Diabeto Device - The new kid on the block

Diabeto - Your friend in Diabetes!

Today is an exciting day for people with diabetes as the hotly anticipated Diabeto Device is now ready for pre-order! Diabeto have launched their impressive indiegogo campaign where you can find all the info you will need to know about the product, the ideas behind it and the dedicated team that created it. It really is impressive - You should definitely check it out! 

I have to say that I have been waiting for this device to hatch and spread its wings for what seems like forever (in reality only 2 and a bit years) and I’m really excited that it has finally happened, not only because I desperately want one, but because I’ve seen how hard the team have worked to make this a fantastic product available for people with diabetes. 

The overall aim of Diabeto is to make diabetes management easier for us, to give us a tool that is empowering, to give us insights into our blood glucose levels and what affects them and to help us to have a better quality of life.

What I like about this device (and that's before I've even laid my hands on one) is that is was created by people who went out of their way to involve people with diabetes in the design and build process. All too often I use products or apps and I'm left wondering how much real patient or carer input has gone into them, but with Diabeto I know that it's a product for people, not just for a condition. This is something that's very important to me as the diabetes/tech industry continues to grow and I think many companies could learn a lot from these guys.

Team Diabeto

Diabeto comes in 2 parts - The birdy device (see pics) and an app. The bird plugs into your blood glucose meter and sends (via bluetooth) your blood glucose info over to the app on your smart phone. Readings are then stored onto a secure cloud server so you can access them. Simples! 

Here are some of the features that I really like: 

• The device itself really appeals to me. It's fun, small and doesn't look like a medical device. Great for kids but I'm almost 29 and I would definitely use it
• It can be used on the go
• The app allows you to track more than just your glucose. You can track your mood, insulin, carbs and activity as well as review your blood glucose log.
• You choose how much or little you want to track
• The app will plot a blood glucose graph for you so you can pick up trends and patterns. This can then be sent to your health care team in pdf format - putting the patient in the drivers seat
• The app is free and available on iOS and pebble watches. Android users (myself included) hopefully won't have too long to wait for the app
• Readings are secure in the cloud
• Diabeto is compatible with 25 blood glucose meters and the team are working on making it compatible with more
• Diabeto uses open source hardware meaning that schematic, design files and a bill of materials can be downloaded and used by anyone - The Diabeto team wins some serious cool points for opening it up to the community!

Take a look at the indiegogo campaign for more details on the device and also details on how you can pre-order your very own Diabeto. You'll see that you can also get the device at a special price - The first 100 birds are only $49 (usual price $59)!!

They also have a range of cool perks should you wish to support and contribute to Diabeto including:

• $1 - A thank you for being part of the family gets you regular updates and your name on the website's 'Thank You' page
• $15 - Diabeto stickers and your name on the website's thank you page
• $25 - Diabeto Rockstar t-shirt
• $29 - Rockstar T-shirt and sticker pack  

and there are a whole load of great offers on Diabeto packs!

You can find Diabeto on:

Twitter - @DiabetoDevice

Facebook - Diabeto 

Website - diabe.to

and of course, indiegogo - Diabeto. Your friend in Diabetes!

Ninjabetic x 

November - diabetes awareness month

November really has been an amazing Diabetes month! I haven't stopped at all and I've loved every minute of it, as I'm sure we all have!

Firstly I attended another Young Leaders meeting at Diabetes UK head quarters. This was our third meeting and I can really feel the progress that's being made. It's clear that a lot of work has been put in since we last met at the Big Event during the summer. This hard work is down to the wonderful Alex and Matt who keep us in the loop and keep us on our toes. The group will officially kick off next year and I'm sure that we will be making a big splash in the world of diabetes... for now though... my lips are sealed about our plans.

Next on my diabetes agenda was to write two guest blogs. One was for Timesulin about what World Diabetes Day means to me and why I feel it is so important. I was really pleased when I was asked to do this, I know that Timesulin has made a big difference to many people's diabetes self management, also the team are absolutely lovely and do a lot to raise awareness for diabetes! I love to give back to the people who I feel really and truly want to help people with their diabetes, and I get this feeling every time I speak to one of their team.

Blog number two was for Diabeto device who are the makers of my favourite little blue birdie diabetes accessory. I regularly interact with one of the creators and was really happy when he asked me to write for them. I was told that I could choose any diabetes topic I liked ,so I went with Blood Glucose Monitors. I chose my Accu-check Expert as I'd just found out that my HbA1c result had improved and I feel that I owe a lot to my meter.

Next up was a biggie for me! I was honoured to be asked by Diabetes UK if I would like to write about my diagnosis for the Independent which would be published on World Diabetes Day!

What an amazing opportunity to have a bigger voice to raise awareness for Type 1 diabetes! The article that I wrote was in support of the Diabetes UK 4ts campaign which is something that is very close to my heart. After a traumatic diagnosis I'll do anything I can to prevent that from happening to someone else. This is why I support their campaign and why I included it in the article... the message is simple but so strong. This campaign wasn't just for World Diabetes Day or for November, but it's for every day until a cure has been found!

Finally I travelled to Animas head quarters on World Diabetes Day to meet with their team and take part in talks and focus groups. I met with my lovely friend @Superbetic_T1 and the mysterious @grumpy_pumper (who I caught smiling at least twice throughout the day!) We listened to inspirational talks from teams of Type 1s who had swum the channel and @Superbetic_T1 told us about how he's recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro despite only being diagnosed a few months before!

At lunch I thrilled (bored really) Fred Gill with stories of why I want to become a Diabetes Specialist Nurse. I was completely unaware of who he was and was a little embarrassed when I found out that he rows for Great Britain. He was actually there to give us a talk about his experience of diagnosis and adapting, but sadly he had to listen to me nattering away before hand!

The whole animas team came together at the end of the day for a walk around the offices, all dressed in blue, to celebrate World Diabetes Day together. At the end, Simon (regional sales manager for animas), took the mic (for what I was hoping was the start of a karaoke session) and thanked us all for our support!

It was a good day and every time I checked twitter or facebook I saw the words World Diabetes Day plastered everywhere. I could tell that people were making a massive difference in any way that I could... articles, post card exchanges, photos, events, talks, fundraising, blogs... anything and everything!

May the amazing work support and awareness carry on into the future until the cure is found!