Less about the number and more about the ambiance.
In 2016, while pregnant with our daughter, my type 1 diabetic wife was working diligently to keep her blood glucose well in control and generally lower than she would before pregnancy. The threat of a hypoglycemic event — still to this day — is worisome. Waking up and opening a phone app to check her current blood glucose levels countless times a night really began to take a toll on our sleep. A few LEDs, a custom circuit board, and a bit of keyboard clacking later it’s displaying her current blood sugar without opening an app or thinking about numbers. We’ve since added additional lights around the house and enjoy a bit more of an ‘automatic’ approach to actively checking on her blood sugar.
With the help of some good friends, Glowcose is available to others with continuous glucose monitors. Check it out here: glowcose.
Continuous glucose monitors generally provide real-time data available via the cloud. Polling the server and converting the data from mg/dL to degrees hue provides surprisingly accurate representation of the users blood glucose level at a quick glance.
On the technical side of glowcose is WiFi capable hardware utilizing a pair of RGBW LEDs to display hue in correlation with the users current blood glucose reading. The white LED channel is used to display a data-not-current or error condition as to not be confused with a blood sugar value.
Data is made available by the glowcose.io web app built on a .NET back-end and typescript front-end.
Device WiFi provisioning is handled with a local web server hosted directly on the device. As exciting and sexy as mobile app development sounds, the goal is to simplify an already inherently stressful problem and provide a new take on continuous blood glucose information to the incredible diabetes community.
