I think it’s probably way past time for me to admit that I’m jaded when it comes to “the latest and greatest thing” for checking blood glucose levels.
Maybe it’s the companies trying to rekindle an excitement in me that never existed.
Maybe it’s my frustration at how much money must be pumped into research and development that I would rather see invested in people and families or even in tools that don’t exist for issues that I think do exist.
This one, in the July issue of Diabetes Forecast, discusses essentially a breathalyzer blood glucose glucometer thingamajig. (Wow; I guess I must have added “thingamajig” to my computer’s dictionary since it flagged “glucometer” but not “thingamajig.” Awesome.)
Scientists are trying to “develop a portable, lightweight, and inexpensive breath-testing device that could replace traditional blood glucose meters—and finger sticks.” (Forecast credits the April 2011 edition of the American Journal of Physicology-Endocrinology and Metabolism but I can’t find it in the Table of Contents over there.)
Just like the gluco watch I’ve never seen.
Or the iphone app that reads something like fluorocarbons injected under the skin. (Shiver.)
Of particular interest in this one, they only tested normal and high blood glucose levels. If only we had to concern ourselves with those, right?
Seriously: is checking blood glucose with a meter that much work for us that we need to invest millions in finding other solutions to accomplish the same thing? I’m not saying my CGM isn’t fantastic, and I’m not saying that my meter isn’t a huge step up from urine checking.
I’m saying that people are working so hard to eliminate something that isn’t that big of a deal when it comes to my life with diabetes.
Don’t get me wrong: I think there is work to be done. I think we need more and better tools when it comes to insulin and insulin delivery and our bodies’ metabolism. I love the work people are doing on making low blood glucose levels a thing of the past through the use of service dogs.
What I can’t understand is why those people working with service dogs are doing so in nonprofit organizations and these scientists are probably making far more than minimum wage.
It gets to me.
Anyway, I’m not trying to complain. But I am, and for that I apologize. I’d love to leave you with a better thing to think about over the weekend.
So here you go, inspired by a Geico commercial I heard on the radio this morning (that I can no longer remember it was so long ago):
When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
What hair color do they put on the drivers licenses of bald men?
Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?
If you’ve got any answers, I’d love to hear them!!
