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Posted by sunnynagra 12 hours ago

FDA authorizes first wearable device that monitors ketone and blood sugar levels(www.fda.gov)
348 points | 172 commentspage 3
cynicalsecurity 10 hours ago|
As someone who has to deal with type 1 diabetes every day, this is marketing nonsense. No one needs ketones in the sensor - we need high-quality sensors, and Abbott's are only mediocre at best. They are not as bad as Dexcom, which is appalling, but they are still far from the superior quality of Medtronic/MiniMed which measure glucose exceptionally well.

Ketones are rare. They can kill you, but before that happens, your blood sugar usually rises enough for you to realise you may have ketones and start using test strips to measure them. Instead of this marketing gimmick, Abbott should have focused on improving the quality of their glucose sensors which is far more important.

lolc 9 hours ago||
I tend to agree that making the sugar measurements more robust is worth more than measuring the ketones at all. However, low sugar and high ketones can happen. And just getting notified when ketones pick up can be worth something too. The additional measurement is not useless seen from my perspective.

As an example: I was on a study that gave T1D patients Dapagliflozin (Farxiga). During the study, while on a long hike, I was hovering at low sugar and consequently insulin supply was mostly cut off for an extended period. As I started to to feel unwell, I measured ketones. I was briefed as preparation for the study to measure ketones when something seems wrong. Otherwise I wouldn't have thought of measuring ketones. Might not even have carried the kit.

On that occasion, the ketones were way above 1 mmol/l: a very high value. Protocol would have required me to call the study doctor due to the high level. Since it was a Sunday, I spared her, shot some insulin, ate a sandwich, and continued my hike. I could do that because I was not alone on that hike. I knew that if my situation deteriorated, somebody would be around to call rescue.

At the study debriefing I mentioned the incident and they said that adding to the effect of the Dapa, I was probably dehydrated, which led to the rare situation of both low sugar and high ketones.

All in all I think that if the sensor makers exhaust possible improvements for the glucose, it can make sense to add the ketone measurement as a safeguard. Having high sugar can have many reasons, and it often takes me a while to get to measuring ketones. Getting the signal of rising ketones, I would react faster a few times a year in situations where my insulin supply is broken.

croemer 8 hours ago||
What's so bad about Dexcom and Freestyle compared to Medtronic CGMs?
madhu_ghalame 1 hour ago||
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BrtByte 1 hour ago||
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MahiroHirakawa 5 hours ago||
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BeaverGoose 11 hours ago||
[flagged]
nh43215rgb 9 hours ago||
Finally. I really dont want to buy yet another watch device unless it provides blood sugar detection.
hn_throwaway_99 9 hours ago|
There are and have been continuous glucose monitors available for some time, and you can even get one if you don't have diabetes - I'm wearing the Lingo one right now.

All this device adds is a simultaneous ketone check, which is really only relevant to diabetics and not as much of a benefit because ketone levels are often checked with a urine test.

riazrizvi 11 hours ago||
So she was merely ahead of her time.
yreg 11 hours ago||
The use case was never the problem. The problem was that it did not work.
EA-3167 9 hours ago|||
You should understand the difference between taking a single drop of blood and trying to run a battery of tests on it, and sticking a probe into your extra cellular matrix to continuously monitor changes. It’s small, but it’s having a constant shifting flow of fluid at all times so it’s getting far more than one drop.
refulgentis 11 hours ago|||
Who?
wqtz 11 hours ago||
Theranos lady.
refulgentis 10 hours ago||
Huh, makes 0 sense to me, blood tests w/o much blood isn’t same as glucose checking, we’ve been able to do that w/o much blood for…a long long time.
Forgeties79 11 hours ago||
That silly patch idea?
hacknews20 8 hours ago|
Understanding why children's pancreases stop delivering insulin in the first place, which remains one of the big medical mysteries, would be a huge breakthrough for preventative medicine.