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Apple Watch Series 7 Rumored to Feature Blood Glucose Monitoring
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Type 1 is a term used widely. The vast majority of diabetics agree.
Good lord, calm down.
Blood glucose monitoring is nice but addresses a smaller population (13% of adults) than blood pressure (half of the adult population). That’s what we want sooner rather than later.
Ooooooh… I hadn't even considered that. Good point!
Adding my perspective from this about understanding your own signals better (and this was with a first gen device):
I was a serious burned out mess after years of dealing with very sick family; and during my recovery process I clearly found discrepancies between how I would evaluate how I was doing, and what my AW told me.
For me it was very important to physically stay active, and I found that I honestly couldn't tell if a workout felt more brutal because I was pushing myself harder; or if it was me mentally feeling off. And the data from my AW always had that information for me. So I could always tell if it was ok to slack off because I felt lazy, or bad weather, or if I was in a position where that literally could have spiralled me back into sort of a lethargic depression.
I absolutely attribute a more effective recovery process to the Apple Watch.
If you read that without having experienced depression yourself it can be really hard to understand just how much your own brain can lie to you. Some days it honestly felt like my whole body was exploding from physical pain just going on my daily forest walk; and the AW really could give me that feedback if it was just my brain lying to me, or if I was physically getting sick, or pushing myself extra hard. Absolutely invaluable.
Why?
We were always going to get there one day? Why not now? There were companies dedicated to researching accurate non invasive methods of measuring blood glucose and didn’t Apple buy a couple of them?
Did a quick google search and TGA is changing their policies on february 25th 2021 to allow devices like an Apple Watch to get approved. I still don't see how Apple is to blame for ECG not being available in Australia yet.
Jesus mate settle down!
Just stating ECG is a feature of my Apple Watch model. Therefore, a bit of the production cost of my Apple Watch, went towards the ECG hardware, which is disabled atm.
So I paid for something which I cannot use right now.
I see your point, but that's just the way it is right now, and you knew that going in.
Like, I've paid for stupid stock-apps/widgets being updated (and forced upon me) for years now.
Besides, if they'd specifically designed a version with "less hardware", then the extra work, and comparatively smaller production run, would probably have made the device more expensive; and you would have been complaining about how poor you can't get the extra functionality once your gov gets around to approving it.
Indeed. That's why Apple should not over-complicate this feature. It should be simple - send me a notification when you detect that my blood sugar is very high and after several such notifications, advice me to see a doctor and make a formal testing. Including different graphics, variables and adding all sort of different variable just makes it too complicated for the general public. I want the Apple Watch to look out for me in the background and do its measurements without me having to make any input or interact with the device apart from wearing it. That is by the way the problem with the EKG. If you dont do it often, its is like to having it at all. It should be more seamless but I guess we are still not there with the technology and you need to hold the crown to get a reading.
I agree with everyone that it likely won’t be as accurate as pricking your finger… BUT I’m not sure it has to be in order to be a game changer. The “game changing” aspect is constant monitoring built into your watch.
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Well, GCMs already exist, and are becoming more widespread every year.
A potential game-changer could be early diagnosis, though.
Sure.
As thrilling as this is I’d like point out 3 crucial thing here:
1. For type 1 diabetics this would need to be extremely accurate, and as much as I’d hope it would be I’m not very confident it will be. (Crossing my fingers)
2. For type 2 diabetics this might be useful to help them choose foods and lifestyles that help keep blood glucose down so as to not further exasperate their condition.
3. Early detection might not apply here for type 2, by the time fasting blood glucose is chronically high it’s too late the damage is done (fasting insulin is a better test if you are worried about type 2 in the long run). Type 1 this might be a different story I if you see chronic high glucose and have other classic symptoms it might be worth checking out with your doctor
As a final note: It might be good for the everyday person that puts on an Apple Watch because if they see how fast their glucose goes up and how long (depending how healthy you are) it stays that way above normal it might make them think twice before mainlining the coke and the candy bar or some even supposedly “Healthy foods“ that have similar effects. This is what I think most people will get use out of it for. As they say “An unexpected surprise, but a welcome one.”
1. For type 1 diabetics this would need to be extremely accurate, and as much as I’d hope it would be I’m not very confident it will be. (Crossing my fingers)
2. For type 2 diabetics this might be useful to help them choose foods and lifestyles that help keep blood glucose down so as to not further exasperate their condition.
3. Early detection might not apply here for type 2, by the time fasting blood glucose is chronically high it’s too late the damage is done (fasting insulin is a better test if you are worried about type 2 in the long run). Type 1 this might be a different story I if you see chronic high glucose and have other classic symptoms it might be worth checking out with your doctor
As a final note: It might be good for the everyday person that puts on an Apple Watch because if they see how fast their glucose goes up and how long (depending how healthy you are) it stays that way above normal it might make them think twice before mainlining the coke and the candy bar or some even supposedly “Healthy foods“ that have similar effects. This is what I think most people will get use out of it for. As they say “An unexpected surprise, but a welcome one.”
I'm willing to bet big that there are some critical details missing from this piece. There was a watch that came out years ago that ended up burning people. And Dexcom's next release (G7) will have a direct to watch feature? But that's just blue tooth?
Folks who are into diabetes tech because they are T1D or live with someone who is T1D know how unlikely this is. Where are the trials? This article is 4 years old. https://qz.com/958033/apple-appl-ha...help-manage-diabetes-through-the-apple-watch/
Folks who are into diabetes tech because they are T1D or live with someone who is T1D know how unlikely this is. Where are the trials? This article is 4 years old. https://qz.com/958033/apple-appl-ha...help-manage-diabetes-through-the-apple-watch/
hey man, if you lived with T1D and were into the tech, you would be just as skeptical. I love tech! If this is true it will literally change my life dramatically and I will explode with happiness. The skepticism for this particular tech is likely because we know how hard it is to do what this article is suggesting. Dexcom and Abbott have been at this forever.
I'm not saying that's not an admirable goal. I'm saying they're not going to be able to achieve that goal. I am confident they haven't, nor will they have, achieved that goal (of having a non-inserted, accurate CGM) by the time the next watch comes out.
Constant monitoring doesn't do you much good if it's inaccurate. It would just be getting more of something worthless.
I understand your point, but this comment made me laugh, "Tech should be mature now." They've been telling us (t1d) that we would have an artificial pancreas any day now for over 30 years. This tech is much more complicated than people realize. What seems superficially simple is much more complex than anyone (including researchers) thinks. The Pancreas is an AMAZING machine. I wish I had a working one.
Actually… it does; or at least it can.
Let's say that on a scale of 1 to 100 each and every measurement can be 20 points off; and we don't know which way, or even how often it happens.
Over time we might find that the average value is 50.
Then at a later date we find the average value to be 60.
We still don't know anything about each individual value; but with enough data points, and with enough information about the "randomness", we could potentially still get good data out of the change of averages.
Just saying that if we know what we're doing there's a lot of reliable data that can be squeezed out of unreliable data.
As a type one diabetic since 12 I still test 10-12 times a day even with a Dexcom G6 CGM and keep my A1C in the 5 range (non-diabetic). I’ve been waiting for a non-invasive CGM system since testing various ones in the 90’s. If this comes to market, it will be a game changer. I‘m old fashioned and still wear swiss timepieces but I’ll gladly wear an Apple Watch 7 with CGM on another wrist.
CJ - not trying to be snarky in the least but why on earth do you still prick 10-12x a day if you have a G6? Again, YDMV, but man I have not pricked my finger at all since going on the G6.
My father was a type 1 since 6 and never took care of himself. He was an investment banker who worked between London and NYC - he put his work and our ”lifestyle” above everything else. Towards the end he lost he legs from infection and was in a wheelchair for years then lost eyesight in his left eye and could barely use his hands. All the money in the world can’t save oneself from self destruction.
I weight train 5-6 times a week, cardio with supersets and interval training, don’t eat carbs, and test daily with my CGM and even 24/7 systems you still need to test a few times a day to ensure the device is giving accurate readings. No CGM is 100% prick free regardless of any claims. I’ve had a few instances in which the tiny wire wasn’t properly inserted by the mechanism and my readings were off. Only testing to verify caught it.
I have personally seen what happens and I am scared to death if I don’t do everything to ensure my health is taken care of. Even with the best care and proper maintenance type 1 diabetics will have late life medical conditions in some form. i will not become my father. More to the point, as a former field agent for 10+ years being a type 1 diabetic is rare and I had to work twice as hard to prove my ability in the field.