I recently found out my Mobicuff is STILL is in development. I did the pre-order back in April.  It’s a smart phone enabled blood pressure kit.

I know sometimes these devices take time to enhance & develop but admittedly I was a bit frustrated with the reply I did receive back from Safe Heart customer service after I followed up.  They didn’t have a target date for me to receive it.  I’d rather they take their time & get it right but I wish they’d be more forthcoming with email status updates to people who did place pre-orders some time ago.

While I was drafting my email to Safe Heart for an updated status I did chide myself a little. I knew I should be monitoring my blood pressure more frequently. This is something I know they will ask me to do more frequently post transplant.

I find it’s easier to do these types of tasks like measure vitals like this once I “smart” it up. It also makes all this data tracking easier.

I was perusing IndieGoGo for the latest & greatest projects after I posted in my previous post referencing the great mask I found on Kickstarter & jumped on.

For a mere $19 dollars more than I paid for the Mobicuff, I could have gotten the Accutension kit on IndieGoGo instead. It’s a manual kit with a smart stethoscope.

I still may look into it though because the Accutension can check the accuracy of the algorithm of other automatic blood pressure kits or even manual readings with the smart stethoscope itself. It also makes taking a traditional reading quite foolproof.

Yet, this wasn’t the only interesting thing I found when looking at useful digital health devices coming out soon.

I have a lot of friends & family who are diabetic.  I could be at risk for diabetes post transplant due to some of the drugs increasing my blood sugar.  I know many of my family & friends don’t like their testing kits very much.

Yet I found two worthy endeavors on Indiegogo that show things might be turning a corner in that realm finally.

There are some smart solutions in development.  One of them is called SugarCube. I’m surprised this isn’t farther along in funding because it seems really wonderful. The company (which is founded by a diabetic with Type 1 diabetes) has a device that slims down what diabetics have to carry around. It combines both testing & insulin pen kits, to one device alone. That device is bundled with a mobile application. It’s a small testing kit, insulin delivery system that uses universal needles, custom lancets & strips, all in one single unit. The device is slimmer than one might expect for everything it does.  It supports a wide variety of the common insulin pens on the market.  The app seems very robust & the information such as readings can be shared with doctors if one so chooses. It seems really forward thinking.

To opt for a year of support for the app, a year’s worth of test strips, & the testing kit, the total cost is $225.

In contrast, a 30-Day Kit seems really reasonable. It is set at $80. Considering that most test strips & meters available over-the-counter may run close to that anyway. Especially if they are models that aren’t covered by insurance (which is an increasing issue for many).

The campaign for Glucase, the second device I found, just ended. Yet this device also shows great promise & ingenuity.  It doesn’t appear that pre-orders are available at this time. They do have a website to sign up for email updates of when it will be available to order.  They also have a Twitter account that I’m certain will be updated as things move forward.

When I searched for smart glucose testing devices outside of IndieGoGo not much came up, or at least not much worth considering.

I did find a device which is available in Europe & Canada but not here in the USA yet.  It’s called Dario. I see as of 12/22/2015, they just received FDA clearance, so it should be making it’s way to market here in the USA soon (sometime in 2016).  Dario is a smart meter & lancing device housed as an all-in-one device that connects with your smart phone.  It also holds a cartridge that stores 25 strips at a time. It looks easy to use & maintain.

iHealth does make a few wireless glucose testing kits that are on the market now, but like most of their other products, the reviews are mixed. This is also true of similar products like Gmate, & Telcare. Telcare is pretty pricey, & Gmate is more reasonable in terms of cost but has very mixed reviews on accuracy.

Sanofi’s IBG Star looked like a good system on the surface but both reviews on the app & device were mixed at best.  True to pharmaceutical company form it’s actually quite expensive for how badly it underperforms. It is also just exclusive to Apple iphone which leaves Android users out in the cold.

This is also true of One Touch Verio Sync, which is disappointing because it seems that One Touch is one of the few meters that remains covered under most insurance plans. Most of the reviewers hated this model.

Now I have this post to refer back to if I have a need to do so in the future. I’m also hoping that those I know with diabetes might gain some benefit from checking these projects out if they are financially feasible for them. Especially for  SugarCube, since it shows real promise.