Microchips For Blood Sugar Testing The Wave of The Future

Any indwelling material runs a risk of infection especially if it needs a connection to the outside world. If there are no wires coming out then there are the power and communication issues that make this sort of thing very expensive compared with a very simple, quick, cheap realively painless prick test.

Also a minor op' to install such a device makes it a non starter.

I would have to disagree with relatively cheap. The test strips typically cost 80 cents to a dollar each and if a person is supposed to test3-4 times or more a day, the cost can add up to as much as 1,200 dollars per year plus a few bucks for lancets to prick your self with. At least the meters are free, the manufacturers will generally give you one if you trade in an old one or buy a three month supply of strips (the strips are unique to each meter).

The problems of implanting and living with an implanted sensor, I quite agree with.

It's cheaper than a funeral?

did you ever see a dead person paying for his funeral?... And who wants to live blind amputated with kidney failure anyhow.

Guys, The problem is not the testing, The problem is the administering of insulin. pricking is nothing compare to injecting. Oral administering or insulin patches is the way to go.

The combination of both would be the perfect solution. with 100% automatic blood sugar control. Actually pinching pricking etc. are NOT a problem, considering the alternatives. It is controlling blood sugar that counts.

For type II Diabetes Melitus the trend now is to try and re-activate the Pancreas to produce functioning insulin. I have read several articles that claim to have had some success in certain cases.

Wangito.

hi wangito, i am a type2 diabetic, can you give me more info regarding the re-activating the pancreas?

thanks, ralliv45

I am replying to the "cheap" portion of the response. My grandson is a type 1 diabetic at age 14 and it is the most expensive thing in the medical world that I have encountered. The costs are ongoing forever. Many people can't afford them. the out of pocket expenses are very high.

Work hard and have a great day.

People want "non-intrusive" testing, this is currently being worked on, cannot say too much about it at the moment, but keep an eye out for it

Getting power in and signals in/out is not much of a problem, Cochlear do it with their implants that have a coil inside the skull and that is magnetically coupled to a coil on the outside which transfers the power to the implant, along with the electrical power for the implant.

if you want to wash your hair, just pull the outside antenna off your head and was your hair as normal, the magnet will realign the antenna when you place it back, just stay away from fridge magnets :P

also, currently, the testers are far too BIG for implanting, they are down around the size of a match box, most of the size is the display to be able to read it, and the power source.

Cool, I knew it was possible only a matter of time before we are able to figure out a method. Yes reactivating the bodies normal systems is just about always the way to go.

I figured have an exterior monitor that would be attach to your arm or some out of the way place and depending on the desired location for the monitor, be it the heart, or near the Pancreas or preferable on an arm - since most people prick their fingers - simply move the monitor over the Microchip and do a sugar scan test. Or if it's semi-permenantly attached like the Cochlear (see earlier comment). I like the ability to supply power and signal strength via a Magnet. The chip itself would only have to test the blood for sugar level using a simple voltmeter (if I understand the current test strip methodology), with probes on either side of a specified Vein, maybe test two Veins and compare readings. If the Voltage reading is High there is too much Sugar in the Blood, if the Voltage reading is Low too little sugar in the blood. Each Chip or Monitor would have to be calibrated to it's individual owner/user to specify a Voltage reading = a Sugar reading. Not knowing much about this Voltage reading method, I don't know if there is a universal Voltage (there may be) or if Body variations, like Vein size will effect the reading.

So the inplant only has to be big enough to test Voltage/Blood Sugar Level. Power and Display would be on the monitor, a separate unit. (Removable for Hygene purposes).

It would be cool to have a separate or add on unit that tells your slightly disabled Pancreas to secrete more Insulin if/when it's needed by what-ever Blood Sugar reading is obtained, then the body more or less takes care of and monitors itself.

We could really kick this desease in the butt.

If the Pancreas is completely disabled have this add on secrete insulin as needed. (Could a Disabled Pancreas still produce Insulin and we just put a two way valve on it and secrete the Insulin as needed - I know not likely) Now just how you supply a device inside your body with much needed pancreas I am unsure. Perhaps have a port on your arm where you simply plug-in and fill er' up. or If you could use a needle and squirt it into it's storage compartment -either method is prone to infection Challenges.

Cool to see this thread take off and find a life of it's own.

Thank you all for your contributions. I have learned soo much already. I Would really like to hear more on the Pancreas Re-activation it could save lives, time/money and help with research on other body systems.!

Would it be possible to use RFID technology for communication purposes? If the chip the first poster described was RFID campatable, couldn't they take the reader and scan it over where the chip was implanted to get the reading?

Sounds Like a money maker for someone, but since I have type 2, the postor talking about reactivating the pancreas was most interesting.

wangito, please give more info on reactivating the pancreas. thanks

How about implanting XRADIO or CIRUS behind the ear and maybe I would not have to listen to 95dB of RAP music all day!!!!!!!!!!!

Guys,you all have great ideas but are not well informed about diabetics.

First: there is an insulin pump on the market that is strapped around your midriff with a wire planted in your belly fat. It monitors the glucose level and gives off a signal when it is too low. All you do is press a button and it injects insulin into your belly fat area.

Second: The pancreas never stops making insulin, what it makes does NOT fit the receptors. Look at it this way, a square peg will not fit into a round hole. The immune system destroys the genetic process to make the proper shape of insulin cells.

Third:Experimental work with stem cell was successful for 19 people out of 20 to rejuvenate the pancreas making normal insulin cells again.

Now I let you figure out how much it cost to put one drop of blood a day on a test strip for 11315 days.