Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by zby 1771 days ago
What the article speculates is a way to load up insuline in the blood that would not act if the blood glucose is below let's say 120 - but when it is above - then the insuline opens and acts. This is the fastest possible way of it to act. Even if it degrades and you could not keep much of it constantly in the blood stream - then you could inject it much before the meal and it would just start acting when the blood sugar increases and also you could inject more than enough and not worry about injecting too much of it - because it would never lead to hypo.

This would be the ideal - in a way it would be better than functioning pancreas - because pancreas needs a few minutes before releasing insuline and this would act instantly.

1 comments

It would be nice to have something like this with a several hour window. I currently suffer from the dawn phenomenon, and my blood sugar spikes by 100+ most mornings (starting anywhere between 5am and 7am). It's super frustrating to have to get up every day at 630-7am to check my blood sugar and, if necessary (most days), take some insulin.
Waking up to the GCM an hour before the alarm every morning is horrible. While maybe not the worst thing about being a T1, I'm still loathe to do it =P

I will say this, though. The CGM (continuous glucose monitor) was one of the best things to help me regulate my blood sugars - even though insurance hates to cover it from time to time (not always - it's weird). As a person who has a tendency to suffer from extreme lows, I'm excited for this new "hinged" insulin, should it make it to market.

> The CGM (continuous glucose monitor) was one of the best things to help me regulate my blood sugars

I couldn't agree more. I rave about my CGM, even with it's flaws.

- A little bit more confidence that I'll know when my blood is low, especially when sleeping

- Being able to check my blood sugar with 0 effort. I don't even mind poking holes in my fingers that much, but the difference between "get up, go downstairs, test blood, come back, get back into what I was doing" and "look at my phone" is HUGE. I "check my blood" dozens of times a day now, because it takes no effort.

- The chart, being able to see where my blood has been every 5 minutes over the past timeframe, is fantastic. I can see not only where it is but how it got there.

- Because I check my blood so often, I've gotten a better "feel" for how my blood is impacted by different things.

- Being able to go online and see the graphs of my blood sugar over timesframes over months... Once again, it just adds more information to understanding of my body and blood sugars.

The CGM "transforms", in every sense of the word, my ability to regulate my blood sugars.