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Introducing our smart contact lens project (for diabetics)

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Re: Introducing our smart contact lens project (for diabetics)

#121

Post by bigtunacan »

trekky1700 wrote: post #92
MrFoof wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>type I diabetics with the best control are actually more likely to die from severe low blood sugars. I'm very much in this crowd. Type 1, AIC of 6.3, LDL cholesterol around 100, BP of 110/72-75. This is with completely manual testing and subcutaneous insulin injections. The problem of keeping your blood sugar towards an A1C of 6 is you have insulin reactions. Quite often, as you're being rather aggressive in keeping…

Just curious, how old are you and how long have you had it? I've had it for 11 years this February, and while my A1C is pretty terrible (high), the idea that I might not be able to detect lows eventually is pretty terrifying.

Not speaking for the parent, but I'm a 35 year old T1D who has been diagnosed for only about 7 years and I am already nearly asymptomatic when I have low blood sugars. The risk of becoming asymptomatic for low blood sugars increases over time, but it is completely inconsistent. Some diabetics have always been asymptomatic for low blood sugars, others will go their whole lives and always have easy to detect symptoms. I have a friend who is in his mid forties and is also a T1D; he was diagnosed about 30 years ago and he still consistently gets the shakes when he is any lower than 70.

Re: Introducing our smart contact lens project (for diabetics)

#122

Post by esailija »

awolf wrote: post #77
matznerd wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Switch to a ketogenic diet.

I'm going to go ahead and down vote you here as well. I'm a type one diabetic on a ketogenic diet. Continuous glucose monitoring is still extremely valuable to my health.

I am type 1 on ketogenic diet as well and my sugars are virtually always in healthy person's range (or actually always if the healthy person eats candy or white bread :P).

So I am curious why you consider it extremely valuable with such stable sugars in the first place? I mean I can see it could be nice to have for the stats but that's not worth the obtrusiveness at all.

Re: Introducing our smart contact lens project (for diabetics)

#123

Post by bigtunacan »

morganherlocker wrote: post #25

Type I diabetic here. Assuming current tech stays where it is (not saying it will), this could easily tack 10 years on to my lifespan. For many who watch their diabetes less closely (something I cannot fault anyone for), this could add 20-30 years. For anyone who does not know, type I diabetes is not something you can just follow a doctor's direction on and be ok. Even if you follow your doctor perfectly, there can s…

Your last point listed here is such a big deal too. It shouldn't matter if these things are 100% effective; they need to be released and patients need to be informed that manual testing still needs to be done. If for no other reason than to help reduce the number of type 1 diabetics who die in their sleep from low blood sugars.

For anyone here not familiar with this phenomenon; it is referred to as "Dead in Bed Syndrome" This is where your blood sugar suddenly drops while you are sleeping and you don't notice the drop because you are sleeping; you then progress into a coma and then die.

To this day I almost never am able to sleep straight through the night because of the sheer dread I have that this will happen to me (In fact I'm posting this at about 3:30am where I am at, because once again I'm up in the middle of the night).

In well controlled diabetics about 55% of all severe low blood sugars occur while you are sleeping. And in type 1 diabetics about 6% of us will die in our sleep by age 40.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1826245 http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-complications/dead-in-bed... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2551657/

Re: Introducing our smart contact lens project (for diabetics)

#124

Post by prawn »

tjmc wrote: post #104
prawn wrote: post #100

Anyone else have a problem where if they read an interesting story like this about potential future technology, they are virtually incapacitated and unproductive for the rest of the day thinking about the potential? Obviously, a Google Glass or Oculus Rift equivalent but with contact lenses has to be one thing everyone's long thought of. But what about activating a contextual display by closing one eye briefly (a map…

Building a VR contact lens is orders of magnitude harder than this. Key challenges would be: 1. Component size. 2. Power. The glucose monitor is similar to an RFID that can be powered by radio waves. Driving a screen or laser would require much more power. So you'd probably need some sort of inductive coil matched to regular eyewear. 3. Focus. You can't at that distance. So you'd probably have to beam an image direct…

What's a more likely next best bet? Goggles with projectors? Or something tapping straight into the brain?

Re: Introducing our smart contact lens project (for diabetics)

#125

Post by spiderPig »

psbp wrote: post #24
dshankar wrote: post #16

Microsoft was working on similar technology 3 years ago [1] It looks like Google poached MSFT's engineers to work on this -- Babak Parviz was working on this at Microsoft 3 years ago, and is now cofounder of the smart contact lens team at Google. [1]: Functional Contact Lens Monitors Blood Sugar Without Needles ( http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/dl.aspx?id=150832 )

This has very little to do with MSFT research. Microsoft collaborated with Parviz's research at University of Washington. He wasn't a MSFT engineer. He was a Professor at UW before he left for Google. His affiliation with Microsoft, and Microsoft's contribution, seems minimal.

Do you work for Google? You're unwarranted support aside, Microsoft does deserve some kudos for investing in his research. In fact, much more so than Google just because they were the initial partners/investors.

Re: Introducing our smart contact lens project (for diabetics)

#128

Post by BenoitP »

sytelus wrote: post #126

As always, my question for all miniature cool looking devices is just this: How do you power this thing?

I think it would be just like RFIDs and NFCs: you send power to the antenna, the chip uses it to make a measurement, and to send it back.

Maybe it can take enough energy from the ambient RFs. Maybe we will see a lot of people bringing their phones close to their faces from time to time, and people would be confused. "What are you doing with your phone, do you have an ear in your eye?"

Re: Introducing our smart contact lens project (for diabetics)

#129

Post by Shivetya »

morganherlocker wrote: post #25

Type I diabetic here. Assuming current tech stays where it is (not saying it will), this could easily tack 10 years on to my lifespan. For many who watch their diabetes less closely (something I cannot fault anyone for), this could add 20-30 years. For anyone who does not know, type I diabetes is not something you can just follow a doctor's direction on and be ok. Even if you follow your doctor perfectly, there can s…

I would like to add to your comment.

My mother has been full on diabetic for thirty plus years. She uses a pump now as it does offer some convenience over just using needles. It still is not easy.

The problem I see with this technology is that her biggest threat is at night. She can go to bed with perfectly fine blood sugar levels, just like any other night, and wake up with a level in the forties. What worked good for her? Besides an attentive spouse a dog works wonders too.

Still I haven't seen an accurate blood sugar monitor, there are variances depending on where they are placed on the body and even at times the same place may not yield similar numbers each week. The same goes for where her pump connects, some weeks its a great spot, another week a similar spot isn't quite the same.

Top it off with, her comment about asking three doctors in day and getting four opinions. The flip side of low blood sugar is silly high numbers. Going to the hospital with 300, or worse 600 plus, and having to debate the emergency room staff that you know whats happening isn't fun. Having to have your level tested three or four times because they cannot believe your functional at those levels is a sign of how much even much of the medical world has problems with this disease.

I am all for new technologies but I believe your chances lie in first not ignoring the diagnoses, second making sure to take the medicine assigned; especially your insulin; third, enlisting your family and even friends in emergency treatment aids, fourth being purely your genetics, and finally knowing when to doubt a medical professional and how to engage them intelligently.

Re: Introducing our smart contact lens project (for diabetics)

#130

Post by f-debong »

I think this is one of many such implementations which we will see in the next few months. Not long ago, the FDA posted their guidelines on mobile health, which will most likely be part of the system, finally establishing a hint of what they will require to give an approval to a mobile system in the medical field. I have some experience in this, and can tell you it is very exciting. No blatant ad here, sorry!

Since the risks for ventures in this field have dropped significantly, devices such as this lens now have a much higher probability to actually see the light of day and not just be hidden in the archives, on thrown away napkins and spreadsheets.

Yes, Microsoft worked on it a few years back – yet seem to have dropped the ball or shifted their focus, I have also heard of such a project at Sanofi and research institutes around the world – yet a google X project may potentially be what this concept needs to make progress and actually have an impact. My sincere gratefulness to you guys at X for going at it!

Forgot to mention, like many others in this thread I am a type 1 diabetic since 30 years, so my gratitude goes a tad further than only thinking it's cool.

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