Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Blood Sugar Monitoring

My first meeting with the nurse involved some information about Diabetes and an introduction to a glucose monitor.  In my case the Bayer Contour Next EZ.  A very simple monitor that had only a few functions.  Yes, there was an advanced menu function but there wasn't a lot in terms of reporting.  After all, if's a tiny device with a simplistic display.

I looked all over the place for blood sugar monitoring software.  Bayer has some, but it isn't available to Canadians.  There are other companies that manufacture the software but it is either expensive or limited to just a few manufacturers devices.  

And then came Glooko.

Glooko is a both a cable and an application.  The cable connects your glucose monitor to your iPhone.  The app on your iPhone uploads the information to the Glooko website.  The cable is compatible with a variety of different monitors and does a very nice job of grabbing all of the statistics on the monitor and uploading them.  The website provides a variety of different graphs and gives you a very good idea of where you are in terms of blood sugar, both the highs and the lows.

It doesn't link with either FitBit or MyFItnessPal, but I don't mind.  The graphs showing where I am, where I am trending, more than make up for the missing connectivity.

OK, I've got all the tools.  Now what?

Status for August 16th
  • Weight - 349 lbs
  • Blood Sugar - 8.3 mmol/L


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2 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 25, 2013 at 4:24 PM

    Don, your search for an app seems to be in keeping with "patients" using technology to assist them with managing their conditions. Apparently there have been a few studies of patients having used apps to record their BG levels and it turns out that those who do have better self-management results. Following is an article that summaries the studies and also provides a review of several BG apps.
    Smartphone-Based Glucose Monitors and Applications in the Management of Diabetes: An Overview of 10 Salient “Apps” and a Novel Smartphone-Connected Blood Glucose Monitor
    Joseph Tran, BS, Rosanna Tran, BS and John R. White Jr., PA, PharmD
    http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/30/4/173.full
    Juanita

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSeptember 25, 2013 at 8:46 PM

    Thanks for the link the article provided some interesting references and an overview of some apps that I will definitely take a second look at.

    ReplyDelete

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