Comments on: Design Challenge: Hello Grand Prize Winners

By: Beth Wieder (mother of Max)

Beth Wieder (mother of Max) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:38:08 +0000

Thanks, Jim, for the vote of support! While we’re also hopeful of a cure, in the meantime we’ve all got our lives to live, and we’re very proud of Max for thinking of a way to make the wait a little more comfortable.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:53:16 +0000

While all these comments about the value of logging are great debate, I think someone needs to give a bigger round of appluase to the other winner here! Max Wieder has actually designed something here that I (definetley not a kid!) would shell out hard earned cash for! While I agree that the search for a cure is the most critical, the search for quality and USABLE tech, that adds to our quality of life, and adhearance to our maintenance regimen is just as important!
The “slider” is pure genius! My One-Touch Ultra Mini, and the included mini lancet device are wonderful, but the missing element was a small and easy to use container and dispenser for the STRIPS!
Congratulations Max! I can’t wait until you go into production!

By: AmyT

AmyT — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:05:15 +0000

Wow, Fritz, that’s just mean. Logging may not be your thing, but the work these guys put into their program scored highest in all three criteria area, so they won the contest, fair and square. This by no means takes away from the value of the other entries. Thanks.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:51:41 +0000

it breaks my heart to see cheesy designs like this win a competition while there are ideas that could save lives that gets overlooked

By: Fritz

Fritz — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:41:29 +0000

ACat i had diabetes for a long time and i know what works for me. I use easy formulas(carb to insulin ratio) that changes and are different from person to person but it works. Logs might be useful to try and figure out how to manage your diabetes when you are newly diagnosed but are a waste of time to do after you figured out your carb to insulin ratio.Can i give you little of advice on you Levemir? Divide the amount that you inject every day by 2 (injecting yourself at night and in the morning) and you will have better control.

By: ACat

ACat — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:57:49 +0000

Fritz, there may be no formula. But there are tools. And logging your sugar levels along with what you eat and do, helps. It helps me, at least, and I think that is what counts. If someone else can remember each incident and what led to it, great. I cannot. And I think that is what it comes down to: finding something that helps you as an individual to manage your diabetes, which, after all, is a highly personal thing, and no two people react the same way.

I like to note down what I eat and any extra medication, and sports, and as I am a highly visual person, a line graph or a dot graph that clearly shows me, yes, since I increased my Levemir two weeks ago I have had rather more 65s at 11:OO than before. And can react accordingly.

A single number does not mean anything. A string of events does.

And as for why did these guys win? – The software that is out there are mainly Excel-look-alikes. Typical programmers’ stuff. Very little design. One web based application (sugarstats.com) at least has got the web 2.0 feel right.

And I guess that is what Ethan and his friend tried. To make life a little easier and prettier for people who care about their numbers. But need to see the big picture.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 10:30:03 +0000

ACat, i woke up with blood sugar levels in the mid 200′s every morning and realized that i’m having the Dawn phenomenon. I set my alarm for 1Am, 2Am,3Am and 4 Am. I tested myself every hour and found out that my Blood sugar was 80 at 3AM and 180 at 4AM. I’m using Levemir which is a very smooth long acting insulin and calculated the time that it takes to get to its highest peak(5 hours) and injected it at 10Pm every night.My Blood sugar has been in the 90′s each morning. You don’t need a log to do this.I can just see my endo read my log “eat apple 10 days ago, blood sugar 180″…what a waste of time. There is no formula that will keep your Blood sugars in control and every day is different, you have to adjust.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:55:53 +0000

Amy, i was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 30 years ago and never used a log before(A1C =5.3). If you take 30 years and add all the hours that i would spent adding all that meaningless data to my log, i would have no life. Logs are a waste of time and money. Anyway, the software is already out there so why did this guys win?

By: ACat

ACat — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 07:54:21 +0000

Dear Lauren

Historical events and their graphical visualization result in visible patterns. And pattern recognition is one of the things diabetes is all about. And people, too.

It took me 3 months after D-Day to find out that and how e.g.the female monthly cycle influences blood sugars. No doctor ever told me about it, but there was definitely something. Checking and comparing dates and seeing that during the first six days of my cycle I needed half the amount of insulin for the same meals and with the same activity during the same weather–helped me *not* to get into a hypo several times.

Understanding the pattern allowed me to search for related information, and finding it, on the net. Now I know that from day 26-day 28 I will wake up with monstrously high values. And know I need to increase my basal rate accordingly. And I know I need to be damn careful the night before day 1. But I *do* know the pattern know. And the signs. And am not simply on a rollercoaster whose rules I do not understand.

It also helped in establishing a basis for a discussion with my ob-gyn, and receiving a harmless but helpfull phytoestrogen against pms decidedly lowered my ususally much too high morning values.

No more dawn raids now. No more dead days to start with.

Patterns. So vital.

And most software so ugly and anti-visual. Hope that Ethan’s Log for Life will come to life soon

Best of Luck from Germany and Thanks to Amy for the contest.

Diabetes does need better design.

By: LaurenK

LaurenK — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 05:23:25 +0000

I understand where the numbers on my glucometer come from simply by remembering what I did 3 hours ago.

As for honeymoon phase, my basal C peptide is under 0.1 ng/dl so I doubt there’s any endogenous insulin is giving me an edge. I’ve read some studies about C peptide production in type 1s after dx, and it’s variable. Some people aren’t producing detectable C peptide levels at dx and others continue to produce small amounts of insulin even 20+ years after dx. The honeymoon isn’t uniform by any means; residual insulin production isn’t always present, and it doesn’t always taper off.