Blood Glucose Monitoring Watch

[AnneRay]

Hi All and good evening,
Asking on behalf of my husband who has Type 2 controlled with tablets. He is considering buying a blood glucose monitoring watch as his fingers are becoming increasingly sore using lancets. Have any of you lovely people experience of these watches, please.

 

[Antje77]

Hi @AnneRay and husband, welcome to the forum.

To my knowledge there are no watches directly monitoring blood glucose at the moment. (I wish!)

He can look into the Freestyle Libre though, a sensor you apply to the back of your arm which can be monitored with a smartphone.
They give out a 2 week free trial, after that it gets expensive but possibly worth it.

 

[chrisridd]

@AnneRay how often is your husband testing his blood glucose, and is he using a new lancet each time?

 

[AnneRay]

@AnneRay how often is your husband testing his blood glucose, and is he using a new lancet each time?

Hi there, and thank you so much for responding. He normally checks weekly, but recent review has suggested he tests 3 times daily for the next three weeks as they have changed his medication. He uses a new lancet each time. Thank you again.

 

[AnneRay]

Hi @AnneRay and husband, welcome to the forum.

To my knowledge there are no watches directly monitoring blood glucose at the moment. (I wish!)

He can look into the Freestyle Libre though, a sensor you apply to the back of your arm which can be monitored with a smartphone.
They give out a 2 week free trial, after that it gets expensive but possibly worth it.

Hi, thank you so much for responding to my question. This is very interesting, as it would appear there are such products available. But thank you so much once again.

Hi @AnneRay and husband, welcome to the forum.

To my knowledge there are no watches directly monitoring blood glucose at the moment. (I wish!)

He can look into the Freestyle Libre though, a sensor you apply to the back of your arm which can be monitored with a smartphone.
They give out a 2 week free trial, after that it gets expensive but possibly worth it.

 

[KennyA]

Hi, thank you so much for responding to my question. This is very interesting, as it would appear there are such products available. But thank you so much once again.

I've had these things advertised to me, and took a look.

The ones I have seen all say they are "non-invasive" which I think means they are not actually directly measuring blood glucose, but a proxy for it. This is not necessarily a bad thing - CGMs use a proxy (and are still "invasive") because they measure the glucose in interstitial fluid rather than blood, for example, but I'd want to know a bit more about what exactly the gadget is doing, what it's really measuring, what its assumptions are, what its total acceptable error is etc.

If it is both accurate and reliable the watches cost only a little more than a couple of weeks' Libre; if it isn't, it's junk.

 

[KennyA]

Hi, thank you so much for responding to my question. This is very interesting, as it would appear there are such products available. But thank you so much once again.

Further to my above post - I took a look at some of these just now on Amazon (so I'll have them advertised to me non-stop for the next six months) and the comments from people who have bought them seems to indicate that the watches are inaccurate in terms of measuring BG and do not correspond to fingerprick readings. At least one needed to be calibrated daily by inputting a fingerprick reading to give the device a reference point.

 

[HSSS]

Further to my above post - I took a look at some of these just now on Amazon (so I'll have them advertised to me non-stop for the next six months) and the comments from people who have bought them seems to indicate that the watches are inaccurate in terms of measuring BG and do not correspond to fingerprick readings. At least one needed to be calibrated daily by inputting a fingerprick reading to give the device a reference point.

I was discussing there elsewhere recently. When I investigated they had next to no detail about how the measurements were taken, how accurate they were, how they were calibrated etc etc. I too believe they are a gimmick appealing to the desperate at the time. Hopefully they will get there eventually. Even the likes of apple Fitbit and garmin haven’t managed it yet.

 

[HSSS]

Better to recheck your lancing methods seeking improvements

1. Be well hydrated to encourage blood flow. Seriously. It makes a huge difference to almost everything including testing.
2. Have warm hands as blood flows better
3. Massage hands from wrist to fingertip first
4. Select the lowest depth for the lancet for the actual finger you intend to use (each finger varies!).
5. Don’t use a blunt lancet
6. Aim for the edges of the fingerprint not the centre or the very tip
7. Get your meter ready and strip poised just to be pushed in the final little bit before you lance - to avoid rushing one handed
8. Don’t squeeze the finger tip- it bruises. Wait for the blood to well up. If you need to help do it by pushing up from the palm instead
9 Scoop the blood onto the strip. You need less than trying to dab it on. It should “suck” itself along the little groove.
10. Use a different finger/part of the finger each time and circulate so you aren’t stabbing the same bit each day.

 

[AnneRay]

I've had these things advertised to me, and took a look.

The ones I have seen all say they are "non-invasive" which I think means they are not actually directly measuring blood glucose, but a proxy for it. This is not necessarily a bad thing - CGMs use a proxy (and are still "invasive") because they measure the glucose in interstitial fluid rather than blood, for example, but I'd want to know a bit more about what exactly the gadget is doing, what it's really measuring, what its assumptions are, what its total acceptable error is etc.

If it is both accurate and reliable the watches cost only a little more than a couple of weeks' Libre; if it isn't, it's junk.

Hi Again,

Thank you so much for such a comprehensive response. I guess it is what we thought, if it is too good to be true, it usually is. Ray has Type 2 Diabetes diagnosed about 8 years and up until now it has been well controlled with diet and with medication. But strangely, it has gone silly very recently for no apparent reason. He is 85 (well he is on Sunday) and generally copes well with health problems, being a wheelchair user following an accident whilst he was in the Army in Singapore when he was in his early 30's but this seems to have knocked him off kilter a bit. I don't think the mild stroke he had in February of this year has helped.

Again, thank you so much for your help and information. I am so glad I decided to join this lovely group, albeit on Ray's behalf, and I am now off to find some helpful advice concerning food / cooking.

 

[Jaylee]

Further to my above post - I took a look at some of these just now on Amazon (so I'll have them advertised to me non-stop for the next six months) and the comments from people who have bought them seems to indicate that the watches are inaccurate in terms of measuring BG and do not correspond to fingerprick readings. At least one needed to be calibrated daily by inputting a fingerprick reading to give the device a reference point.

I’ve just taken a look at these on Amazon. One sports watch for about 26 quid??? Claimed to monitor BG in the write up. But on further scrutiny it was just a smartwatch with the ability to monitor oxygen levels.

What I have seen of the development of non invasive BG monitoring tech. Is it measures through sweat. It also provides its own units of sweat glucose measurement that needs a formula to convert to Mmol?
It’s all also pending on one’s ability to sweat?

The only realistic concept on this is a German company who have reportedly developed some sort of “mass spectrometer” in something the size of a shoebox.

If that sort of tech was viable in a watch? Apple or Samsung would have had it up & running. Let alone a company that can knock em out for £26…..

 

[ajbod]

I've had 2 strokes, and they can do some very weird things to your system, variances in temperature throughout the body, and many more oddities. It takes time for the brain and nerves to find new pathways, so things being out of kilter for a few months is only to be expected.

 

[SimonP78]

I’ve just taken a look at these on Amazon. One sports watch for about 26 quid??? Claimed to monitor BG in the write up. But on further scrutiny it was just a smartwatch with the ability to monitor oxygen levels.

What I have seen of the development of non invasive BG monitoring tech. Is it measures through sweat. It also provides its own units of sweat glucose measurement that needs a formula to convert to Mmol?
It’s all also pending on one’s ability to sweat?

The only realistic concept on this is a German company who have reportedly developed some sort of “mass spectrometer” in something the size of a shoebox.

If that sort of tech was viable in a watch? Apple or Samsung would have had it up & running. Let alone a company that can knock em out for £26…..

I agree re a £26 watch, I think there are some other potential runners in the game though, for example this looks kosher (though still no product): https://afontechnology.com/glucowear/

This might be vaguely interesting while talking about cheap alleged-glucose-monitoring watches: https://www.diabettech.com/cgm/cheap-smartwatches-with-cgm-what-do-we-think/

From a first glance it looks like it simply generates a curve with a little bit of noise with some peaks roughly located after breakfast, lunch and supper time.

 

[chrisridd]

Abbott offer a free trial of the Libre 2, which might be worth trying @AnneRay - the trial is one sensor, which lasts two weeks. There's no hard sell or anything like that. You do need a compatible smartphone, which they list on their website.

I've just finished my free trial, and while the numbers don't exactly match up with the measurements from my pin pricks, they're close and I think just being able to watch how things change 24h/day makes it very useful. It would certainly be valuable if you're changing meds.

I'm not sure the thing is worth me paying for - at £50 for one sensor it is really quite expensive! - but if you can finagle a free trial or two..

 

[Grandadfatboy]

Just a thought @AnneRay, some type 2's are being prescribed the Libre 2 on prescription so it may well be worth while asking your GP if you qualify.

 

[Deleted member 527103]

Coincidentally, this appeared in my Inbox recently (I subscribe to the blog): https://www.diabettech.com/cgm/cheap-smartwatches-with-cgm-what-do-we-think/
The guy often tests new diabetes technology and provides his results.
He was not complementary about his experience

 

[AnneRay]

Better to recheck your lancing methods seeking improvements

1. Be well hydrated to encourage blood flow. Seriously. It makes a huge difference to almost everything including testing.
2. Have warm hands as blood flows better
3. Massage hands from wrist to fingertip first
4. Select the lowest depth for the lancet for the actual finger you intend to use (each finger varies!).
5. Don’t use a blunt lancet
6. Aim for the edges of the fingerprint not the centre or the very tip
7. Get your meter ready and strip poised just to be pushed in the final little bit before you lance - to avoid rushing one handed
8. Don’t squeeze the finger tip- it bruises. Wait for the blood to well up. If you need to help do it by pushing up from the palm instead
9 Scoop the blood onto the strip. You need less than trying to dab it on. It should “suck” itself along the little groove.
10. Use a different finger/part of the finger each time and circulate so you aren’t stabbing the same bit each day.

Hi, thank you so much for the above information. He does actually do most of those you mention, but still finds he ends up with sore fingers after a week of doing testing. Having 85 year old hands does not help either, I guess! but thank you for taking the time and trouble to offer help and advice. x

 

[AnneRay]

Just a thought @AnneRay, some type 2's are being prescribed the Libre 2 on prescription so it may well be worth while asking your GP if you qualify.

Hello, thank you for responding. Ray actually seeing GP next Tuesday so will definitely ask the question. Thank you for this information, he had been lookiong into Libre 2 today on the internet, but found the costs prohibitive. I'll let you know what the outcome is, but many, many thanks. x

 

[AnneRay]

Abbott offer a free trial of the Libre 2, which might be worth trying @AnneRay - the trial is one sensor, which lasts two weeks. There's no hard sell or anything like that. You do need a compatible smartphone, which they list on their website.

I've just finished my free trial, and while the numbers don't exactly match up with the measurements from my pin pricks, they're close and I think just being able to watch how things change 24h/day makes it very useful. It would certainly be valuable if you're changing meds.

I'm not sure the thing is worth me paying for - at £50 for one sensor it is really quite expensive! - but if you can finagle a free trial or two..

Hello, Thank you for responding. Ray had been looking at this earlier on the Internet, but found the costs rather prohibitive. However, another contributor has suggested asking our GP if it can be prescribed. So definitely worth asking, but thank you very much.

 

[AnneRay]

I've had 2 strokes, and they can do some very weird things to your system, variances in temperature throughout the body, and many more oddities. It takes time for the brain and nerves to find new pathways, so things being out of kilter for a few months is only to be expected.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. We had been told by the Consultant and Stroke Nurse that it takes time for things to settle, but had not considered that it would affect Ray's Diabetes. It does make sense though and I thank you for the information. Take care. x