The Story 

With Medi Tech being the subject this month, I thought where better to pull inspiration from than my own story, I was diagnosed quite a few years ago now, I had travelled down to Worcester to see a friend who I had become close with whilst we worked together in Wuhan, China (I didn’t bring it over I swear!). We were at a Rock and Roll bar called “Heroes”, and throughout the night I kept having this burning pain through my leg, to the point where I couldn’t stand, which of course was hilarious to my slightly inebriated friend.  

I went home after this adventure, had a google to see what could be causing this and one of the mentioned symptoms was a possible thyroid issue. In my teenage years I had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, didn’t really change much of my life but I was aware of it. So, I thought, well why not, lets go back to the doctors, get a test and see if this is the problem.  

I did the blood test, got the call, and turns out my immune system was attacking and destroying the cells in my pancreas (that’s diabetes in its most simple form). I’ll be honest, as someone who was once a considerable athlete and liked to try and stay healthy (it was only 4 years before this diagnosis, I had started lifting again and lost 5 stone), this was a real shock. The first thing you think when you get diagnosed with a condition like diabetes is “Well I guess I’m not living a long life like I wanted” I don’t know why, but death, blame and shame were the first three things I thought about.  

A couple of months, hospital visits and tests later, I found out I was a type 1, this came with mixed feelings, I was frustrated that this was it, this was my life and I didn’t have a choice, choice means a lot to me in my life, I’ve naturally rebelled against any authority growing up, which I’m sure my parents are very grateful for, and I detest being told what to do. Yet here I was, life telling me what to do and me not being able to do anything about it (Type 2 Diabetics can bring their condition into remission) but I was also happy that me putting on weight wasn’t the cause for my downfall. If it turned out my sugar addiction and laziness was the reason this choice was taken away from me, I would have found myself full of unhealthy self-loathing.  

The first experience I had with technology was a piece of hardware called a “4Sure Smart Duo” this mechanism allowed me to check my bloods anywhere I went, it would fit in an awkwardly shaped pouch with my pen and strips, and I could make sure I wasn’t in trouble everywhere I went. Before we get into how the 4Sure works, it’s important to highlight its purpose. As a type 1 I’m what’s called “Insulin regulated” this means I must balance my own blood sugar levels with Insulin pens that I inject into my body.  

If I don’t do this, then my blood sugars will get too high, this is called Hyperglycaemia, Hyperglycaemia causes nerves in my hands and feet to become damages, possible resulting in the loss of that body part, and eventually loss of sight. I have no interest in losing limbs and my vision, losing fingers etc is going to make playing guitar very difficult and I can’t imagine being blind will help me with my development career. On the other end we have what’s called “a hypo”, when I either don’t have enough carbohydrates in my diet, or take too much insulin, I lose all the sugar in my blood, its an awful experience but the biggest issue is if this goes too far, you can find yourself in a diabetic coma. As much as I’d love to get a couple extra hours sleep, falling into a coma is not for me.  

For me to avoid the above situations, a glucose monitor is required, the way most of these monitors work is I must take a pen which has a sharp needle loaded inside the pen, press it close to my finger, and launch the needle into my finger, usually with a large snap, this causes the skin to break and blood to become available. I take the blood, put it on a strip and insert the strip into the monitor.  

There are a few issues with the handheld monitors. Firstly, they’re not as accurate, secondly after about 2 moths of using them, I found my fingers and thumbs were all turning purple due to the bruising, testing became a painful process and when you’re testing around once very two hours, it was a pain I could live without.  

This all changed 8 months down the line when I finally got the Type 1 diagnosis, at this point the hospital offered me a sensor that would remain on my body, and always be reading my blood sugars, to an accurate level. The sensor can communicate with my phone via Bluetooth so I’m able to check my blood whenever I need to and I can also set alarms for when I need to adjust, both for when my bloods are too low and too high. It’s a huge difference, I no longer have to “feel” a hypo coming and I can make sure my body is protected by getting insulin into my body asap when my bloods are too high.  

Overall, without the senor, its safe to say my chances of keeping my vision, my limbs and my life, are drastically reduced, modernity will always be a blessing when it comes to Medi Tech, one that I am very grateful for. 

The Tech 

But how does the actual tech work?  

Diabetes test strips are small but technologically advanced. These plastic strips have a thin layer of gold, patterned to form a circuit. 

One end of the strip is coated with chemicals that absorb your blood like a sponge and convert the glucose into electricity. 

This electrical signal travels from the strip to the meter. The number displayed on the meter represents the speed of the electrical current. Higher blood sugar levels produce a stronger signal, resulting in a higher reading on your blood glucose meter. 

The Handheld Monitor 

the following components are used: 

• Analyte: A substance with chemical constituents that are being identified and measured. In this instance, glucose is the analyte that the biosensor is designed to detect. 

• Bioreceptor: This is a molecule that specifically recognizes the analyte. For the detection of glucose, specific enzymes are used, which are proteins that facilitate a chemical reaction. For example, the test strip for a blood glucose test contains the enzyme that interacts with the analyte in the drop of blood. 

• Transducer: This part of the biosensor converts one form of energy into another. Specifically, it converts the recognition of the bioreceptor into a measurable signal. Most modern-day glucose meters and continuous glucose monitors measure electrical signals, although earlier generations of glucose meters used a colorimetric process (colour change) that was measured optically. 

• Electronics and display: These components process the transduced signal and prepare it for display. The processed signals are then quantified and shown on either the glucose meter’s display or the receiver for a continuous glucose monitor (or compatible app). 

The Sensor 

The sensor is a few centimetres in diameter and is designed to stay in place for 14 days. It is applied to the skin, usually on the upper arm. A thin (0.4 mm), flexible and sterile fibre within the sensor is inserted in the skin to a depth of 5 mm; a painless process. The fibre draws interstitial fluid from the muscle into the sensor, where glucose levels are automatically measured every minute and stored at 15-minute intervals for 8 hours. Glucose levels can be seen at any time by scanning the reader over the sensor. 

To scan the sensor, the reader is held 1 cm to 4 cm above the sensor for 1 second. Readings can be taken through the wearer's clothes. At each scan, the reader displays current glucose levels, levels over the previous 8 hours, and whether glucose levels are trending upwards or downwards (and how fast). This is called the ambulatory glucose profile.