TADTalk2016 – Talking About Diabetes

tad1Once again the Stupid o’Clock alarm rang again and a quick check of Twitter told me that I wasn’t the only one awake and excited that today was the first ever UK day of TED style talks from people who live with Diabetes.

I was going for three reasons.
First and foremost was to meet everyone, some I’d met before, others I’ve spoken to for years and would meet for the first time. I was excited to meet Sarah (the UK’s hardest working Nightscout support person), Rob who’d travelled from darkest beyond and Anne who was one of the speakers. On top of them there were probably another 3 dozen I was looking forward to chatting with. But first it was off to meet (for the first time) Amber who we were giving a lift to – I’d worked with Amber’s Mum for 20 years and never knew she lived with T1 until Amy was diagnosed. 17 year old Amber’s relatively new to the community, go and say hello on Twitter.
Second was to listen to some great talks, four of which were from people I knew quite well from SocialMedia or indeed Real Life.
Last but definitely not least was because I was part of the Nightscout faculty, present there to be on the special stand we’d been allowed to have, to allow us to help attendees understand more about Nightscout.

The talks

Strangely, for a blog about a Talking About Diabetes event, I’m not going to talk about the talks themselves. Others have already done this through their blogs. Here’s Amber’s, here’s James’s, here’s Matt’s and here’s Anne’s.
Saving the last word for one of the organisers of this event, Here’s Dr Partha Kar’s blog.
Instead I’ll focus on Wes’s talk as it’s very dear to my heart.

Listening with a lump in my throat – The Nightscout Story

tad_westalkWes’s Nightscout story started in an unfamiliar way for me, he was taking us way, way back to Picadilly Circus in 1966, the start of events leading to the birth of Lane Desborough who is dubbed The Grandfather of Nightscout – great video of Lane talking about Nightscout here if you’re interested. Lane went on to develop monitoring software which led to the backbone of the Nightscout web sites people like us use.
I already had a lump in my throat, especially because I knew at some point soon in Wes’s talk his story would get the better of him and the rawness of emotion would come through. You could feel it in the audience who at this stage hadn’t quite worked out what Nightscout really was.
willTADWes progressed to the Nightscout story quite familiar to me – due to the presentations I’ve been giving to JDRF, Diabetes and the CYP NW Network – from the beginnings from the “7 guys on the internet” who thought “maybe 50 families” might be interested in setting up Nightscout. Less than two years later 16000 people are in the largest T1 Facebook group in the World, with 6000 more in the 27 country specific Nightscout groups around the world.
Building on the lumps in peoples’ throats Wes gave more reasons why Nightscout is so important to so many people and spoke about the only ‘cost’ to a person taking on Nightscout, that ‘cost’ being to Pay It Forward and help others. From my side it’s truly a great community, everyone is there to help others and everything is open.
Open Source.
Open Data.
Open Hearts.
Wes gave good praise to the UK’s Nightscout Faculty – which I’m proud to be a part of – and to Tim Omer for his excellent work on OpenAPS and HAPP (although Wes accidentally said ‘xDrip’ by mistake).

Nightscout Stand

pratikOne of the highlights of being on the stand was when Pratik approached me with his team and asked for a quick run down on Nightscout, so that he could understand what his patients might be using or need to know.
The stand was really busy and I spent all lunch time chatting with those who knew nothing about Nightscout, or those who knew loads but had some questions, some who were struggling with issues, some who were struggling with the concepts, some who were just interested in my family’s use of Nightscout. I was pleased to introduce James to Matt for help on his project, and to signpost people to certain web sites.
If only I’d had the time to eat any lunch!

We need to talk about H

Oh. My. God.
I’ve never felt so embarrassed.
She approached the stand by herself about the same time as Pratik and I turned my attention to him (bad move Kev!) for what I thought was a quick ‘Hi’ but turned into something much longer.
After waiting a while she said ‘I’ll come back later’, I still didn’t recognise her or know her name at that point.
During the afternoon talks I looked around and saw her sat next to Izzy and it suddenly dawned on me who was there at the stand earlier and a pang of guilt ran through me.
Hannah, damn, it was Hannah.
Hannah, the lovely young girl from OopNorf who advocates so well, whose blogged I’ve read for ages, with whom I spoken on Twitter for years, with whom I’ve spoken via Google Hangouts, whom I’d never met.
Hannah, if you’re reading this: sorry, what a twerp I am but I’m so glad you came back to say hello again.

Chatting with the reps

With more talks during the after and some question time later I managed to grab a coffee and chat with Jenny from Abbott about the London Planetarium sleepover happending that night, an event Amy and I had been invited to but had declined. Hopefully there’ll be a few guest blogs on site, coming out of that event and use of Libre. I managed to sort out a trial for Amy – which she’d previously shown interest in – so watch this space for a Libre write up from us.

What a great event

It’s hard to imagine how TAD could have been any better and if it’s run again it’s hard to imagine who could be chosen to match the great line up of this year’s speakers.
To the Doctors who set this up, Partha, Catherine, Peter, I want to thank you, it was truly a brilliant day out and a great opportunity to meet friends and help others.

The 2nd #GBDOC Conference (#PWDC16)

pwdc16Last year’s first ever #GBDOC conference for people with diabetes turned out to be very successful, very popular and very enjoyable, so I was glad to hear Team Blood Glucose were going to run a second one. This year’s conference was set up to be a two-day affair at the more upmarket Colwick Wall in Nottingham.

Going, not going, going

As much as I’d enjoyed 2015’s conference I couldn’t really attend this year’s as I had commitments on the Saturday and couldn’t justify the £150 expense (tickets, hotel, travel) and I was sad to disappoint the several friends who’d hoped I’d go. Then Abbott stepped in to support the event financially making it free to attend and more importantly meaning I could attend for just one day, on the Sunday.
As it turns out my Saturday event was cancelled so I could have blooming gone for both days.

The excitement rises

As with last year’s conference my Twitter feed started buzzing several days before the event, everyone excited to finally meet or meet again people they’d spoken to daily for numerous years. If truth be told the conference itself wasn’t the draw for me at all, it was the people.

Trying to avoid Saturday’s excitement

treeAfter finding my Saturday event cancelled and disappointed that I could have attended the conference’s first day I couldn’t face the excitement on Twitter and decided to I needed to distance myself. So I positioned myself up one of my apple trees to give it a little prune, I think I may have overdone it as it took all day.

Stupid o’clock on a Sunday

A 6am start on a Sunday is unheard of but was a necessary evil to be able to arrive at Colwick Hall for the 10am start after a 3 hour, 175 mile drive.
It felt ironic that with so far to travel I was actually the first to arrive, closely followed by my good friend Nick and we went in to be welcomed by Rhodri, who helped organise this year’s event.
Nick, Rhodri, me, and no-one else.
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A sea of friendly faces

People started arriving, Bob, Philippa, Sacha, Sarah, Steve, Paul, Jules&Lee, Lydia, Lis, Jo, Veeny and so many more. Chatter and laughs filled the room and it almost seemed a shame to break it when the conference started.

Open format conferences, the way forward

In open format conference style there was no agenda and it started with everyone deciding what they wanted to talk about and the topics were grouped together and sessions arranged.

Session One: MDI to Pump and Tech

A few people, Philippa mainly, had asked me to attend the conference just in case anyone wanted to ask me any tech questions regarding CGM, Nightscout or xDrip, so it made sense I’d join this session. I was pleased to hear that Tim Omer had done a great job on the Saturday with chats about xDrip, OpenAPS, HAPP and general artificial pancreas and CGM topics.
The session started off with a discussion about pumps, an intro on what they are, benefits of using one and about getting approval from clinic/CCG to get one. To be honest after 15 minutes I’d switched off a little – as it wasn’t so relevant to my situation – and happily chatted quietly with Steve whom I live a few miles away yet travelled 175 miles to chat to.
But I heard Lis say ‘Kev would you like to say something?’
‘Erm, no’ I panicked ‘I’ve not really been listening’.
The pump discussion had concluded and they wanted to hear about tech, from me, now; I really should have thought about this in advance.

CGM, xDrip, Pebbles, glanceability

Recently I’ve spoken to many about Nightscout, the ability to see your kid’s glucose values from afar, but Nightscout isn’t really suitable for an audience of adults, so I switched to talking about getting glucose values on a watch on your wrist.
Taking a step back I went through CGM and particularly how DexcomG4 broadcasts a signal out to anything which wants to listen.
Moving on to xDrip I explained the £40 DIY kit I’d built back in January 2015, which some had seen at last year’s conference when Amy demo’d it to a few.
I spoke about the glanceability benefits of having your glucose level on your watch gives and explained how it helped Amy through the day, especially being at school where use of phones is banned or frowned upon.
Nic and Alyssa asked some great questions about Dexcom and Medtronic CGM and I answered questions about extending the life of DexcomG4 sensors – obviously no-one does that right?! – and different positions they can be worn.
The time whizzed by and 20 minutes later and it was time for me to shut up.

The Afternoon Sessions

After a lovely lunch with great conversation with Philippa and a table of others it was time for the afternoon sessions although I’d decided session two would be reserved for a chat with Jules and Lee whom I was surprised to see, knowing that she was worn out by day 1.
For session three I joined in with the ‘Food’ topic, interested to hear other people’s opinions on food, different diets they used to manage their diabetes and its effects on glucose levels. After a great discussion led by Nick and with some great input from Vicky and Jo, before Paul arrived and Nick asked him to explain Low Carb High Fat and how it worked for him.
I found myself nodding with Paul’s chat so much my neck ached, he’s really got the knowledge of this completely sorted and it was a breath of fresh air to listening to someone helping others out with fact, not fiction nor flippant comment. Paul spoke in length about ketones, ketosis and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and explained why people with diabetes can deal with ketones. He also answered many questions on how to get started in becoming ketogenic, truly great advice for those who were there and interested.

Post sessions chat

Yet again more time was devoted to chat with friends old and new and I enjoyed my chats with Bob and meeting Tim, Melissa and Matt for the first time, as well as chatting with numerous people who’s names I sadly haven’t remember.

It’s all over

And before we knew it the conference was all over and it was time for the long drive home. I’d had a great day, it seemed everyone had a great day/weekend.

Thanks

I’m not exactly sure of who did what but I’d just like to thank Paul, Alex, Rhodri and TeamBloodGlucose for all they did to organise and run the conference. It’s truly a great event I’d suggest everyone attends next year.
I’d also like to thank Abbott for the investment which meant that I could attend.

Diaversary #5

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Amy at the Lilly National Paediatric Team
Conference in May

Another year passes, another 122 insulin pump set changes, another 3500 blood glucose checks, another 2000 carbohydrate guesses and insulin doses and numerous daily Type 1 Diabetes management tasks.

I’m no longer feeling the ‘Meh‘ I felt this time last year but I’m glad I felt like that then as it’s spurred me on for this year.

Amy’s diabetes management has never looked so good. She has – and we have – put a lot of work into getting her levels within range, her glucose fluctuations smaller. As a result her HbA1c yearly average looks favourably against the new NICE target of 6.5%. It’s no small feat, it takes a lot of work and I hope it isn’t taking its toll on Amy’s soul. Some days it appears it’s done with ease, others it’s a struggle, some days fluctating levels seem minimal, but rarely.

Dexcom G4 CGM, Nightscout and xDrip have played a big part in this year’s reduced A1Cs. I built our first xDrip in early January and it’s been used on and off since then – we self fund so full time CGM use is out of the equation. It’s given us lots of data to enable us to pin-point insulin:carb ratios, insulin sensitivity factors and durations, all of which are necessary to help with the many insulin doses and corrections required. We’ve got better at altering her basal profile, a task we do together, and this too has made a difference. After a trial Amy requested her very own white pebble watch to view her glucose readings on, leading me into a world of smartwatch envy which I just couldn’t battle for long 🙂 My watch will easily – and silently – wake me if Amy’s glucose levels drifts into areas we’d rather it wasn’t, meaning I can get up and treat her levels before she drifts back off to sleep and wakes up within range in the morning. I believe this management is priceless in enabling Amy to progress into the top sets of most of her school classes.

With all this CGM data there is a price to pay in the name of there perhaps being too much data. You can be teased into a world of constant alterations, boluses and TBRs and often it’s a good idea to take a step back. It’s a very fine line which I’m not sure we’ve figured out properly yet. That’s a good thing about enforced CGM breaks, no alarms.

I’m so proud of Amy’s management of her Type 1, she doesn’t sing and dance about it, she doesn’t seek limelight nor sympathy, she just gets on with it no matter how much it may hurt her body or mind that day. We give her the encouragement – sometimes a lot – she needs but ultimately she calls the shots. As time moves on she will call more and more shots but for the time being this is a joint effort through and through.

2016 is possibly set to be a great advocacy year, particularly for Nightscout and I’m proud that Amy will be by my side for some of this.

Open Loops, Closed Loops and Tim Omer’s Hackabetes Artificial Pancreas Project (HAPP)

It was a turn of good fortune that Tim Omer’s presentation to the London Type 1s group fell on the same day as the Medical Technology Awareness Week Reception at Parliament I attended. I was looking forward to this event, it didn’t disappoint.

But first: That annoying Guardian article

Having created our first xDrip in early January and using it effectively since then I was more than pleased to read that Stephen Black’s xDrip design was at the center of his system. I was intrigued, I needed to learn more and an article about Tim in the Guardian gave me that chance. Unfortunately although Tim’s article from the Guardian in late October gave a great overview of what he was trying to do the journalist neglected to print any of the information Tim gave them about who designed the different parts. I’ll be honest, this annoyed me, it’s lazy journalism and I’m suprised the author, Lord Darzi, who has a medical and scientific vocation, did not list the relevant sources.

A bloody nice bloke

I’d never met Tim before but what came across strongly was that he’s very knowledgeable about everything Type 1 tech, whether it be at Dexcom G4 or G5, artificial pancreases, insulins, many types of bolusing as well as the tech stuff, like Bluetooth, RF and NFC to name but a few. He’s also a very nice chap, more than happy to answer any question to help the person asking, really Paying It Forward to make others’ lives easier. As Paying It Forward is my current voie de vie it’s clear Tim and I would get on well. Then add a love a travel and all round geekiness and it gets even better.

A brief history of time…it’s only three years long

Tim spent quite a while going through the history which led to HAPP, from John Costik, Lane Desborough, Jason Adams, Ben West and all the other Nightscout founders and developers, then onto to talk about Dana and Scott Leibrand being the first to ‘close the loop’ – that’s where the pump is controlled based on inputs from CGM data. He spent a good bit of time crediting those forerunners in enabling him to get where he is now.

Let’s talk about Loops baby

Let’s stop for a moment to talk about about loops.
An ‘open loop’ design takes CGM data and suggests actions, the pump is never touched, or even connected to the system.
A ‘closed loop’ will actually control the pump.
A ‘closed loop’ system is therefore probably what people would see as an actual artificial pancreas, it controls the pump to reduce or increase the level of insulin given. One type of a ‘closed loop’ system is that run by Dana/Scott and follows the OpenAPS method where it constantly puts on TBRs (temporary basal rates) and will potentially stop all basal insulin delivery for a moment of time, or increase the amount of insulin for a moment of time. This use of TBRs is for me an important thing as it’s a safety mechanism, given that it is constantly monitoring, calculating and adjusting. Just imagine what would happen if the system gave a 2 unit ‘correction’ and BGs started coming down rapidly, it couldn’t backtrack. That’s not the case with TBRs, much safer indeed.
I’ve seen the results of Dana’s system, it’s very, very impressive.
And it’s not just Dana: there’s 16 people who are running a ‘closed loop’ OpenAPS system. Amazing eh?
Going back to ‘open loops’, it’s just what we do already right, using Smart Meters or our brains? At the moment us parents and T1s make decisions many times a day about what action to take to amend a glucose level that’s heading out of range. But the problem is that emotion is brought into the loop (sorry – dreadful pun) and we end up over-correcting too often. And we have to think to take a look at the BG or CGM trend and do something. An ‘open loop’ sorts some of that out by using notifications and suggestions and of course you don’t need to accept the suggestion.

HAPPy days

So where is Tim now with HAPP? It’s at the ‘open loop’ stage, where it runs nicely on his mobile phone and sends notifications to his watch which he can choose to act on or not. Although I noticed I’m not sure that everyone realised that Tim had set a couple of TBR adjustments during his demo. At the end of the demo he showed us the results with his own Nightscout page and everyone could see the 0% TBRs he’d put on, which on HAPP had suggested and Tim felt comfortable with.

A HAPPy future

Once Tim has honed his current ‘open loop’ system he will be trying to move it to the ‘closed loop’ stage.
He’s determined, he’s knowledgeable, he’s very resourceful.
I’m sure he will get there and I wish him good luck.
Moreover, I really hope to get to meet him properly one day and have time to talk.

But what about us?

I’m very behind a homemade open loop system for Amy, I’ve got no problem with that, although I can’t imagine it’s anything we’ll look in the coming months. It could monitor Amy and give suggestions as to TBRs to put on and with her knowledge of what else is going on she could choose to action those suggestions or not.
Her choice.
So, no ‘closed loop’ desire for us them.
But if it were me…I’d already have a closed loop system or be working towards it. I’d leap into this technology because after all I’m a computer programmer so I could tailor it.
Amy can’t do that and I won’t mess with her health.

As far as all of us in that room are concerned…. #WeAreNotWaiting

Further information

The Guardian article about Tim’s HAPP
Tim Omer’s HAPP GitHub

Medical Technology Awareness Week Reception at the Houses of Parliament

Parliament from inside the gatesThrough INPUT Diabetes I got a chance to get to see the Palace of Westminster for the first time AND talk about diabetes tech to anyone prepared to listen. Two birds, one stone, what could have been better. Well actually I attended another great event afterwards too – blog coming soon – , so three birds, one stone, if that’s a thing.

The Medical Technology Group’s event yesterday was hosted by John Pugh MP and part of the group’s Medical Technology Awareness Week. The event sought to get people together discussing technology used to help people manage their conditions. Type 1 Diabetes is clearly a condition which has benefitted from the tech available, in fact it’s hard to imagine a life now without it. Of course I realise how lucky we are to have all this, in fact I realise how lucky we are to be able to get insulin without issue.

Matt and I travelled up together and arriving at Parliament all suited up I cursed ignoring his advice to borrow a coat as ‘it’s bound to rain’, as it did, just as we were waiting at security under a torrential sky; so I entered Britain’s seat of power drenched and dishevelled. Through security tighter than Paris last weekend and into the main Westminster Hall and meet our friend Alistair (Samuelson) and all took a sneak peak at the MPs discussing things in the House of Commons.

On the day before I left I tweeted to several MPs from my local area: Mim Davies MP as she’s my local MP; Caroline Noakes MP as she’s a neighbouring MP and I knew she had an interest in Diabetes; Suella Fernandes MP as she’s the MP for where I work. Suella was not in London that day but I was amazed to get responses from Caroline and Mim – am I allowed to refer to them by their first name, what’s the protocol here?
tweetdavies

tweetnoakes

The event was held in the marquee overlooking the River Thames, a marquee I’ve seen so many times from the other side. Collecting my badge I heard my name mentioned, an MP was here to see me. Crikey! Already?

I spent a good few minutes speaking with Caroline Noakes MP about Amy’s diabetes tech, talking about how Amy’s pump is life changing and she’d never give it back. Caroline has an interest in Diabetes, I’ve seen this often in media articles and events, and it made explaining things a lot easier. Unfortunately though Caroline had to go to speak in the Further Education debate happening in the House so our chat didn’t last long but I was very grateful for the chance to discuss the life-changing tech Amy uses.

Off to find the insulin pump table provided by Roche where Matt, Alistair and I chatted with Lesley (INPUT) and Philippa, whom I know from the #DOC (Diabetes Online Community). Philippa had been before and this time was one of the speakers; she admitted to being nervous and I knew exactly how she felt from when I did the Nightscout presentations a few weeks ago. I knew Philippa would speak well, she’s a very level-headed, knowledgeable patient advocate and hearing her speak I felt quite proud of what she was doing and saying. The audience was engaged, people didn’t leave the room, they didn’t shuffle about and whisper, they were held there listening attentively to her story, to effectively Amy’s story, to the story of many of my friends. I thought she could do with some praise from the #DOCPhilippa speaks at Parliament

mimdaviesMy MP, Mim Davies, returned for a chat and we spent a long time talking about the medical tech which is life changing for Amy, how we get some of it from the NHS and how we self fund CGM. I couldn’t help but show her Amy’s glucose readings on my Pebble watch and go into (probably too much) detail about how Nightscout is an unfunded parent driven group with 15000 worldwide families using Open Source software. Mim seemed quite impressed with the whole thing. We chatted in general about Type 2 Diabetes as through my research I knew Mim had recently met with Jamie Oliver about the sugar tax proposal and I mentioned that this would cost people with Type 1 Diabetes more as sugary drinks are also life saving medicine when hypo.

I loved this event and would encourage you to go to it or similar if you ever get the chance.

Vive le weekend, vive Nightscout, vive la France et très bien Amy

DSC_2651This weekend saw Jane and I go away for the first time without the kids, celebrating Jane’s 50th birthday with a surprise weekend to Paris. Amy, Emilia and I had been planning this for ages, they were both happy to be left alone, probably happier than I was feeling about it if I’m honest. At almost 18 and almost 15 Emilia and Amy were more than capable of looking after themselves, Type 1 issues aside.

Thursday 12th November

As we sped into France on the Eurostar on Thursday night, I waited for the Fajita-induced glucose spikes to hit my Pebble watch with the data sent by Nightscout. I would have preferred that the kids didn’t start with the most evil of glucose-spiking meals on our first night away, but this was their choice and Amy knew it would need managing.

Nightscout for a trip like this was a Godsend, although typically our house WiFi had started going wrong minutes before we left the house and Amy’s phone had run out of 3G data allowance. Somehow a low 3.2 notification got to my phone and nervously I thought I’d check-in with Amy and request she check her level.

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At 10:30pm, as Jane and I went out to a cabaret I bid Amy bonne nuit.

Friday

‘Bees?’ is my way of instantly making Amy laugh, it’s a Cards Against Humanity reference.
I meant to say ‘Miss’ not ‘Mid’

So I didn’t get to see the nice 22mmol she hit between 2am and 3am as the WiFi had stopped but Amy had managed herself really, really well.

Jane and I had a fabulous time on Friday, walking from our beautiful peniche for three nights on the Seine to Invalides and then to the surreal catacombs Jane wanted to visit – ugh! Then up Montparnasse at 5pm to watch the sun go down and the City of Light start to glow. On floor 59 we pulled up two seats and watched the Parisien lights appear before heading off to Bouillion Chartier for dinner.
At various times throughout the day I’d glanced at Amy’s glucose levels on my Pebble, she was doing a grand job.

Friday 13th, a night of terror in Paris

I checked my phone when we got back to the houseboat and saw this from my friend Carolyn
pleasecheckin
I checked in with Carolyn and got some twitter replies from other Twitter friends. We’d heard sirens, a lot of sirens, but had thought nothing of it.
Within seconds my thoughts turned to the kids and knowing Emilia was at work I messaged Amy.
message

Dozens of private messages had arrived via Twitter and Facebook, so I sent another message out:parispressrelease1

Saturday 14th

Amy’s glucose levels overnight had been good, Emilia’s (non-T1) on the other hand were probably another story: she’d been awake half the night worrying reading the newsfeeds.
As I fell asleep the night before we thought it was a single shooting or explosion, nothing like the devastation which actually took place. Only in the morning did we realise the extend of the night of terror Paris endured.

Logging in to Facebook it suggested that I might be in an area affected by the terrorism and asked two questions: was I there – yes; was I ok – yes. What a great idea this was, especially when I learned that Facebook friends had this information right at the top of their newsfeeds when they logged in.

Message upon message rolled in, phone call upon phone call. I put out numerous messages and set up a network of people all set to check in on the kids at various points throughout the day.
I guessed Amy and Emilia were still sleeping though; should I wake them, should I leave them sleeping? I waited a bit, I couldn’t wait long though to hear their voices.

A subdued Paris

With most of Paris shut down, hundreds of sirens going off and armed police roaming the streets I peered out of the houseboat’s windows and gazed upon an eerie silent Paris still moving. The absence of tourist boats made the river a quiet place but people were still jogging, cycling and living life on the Rive Gauche.
We spent the day walking around the silent Parisien streets using ghosttown Metros to get around. You couldn’t help but feel the sadness of the city.

Back to the kids

Even with everything going on, Amy and Emilia had dealt with everything brilliantly. We were of course remotely checking on Amy several times a day but with the odd nudge managed her glucose levels superbly over this trying period.
And the result?
Nightscout estimates over these 4 days she’d have an HbA1c of 6.0%.
Wow
4 days estimate

World Diabetes Day 2015 and Blogaversary 3

Eiffel arrivalIt hardly seems like a month ago since I wrote last year’s WDD2014 and Blogaversary 2 post but now I reflect it feels like a lifetime ago.

Three years on and I’m surprised I’m still blogging, I thought my enthusiasm for this fad would have died out by now and I suppose it has a little as I just don’t seem to write so much these days. In reality the problem is time and I’m not sure that’s going to improve any time soon.

World Diabetes Day for me is about reflecting on what we’ve achieved during the past twelve months whilst looking to the future about we’ll achieve, plus the advancements of medicine and tech which help everyone with Type 1 Diabetes.
(I’m posting this early as I’m away for the weekend.)

Motto for the last year

I can sum up the last 12 months in three easy words: Pay It Forward. I’d like to think this has always been my motto but never so much as it has been recently. It’s important to me, it keeps the world spinning in my eyes, it makes may days brighter and when in (thankfully rare) darker moods it’s the only thing which gets me through the day.
So here goes for a few moments of the previous year, but first how’s Amy been getting on?

Amy’s worst moment with Type 1 – Where’s Jacques?

Quite recently we visited Versailles so it’s apt to think this last year was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Unlike in Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities there’s been no revolution but we’ve certainly had two episodes which came too close to kissing the guilotine for my liking. August was marred by two moments when we just took our eye off the ball and by rights Amy should have gone to hospital to quickly get her out of her nose dive towards diabetoketoacidosis. I don’t feel that proud that I didn’t take her in but we wanted to spare her the trauma, but she was scared, we were all scared and yet the first occurrence really proved what a great team our little family unit is, all pulling together for the good of Amy.
That first near-DKA occurrence was a dark moment for me particularly, I’ve never felt so helpless but at the same time the education everyone in the #DOC has helped me attain meant I knew what was going on.
It turns out I can’t even read this tweet without welling up, it’s raw:
nearDKAtweet
Whilst I got lots of advice from the #DOC it was really only Andy Sherwood who kept me going through this as without WiFi or data I relied on SMS and I thankfully had Andy’s number to hand. Thank you Andy.
Anyway, enough of this dark rubbish, let’s move on.

Pay It Forward – with the Pharmacists and Peer Support

In December last year I got the opportunity to help the next generation of Pharmacists learn what living as a family with Type 1 diabetes meant. I thought it went well but maybe not, I’ve not been asked back.
I’ve continued my role as Peer Supporter for Diabetes UK in a slightly lesser manner than before but still get to help people via email. It’s a vital service but I just couldn’t commit any time to answering the phones anymore.

January: time to say #WeAreNotWaiting

On January 1st, in ‘new start’ mode I pulled the trigger and ordered up the components needed to build xDrip and get Nightscout up and running.
10 days later with it up and running I realeasd my first blog about it: #WeAreNotWaiting thanks to #xDrip – Introduction.
I can’t possibly explain it here so read the above article or any of the several #WeAreNotWaiting posts I’ve done.
The xDrip blog articles went wild, especially in the States and are still used by many to introduce xDrip and Nightscout to newbies. I’m quite proud of that.
My involvement with Nightscout and xDrip moved on a stage when I was asked to be part of a team presenting Nightscout to many families at a conference recently. See the posts here and here or watch the videos of the presentations.
My involvement with Nightscout is contuining at a pace and I hope January’s blog(s) may prove interesting and exciting.

March: the #GBDOC conference

The first ever ‘unconference’ organised by Paul and Midge of TeamBloodGlucose was simply brilliant.
The opportunity to meet with several of my online friends was excellent and meeting Veeny was a highlight for me but the effort Jules put in to be able to attend made her the star of the show for many of us.
Later that evening we would learn that toothpaste is an unsuitable hypo treatment. It’s a shock eh?

April: Amy nails a week in Germany

Amy spent a week in April on a student exchange trip to Germany. Not only did she nail her glucose levels sufficiently to have a great time away – some feat considering the family lived so close to the Haribo outlet shop – but she spoken German all the time, one of the few to do so, and nailed an A in her GCSE which she took two years early.

May: Conferences, Public Speaking and Interviews

May was a big month. First, Amy and I spoke a little at the National Paediatric Team Meeting in Birmingham. A super scary time speaking in front of 200 health care professionals.
Then I had the most wonderful time with Chris, interviewing Dr Stephen Ponder about Sugar Surfing on behalf of Diabetes UK. Dr P is undoubtedly one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

June and August: cycle, cycle, cycle

In June I undertook the biggest cycle ride of my life, cycling from London to Paris in a self-organised and unsupported trip with friends, raising £600 for INPUTDiabetes. The full self-organised London to Paris trip blog is available here if you fancy doing this yourself.
In August I rode the longest ride of my life, 100 miles, supporting JDRF and raising £430 in the Prudential Ride London Surrey 100.

And finally, some statistics

My blog has never been about statistics however it’s really nice to see them improve. Well I say improve, they’ve rocketed since blogging about Nightscout and xDrip.
In the first year the blog had about 11,000 hits.
In the second a huge increase to 27,000 that year, over 38,000 in total.
In the third, because of xDrip, it’s massively increased to 52,000 hits, and a grand total of over 90,000 hits.
The key thing about these numbers is that people are finding the information that matters, and that’s all that matters.

#PayItForward

Presenting Nightscout at CWD FFL 2015 – the videos

This article contains the three presentation videos recorded at Children with Diabetes Friends for Life 2015 at Windsor on November 1st 2015. They are available on the Nightscout UK YouTube channel individually, or as a playlist.

Introduction

Here’s an uplifting video previewing the Nightscout conferences taking part in the Fall Autumn of 2015.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kA5SIF1WKE
(Watch on YouTube)

Part One

A moving introduction to Nightscout from Wes and then the ‘What Nightscout Means To Me’ presentations from Kate and Jesus.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1PxWPKmeCA
(Watch on YouTube)

Part Two

Myself, Tim and Stuart give ‘What Nightscout Means To Me’ presentations. Kate introduces Nightscout web pages, apps and CarePortal, Stuart introduces the advanced options, I introduce the reporting options, then take the mick out of Wes’s Apple Watch a little before reminding everyone that Nightscout is DIY, no-one will do it for you.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-0Ymz6SC6E
(Watch on YouTube)

Nightscout Workshop at CWD FFL 2015

You might like to read the article about the morning’s presentation of Nightscout to families at the CWD FFL 2015 conference if you’ve not already done so.

Afternoon Presentation/Workshop

Nightscout UK teamIt seems the afternoon session was the only one actually listed in the FFL programme so we had more people, about 30, attending.
Like the morning session they were really attentive, most of them knew Nightscout already, they wanted it, they needed it and they thankfully had a lot of questions.

 
First we gave the obligatory warning that Nightscout isn’t an approved thing, it can’t be bought, it’s not something anyone would build for you, you should never make a medical decision based on information shown etc. etc..

After debunking the myth that this was a solution only available to nerdy geeks we showed the routes into Nightscout from a ‘How Do You Get Your CGM In The Cloud‘ article, quickly dismissing some of the USA-centric options like Share and focussing on using a Dexcom receiver, xDrip device or using the uploader for Medtronic CGM (not 640g).
Kate showed the original ‘rig’ where a phone is directly connected to a Dexcom receiver as this is what her family first used, but now they use xDrip.

xdrip circuit
xdrip1xdrip2

I presented the xDrip wiring diagram and hopefully quickly busted the myth that it’s hard to build. For me this was the easiest bit to present as I knew most of the audience just got it, for some the penny dropped during the presentation, for some it just reaffirmed what they already knew and thought.
People were keen to see some model xDrips so I passed my two spares to members of the audience, whilst Tim demonstrated the tiny one in a TicTac box which he wears on a band around his bicep which he prefers to do so he doesn’t forget it.
Jesus talked about the components required to build MMCommander to get CGM data from Enlites (for Medtronic 530 and Veo pumps) into Nightscout, which received a lot of interest from the audience.
In the last slide Kate spoke about the different cloud services which were required for a standard Nightscout installation: Azure, for the web site; MongoLab, where the data is held; GitHub, where the code is for everything.

Workshop session

Nightscout afternoon sessionsAt the start of the workshop session we split into two tables, one for Medtronic with Jesus, one for Dexcom/xDrip with Kate, Tim and myself. Stuart meanwhile helped one of the audience members sort out issues with her set up, she left with it working properly.
I spent most of my time showing the two of the different xDrips I’d built, fielding questions about the components or how to build them or issues I faced.

It’s hard to imagine how the session could have gone any better: people seemed to get the answers they needed; people seemed engaged; many said they would order the components that night and set up Nightscout as soon as possible.
From my point of view we had achieved our goal, that one family walked away from the presentation/workshop having discovered something they could set up to help them. But in this case it wasn’t one, it was probably 20 or 30.

Presenting Nightscout to Families at CWD FFL UK 2015

Nighscout FFL, Kev, what nightscout means

Building a team for Old Blighty

Back in September Wes from the USA based Nightscout Foundation gave me the honour (yep Wes, there’s a ‘u’ in honour 🙂 ) of asking me to join a faculty team they were having at the Children With Diabetes Friends For Life UK conference which took place last weekend. Wes was gathering a team of Nightscout and xDrip users together with the aim of showing families what Nightscout does for us.

Nightscout UK team
Left to right: Stuart, Jesus, Wes, Kate, Kev, Tim

And so the team was formed with me, Wes, along with Stuart and Kate whose kids have Type1, and Tim and Jesus who both have Type 1 themselves. Jesus is somewhat of a God (bet that joke hasn’t been said before eh Jesus?) in the community and flew over from Spain for the weekend.

Then Wes dropped the bombshell, he wanted us to present Nightscout, not just give 1-1 advice and info at a stand. Present! What? Me? “Erm, okay” I said very tentatively. Being on holiday for the Saturday I could sadly only attend the Sunday but the planets aligned as that was the day the presentations were (“Oh great!”).

Panicking about presentation slides

At 5am the alarm sounded.
I present often at work and am somewhat reknowned for having whizzy slides full of colour, animation and more importantly eye-distracting graphics which take the focus off of me, but I had a problem as I would have no time to prepare anything as I was on holiday. So at 5am on the Sunday I woke in panic and managed to cobble stuff together and from there on in I felt relaxed, I had a plan, I had slides, I was ready.

A team as one

Nightscout team, anonymousNone of us had met before but after arriving at Windsor and meeting everyone I felt like this was a team which had been together many times, we were so relaxed together, sharing jokes, poking fun, and just understanding everything each other was talking about.
Our first task was to decide who was doing which bits and I found myself volunteering for a lot more than I thought I would. Perhaps I wasn’t so nervous after all.
Wes posted a photo: we were no longer anonymous.

Morning presentation – What Nightscout means to us

The morning session wasn’t advertised in the programme, just on flyers at our stand so we had less than 20 people there, but that was great for my first foray into public speaking. I’ve always felt that if anything I say or write opens the eyes of just one family then I’ve done my job because I know that family will open the eyes of another.
Due to enthusiastically overrunning our slide timing the session really turned into a What Nightscout Means To Us presentation.

Nightscout, Wes opening speechWes opened the presentation with a heartfelt introduction to Nightscout and what it mean for him, it was very moving, speaking about how his son’s T1 diagnosis at 12 months affected the family.
Kate spoke about how Nightscout “makes the diference” and spoke of how the “glanceability” of her glucose readings on a watch reflects what her driving instructor told her “nothing should ever come as a surprise in your rear view mirror”, she’s aware of what’s happening before it escalates into a difficult to deal with hypo or hyper.
Jesus’s story to me is amazing. He’s a parent but he is the T1 and he developed software for himself to monitor glucose readings. One day he heard John Costik’s Nightscout story and within an hour sent him an email to let him know that Jesus could get readings from Medtronic Veo CGM and could amend it to work with Nightscout. I can’t begin to tell you how moved I was by Jesus’s story of selflessness.
Tim’s story was another good one, speaking how great the community is and how Nightscout has pushed the boundaries and helped Dexcom release Share ahead of its original plan. Having Type 1 for 32 years he had a Dexcom receiver but built an xDrip and is pleased to realise the much better calculation engine than that available in UK Dexcom products, with the added bonus of extended life sensors. (USA has the ‘505’ software and Share but this has not been released in the UK.)
Stuart spoke about how Nightscout lets him know “at a glance whether to react or relax”, which along with Kate’s “glanceability” sum up Nightscout very well for me. With his daughter being 13 she is starting to manage her own diabetes and diabetes allows Stuart and his wife to pull away more and only intervene when required, meaning his daughter finds it less intrusive.

My presentation: BG’s are not as important as Snapchat or 5 Seconds of Summer

Nighscout FFL, Kev talking about watchesWhen my turn to speak arose I felt calm, I just wanted to get my story out there, I was somewhat surprised I wasn’t a bag of nerves.
I spoke about how to a teenager almost nothing was more than important the weekend lie-ins and that Nightscout means I’m not worried about whether she’s too low or too high when her bedroom door is closed till noon.
“BG’s are not as important as Snapchat and 5 Seconds of Summer” was my next line. Amy wants to be a teenager and do teenagery stuff like listening to her music and chatting online with friends, probably about the music they’re listening too…and boys…and boys who are in bands…like 5SOS. I mentioned that whilst cooking I can glance at my watch and decide whether I need to intrude on Amy to ask for an early BG check so we can pre-bolus, or adjust to get her at the lower end of her range before eating. Like Stuart’s daughter this is less intrusive for Amy than before Nightscout.
I explained how I use Nightscout to “nudge” Amy. With my range set from 3.5-14mmol and Amy’s set from 4-9mmol (her choice) I know that she would have had an alarm if over 9 but if she reaches 13 for example it’s probably because she’s not noticed an alarm, so I give her a gentle nudge to do a check or make an adjustment.
My key message though was how Amy’s HbA1c’s had changed through her time with Type 1:
hba1c history

Nightscout and how it works

Nighscout FFL, Kev, nightscout reportingKate went into the basics of Nightscout, the website, the browsers and phones and what appears on the screens and gave an overview of CarePortal. CarePortal is where kids and school carers/nurses can enter information about carbs, insulin and many other things into Nightscout which can then immediately be seen by the parent/carer, which in turn means that worries about Hypers may be negated if the parent can see insulin has been given, meaning in turn no panicky phone calls to school.
Stuart expanded on this talking about the ‘pills’ which appear on the screen and show you values such as Insulin On Board, Carbs On Board, and the Bolus Wizard Preview, which based on settings you’ve entered gives you an idea what sort of action might be required to get the child back in range. Stuart stressed that this is only for an idea of what to do and shouldn’t be used without deciding on whether that action is appropriate or not.
Nighscout FFL, Kev talking about watchesI presented about the reports Nightscout gives, comparing them favourably to Diasend which I rarely use now. One report gives you an estimation of A1c and ours said 6.8% prior to the last clinic when Amy got her 6.7% result.
Just for fun us Pebble watch users decided to do a speed test with Wes and his Apple Watch, to see how quick we could all glance out our kids’ glucose level. It took Wes a fair bit or time.

Finally

Finally, it was lunch time, and as the engaged audience left the room I knew the team had done a good job and we eagerly awaited the afternoon session which would include presenting solutions and a workshop where we could solder some bits or help get people going with their Nightscout solutions.

xDrip Test Results (vs Dexcom’s 505 algorithm)

NOTE: xDrip used to be called DexDrip so you might find some references to the old name in this article.

 

xDrip comparison - overviewA graph from a Nightscout website showing
results from Dexcom and xDrip data

Many people have asked questions about the accuracy of xDrip’s algorithm in comparison to the latest Dexcom G4 algorithm, codenamed 505.
To answer this question for himself Andrew Abramowicz decided to get xDrip and an original Nightscout rig to upload data to the same database at the same time, with both sets of data coming from the same Dexcom G4 sensor/transmitter. This then is a true test of how things worked for Andrew and his family. Thanks Andrew for allowing me to use this these images on this page.

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST

a) before using xDrip for prime time use, run these tests for yourself.
b) if you don’t calibrate properly your results may vary, correct calibration is the key.
c) while these results mimic that of the 505, it is still an “experimental algorithm” and should be used with great caution.
d) as (c)…but to add…’especially in children’.
e) before using xDrip decide for yourself if it is good enough for you based on your own tests
f) we are not “endorsing” it for use by others, just publishing our findings.

NOTE:You can click on most of the images to view the full image in your browser.

A little background bit on the data, which you can probably skip
Andrew’s son wears a Dexcom G4 CGM sensor and transmitter and for a while has used a Nightscout uploader rig to send CGM data to the cloud to be viewed on a Nightscout web site.
Andrew recently built a xDrip device, which can also upload its data to the cloud to be viewed on a Nightscout web site.
The Dexcom G4 receiver (which is part of the uploader rig) and the xDrip both read the same data from the same Dexcom transmitter and sensor.
Both are loading their data up to the same cloud database which is then linked to the same Nightscout web site.
Data from both is overlayed together, allowing for an easy visual comparison and ultimately to see any discrepancies.
What’s all those strange low numbers?
If you’re used to seeing much higher numbers – perhaps you live in the USA? – then don’t panic, the glucose values show are in mmol/l because Andrew is in Canada. To work out a mg/dl value from a mmol/l value just (!) multiply any numbers by 18, so 5mmol/l is 90mg/dl, 10 = 180 etc.
An explanation of a Nightscout website graph

The image below is of Andrew’s Nightscout website. For those who have never seen one before here’s an explanation of what is shown.
Top left is the time ’10:50′ and showings that the last CGM data received happened 1 minute ago.
Top right is the last CGM reading of 7.2mmol/l (129.6mg/dl) and this has stayed the same from the previous reading.
On the right is the range axis, showing 22mmol/l at the top and 2 at the bottom.
The dots show show the glucose readings, with green dots being actual readings and blue dots being projected readings.
The rightmost green dot is the last reading of 7.2mmol/l from one minute ago.
The rightmost green dot is actually two dots, one for Dexcom, one for xDrip but they are both the same value.
The first reading shown on the left shows that there was a difference between Dexcom and xDrip of approximately 0.4mmol/l (7mg/dl).
The two red dots on the left are where a calibration has taken place, one for Dexcom, one for xDrip.
xDrip comparison - spot on
More explanations
Here’s a visual explanation

xDrip comparison - chart 1
Comparison overview
Here’s an image showing how close xDrip and Dexcom are for the majority of the time.

xDrip comparison - overview
An overnight test
The next image is of an overnight test showing a hypo in the middle. During the hypo the variance was the largest Andrew has ever seen, before the correction with glucose it looks to me to be about 0.4 mmol/l out, straight after the correction either Dexcom or xDrip appears to have gone wildly out for one reading.
However, no-one I know would rely on CGM data anytime near a hypo situation and never should any treatment been done with first taking a finger prick blood glucose test.

xDrip comparison - hypo - big difference (0.5 mmol!)
At the end of an overnight test
Although there hasn’t been a calibration for 10 hours values are almost exactly the same, maximum out is 0.4mmol/l (7 mg/dl).

xDrip comparison - overnight without calibration
A 48 hour trace
The CGM trace below shows a trace over 48 hours – you can scroll left/right.
At times you can see there’s a difference, potentially 1 mmol/l out at maximum point.
Upper line is at 8mmol/l (144mg/dl), lower line is at 4mmol/l (72mg/dl). Red dot indicates a calibration.
Click here if you want to view the full image

xDrip comparison - 48 hours
Distance test
Here’s a test placing the xDrip at different distances away from the transmitter, showing that at 25 feet it ability to receive data is impaired, yet at 10 feet it is perfect.

xDrip comparison - distance
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PLEASE READ THIS ADVISORY

a) Never make a medical decision based on a reading from any CGM device, whether certified (eg Dexcom) or not (eg xDrip). Always perform a fingerstick blood glucose check first.
b) xDrip is a DIY product, decide for yourself if you wish to use it. Build it, test it, test it again and use (if you want to) in conjunction with a certified receiver.
c) The fact that it is working for us does not mean it’s right for you.
d) Never build a xDrip for anyone else and never sell one.
e) The blogs are provided for information only. We are not endorsing it for use by others, nor promoting it, just merely publishing our information as well as answering questions from previous blog articles.

A Dummy’s Guide to Building an #xDrip – #WeAreNotWaiting

NOTE: xDrip used to be called DexDrip so you might find some references to the old name in this article.

 

If you don’t know what a xDrip device is take a look at this page.

AdaFruit charger magnifiedI was tickled by someone on Reddit who linked to yesterday’s blog about the components required for a xDrip which was entitled “An “Amateur” builds a module for DexDrip”. So here it is, this amateur’s guide to building an xDrip/DexDrip. (The article actually referred to DexDrip as that what xDrip was called at the time.)

Interested in further posts about this subject? Why not like this blog’s Facebook page and get notified of updates, or click ‘Follow’ using the button at the bottom-right of this page.

PLEASE READ THIS ADVISORY

a) Never make a medical decision based on a reading from any CGM device, whether certified (eg Dexcom) or not (eg xDrip). Always perform a fingerstick blood glucose check first.
b) xDrip is a DIY product, decide for yourself if you wish to use it. Build it, test it, test it again and use (if you want to) in conjunction with a certified receiver.
c) The fact that it is working for us does not mean it’s right for you.
d) Never build a xDrip for anyone else and never sell one.
e) The blogs are provided for information only. We are not endorsing it for use by others, nor promoting it, just merely publishing our information as well as answering questions from previous blog articles.

A baptism of fire heat
Although I received lots of offers of help to solder the components together the guys at work told me I’d have no trouble doing it myself, so I decided to try.
First I ordered the soldering kit (iron, solder, stand, helping hands, solder sucker) from eBay and a practice board to train myself with. The ‘helping hands‘ turned out to be worth their weight in gold.
I soldered my first pin, inspected it and then soldered three more, choosing to solder them right next to each other as it seems that a common problem for amateurs is putting too much solder on. With four pins soldered I tested everything for continuity issues, to make sure no excess solder had spilled on to the adjacent contacts and shorted anything out.

practice board face uppractice board face down
So far, so good.
AdaFruit LiPo charger and batteryAttach LiPo-charger connector to battery
My AdaFruit LiPo-charger came with a connector, my battery came with a connector; they weren’t the same.
First job then was to cut the wires from each and solder the battery wires to the LiPo-charger connector.
NOTE: some people remove the connector terminal on the LiPo-charger and solder directly onto the charger board, I didn’t fancy this as I like to be able to disconnect batteries and swap them easily.
DO NOT connect battery to LiPo-charger.
AdaFruit charger magnifiedSolder wires to AdaFruit charger
The AdaFruit Li-Po battery charger then needed a power (red) and ground (black) wiring up.
For my first try I soldered a four-piece-header-pin to the board and used jumper wires to connect to it, but within a week I removed the header pins & soldered the wires directly onto the PCB.
1. Red wire, solder on to 3.3v (marked as BAT on mine), first on the left as we look at that board. Make sure you don’t solder on to the 5v connector.
2. Black wire, solder on to one of the GND connectors, for ease I chose the 3rd from the left.
WIXEL bluetooth wiresConnect wires for bluetooth module to WIXELWIXEL face down
Prepare four wires (red, black, green, blue) with one female header pin at one end and bare wire for soldering at the other.
1. Black, solder to GND
2. Red, solder to 3V3
3. Blue, solder to P1_6
4. Green, solder to P1_7

Other possible options: The header pin option is the simplest way to connect from WIXEL to HM-10.
The hardest (but not too bad) option is to desolder the HM-10’s header pins, then solder wires with two bare ends onto the WIXEL and to the HM-10.
The middle option is to solder wires with two bare ends, one end onto the WIXEL and one bare end onto the relevant header pin on the HM-10. Whilst this might seem easy I think it’s simpler to desolder the HM-10s header pins as above.

WIXEL and BLEConnecting the HM-10 Bluetooth moduleBLE face down
What you do next depends on what you chose to do on the ‘Connect wires for bluetooth module to WIXEL’ step:
If you soldered wires with female header connector at one end when you did the step above then all you need to do next is to slide the correct colour wire’s connector onto the correct HM-10 pin as per the diagram here.
If you soldered wires with two bare ends and left the header pins on the HM-10 then you need to solder the bare wire ends to the correct HM-10 header pin as per the diagram here. This is tricky to do (for me) but not impossible as I found when I made a second xDrip. I choose to wrap electrical tape around each soldered pin/wire afterwards.
If you soldered wires with two bare ends and removed the HM-10 header pins then just solder the bare ends onto the HM-10 as per the diagram here.
WIXEL power wiresSolder LiPo-charger wires to WIXELWIXEL face down
With the LiPo-charger disconnected from the battery (and micro-USB power) you now need to solder its wires to the WIXEL.
Red, solder to VIN
Black, solder to GND
 
The finished product
Hopefully by the end of it you’ll have something that looks like this:
20150109_205710
Note: the picture shows header pin connections for the AdaFruit Li-Po charger but I’ve now soldered the wires directly to the board, it now has a much smaller footprint.
 
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#WeAreNotWaiting thanks to #xDrip – Components Required

NOTE: xDrip used to be called DexDrip so you might find some references to the old name in this article.

 

If you don’t know what a xDrip device is take a look at this page.

partially made up xDripSince the release of my first comment about xDrip on Sunday morning my Facebook and Twitter notifications have gone crazy: ‘like’s everywhere, comments everywhere, questions everywhere. At stages I’ve been overwhelmed with my phone buzzing with notifications ten to the dozen and me not getting the time to answer the questions. This just goes to prove the level of interest in a set up like this.

By far the biggest questions I have been asked are:
    1. can I really build this myself as I’ve never soldered before?
    2. what components do I need?
    3. where can I buy these components?

The answer to 1 is easy: Yes, you probably can, I had never soldered anything electrical before starting this project, in fact I had to buy a soldering iron/kit just for this.

The rest of this blog should answer questions 2 and 3.

Interested in further posts about this subject? Why not like this blog’s Facebook page and get notified of updates, or click ‘Follow’ using the button at the bottom-right of this page.

PLEASE READ THIS ADVISORY

a) Never make a medical decision based on a reading from any CGM device, whether certified (eg Dexcom) or not (eg xDrip). Always perform a fingerstick blood glucose check first.
b) xDrip is a DIY product, decide for yourself if you wish to use it. Build it, test it, test it again and use (if you want to) in conjunction with a certified receiver.
c) The fact that it is working for us does not mean it’s right for you.
d) Never build a xDrip for anyone else and never sell one.
e) The blogs are provided for information only. We are not endorsing it for use by others, nor promoting it, just merely publishing our information as well as answering questions from previous blog articles.

Components you’ll need to buy, borrow or steal
(Okay, don’t steal, that’s not good.)
Thank you to Johan Lorant from the USA for information about the components he bought.

HM10 v CC41UPDATE WARNING
It seems there’s two types of chip being passed of as HM10, the second actually being a CC41 and it appears these will not work, although some do.
Be careful which one you get, check with the supplier before you order one but bear in mind that that supplier will only know what their supplier told them. Best thing is to get a proper photo of them beforehand and make sure it’s a HM10 as per the picture on the right.
BLE face upBluetooth Low Energy 4.0 BLE Tranceiver HM-10 Module
From eBay seller AudioSpectrumAnalyzers I’ve got a working HM10 (see warning above), in fact he even has ‘xdrip’ in the items listing title. Cost: under £12.
The first one I bought was off eBay for £15.29 from Aura Communications.
WIXEL face downThe heart of the xDrip device is the WIXEL chip.
I got mine – along with lots of stuff – from Hobby Electronics.
Cost: £13.80
In the USA, one place to get it from is from Jaycon Systems:
JS-3237 Wixel Programmable USB Wireless Module

AdaFruit LiPo charger and batteryAdaFruit LiPo (Lithium-ion Polymer battery and MicroUSB charger.
I got the charger from eBay for £7.70 each, I bought two. An alternative is Pimoroni at £7.
I got the battery from eBay too, 1200mAh ones, although note that Stephen (the designer of xDrip) only uses a 500mAh battery.
In the USA one place to get from is Jaycon Systems
JS-1965 Micro-USB Lipo Charger (MCP73831)
JS-3418 3.7 Volt Rechargeable Lithium Battery (850 mAh)
jumper-wires-ff-6in-500x500You’ll need some wires to link it all together. I bought these and cut them in half as I’m going to build another xDrip.
Cost: £2
In the USA one place to get these from is Jaycon Systems
JS-3958 Flat Ribbon Cable – 16 Wire (15 Ft) 1
SolderingkitHaving never soldered before I was in need of a few things, all of which I found in this kit. Note that everything works well apart from the solder, buy some good stuff elsewhere.
The ‘magic hands’ and magnifying glass were a Godsend, I couldn’t have done without them.
digital-multimeter-basic-500x500I wouldn’t be without my multimeter when dealing with electrical stuff but you don’t actually need one. I used one for the first xDrip I built but not for the 2nd or 3rd which I use as spares in demos.
Cost: £10 or so, from any DIY or electronic hobbyist store, such as HobbyTronics.
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