Ken mentioned the Glucowatch in a comment. I have been interested in it and got the brochures on it. It’s a technology that almost works
I’ve sat down and read the instructions, and you have to wear it for 2 hours, then calibrate it with a blood sugar meter and then it gives you as many as 10 readings per hour. If you are low, you still need to use a glucometer to verify the reading.
That just seems awkward. I haven’t seen if insurance will cover, but I figure it falls under durable equipment. Also don’t know if the mail order service will get the supplies.
My problems: you still have to use a regular glucometer, though you would be using it twice a day, maybe 3. So you are not decreasing copays, etc.
FYI: both the Therasense system and the Glucowatch determine sugar not based on blood, but on a fluid under your skin, thus the need to calibrate.
According to the FDA website:
The GlucoWatch G2 Biographer, manufactured by Cygnus, Inc., of Redwood City, Calif., extracts fluid through the skin and then measures the glucose in the fluid. Once the device has been warmed up and calibrated through the use of a finger stick blood glucose test, it is capable of providing up to six painless glucose measurements per hour for 13 hours. The device sounds an alarm if the glucose reaches dangerous levels, alerting patients to a potential problem.
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