{"id":22523,"date":"2011-12-01T08:56:08","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T13:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523"},"modified":"2016-01-07T01:45:36","modified_gmt":"2016-01-07T06:45:36","slug":"effortless-diabetes-logging-a-review-of-glooko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523","title":{"rendered":"Effortless Diabetes Logging: A Review of Glooko"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Any diabetic with a smartphone has suffered what I call an \u201cApple moment.\u201d You look at your glucometer. You look at your phone. And you think to yourself, \u201cI can use this phone as everything from a news aggregator to an email-getter to a virtual goldfish bowl. So why can\u2019t these two devices connect? Well, here\u2019s some good news: thanks to a new product called Glooko<\/a>, they now can.<\/p>\n

Glooko is a cable that connects iPhones<\/a>, iPods<\/a> and iPads<\/a> to a variety of different glucose meters (you can see the list here<\/a>) and automatically downloads blood glucose readings, eliminating the need for you to manually write down records. In Glooko\u2019s app, you can add in additional information, like whether the reading was before or after a meal, how much insulin you took (and what kind) and whether there was anything else going on (like exercise, sickness, or having your period). Then you can export a file to share with your doctor or endocrinologist.<\/p>\n

I have an iPhone and a Freestyle Lite meter, and when I got my Glooko, I was impressed by how easy it was to use. You download the app, you plug the cable into your meter and phone, and within a few minutes, all your data has been downloaded onto your phone. (That\u2019s a hell of a lot faster than DexCom\u2019s slower-than-molasses-on-a-cold-day downloads, which aren\u2019t even possible to do on Macs.) I was able to scroll through my blood glucose readings either on a continuous list or on a chart that broke them down by day (with little apple icons that I could use to indicate whether the readings were taken before or after meals). After only a few minutes of poking around, I had figured out how I could make notes on my blood glucose readings (including the options listed above) and also see why I run through test strips so fast (16 times in one day? With a CGM?). In terms of intuitiveness, speed, and simplicity, I was very impressed.<\/p>\n

However, there were some obvious features that were missing. Why couldn\u2019t I look at my blood glucose readings on a graph, for example? Why couldn\u2019t I calculate my average blood glucose during certain times of day? Why wasn\u2019t there any other way to analyze my data? I felt a little bit indignant, as I tend to do any time a diabetes product doesn\u2019t achieve everything I want it to. But then I talked to Anita Mathew, one of Glooko\u2019s founders (she used to work at LifeScan), and found out that the situation is more complex than I had realized.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It turns out, perhaps unsurprisingly, that Glooko is indeed aware that it would be nice to be able to see your information on a graph, or to calculate daily averages. They also know that not everyone has iProducts, and that potential customers may be frustrated to find that Glooko doesn\u2019t work with every meter. However, there are good reasons for all these things, and learning them made me more enthusiastic about and appreciative of what the technology does achieve.<\/p>\n

First, the question of data. Lord knows the FDA has been getting enough crap from the diabetes community recently because of its overly cautious proposed low-glucose suspend guidance and its upcoming guidelines for artificial pancreas development. But here\u2019s another complaint to add to the pile: it turns out that if you \u201cmanipulate\u201d blood glucose data in any way, your device\/technology gets bumped up from a Class 1 device to a Class 2. Without getting into too many details, that\u2019s important because a Class 1 device doesn\u2019t need to be pre-approved, but a Class 2 device does. And according to the FDA, putting blood glucose numbers on a graph qualifies as \u201cmanipulation.\u201d (I know: what?!) So while Glooko recognizes that this is something customers want \u2013 and is working on getting the necessary approvals — they decided to come out with this version first. (As a side note, when they do get approval for these new features, you wouldn\u2019t need a new cable; you\u2019d just update the app.)<\/p>\n

Second, why the limitations on phones and meters? This one\u2019s simple: Apple\u2019s products are very consistent, since they all have the same jack and work on the same operating system. Android phones have little quirks between them (like Samsung versus LG versus Motorola) that have to be individually addressed. Glooko is working on cables for these other companies\u2019 phones, but they\u2019re not done yet. Likewise, the problem with the meters is that they don\u2019t all have the same input jacks. Right now, Glooko works on most meters that have stereo jacks for downloading. They\u2019re working on developing cables for other meters, but again, they decided to start with the simplest option.<\/p>\n

I am very conscientious about my blood sugar, but I\u2019ve never actually used any computer programs to log my blood glucose \u2013 I usually just let my endocrinologist download all the data from my DexCom CGM. But with Glooko, that might change: it\u2019s simple and fast and is a very easy way to share information. I look forward to future, more sophisticated versions, but so far I think it\u2019s a good start, and would definitely recommend it for anyone who\u2019s sick of logging things by hand (or paying monthly fees for a logging app) and wants a simple way to share records with their doctor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cDiabetes is such a complicated and time-consuming disease,\u201d Anita said when I asked her what Glooko was trying to accomplish. \u201cWe just wanted to simplify one little thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a goal I know we\u2019d all love to achieve \u2013 and I commend Glooko for taking the first step.<\/p>\n

The Glooko is available on Amazon<\/a> for $40. It\u2019s not covered by insurance, but you can pay for it out of a Health Savings Account.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Glooko is a cable that connects iPhones, iPods and iPads to a variety of different glucose meters and automatically downloads blood glucose readings, eliminating the need for you to manually write down records. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":22527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1440,1437],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nEffortless Diabetes Logging: A Review of Glooko<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Glooko is a cable that connects iPhones, iPods and iPads to different glucose meters and automatically downloads blood glucose readings...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Catherine Price\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523\",\"name\":\"Effortless Diabetes Logging: A Review of Glooko\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/iPhone_cable_meter-home.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-01T13:56:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-07T06:45:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f16ebb52b0d6b1882336149c48618b74\"},\"description\":\"Glooko is a cable that connects iPhones, iPods and iPads to different glucose meters and automatically downloads blood glucose readings...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/iPhone_cable_meter-home.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/iPhone_cable_meter-home.jpg\",\"width\":599,\"height\":345},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=22523#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Effortless Diabetes Logging: A Review of Glooko\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/f16ebb52b0d6b1882336149c48618b74\",\"name\":\"Catherine Price\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/991f86d105bb54022be9be587aa788fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/991f86d105bb54022be9be587aa788fa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Catherine Price\"},\"description\":\"Catherine Price was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. 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