hypo unawareness bracelet

[jennyellery]

I'm a final year textile design student at Edinburgh College of Art.
I'm researching into innovative textile fibres and my concept is to make a unisex band/bracelet with would change colour or heat up when your blood sugars dropped significantly. I'm aiming it more towards people with hypo unawareness, however, could be useful for others too.. I'm still doing lots of research into thermochromatic dyes, heat reactive fabrics and maybe metals but basically I need some feedback about how useful this may be in alerting people before they get serious hypos. Intending the design of it to be also quite stylish so it has a normal appearance and not drawing too much attention from others. Thinking it may allow people with hypo unawareness more freedom to do day to day activities without the worry? let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for me!!
Jenny

 

[mo1905]

Sounds great if it works. I was unaware a hypo sign was temperature change in the wrist !


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[SandyDee]

I have no awareness of hypos so this would definitely be popular in my world. If it can be done it would be fantastic.

 

[collectingrocks]

Hi yes, what an excellent idea

I wonder if a possible solution is to base it upon a skin galvanic response such as sweating. I think this originated in the old lie detector tests.

I have heard of mood rings/bracelets that change colour but whether these actually work, I have no idea

Do tell us how things are progressing

 

[mo1905]

The OP's idea seems to be based on temp differences. I really can't see how this alone would detect a hypo ?


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[collectingrocks]

The OP's idea seems to be based on temp differences. I really can't see how this alone would detect a hypo ?


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

It was only a suggestion... Sweating is "one" of the outward signs of a hypo

 

[mo1905]

The OP's idea seems to be based on temp differences. I really can't see how this alone would detect a hypo ?


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

It was only a suggestion... Sweating is "one" of the outward signs of a hypo

I wasn't referring to your idea. Nothing wrong with your suggestion apart from a lot of people sweat for many other reasons, not hypo related. I'm just intrigued by the original post which seems to suggest the bracelets will pick up on heat change. I never knew a hypo made a difference to body temp.

 

[collectingrocks]

Ok sorry I misunderstood.

This might be a difficult one as there might be various expressions of a hypo. Why not just a simple bracelet to let people know that person is diabetic. Not a bracelet I know but there are (for example) autism awareness badges, deaf/partially sighted badges etc. I know some people do not want to wear a badge/label but how else do we educate the uneducated?

 

[mo1905]

Well, there are already bracelets out there. As always, it's a personal thing. Some don't like to advertise their condition. Personally, I think their a good idea.



Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[collectingrocks]

If I was having a hypo in a public place, I would like somebody to come and help me and do the right thing. But then I don't want to wear a badge (or something) to advertise my condition as there is so much stigma out there. Bit of a dilemma

But getting back on-topic, perhaps something discreet that a fellow diabetic would recognise (considering 1 in 10 of the UK population are now diabetic: so at least 1 in 10 would recognise a hypo...). I don't know.

 

[jennyellery]

i have hypo awareness and tend to get a bit hot and flustered but obviously it's different for everyone. I thought about the perspiration thing also, I'll need to look into whether people with hypo unawareness have zero symptoms or just no physical symptoms they are aware of. I'm just wondering whether this bracelet would have a chip reader inside and then the user would have a tiny sensor placed under the skin, kind of like with insulin pumps, and the sensor could read low sugar levels, signalling the bracelet to change colour/heat up. Really my project right now is looking into whether such an accessory would be useful for those with hypo unawareness? Most of the feedback i've had is positive. Medic alert have bands which indicate a person with diabetes, I find them a bit unsightly though. I would say for what i'm doing, I wanted to create something that looked great without immediately spelling out a disability, catering to the emotional side of diabetes. I for instance, when growing up, just wanted to be like my friends, so creating something more subtle wouldn't draw unwanted attention from others but this would still serve a use in alerting people to hypos in a more calming fashion using colour. Obviously I'm thinking from a textile designer point of view here. Here is an example of another artist I have looked at who creates colour changing blood sugar monitors for type 2 diabetic people : http://mickaelboulay.fr/index.php?/meas ... s/content/
I love it but wouldn't find it accurate enough for me.

 

[phoenix]

Sorry, I'm going to be negative. If it worked well it would be a simple and useful device but hypo symptoms vary between hypos and between people. If people have hypo unawareness this is often because there has been a loss of those warning signs rather than they just don't notice them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetic_h ... nawareness

There are sweat/temperature detectors on the market which are sold to people with diabetes for detecting these two signs and so alert them of a hypo.
In the US the Amazon advert for this type of device bears this warning

This is not an FDA approved device. Hypoglycemia symptoms are unique to each person and this device does not detect hypoglycemia, only 2 common symptoms that they claim will alert people to hypos

http://www.amazon.com/Giant-Biosensor-N ... B005958GQ6

Similar devices are sold in the UK as hypo detectors and actually cite European medical device certification, though the directive they quote is not the current one.
( And unfortunately the regulations may not be that protective : http://www.theinformationdaily.com/2013 ... t-patients)

I have read accounts on this forum of this type of device not working very well with false positives but also not alerting someone who was actually very low. (you can search for them on the forum) This could be extremely dangerous if the person was relying on it.

There are researchers looking into a monitor that will test glucose levels through sweat but this is still in the research stages
http://www.medgadget.com/2011/08/new-sw ... tions.html

For another idea using sensors look up Glucowatch; that was marketed and approved but it failed to work well and caused most people discomfort.

 

[jennyellery]

thanks for your feedback! no worries I welcome positive as well as negative! This is exactly what I need to find out. As I said above.. maybe it should be a chip placed under the skin which has direct contact with the blood and picks up a falling sugar level.. Its only a one week project about innovation so the logistics aren't my main worry at the moment, just research into whether theres a market for such a device. Which I think there may be as it seems all these links are suggesting that things in that past haven't worked?

 

[Sugarman]

If it would work definately a market fire it

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[Sugarman]

For it

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[Gloucestergirl]

It sounds like a good idea but would it work accurately? Also, I wouldn't fancy having a chip embeded under my skin and I don't suppose many people would. The idea about something that changed colour with the heat of the body does work as I have a couple of watches that start off with a completely different colour face which changes the longer I wear it, eg. green to blue and the one I am wearing at the moment which is black to blue. The trouble is, because of nerve damage, a lot of diabetics have problems with temperature control and some sweat more and some less so this could give false readings. My body temperature can be cold one minute and hot and sweaty the next, literally within two or three minutes, it doesn't mean I'm hypo though. I have lost a lot of the hypo feelings I had when I was first diagnosed and only a couple of nights ago woke up with a 2.5 and have had similar ones of that level in the day and haven't known until testing and yet another person would be flat out on the floor at that. So you see, hypos affect different people in different ways. Perhaps the most reliable hypo warning solution is to get a dog as they seem to be very good at it - sorry to sound so negative.

 

[mo1905]

I think the only way this could work is a chip under the skin monitoring blood glucose levels. I can't see temperature change alone to be reliable. Depending on accuracy and size of chip, I would be more than happy to wear one. Good luck with your trials !
Mo


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[KatharineShaw]

I think this is a really good idea, but what would work best for most people is 24 hour blood sugar monitoring, so dropping blood sugar could be dealt with before it becomes a hypo, and on the reverse, a rising blood sugar could be dealth with by taking insulin, if that's appropriate.

 

[mo1905]

I believe they are already available. Comtinuous Glucose Monitoring. Quite expensive though and difficult to get on the NHS. Be very nice technology could be simplified to make it more accessable.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[rogbert]

great idea jenny pity something couldn't be invented so that testing by blood was thrown out of window