New Tech For Diabetics

Illustration by Oliver Munday/Wired.

MORE THAN 200 million people on this planet worry about the same invisible villain: their blood glucose. High, low, just right? For many of these diabetics, it’s a medical version of Goldilocks that entails four or more blood-test finger pricks a day and a jab in the thigh with a needle full of insulin at mealtimes. It’s a drag and I should know—I was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic 30 years ago. At the time my father thought to himself, “She’ll be cured by the time she’s in college.” I’m now well beyond college age, and not only do I still have diabetes but I still use (basically) the same hardware and medications.

The options for managing my disease are limited: multiple devices embedded under my skin and stuffed into my pockets—insulin pump, continuous glucose monitor, and my phone; or a black nylon pouch (made in Taiwan) filled with needles, insulin vials, and a flimsy plastic glucose monitor. It’s like carrying a tiny hospital in your purse—not something you want to spill onto a table on a first date.

If my car can drive itself and my phone can open my front door, turn on the heater, and take my dog for a walk, isn’t it time we had a major breakthrough in the gear that helps us manage this disease? Well, we’re about to.

Read about the five products that are coming. Originally published for Wired Magazine.

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