Diabetes week 2020 - The Tech Journey

The Tech Journey

I was diagnosed with type one diabetes in February of 1985. 

My friend once described it as a life marathon, she was probably spot on. But in that time I’ve seen so many changes that I thought maybe it would be interesting  to share some of them. 

When I was first diagnosed glass syringes 💉 we’re still being used but my parents had the option to buy smaller disposable syringes. At the time that’s what they did.

 They were also given test strips which involved you taking blood from a finger/heel/toe and putting on the strip with a tissue. After thirty seconds you wiped it with a clean tissue and compared it to the scale on the side for a number. 

(Something similar to these)

Technology has come such a long way in that time but the concept or aim has stayed the same. 

My beautiful assistant has prepared videos to show some of the kit we used and what we use today. 

When I was about three we were given an injection insertion device to help me do my own injections. This is shown in the video above and it still makes me jump every time it fires. It’s so loud that my assistant won’t press the button. I was slightly younger than him when we got it. 

Over the years the injection devices got smaller and easier to use. They’re probably all still around somewhere but the first one is always around. Maybe a reminder in how far we’ve come. 

When I was almost 16 we moved onto insulin pens. Again shown in the video above. At the time I had two . One for background (long lasting insulin) which I injected twice a day 12 hours apart and one (a different colour on the instruction of my nurse) which I would inject with whenever I ate. This development introduced an element of freedom as I could eat things slightly more freely. 

The pens I used until 2008. In 2007 my consultant mentioned and insulin pump and to be honest I was reluctant to try it. In 2008 though I was injecting several times a day so I agreed to try it. My first pump was this one. When asked what colour I wanted I was told most people went for black as they’re easier to disguise. I chose blue “loud and proud”. 

This was a complete game changer. I could eat pretty much anything, alcohol (!) became manageable and cake, chocolate cake. Pizza which is a complete nightmare to break down was amazingly easy. We’d agreed with the team that I’d be able to remove it for holidays but when I went back there was no chance it was coming off! I loved it. 

The pumps are updated regularly as there’s always improvements being made. 

This is my most recent pump. It does lots and originally I had a hot pink one but it lost a fight with a swimming pool. This one can link to lots of other equipment like blood meters and sensors. The pump can if linked up suspended itself to help prevent low blood sugars and can warn of high sugars. 

This was really useful when I was pregnant as control needs to be much tighter during pregnancy. The pump as shown in the video can connect to the body via a range of cannulas so there is a choice for patients in respect of what kind of fitting they want on the set (needle left in or removed; self inserted or via an inserted device). The set on a pump is changed every three days and although it has its own complications it’s a massive difference to pens. 

This pump is where we are now with regards to insulin administration. 

Blood glucose monitors are used to ensure glucose are within range. As posted in previously being to high or to low has it’s own impacts. 

As shown above the original glucose test strips relied on a personal interpretation of the results. Since then lost of blood meters have been released and in the same style they are constantly improving. 

The video shows one of the earliest meters I had which I’ve still got. Unbelievably it still turns on. The idea was you pricked the finger still and wiped the blood away but then inserted it into the machine which would determine what the blood glucose reading was. Over the years there was a range of meters that we used and there’s some of them in the image below.

The biggest change with the meters was that the coded side of the stick went into the machine and the blood went onto the stick AFTER it was inserted. 

During pregnancy I was given guardian sensors that read blood regularly to improve control. These are amazing although sometimes painful to insert. But I loved them. 

Following pregnancy I had to go back to finger pricking alone, which was hard. 

Then I was asked to try freestyle libre as I was BMing so frequently. 

GAME CHANGER!

This tiny little disc is inserted into your arm and you can scan it with either a reader or an enabled iPhone. It gives you a reading immediately. As you can see in the video it comes already loaded onto the inserter and you just apply it to arm and push the gun down. The one in the photo and video is a failed one which is waiting to be returned not a used one as I said 🤦‍♀️

 

Again they come with challenges. This is the site of one that had failed. It’ll be bruised and sore for a week ish and was quite bloody BUT as soon as it was out I put a new one in as I wouldn’t want to be without it. 

Recently at a Diabetes Change Lab a lady introduced me to a Miao Miao. That’s the device that sits over the top of my sensor. It’s bit licensed in this country so has to be purchased but they can provide a regular blood sugar reading and act as a co start glucose monitoring system like the  sensor used in pregnancy. They need calibration so finger pricks are still necessary but no where near as many. They Can alert to a rapidly changing glucose level when linked to an iPhone and also have the ability to send a reading to a smart watch so a reading can be seen without equipment. 

So that’s my tech journey! I’m sure they’ll be more changes in the future but it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come and I’ve not even mentioned finger prickers (although I’m pretty sure my dad would still prefer a heel)  😂