Blood Sugar Monitor Tested on Diabetes Patients

Blood Sugar Testing – Important for Diabetes Care

Blood sugar testing is important for diabetes care and if one tends to have diabetes, self-testing of blood sugar could be helpful in the treatment plan as well as prevent long term complications of diabetes. A blood sugar monitor which can stay in the body for up to five month is being tested on NHS patients and it is expected that the device which constantly tends to monitor the blood and provides information to a smartphone would help in controlling type 1 diabetes.

The prevailing blood sugar sensors need to be replaced weekly. People with type 1 diabetes need to prick their fingers regularly in order to test sugar levels and calculate the amount of sugar in their intakes and use this information and get themselves injected with the right amount of insulin. If the level is too high there could be damage to the body’s organs or if it is too low, it could be dangerous.

Constant Glucose Monitoring Essential

A consultant at King’s College Hospital and a lecturer at King’s College, London, Dr Pratik Choudhary, had informed BBC News website that `living with type 1 diabetes is like a bit of a blind tightrope walker and one is on this tightrope between high and low blood glucose levels and is allowed to open the blindfold four or five times a day.

Constant glucose monitoring enables the person to open the eyes and see where they are going’.The monitor developed by the US Company Senseonics is implanted under the skin in the upper arm. A fluorescent light tends to shine on the blood vessels and the amount of light reflected back is utilised in calculating the blood sugar levels that are sent to the smartphone.

A forty year old classical musician, Gwenllian Davies had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 17 and is taking part in the experiment. She has informed that it basically controls her.

Monitor – Complete Loss of Awareness of Hypoglycaemia

When first diagnosed, one gets the rosy message that it can be controlled though it is really hard. When the blood sugar levels tend to drop to dangerous levels, she began feeling a bit shaky, with blurred vision, tingling in the lips, sweating and a feeling of sickness. She participated in the experiment since she had lost her hypo awareness and had to test how often since she did not know when she would be going low, which was the main issue.

 A constantly monitoring of glucose could be very reassuring. New NHS rules from National Institute of Health and Care Excellence states, that continuous monitor need to be offered to people with complete loss of awareness of hypoglycaemia. Dr Choudhary adds that knowing what your blood sugar is, all the time could help to gain better control. This sensor tends to last for three to five months while the other sensors in the market last only a week which needs to be taken out and changed.

Aaron Kowalski from type 1 diabetes charity JDRF who uses a continuous glucose monitor that has to be replaced every weeks states that `one of the things which is important is the proper balance between glucose control, the core of diabetes and the cost of wearing a continuous glucose monitor.