Mr. Matthis is a 65 year-old gentleman with diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes for the past 3 years. His Endocrinologist initially prescribed him oral medications, on which his diabetes appeared to be reasonably well-controlled. However, control of his blood sugars continued to worsen despite these medications and lifestyle interventions to eat healthier and to get more exercise. Six months ago, Mr. Matthis’ Endocrinologist told him that he needed to start taking insulin.
SUMMARY
Mr. Matthis is a 65 year-old gentleman with diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes for the past 3 years. His Endocrinologist initially prescribed him oral medications, on which his diabetes appeared to be reasonably well-controlled. However, control of his blood sugars continued to worsen despite these medications and lifestyle interventions to eat healthier and to get more exercise. Six months ago, Mr. Matthis’ Endocrinologist told him that he needed to start taking insulin.
THE CHALLENGE
Mr. Matthis initially started injecting himself daily with a standard prescribed dose of long-acting insulin. However, his blood sugar control remained poor despite this. His Endocrinologist subsequently indicated that he would also require addition of short-acting insulin three times a day prior to meals. Unfortunately, this has required Mr. Matthis to check his blood sugars prior to meals using a lancet to prick his finger and then place the blood onto a test strip in a glucometer, which provides him with his blood sugar reading. Mr. Matthis must then use this value as a factor in determining the next dosage of short-acting insulin he should take. Mr. Matthis has been finding this to be cumbersome and has had difficulty maintaining compliance. This has resulted in him skipping dosages of short-acting insulin entirely, which have caused his sugars to run high. He also sometimes attempted to “guess” how much insulin he should take based on how he is feeling rather than taking formal fingerstick blood sugar measurements, resulting in overdosage on some occasions with resultant hypoglycemia, where his sugars have dropped to the point where he has experienced symptoms of sweating, dizziness, lightheadedness, and rapid heartbeats. During these hypoglycemic episodes, Mr. Matthis has had to take sugar in the form of a snack or sugary drink to get his blood glucose levels back within the normal range. Mr. Matthis’ Endocrinologist rechecks his hemoglobin A1c level (which provides an overall indication of blood glucose levels over the past several months), and this level continues to be high.
SOLUTION
Mr. Matthis knows that it’s important to get his diabetes as well controlled as possible in order to minimize chances of long-term complications. He realizes that the biggest challenge for him in controlling his diabetes has been his ability to be consistently compliant with checking his blood sugars. He comes across the LIFELEAF watch and realizes that a wearable, noninvasive means of accurately measuring his blood sugars several times a day is exactly what he needs to help optimize his diabetes management.
RESULTS
Mr. Matthis uses the LIFELEAF watch to obtain accurate measurements of his blood sugars prior to meals. The watch is completely noninvasive, and provides readings within a span of minutes. Mr. Matthis develops compliance with his insulin regimen simply as a result of wearing the watch and administers short-acting dosages as instructed. He no longer must “guess” where his blood sugars are based on how he is feeling and does not develop further hypoglycemic episodes resulting from taking excess insulin.
CONCLUSION
Mr. Matthis plans to continue using the LIFELEAF watch to noninvasively monitor his blood sugars, which he realizes is ultimately enabling him to correctly take his short-acting insulin. He knows that 29 million people across the United States have Type 2 diabetes and is aware that maintaining good control of blood sugars is vital for minimizing complications of diabetes including stroke, heart attack, neuropathy, and certain eye problems. He also knows that potential complications can result from hypoglycemic episodes from taking too much insulin or going too long without food and is reassured that the LIFELEAF watch will provide him continual updates on his blood sugars that also minimize his chances of developing significant hypoglycemia.
TECHNOLOGY
LIFELEAF introduces the third generation of wearable medical technology that consists of three major components:
- A patent pending Smartwatch that utilizes optical sensor technology to continuously and non-invasively extract vital health indicators and hosts a set of novel vital parameter extraction algorithms. They leverage the latest advances of digital signal processing and machine learning to continuously adapt to each individual’s health based on a holistic approach and generate personalized actionable alerts in real-time,
- An interactive, easy-to-use Mobile Application sends and receives data and alerts to and from the cloud. Users can view the data with a friendly user interface in real-time, and
- A cloud-based AI Analytics Platform where individualized information is stored in the cloud, perform deep learning on extremely large-scale data sets, and provide actionable insights at an individualized level.