Monday, April 16, 2012

I Need A Dead Spot Detector, STAT.

I want a cure for Diabetes, BIG TIME - and I do my best to try and make that happen.
I donate to research for the cure and go to symposiums and hear about mice who can now produce insulin and the likes there of.
But with that being said, I will admit to very much appreciating the diabetes technology that we as people with diabetes literally have at our fingertips.
I love that pump, glucose meters and cgm technologies are getting better with each passing year and that urine testing is now a thing of the past. But I need the diabetes tech folks to create something else for people with Diabetes.
I need them to develop a Dead Spot Finder/Detector, because as I much as I hate to admit to it - I NEED ONE.
I hate (and I know hate is a very strong word, and I try never to use it, but in this case it is the only word that fits) and I mean HATE Deadspots.
For those of you not in the know, Deadspots are those nasty little patches of skin that absolutely refuse to absorb insulin. These patches of skin look normal, except they don't absorb my subcutaneous insulin infusion site cannula drip.
In my eyes, Dead Spots are in a different category than lipohypertrophy , which is basically a fatty/lunoy looking buildup of skin and scar tissue that you get from injecting in the same place over and over again without rotating With Dead Spots, you can't tell from the exterior look of the skin that there might be an absorption issues.
And I don't know that my infusion site is smack dab in the middle of a Dead Spot until I'm a few hours into it. And Dead Spots SUCK because they make my life (and by MY I mean OUR,) life more complicated then it should be.
Deadspots make me feel tired and sluggish even after I've had my 1.5 cups of coffee in the morning and force me to drink gallons of water, which along with the excess sugars cause me to pee like freaking Secretariat.
Dead Spots make me doubt myself and cause me to focus on something else besides the many tasks at hand.
Deadspots slow me down and tick me off and quite frankly, I'm tired of them.
I rotate my insulin pump sites as much as humanly possible and try to resuscitate life into those damn deadspots as much as possible. I have been known to us a sharpie my abdomen, thighs and upper butt area to mark said Dead Spot locations so that I can remember where the latest deadspot is and try to avoid it for a few months until it regenerates its subcutaneous abilities.
But every now and then, (and always when I least expect it,) a bitchy little deadspot rears its ugly head and causes havoc with my(and by MY, I mean OUR) day - And my/our numbers.
So I'd really like it if someone one out there could create a Dead Spot Detector of sorts. Think of a metal detector, but without the handle or the large size. I'm thinking it would be sans handle and the size of a mouse,( a computer mouse, not a lab one) that we can literally scan over skin and detect Dead Spots.
Think of all the insulin and infusion sets it would save - Insurance would have to cover it because it would save them money in both the long and the short run.
Maybe it could be part of a phone app where we we can keep track via a visual (maybe a chart or a body map) of said Dead Spots on our person, and the amount of time in which to steer clear of said Dead Spots until they regain their insulin superior insulin absorbing abilities.

THIS JUST IN: That app already exists in the form of SiteSelector, so we got that going for us!

I think a Dead Spot Detector could be used to detect and prevent other subcutaneous medication potential Dead Spots - So it would be a win/win for everyone who has ever had subcutaneous Dead Spot issues - with or without a working pancreas!

So what else would you want on a Dead Spot Detector and am I on to something, or just a little crazier than normal?

4 comments:

Rachel said...

I would LOVE one of those! It would be like a stud finder. A red X and loud beep mean 'Stay away from this no-good patch of skin. I mean it!"

Johanna B said...

Patent your idea quickly and sell it for BIG BUCKS to some company. You'd make a million easy.

Sara said...

Oh my goodness! I can't believe that app exists and it actually looks pretty awesome.

How come we've never heard about it?

Mike Hoskins said...

That detector is SO needed. Can't stand those dead spots... only have a couple, but they do suck.