New Dario Glucose Meter: Blood Glucose Monitoring System

Turn your Smart Phone into a Smart Blood Glucose Meter!

The Dario Smart Blood Glucose Monitoring System integrates with your smartphone directly allowing you to monitor and track your blood glucose and other important elements, on your phone. This all-in-one system from LabStyle Innovations was launched internationally in 2013 and has been under review by the FDA since then. Dario was given the go ahead by the FDA in December 2015 and it hit the U.S market in mid May 2016.This system is a sleek plastic device that’s about the size of the normal cigarette lighter with a cartridge of 25 strips housed on top and a lancet built into the bottom.

Technical specifications

Blood sample size: Minimum of 0.3 microlitres
Time to process and display results: 6 seconds
Memory: Limited to phone/device memory
Batteries: not required
Averages: 7, 14, or 30 days
Hematocrit range: 20 to 60%
Measurement range 0.6 to 33.3 mmol/L
Weight: 40 grams
Operating temperature: 50° to 113°F (10° to 45°C)
Storage temperature: 36° to 90°F (2° to 32°C)
Altitude: up to 3,400 meters
Dimensions: 104 x 21 x 11mm.

Explore the Features of the Dario Blood Glucose Monitoring System

All-in-one Glucose Monitoring System

There are two main things that make the Dario Blood Glucose Monitoring System stand out from other systems. The first reason is that it turns your smart phone into the glucose meter. The second is that the test strip and lancet holder are combined into one, convenient, easy to use and well-designed device. It is ideal for keeping things discrete because nobody would actually guess that it’s actually a glucose meter.

The lancet/needle

The lancet that is housed on one end of the all-in-one device can be accessed by simply snapping off the orange piece. You can also set the needle’s depth, and then pull down the back piece in order to load the needle before pressing the button (orange button) to release it.

Test strips

Test strips are stored on the opposite end of the device. Therefore, there’s no need to carry around several pieces. Moreover, the cartridge that contains 25 test strips simply snaps into place and you just need to remove the white piece you’ll find at the end. The device comes with two test strip cartridges and each cartridge contains 25 test strips.

Meter attachment

The Dario Smart Blood Glucose Monitoring System turns your smartphone into a blood glucose testing meter by simply plugging in a very small attachment into the phone’s headphone jack. The meter attachment is also conveniently stored in the compact all-in-one device.

The meter

The packing clearly explains how users can download the app and set it up on their phones. You can test your blood sugar by simply plugging in the attachment and opening the app. The device will prompt you to carefully insert a new testing strip before placing a drop of blood on the strip. The meter will count down by first filling in a circle before it displays the glucose level. The device uses a color coding system to show if the glucose level is within range, high or within the borderline. It will then take you to a new screen where you’re required to indicate whether it’s a bedtime, pre-meal or post-meal reading and then enter additional information related to physical activity, insulin, carbs and even tags.

App-Tracking and Analytics

The Dario app is easy to use and very intuitive. It logs important data and then displays it in a clear and meaningful way to the end user. You can also set up your own personal profile which mainly includes the type of bolus/basal medication you use, your blood glucose thresholds and hyper/hypo warnings. Moreover, you can set reminders, track food, and sync fitness apps.

Logbook and Charts

The app is designed to automatically store all readings in the logbook. You can also choose if you want to view it as a chart, timeline, or list. The chart graphs up the last 14 days and you can share your logbook as a CSV or PDF file with your phone contacts or even by entering an email address.

On-Demand Sharing

The app also lets you chart more including carbohydrate intake, calories and insulin doses and the results can be shared with anyone such as your doctor or family. Moreover, the statistics tab generally gives you a summary for a day, or the last week (7 days), month (30 days), or 90 days. This summary tells you the number of readings you had, the highest or lowest reading and then breaks the data down by how many readings were in range, average or below and then by how many hypers or hypos you had based on your custom settings. You can also click the summary box to see all the readings that fall into that specific category.

Emergency Hypo Alerts

This is an additional safety feature that once enabled on your device; Dario sends a text message to 4 people with your current blood glucose level and a link to where you are using your device’s GPS coordinates. This feature is ideal for people who have or had hypo problems in the past because they can go anywhere at any time with peace of mind.

What are the Benefits of Dairo Smart Blood Glucose Monitoring System?

This is one of the latest blood testing meters and everything in the system fits perfectly together. Therefore, instead of carrying around your pouch with separate pieces (lancing device, test strips, meters, etc), all you really need is one compact device and your phone
The device is great when it comes to logging everything making your data super convenient to share.
You don’t have to worry about charging your meter because the device will work as long as your phone does not run out of charge.
The Dario Smart Meter is very small and compact. The case dimensions are 104mm x 21mm x 11mm. This includes the lancing device, test strips and the meter itself.
The device is compatible with both android (OS 4.12 or higher) and iOS devices (OS 6.1 or higher)

Drawbacks

The device does not sync with other diabetic devices.

Is the The Dario Smart Blood Glucose Monitoring System for me?

If you’re looking for a system that is compact and allows users to log readings directly to their phones, this device is a great option!

For the Latest Bloodless Glucose Meter Options – Click here!

Exenatide For Type 2 Diabetes

Exenatide is an injectable type 2 diabetes medication that is used along with exercise and diet in order to control the blood glucose level. It stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin efficiently when your blood glucose level is high. Exenatide also causes a significant decrease in appetite by slowing the emptying of your stomach. However, Exenatide should not be used to treat type 1 diabetes.

Using medication and making lifestyle changes such as exercising, dieting and quitting smoking will help you improve your health and manage your diabetes. This will also decrease the chances of having a stroke, heart attack and other diabetes related complications including nerve damage, kidney failure, gum disease, and eye problems. Your health care providers will advise you on the best way you can manage your diabetes.

When to Avoid Exenatide for Diabetes.

You should not use Exenatide if you are on dialysis or if you have severe kidney disease, diabetic ketoacidosis or if you have slowed digestion.
Exenetide should not be used together with Bydureon and short-acting or fast-acting insulin.

Is Exenatide Safe? You should tell your health care provider if you have:

High triglycerides
A history of kidney transplant or kidney disease
A history of gall stones or pancreatitis
Digestion problems
A history of alcoholism

Birth control pills should be taken at least 1 hour before taking this medication. You should also tell your doctors if you are pregnant, plan on becoming pregnant or become pregnant while using Exenatide.

Exenetide is not approved for use by people younger than 18 years.

How should I use Exenetide?

Exenatide immediate release, which is also known as Byetta, comes as a liquid (solution) in a prefilled injection pen for injecting subcutaneously.

Exenatide extended release (Bydureon) (long-acting) comes in powder form which is mixed with liquid in a prefilled injection pen or a vial to inject subcutaneously.

Exenatide immediate release (Byetta) should be injected twice per day within one hour before breakfast and dinner. It should not be injected before meals and your doses should be at least six hours apart. The doctor might start you on a low dosage and may switch you to a higher dosage of Exenatide if your blood glucose control does not improve after using the initial dosage for one month. The doctor might also adjust the dosage to make sure you have the best results.

Exenatide extended release solution should be injected once per week, on the same day each week without regard to meals. Use Exenatide exactly as instructed by your doctor.

Diabetics who use Exenatide immediate release need to purchase needles separately. Your doctor will tell you the needles you should use to inject the medication. Always look at your medication before injecting it. Exenatide should be as fluid, colorless and clear as water. Do not use Exenatide in smaller or larger amounts or for longer than prescribed. Exenatide is injected under the skin and your doctor or pharmacist should show you how injections are used and how used syringes and needles should be disposed. Exenatide (Byetta) comes in a prefilled dosing pen with a user manual showing detailed instructions for using the injection pen.

Never share a cartridge, syringe or injection pen with anyone else since this can allow diseases or infections to pass from one person to the other.

Exenatide Dosage Information:

What should I do if I miss a dose?

If you’ve not yet eaten a meal, take the missed dose immediately. However, if it’s almost time for your next dose, or if you’ve already eaten, skip the dose you’ve missed.

What should I do if I overdose?

Seek medical attention immediately. Exenatide overdose can cause nausea, vomiting and signs of low blood sugar such as feeling shaky, dizziness, headache irritability and hunger.

What are the side effects of Exenatide?

Stop using Exenatide and seek medical help if you have:

Low blood sugar: sweating, irritability, feeling anxious and shaky, dizziness, hunger and fast heart rate.
Kidney problems: Difficult or painful urination, little or no urination, swelling in your ankles or feet, short of breath or feeling tired.
Pancreatitis: Severe nausea and vomiting, severe pain in the upper stomach spreading to the back, or fast heart rate.
Feeling jittery and weak
Constipation, diarrhea, heart burn.

Seek emergency medical help if you notice any signs of allergic reaction to Exenatide; rapid heartbeats, hives, difficult breathing, feeling light headed, itching, and swelling of the face, throat, tongue or lips.

What drugs that can affect Exenatide?

Your doctor might recommend that you stop using:

Birth control pills
Antibiotics
Blood pressure medication
Pain medication
Oral diabetes medicine or insulin
Warfarin (Jantoven, Coumadin)

Exenatide might make it difficult for the body to absorb oral medication. Therefore, it is vital to tell your physician about all the medication you are taking including herbal products for Diabetes, vitamins and over-the-counter medicines.

Stress and Diabetes

Can Stress Cause Diabetes?

Actually having diabetes in itself, is a major source of stress. Many diabetics have much higher rates of anxiety and depression, and learning to deal with this and reducing stress in your day to day activities, is vital.

Your body is essentially a hormone factory. Whenever you are stressed – whether it’s good or bad stress – your body releases different types of hormones to help you out. For example, it will release adrenaline to give you more energy. Along with these, your liver, muscles and fat will also release glucose. If you have chronic stress you can end up with a situation where your body is releasing too much hormone, and too much glucose, too often.

Diabetes and Stress is not a good scenario. If you’re chronically under stress it can make it difficult to control your diabetes. If you are worried about things such as paying the bills, taking care of your children, passing tests, and other life situations, you could be harming your health more than you know with the added additional and frequent releases of hormones into your blood stream. Like drugs, you can actually get addicted to these hormones too.

Who Is in Control?

In Life, the Truth, and Being Free , the author Steve Maraboli states, “You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.” In many cases this is true, but in others you really do have some control over the stress in your life.

The trick is to figure out which things you have control over and which things you do not. A good way to judge is to determine who must do the change or action to make it different. If it’s not you, you have no control over it, and you must let it go. If it is you, then you have to face it and do what it takes to change.

Even if it’s something you have no control over, you do have control over your reaction to the situation. Learn to take time to assess a situation, determine who is in control, and then control what you can. If someone is being bossy or demanding, just react differently to it than you normally would. Take a deep breath, count to ten and move on. You can control your thoughts and your actions in a way that reduces your stress.

If you do have direct control over something such as your weight and what you eat, then it’s time to face the facts that only you can truly make a change here. If your poor eating habits are causing you to be unhealthy, instead of letting it add stress to your life, work on creating new habits one day at a time. Each meal or each day that you make the best choices for yourself and your health, you’ll be less stressed about that issue.

Stress and Diabetes: Steps You Can Take to Reduce Stress

* Learn coping skills – Read books about developing coping skills or, if you can, seek some professional help through a counselor or life coach.

* Meditate – This isn’t hokey, and it’s not strange; meditation and prayer are proved to keep you calmer, long after.

*Exercise – Moving around a little every day releases feel-good endorphins that can help you feel more at peace during and after exercise.

* Try something new – Sometimes it helps to break out of your everyday life to let go of stress. Join a local group, try a new hobby, take a class, volunteer.

* Breathe and count – During a stressful event, teach yourself to check your breathing. So many people literally hold their breath at all times of the day. Count to three (or ten if you need it) and breathe normally and mindfully.

* Relax – Take time each day to just relax, read a good book, watch a TV show or documentary and just be.

By incorporating these things into your life and being aware of who exactly is in control of your life, you will go far in reducing the stress in your life and at the same time, reducing the effects of stress on diabetes.

Exercise can help ease stress from diabetes. Read MORE

New Findings – Sugarcane and Diabetes

With more than 250 people being diagnosed with diabetes every day, the disease is undoubtedly widening its grip on Australians. Although there is still no cure, trials on new treatment for diabetes have shown remarkable promise for patients. This is all due to a highly unlikely source; sugarcane. New trials have shown that sugarcane boost intestinal health which demonstrates positive effects especially in the treatment of diabetes.

Diabetes can easily wreck havoc on the health of its victims when it is poorly managed. This increases the likelihood of patients suffering a stroke, heart attack, loss of vision, amputation and kidney damage.

Fit, slender and without a history of diabetes, it was highly unlikely that Simon De Crespingly could be a candidate for type II diabetes. However, in 2011 a test revealed that he was at the brink of developing Diabetes 2.

What is the relationship between Sugarcane and Diabetes?

Low Glycemic Index

Although this made him quite emotional, taking a health drink known as NutriKane D daily had remarkable effects on Simon. In fact, clinical tests suggest that it helps stabilize blood glucose levels. Research has shown that adding sugar cane juice to tonic lowers the GI (Glycemic Index) of food thus stabilizing the blood sugar levels. Sugarcane juice provides essential amounts of energy (sugar) in a safe manner. This makes it a perfect energy drink especially for diabetics.

Sugar that is derived from plants is processed in the liver, not the small intestine. Therefore, sugar from sugarcane (glucose and fructose) is absorbed slowly which reduces the likelihood of spikes in blood sugar. Therefore, sugarcane juice for diabetes patients may help regulate blood sugar.

Simon De Crespingly went from low range Type 2 Diabetes of 12.3 down to 6.8. Although sugarcane seems like an unlikely element in fighting against high blood sugar levels, Australian medical researchers have discovered that sugarcane is rich in hard-to-digest fiber which promotes growth of good gut bacteria.

Stuart Eastwood, Diabetes NSW CEO cautioned patients against ditching healthy eating habits and exercise just yet since this natural product was in its initial testing stages.

The Bloodless Glucose Meter Review

It might be possible to test your blood glucose level without a finger prick in the near future. Currently there are various companies testing bloodless glucose meters.

One of these glucose meters measures blood sugar using light in less than 20 seconds. The landscape of this technology has grown stronger with solid research and several companies have a real shot of introducing the no-stick glucose meter to the market.

Bloodless Glucose Meter – Grove Instruments

Grove Instruments’ newest creation is the optical bridge technology that uses near infrared spectroscopy to measure real time blood glucose in less than 20 seconds. The device is battery-operated just like the traditional meter.

However, the main difference is that you only have to place on your earlobe or fingertip. The device is one of its kind and it has already been patented.

Grove expects this innovation to allow people suffering from diabetes to monitor their blood sugar levels more easily and convenient. The device will also enable doctors to screen people for diabetes and pre-diabetes more quickly.

Does the Glucometer meet accuracy standards? Optical Bridge technology has already surpassed the ISO 15197 clinical trials standard.

Echo Therapeutics

The Symphony tCGM biosensor that monitors blood glucose levels continuously using a thersdermal sensor was developed by Eco Therapeutics.

After placing the biosensor on-site, it only needs to warm up for the symphony to transmit the blood glucose level of the user wirelessly to a remote monitor every minute.

The monitor keeps track of the rate of glucose changes and the glucose level. Moreover, it provides audible and visual alarms in case the user’s rate of change and blood glucose levels move outside the target range.

OrSense Bloodless Glucose Meter.

Orsense monitors the users’ Blood glucose level using the spectOLight Occlusion Spectroscopy Technology. This bloodless glucose meter has a ring-shaped sensor that can be worn on the thumb or any other finger. The ring applies gentle pressure on the finger in order to occlude blood flow. Tests on over 450 diabetic subjects show that this glucose meter performs similar to invasive sensors available in the market.

Cnoga Medical Ltd.

Cnoga medical, a start up in Israel, has developed a bloodless glucose monitor that uses optical sensors to track changes in skin color instead of taking a physical blood sample by pricking the skin.

Although this device is already available in Europe, it will probably require further clinical trials in the United States before being sold to diabetics officially. However, the monitor’s technology has already been approved by the FDA (United States Food and Drug administration) for other applications.

Instead of pricking the finger, the patient can simply place a finger on the optical sensor in order for the device to monitor the blood sugar level, skin resistance, the quality of skin collagen and the heart rate.

Arriva Bloodless Glucose Meter

Arriva has created a talking meter which has quite useful for the elderly and diabetics whose vision is impaired. Although the Arrive glucose meter does not require finger pricks, it still requires a small blood sample which is presumably from alternate site such as the palm forearm or thigh for calibrating the sensors periodically. The sensor can be placed on the abdomen or upper arm with a special adhesive.

This no stick glucose meter uses interstitial fluid measurements rather than blood glucose and their testing kits are very useful for showing any trends in your blood sugar level. Moreover, the talking meter is easier to use, more accurate, and pain-free.

Read on for more information on Bloodless Glucose Meters.

Freestyle Libre Pro – NOW HAS FDA APPROVAL – In the USA.