I know the biggest problem is the FDA, but it frustrates me that our diabetes gadgetry is so freaking old. I mean, pumps only got color screens a few years ago. And my CGM looks like crap and is ginormous.
Maybe I need to get off my own butt and get to the drawing board. :) Bah. Humbug. Stupid disease.
Hi Julie,
I totally agree. The potential for faster advances in diabetes gadgetry is way too slow. I have talked with the local Medtronics rep in my area they say their next generation pump and CGM sensors are still slugging through the FDA whereas in Europe all is approved. The other issue I am seeing are pump manufacturers adding more safety check menus to pumps which drive me crazy with need less confirmations steps. I would love to see a manufacturer come up with a Fructosamine tester. I have been asking testing companies and they look at me with blank stares. We also need a faster working insulin that peaks in 20 mins too. But, that makes everyone in the medical field but me too nervous. Anyway, let me know if you need help! 
Ken
The times are behind us. My I-pod does more than my insulin pump and bg meter. I hate to say this but the reason Type 1 gadgetry is large and slow and unwieldy is a matter of numbers. There are 45 million American’s that the ADA and pharmaceutical companies are interested in, no one actually knows how many Type 1’s exist. Since 1982 I have been promised advances ranging from nasal insulin spray to a Beta Cell transplant, but the only worthwhile items I have found are an Abbott Freestyle meter, a Medtronic Revel and Novalog. As type 1’s our needs for decent products are hidden by the ADA and FDA and the stranglehold they hold on technology that should help manage the dreaded “wasting disease” that Type 1 diabetes was known as, long ago. Insulin is unpredictable, too strong, or too weak and as a person who checks his BG 10 to 12 times a day, checking my BG is too expensive and a total “pain in my ■■■.” One day I hope this will change, but now we are forced to live with borderline tools,
I mean, really, GPS works, maybe we should find a GPS unit that guides designers to decent, progressive and useful ideas instead of stupid insulin pens or neuropathy socks.
See ya at he drawing board!
I think the Glucowatch was a great attempt at making our lives easier (a wristwatch that measured electric current in the interstitial fluid in your skin and derived a bg reading from it). If only one of the bigger companies would pick that one up and make it more reliable. I think that addressing our need to constantly monitor our bg would provide the most benefit. CGMs today are so-so, worth having but a giant PITA. A pump is only as good as the bg readings you use to drive it…
When did you get a color screen???
The OmniPod’s had a color screen for a couple of years. I think the Animas Ping also has color.
There are so many features I wish the Medtronics had. Like changing the date or time of a test I manually put in. I understand the remote input not needing to be changed, but often I will test, then 20 minutes later realize that I forgot to input the number into the pump. I would also like to know how much insulin is in my system at any time.