NEWS

Life With Diabetes: Various Home-Based Diabetes Management Devices

Diabetes is a lifelong disease that has plagued many.

It has been recognized as a long-term health condition since its discovery. Unfortunately, with no viable cure yet on the horizon, individuals afflicted with the disease have to rely on medical devices and lifestyle adjustments to manage symptoms. If you are an individual suffering from diabetes, you would know that monitoring your blood sugar level is paramount. Moreover, it is highly recommended that you constantly get HbA1c tests to give you information about your blood sugar levels over the long-term. An excellent device for this is Nagase’s HumaSens 2.0 plus, a multi-parameter device which monitors an individual’s glucose, total cholesterol and uric acid. What makes the HumaSens 2.0 plus so valuable is not only its versatility, but that it is a multifunctional that delivers fast and accurate results—comparable to the ones obtained in laboratory tests.

To better manage your diabetes, it is not only recommended that you constantly monitor your blood sugar levels. It is also advised that you routinely see your physician—a feat that has been quite a challenge for many considering the pandemic. That said, it has always been the dream between those in the health and medical device sector to have their patients manage their diabetes and get input from their doctors remotely through innovative medical technology. This allows patients suffering from diabetes to save both money and time.

If you have a manageable variant of diabetes or type-two diabetes, here are some of the home-based medical devices that you can use:

1.) Ketone Monitor

Produced in the liver, ketones are used for energy in lieu of carbohydrates. The amount of ketones in individuals suffering from diabetes can be an indication that the condition is not being controlled as effectively by insulin provision. Insulin allows the body to convert into energy. In most severe cases, ketones make the blood acidic, which results in a complication known as diabetic ketoacidosis, which can lead to diabetic coma or, worse, death. Fortunately, severe scenarios such as diabetic coma from diabetic ketoacidosis are relatively rare—particularly for individuals with type-two diabetics. However, it is still recommended to monitor your ketones to keep track of your ketone production. Devices that monitor ketones are sold to help you do this and have a better overall understanding of how effective you are at managing your illness. The innovation of the Breathalyser ketone test can be attributed to the popular fitness trend, the ketogenic diet. The fitness lifestyle has spawned the breathalyzer ketone test and products which detect chemical traces in blood and urine. Both of which are thought to have better accuracy, which makes them more suited for diabetes management.

Be wary, though, as the Breathalyser results are known to be inaccurate if a user has consumed alcohol prior to taking the test.

2.) Continuous Glucose Monitor

Although a somewhat invasive test, the continuous glucose is a natural evolution from the blood glucose monitor. It involves the insertion of a sensor into a subcutaneous fat layer either on the arm or stomach of the diabetic individual. The sensor communicates with a transmitted above it once implanted. A new feature on the most updated products tends to have the transmitter communicate with a smartphone via Bluetooth, which is more beneficial. It triggers an alarm if it detects that blood glucose levels are either too low or too high. As a result of the paired device, the corresponding app will then give patients more insight into their glucose levels and what they can do to increase or reduce it as required. What makes a continuous glucose monitor so useful is that the app’s data can simply be shared with a physician. AS a result, your physician can interpret the findings. Moreover, physicians can easily give their diabetic patients an insight into where peaks and troughs occur, resulting in better and more tailored treatment plans and lifestyle advice.

3.)Insulin Pumps

Of the two diabetes types, type one diabetes is more severe as rather than resisting insulin, individuals afflicted with this disease cannot physically produce insulin in the pancreas as it should. As a result, patients with type 1 diabetes must inject themselves with insulin several times a day—manually. For many, this cumbersome process can be addressed by the use of a pump. Insulin pumps are electronic devices connected to a cannula inserted in the body, typically on the side of the stomach near the individual’s waist. Insulin pumps mimic the pancreas’ function and can be set up to deliver small doses of short-acting insulin over time. However, pumps can also be connected to a continuous glucose monitor in the closed-loop system, which allows it to regulate and deploy the proper dosage automatically based on the diabetic individual’s real-time glucose levels.

4.) Smart Insulin Pens

Individuals with type 1 diabetes can use insulin pumps as an alternative to their insulin pens which were considered as the standard method of insulin delivery before electronic devices were created. However, individuals with type 2 diabetes rarely qualify for a pump which means that an insulin pen is their only option. Thankfully, though, modern insulin pens are incredibly different from those produced a decade ago as today’s modern designs have built-in wireless communication and sensors that would enable diabetic patients to keep track of insulin delivery. Similar to the pumps stated above, these modern insulin pens are “smart,” which means that they connect to an app on the user’s smartphone. Through the app, users can input their latest blood glucose reading and calculate the correct insulin dosage immediately.

5.) Blood Glucose Monitor

Blood glucose monitors are indispensable medical devices for individuals with diabetes. This is because blood glucose level is the primary measure of health for a patient suffering from diabetes. Even when doctors measure the average blood sugar level over a six to twelve-week period using an HbA1c test, diabetic patients are greatly encouraged to monitor their glucose levels in their own homes and between physician visits. To use this device, diabetic patients need to have a blood sample obtained through an included implement that pricks the finger. The results are instantaneous, which allows diabetic patients to evaluate how well they are managing their condition. Today, there are blood glucose monitors available in the market that provide ketone readings, which effectively dispenses with another device’s need. Moreover, these devices are convenient to use for diabetic patients who need to manage their ketone levels as well.

IN CONCLUSION

Managing diabetes may be difficult, but it does not have to be impossible. With the devices mentioned above complemented with regular physician visits and a change in lifestyle, you can manage diabetes even in the comforts of your own home. With the cutting-edge and innovative medical devices mentioned above, diabetes management can be both quick, comfortable, and convenient—as it should be.

Posted on: May 5, 2021