Obviously any diagnosis attracts an army of well-meaning but ill-informed armchair/barstool medics eager to share the latest nugget they read in the Health & Lifestyle pullout of the weekend newspaper. The advice is sometimes patronising, often misleading and seldom, if ever welcome. Every once in a while however the well of unsolicited counsel throws out a worthwhile splash. Such was the case when the brother told me about Insulcheck.
As an opener the words "I was listening to a fella on the radio talking about diabetes" is usually more than enough to send me scurrying for the off switch, but force of habit compels me to listen up when it's the older and wiser brother on the other end of the phone. So he tells me about an Irish guy who has designed some gadget to help us remember we've taken our insulin. Apparently this chap collapsed after having double-dosed and this was he catalyst for us quest to find something that would prevent this from happening again. Failure to find such a gadget led him to put on his inventors hat and come up with something himself. Abracadabra Insulcheck!
The gentleman in question is John Hughes who, together with his friend and work colleague, William Cirillo set up the company Insulcheck in 2009. Hughes, a Type 1 pwd, was inspired to come up with a solution to the problem of double-dosing after having experienced one too many close shaves. Along with William, an engineer at Baydon Solutions he came up with an answer to the problem. Venture capital and support from state agencies has enabled the company to consolidate on its initial success and the company is now taking the device to an international platform.
So how does it work? Well it's a basically a digital timer that fits on your insulin pen and logs the time lapsed between doses. As soon as a dose is administered the timer reverts to 00.00 and begins counting the hours and minutes again. What's handy about the device is that it only reverts to zero and begins timing after the dose has been administered; particularly handy for those occasions when you set your dose but momentarily leave it down and forget to administer. Of course Insulcheck won't actually prevent you from forgetting to dose but it takes away the uncertainty; that niggling 'did I or didn't I?' feeling. A quick glance will tell if indeed you have or haven't and exactly when.
The device is compatible with a range of pens and comes with a battery life of about 12-18 months after the battery can be popped out and replaced.
The only criticism I have after having used Insulcheck for two months now is that for some reason it is unable to log doses of three units or less. I expect that this will be ironed out in time.
As a postscript I'd just like to mention Insulcheck's excellent customer service. I recently encountered a problem with one of my devices, e-mailed Insulcheck to report the fault and was pleasantly surprised to receive an e-mail the following morning informing me that a new replacement pen had been dispached. This duly arrived in the next day's post. Very impressive, I think you'll agree!
