Today is day 4 of Diabetes Blog Week and the topic is: “Today let’s tackle an idea inspired by Bennet of Your Diabetes May Vary. Tell us what your Fantasy Diabetes Device would be? Think of your dream blood glucose checker, delivery system for insulin or other meds, magic carb counter, etc. etc. etc. The sky is the limit – what would you love to see?”
I know this topic is probably meant to get everyone’s thinking cap on and get creative. And honestly I can’t wait to see what everyone came up with. However, I am going to be boring and to the point 🙂
There is one major thing that I would love to have in my diabetes devices which is sadly lacking in 2012. Glucose. Meter. Accuracy. Period. You may even be tired of “hearing” me on this subject. Yet I think it is something that we should all want and work hard to advocate for. By definition, a fantasy is the faculty or activity of imagining things that are impossible or improbable. Is greater meter accuracy impossible? I wouldn’t think so although I’m no clincial expert. Is more accruacy improbable? At this point in time I’d say yes. Sure the glucose meters available to patients today are faster, smaller and more accurate than they were when they first came out decades ago. However, the current accuracy standard set by the FDA is + or – 20%. This is not good enough. Diabetes affects millions of people. And the numbers continue to grow. Diabetes is also managed by the patients close to 100% of the time, unlike many other conditions. This means that those glucose meters used by people with diabetes every single day are the most important tool for them in staying healthy. In preventing those dreadful complications. In avoiding life threatening low blood sugars. It is stressed by every medical professional in the world that tight control should be the goal of everyone living with diabetes. Well how can that be achieved if the meters we use to monitor our BG readings aren’t accurate enough?
So forget fancy insulin pumps or continuous gluose monitors. Yeah those would be nice to have. But as long as my pancreas isn’t working and I need to monitor my blood glucose in order to stay alive, I wish for gluocose meters that give me readings I don’t have to second guess.
The Girl with the Portable Pancreas 
Meter accuracy does kinda feel like an important first step, doesn’t it? It doesn’t matter how good the rest of the devices are if the information we are giving them is not accurate in the first place.
It always cracks me up when a new insulin pump claims to be able to give doses as small as one ten-thousandth of a unit, yet the BGs that determine the needed doses are so imprecise.
Damn skippy.
AMEN! As a newbie to all of this, I couldn’t agree more! We were lucky enough to have our son on a pump and CGM two months after diagnosis, and I love them, especially the pump, but I can’t get over how inaccurate the readings are. The meter and CGM will sometimes be WAY, WAY different from each other, and sometimes they are closer together, but still, which one do you go by? I’m giving life saving (or life threatening if you over dose) insulin to my son based on a number that may only be 80% accurate? That’s scary!
“So forget fancy insulin pumps or continuous gluose monitors. Yeah those would be nice to have. But as long as my pancreas isn’t working and I need to monitor my blood glucose in order to stay alive, I wish for glucose meters that give me readings I don’t have to second guess.”
Abso-bloomin-lutely!
smacking my head!! Yes!!!! accuracy is a must!!! and how about, i don’t know, ALL diabetic MACHINES to be compatible!?!?! All meters can take any strip…oy!, to dream!!!
I am so with you there! Give me the basics!!
It’s sad that this needs to go on a list of “fantasies,” isn’t it?
I’m not tired of hearing about this! I’m with ya! And this is doable I think! They need to get on it! Ok, I’ll stop yelling now 🙂 Great post.
I guess most of the time I just don’t think about the inaccuracies(except if its wayyy off mark). But yeah,better accuracy is extremely important because life and death decisions are made with those numbers.(many times a day)
I guess most of the time I just don’t think about the inaccuracies(except if its wayyy off mark). But yeah,better accuracy is extremely important because life and death decisions are made with those numbers.(many times a day)
Great point! Meter accuracy seems like such a basic thing, but it’s so crucially important!