Fuelband CGM?

Wouldn't it be neat if a Nike Fuelband could be adapted to work like a CGM?

The big problem there is no consumables. It's not financially viable for a medical company to do it unless they can charge an arm and a leg for some kind of consumable part. The more consumables, the better.

There seems to be a drive at the moment such as the Medtronic infusion sets to integrate the CGM into the set. Haven't played with one yet but will be interesting to see how accurate they are though. But this again is a drive to make more consumable/more expensive consumables.

There have been prototype devices which sniff our sweat, or go under the skin. Issue there again is for how they'll make them profitable through consumables.

We have things moving slowly forward with devices like Google's BG contact lenses, they recently signed a deal with some contact lens makers for them. But the issue with these is it's still a few years out. They cover the consumable section as they are disposable contacts. We are still probably looking a good 5 years+ off on them though.

While we see diabetes as something we need to fight and get over. Others unfortunately see it as a way to make lots of money. Only when they two can come together do we tend to benefit (yes this is a very negative way of looking at the big medical companies, but let's face it, over the last 30-40 years it's very accurate also).

It would be really neat. So far the only viable way is Dexcom/Medtronic/Abbott's enzymatic detection of bg via interstitial fluid. Companies keep trying and flaming out on using laser optics (the recent example is BD which just gave up on its CGM project). Who knows if measuring tear fluid via Google's contact lens will prove reliable and accurate. I'd also love to see some kind algorithm correlating heart rate to glucose burn and thus a way to avoid activity-induced lows.

You know, it wouldn't hurt for the entire population, diabetic or not, to know what their blood sugar is doing. It might help them change their eating practices if, for example, a red light went off when their BS went over 140. It should do blood pressure, too. If the product was included in a device like the Fuelband and marketed to all those health-minded people who eat Paleo or low carb, it would give them another tool to monitor their own health. Rather than have a consumable aspect, it could have a mass market aspect. People could sit around in McDonalds and compare their blood sugars. I doubt the general public would go for a skin prick, though. Sometimes we diabetics can benefit if a popular trend happens to crossover our own needs. It's a lot easier to find low carb fare than it used to be. Drug companies are always inventing some pill and then convincing people they need it. This would be actual data, the general populace just needs to be convinced they need personal information. Maybe Apple could incorporate all this in their iWatch, which is supposed to be a few steps beyond a Fuelband.

Try this:

MHR = 208 - (0.7 x your age)
RHR = resting heart rate you record over a minute

15.3 x (MHR/RHR) = VO2 Max

VO2 Max x 0.6 = (roughly) level of exercise your heart rate runs at where your BG remains constant.

Go above it'll drop, below BG will increase. This does not take into account though carb usage for the exercise though which needs also calculating, and any alterations to basal, and food taken before exercise. This is just the figure for while doing exercise per say and is a rough ish figure (I find mine a couple of heart beats different but close enough).

Tx Nyadach, that is very cool.

So maybe fitness bands really can someday provide a useful approx of bg burn if we input our age and RHR and if it has an algorithm that continuously calculates and totals up the bg based on heart rate info. I suppose I can figure this out on my own with a log of heart rate data collected during a typical activity. From there I might generate rules of thumb for typical heart rates. The beauty of a fitness band doing it is it can continuously do the math even as heart rate goes up and down.

Evidently Apple is working on it.

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/02/26/iwatch-glucose-sensing/

It just won't be on the first models, but they have hired people who are experienced in cgm issues.

I went to a local meetup last week and one of the mom's had a "CGM in the Cloud" rig, the kid keeps a Droid phone (only...she just bought it used on ebay...) that "rips" the dexcom CGM telemetry and then puts it in the cloud which she, the school nurse, whoever, can monitor in "the cloud" to provide real-time supervision of a kid. It could probably somehow be linked with a fuel band too although I'm not sure how many gizmos I'd want to lug around! I'm sure that it's a great thing for parents though.

http://sixuntilme.com/wp/2014/07/10/cgm-cloud-part/

Readers of this thread may be interested to know about the efforts of a non-profit startup called Tidepool. Their slogan is, "giving data a home and you the keys." It targets the T1D diabetes community and many of their staffers either have T1D or live with someone with diabetes.

This group intends to use activity monitors like the Fuelband and Fitbit in addition to CGMs, pumps, and meters to aggregate data and then make actionable sense of it.

I love the sentiment of their philosophy:

We believe that design matters. Tools to help you manage T1D should be simple and integrated effortlessly into your lives. They should be elegant and intuitive. They should help you and your doctor make great decisions, then let you get back to living your life and not thinking about T1D.

We believe that you shouldn’t have to use poorly-designed, incompatible software from different vendors. Want to use a pump and a CGM from different manufacturers? No problem, our software can handle that. On a Mac? On your phone? We’ve got you covered. Tired of fighting with Java plugin security warnings? We are, too.

We believe that you own your data, and that you should decide who, and what other applications, get access to them. Want to donate anonymized data to researchers? We make that easy. Prefer not to? That’s OK, too. Want to connect your data to your favorite diet and exercise apps? It’s all up to you.

While they aim to serve type 1 diabetics, I don't see why other PWDs could not make good use of their efforts as well.

I love it that things like this are being worked on. Until someone like Apple comes up with an integrated product that is sold universally, not just to diabetics, the prices might be prohibitive. It would be great to have software that could keep us informed. It would be even better to have a single device that could work like a CGM, not require a prescription or a small fortune, and be available to everyone. Like I said before, the general population could benefit from having information about what's happening with their blood sugar. That information could lead to foods and products that would be good for all of us.

A note regarding the benefits of developing products for the mass market that are also beneficial to diabetics, instead of developing them for diabetics only... I was in the supermarket today to pick up cat food. My cat is diabetic, so I only buy grain-free food for her. In the past that was one brand. Today, half the cat food display contains grain-free foods. Even Purina is making them. These products are probably better for all cats, not just diabetic ones. Someday I'd like to go into the supermarket and find that half the products in the store are things I can eat, not just the stuff at the end of one secluded aisle in the "diabetic" section. If glucose monitoring was available to the masses, I think better food would soon follow.