.02 am
Posted in Community, Hypos & Hypers
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You had me at hello.

20 January 2010
17 Comments

Wow, wow, wow. This week I came across something which has literally changed my life (from a diabetes point of view). The only thing cooler than using this system to log my BGs, carbs, insulin and exercise would be, ermmm, not to have to log my BGs, carbs, insulin and exercise at all. Check it out!

The little beauty of a system can be found here: https://www.logforlife.com/.

Seriously, I downloaded this on Sunday night and it has already spurred me on to record my blood sugars and all that goes with it in more detail.

Here’s the skinny. You can use this just as a web-based tool, but where it has spun my wheels…

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By Nic on 20 January 2010 at 10.09 am
Posted in Technology & Equipment
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How to convert mg/dl to mmol/l.

14 January 2010
9 Comments

If you’re like me, you might read the odd article/tweet by an American, citing their BG in mg/dl. It tends to be a little tricky to empathise with them when they complain of a BG of 40, or 240 – what on earth does this mean?

I found this even more tricky when I trialled the Dexcom CGMS. It was all in mg/dl so I had to get good at conversions in my head.

The simple answer? Multiply your mmol/l result (e.g 5.6) by 18 (to get 101 mg/dl). More background on the measurements here. Suffice to say the rest of the world is using mmol/l but our Yankee friends are still using the traditional mg/dl measurement.

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By Nic on 14 January 2010 at 1.52 pm
Posted in General
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