The April diabetic is the first person that I knew before he was diagnosed with diabetes.  Before Charlie Carey all of the members in my diabetes family had the disease before I met them.  I have known Charlie for a couple of years, Leanne and I are close with his parents and will often crash family dinners that they have

Less than a year ago Charlie was diagnosed with diabetes.  To be perfectly honest his diagnosis was very tough for me.  I remember being a teenager and all of the worries that come with it.  When you throw diabetes on a teenager you expect the worse.  Charlie is a great kid and has been showing diabetes who is the boss since day 1.  Charlie has made the transistion so smoothly, I remember going to dinner with Charlie, his cousin, and a fellow type 1 named John.  I remember seeing the fear in Charlies eyes as John and I tested right at the table, we then took our insulin from our pumps.  John and I spoke openly about our diabetes and encouraged Charlie to ask questions.  I don't know how much that dinner helped Charlie but he has done amazing things. 

Charlie recently began using an insulin pump and again has made the transition smoothly.  I often worry about Charlie, I'm worried that he won't always like having diabetes but then I get texts from him that read "I just got my A1C and I'm getting closer to you!!!  I can't wait to get a lower A1C than you Noonan!!"  The kid is talking trash!!  I LOVE IT!!!  I love that Charlie is setting goals for himself, that shows me he is gonna be just fine.  I'm a big believer in goals and I'm a big believer in Charlie!!  He is a great kid doing great things with diabetes!!!

One of my favorite quotes is "If you want to make the man upstairs laugh, tell him your plan for life.  I can't thank Lou Holtz enough for this quote.  Often times when you have a plan, it never goes as you had planned.  Almost everything will go wrong and at the end of the day you will be upset.  On Saturday night I made the mistake of planning my race on Sunday, I would have a blood sugar of 130, I would start in the middle of the pack to be able to pass people and boost my confidence, and I would set a personal best time in a 5K.

The race would start at 10am, a very difficult time for me blood sugar wise.  I would do my best leading up to the start of the race but I was unable to get my blood sugar below 190.  That is actually perfect, I could run and not have to worry about a low, but of course I wanted to be perfect and was a little upset that I wasn't.  I was also upset that I had forgotten my headphones, I would be unable to listen to my favorite running song!!  (Song is below for your listening pleasure)  The 5K had almost 1,000 runners, starting in the middle caused me to be a minute from the official starting line!!  I had to weave between people for a good half mile until I got in to a group that I belonged with.  In that half mile of trying to get with my group I was hit with numerous elbows, and someone stepped on my right foot and had untied my shoe.  With just under three miles left my shoe was untied and I was very mad!!  I said screw it!!  I came to run and to do well, if my shoe starts to fall off then I will stop and tie it.

The only thing that went according to plan was my time, I came in at 22:02 and felt very strong.  I was able to sprint the final 200 meters and was pleased with my result.  My blood sugar post race was at 201, again not perfect but it was safe.  I would take three units of insulin to cover the post race Gatorade and Power Bar.  All things considered I was happy with my results.  I'm not happy with myself however, I hate that I'm so competitive.  I want to compete and I want to get better.  A part of me wishes that I could compete with my brain shut off, I like to run but when I race I don't enjoy it.  It is very tough to explain but I can't get the competitiveness out of my system, at the end of the day that competitiveness makes me the person that I am.

As I have gotten older and a little bit more mature, I have started to realize that I can't do some of things that I used to be able to do at work.  Physically yes I can do anything that is asked of me but what will the toll be on my blood sugar.  For the most part I believe that I do a great job of staying above 80 for the work day.  When I do drop below 80 I know what to eat and how to handle the situation so that I can continue to do my job. 

The past two days have been hell when it comes diabetes and work.  Putting in the irrigation around a new practice green is the reason for the situation that I'm in.  The weird thing is that I do a lot more physical work while at work, for some reason working in a trench and hooking up sprinkler heads doesn't mix well with my blood sugars.  For the past two days I have suspended my pump and had more Gatorade than I would like to admit.  Yesterday was so bad that my pump was suspended from 11am until 3pm, at 12pm I took .6 units to cover a fifty carbohydrate lunch.  At 2pm my blood sugar was at 55.  At that moment I knew that I couldn't continue to do what I had been doing.  I grabbed a soda and called it a day.  When I got home I headed to my thinking spot, the shower and thought about how I would tell my boss that I couldn't do the job I was assigned. 

This morning I headed in to the office and when your boss was a groomsmen in your wedding he knows when something is wrong.  I just cracked a smile and told him that I would need a lesser role in the project and that what I was doing was causing a lot of problems diabetes wise.  I then explained how my blood sugar was never over 110 yesterday and that I only took twenty units of insulin all day long, my average is 35.  He said that he totally understood and that he is happy I said something.  As I have said many times before I'm very lucky to have the boss and job that I do.

The toughest part however has been accepting what I did was right.  I don't like to but myself in dangerous situations especially diabetes wise.  Today was the first time in a very long time that I said I could not do something.  I have Wally Pipp disease (not a real disease) I don't want to show any weakness in anything I do, I don't want to be replaced.  I blame myself for not being prepared for the work that I was presented with.  I will head back to the drawing board, I don't want this to happen ever again.

All morning I kept seeing the picture to the left all over Facebook.  I wondered what the technology was all day long but did not read the article until this evening.  Engadget has the article here.

After reading the article I can't explain how happy I am to see this technology.  Yes it may be another five years until we use it but I'm excited.  I'm not the best role model, I have driven my car to many times when my blood sugar is below 80, I know it is wrong and that I shouldn't do it but we all know that texting and driving is dangerous as well yet a majority of us still text and or look at our smart phones while driving.  That does not make it right for me to drive with a low blood sugar or while my blood sugar is dropping.

I never had to test my blood sugar before getting behind the wheel of a car, I don't know why but I never was told to do so.  With that said I'm a huge believer in the technology that Medtronic is developing.  If I get in my car and the car knows my blood sugar is at 60 I don't want my car to start.  I would love for my car to sound an alarm when my blood sugar is below 90 while I'm driving, a high pitched alarm will definitely make me stop to get juice or to pull over to have a snack to get my blood sugar back to a respectable number. 

This technology is amazing and I can't wait to see it in my car.  Until then I will do my best to test my blood sugar before getting behind the wheel.  I encourage everyone elese to do the same, it won't be easy but think about what could happen with a low bloo

A couple of weeks ago Leanne made the mistake of suggesting that I should run a marathon.  "Why don't you run the Boston Marathon, you could run for the JDRF"  That sentence put my mind to work and I'm happy to announce that I plan to run in the 2014 Boston Marathon.

This evening I had a meeting with my "coach" and the training schedule was put together.  I may be in decent shape but I don't know how to train for a marathon.  I also don't know how to train for a cycling race, I just go out and run or ride and build up the miles until I'm ready physically and mentally.  I now have a plan in place to be at my best for the Marathon just under a year from now.

Why the Boston Marathon?  I have been a New England boy my whole life, the Boston Marathon is something that I have always been excited for.  It has become a recent dream of mine to complete a marathon, why not run the marathon that I have followed my entire life.  A lot more goes in to however, Leanne's family has gone to the marathon before Leanne was born.  They always go to the Red Sox game and then head towards the finish of the marathon.  Last November Leanne's aunt who was the biggest marathon fan passed away, earlier that fall she gave me an iPod to listen to while I run.  Now I use that iPod whenever I run and I know that she will be with me when I run the Boston Marathon in 2014.

Why run for Team JDRF?  I will never be able to offically qualify to run in the Boston Marathon.  By running for Team JDRF I will be able to fund raise for the JDRF and in return I get the chance of a life time.  Also I have done a number of events with and for the JDRF and I can't say enough about how great the JDRF is.  I have met amazing people thanks to the JDRF and running with a Team JDRF shirt on will be my way of helping everyone that is affected by diabetes.

Running in the Boston Marathon will be a tremendous challenege.  I don't know what the year ahead will bring but I do know that I will work my butt off to run the marathon.  I also have my eyes on running the New York City Marathon in the fall of 2014 (more on that at a later date) I need a challenge in the athlete part of my life.  I believe that this will be on of, if not the toughest challenge of my life as an athlete. 

After a couple days of roller coaster blood sugars I felt that I was slipping in to my summer routine.  This routine is a wild ride that is not very fun, it often involves low blood sugars that cause me to over react and eat to much.  Then my blood sugar will rise quickly and I will over react to the number and take insulin.  It is a lot like this toy many of us had as kids, it keeps going up and down.

Today I made it a point to stop messing with the roller coaster of blood sugar and try my best to plan my day correctly.  This is a lot easier said then done, work will often cause a low blood sugar.  Going in to the workday I told the person that I was working with that if my pump beeps to make sure I eat and take a little time off.  I have amazing friends that I'm lucky enough to work with and when my blood sugar got down to 61 this afternoon he made sure I ate and that I didn't work for a little while.  The key to not being 200 later was controlling what I ate.  I wanted to eat a lot and get back to work quickly, I know that does not work so I made sure to have 8oz of juice and a nature valley bar.  That was enough to raise my blood sugar and to keep my blood sugar from raising to high.

As weird as it sounds my diet has been tweaked the past couple of weeks and it has really helped me control my blood sugars.  When I don't over react my blood sugars have been very good.   My portions have gotten smaller but I'm eating more throughout the day.  The reason for this will be revealed tomorrow, I will also be making a big athletic announcement in tomorrow's blog.

This morning I made my way to East Providence to appear on The Rhode Show.  The Rhode Show is a great local news show that highlights local events and the people that make them possible.  This morning I had the honor of representing the Rhode Island Tour De Cure, I was able to speak about the Tour and all that it offers. 

To watch the segment please CLICK HERE.  I'm not sure if you can tell but I was very nervous in the video.  You would think with all of the public speaking that I do I would have no problem.  My blood sugar also goes on a wild ride before and after any speaking engagement that I do.  Before the shoot this morning my blood sugar was at 241, an hour after I was down to 126.  Adrenaline is a very odd thing. 

I encourage anyone that is interested in the Tour De Cure to CLICK HERE to find a way to ride or volunteer in the Tour De Cure.  It is a great day and you have the chance to meet

This morning after a 20 mile bike ride I had a blood sugar of 103.  I was very happy with my rid and blood sugar, I quickly grabbed a snack and my cell phone.  I would send out a good six texts before I got to eating my snack.  In that time my blood sugar had dropped to 87.  For some reason I have this odd fascination with sending ridiculous texts when my blood sugar is between 70-90.

Most of the texts will go to close friends or people that I work with.  The texts range from inside jokes like "BAU" (business as usual), random pictures with the text try and whistle. (It is impossible to whistle when you are laughing, try it with the photo above) or random Forrest Gump quotes.  "That's my boat" is the famous quote that I will send out. (video below)

I can't explain why I do this but I do get a kick out of it when i go back look at what was sent.  It is also starnge that when my blood sugar is in that 70-90 range that I can be very emotional or very angry.  Feel free to share any

Last Sunday I attended the Red Sox game versus the Tampa Bay Rays, other than going to Fenway Park I had no real rooting interest in the game.  I love baseball and would've gone if it was dogs playing baseball, nothing is better than Fenway Park for baseball.  Our seats are right along the right field wall so I always do some research on the visiting teams right fielder while at the game.  The right fielder for the Rays was a guy by the name of Sam Fuld, WHO???  I had never heard of this guy but as I read his bio on Wikipidea I instantly developed a man crush.

Fuld was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 10 years old. He recalled, "I was losing weight, I was thirsty all the time, just classic symptoms, so my parents knew something was wrong and the doctor diagnosed it right away. It was tough, but when I realized there was no other alternative, I just looked at it as a challenge."

Fuld like everyone with diabetes continues to do amazing things in his professional life.  Recognition and awards

• 2000: 1st Team High School All-American (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, USA Today, and Fox Sports)
• 2000: 19th on Baseball America's 100 Top High School Prospects list
• 2000: New Hampshire High School Baseball Player of the Year (Gatorade)
• 2001: 2nd Team College Freshman All-American OF (Baseball America)
• 2002: 1st Team College All-American OF (ABCA, Baseball America, Baseball Weekly, and Jewish Sports Review)
• 2002: College World Series All-Tournament Team OF
• 2003: 1st Team All-American (NCBWA)
• 2003: Cape Cod League All-Star OF
• 2003: Set College World Series all-time record for career hits
• 2004: 1st Team All-American (NCBWA)
• 2004: Set Pac-10 all-time record for career runs scored
• 2006: Florida State League All-Star OF
• 2007: Arizona Fall League Top Prospects Team
• 2007: Arizona Fall League Dernell Stenson Award
• 2007: Arizona Fall League Most Valuable Player
• 2008–09: All Winter League Team (Baseball America)

After reading that I was embarrassed that I did not know who Sam Fuld was before the game.  Today I'm ordering a Fuld jersey to add to my professional athletes with diabetes wall in my "Man Cave".  Sam does a lot for diabetes and always takes time to speak to anyone that is living with diabetes.  It is always great to see a professional athlete living with diabetes.  From reading lots of articles on Sam I'm amazed by how great and normal of a guy he is, anyone that has a day off and returns to his high school to take part in baseball practice is a awesome!!!  Below is a great video of Sam Fuld the baseball player and a great article on Sam the diabetic.

Baseball's Sam Fuld Scores Big-League Success

This morning I was thrown my first curve ball at work.  When it comes to my diabetes and work everything has to be timed perfectly.  This morning the start of my day was delayed due to a light frost.  A thirty minute delay caused my blood sugar to rise quickly and any insulin I took would cause a low an hour or so later once I got to work.  At 7:30 my blood sugar was at 221 and rising, I decided to try taking 1.2 units of insulin and hoping for the best.  I got lucky and my blood sugar started to drop as I was headed in for my break.  The first curve ball of the season was fouled off.

The next curve ball came five minutes in to my break, I was informed that I would be on a machine all day.  For the next six hours I would be seated and my blood sugar would go crazy.  This was the knee buckling curve ball that made me look foolish, a lot like the video below.  I quickly took an extra two units of insulin to cover my lack of physical work that would follow.  My pump would vibrate around 10am letting me know that I was at 187 and rising, in goes another two units of insulin.  My blood sugar would go up to 211 but honestly I felt a bit higher than what my pump was reading. 

The rest of my day was uneventful but I was shocked when I sat down for lunch and took five units to cover a sandwich, an apple, and a fiber one bar.  On an active day that meal would only take 1.2 units of insulin.  These days happen and they are not fun.  As time goes on I will get better control of my blood sugars and hopefully stay below the 200 mark.

After a month of tightly contested battles, Insulin has won the inaugural Diabetes Championship.  Insulin has dominated the tournament started, glucose meters put up the toughest fight.  Insulin won by only five votes, after the celebration Insulin seemed to be at a loss for words.  "You and your opponent want the same thing. The only thing that matters is who works the hardest for it."

All joking aside, without insulin life with diabetes would not be possible.  I believe the initial diabetes tournament was a success and I can't wait to see if insulin can defend the title that it has worked so hard to get.

After today's events, I believe that writing about my day is not necessary.  I can only encourage the readers of this post to hug the ones you love a little tighter this evening.  I encourage everyone to try and donate blood tonight or tomorrow, for the people like myself we know where it will go.  Those living in other parts of the world, your donation can save a life.  I wish everyone the best and hope that everyone is safe.

“Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.”
― Mother Teresa

Earlier this week I received an email form the JDRF, the email told me about the JDRF My story page and how it gave people living with diabetes the opportunity to share their diabetes story.  I wrote my story and was happy to see that it was accepted and would be shared on the JDRF My Story website.  Everyone knows my story so i don't feel that I need to share a link to my page.

I want to share stories that we don't always hear about.  Below are a few stories that made me laugh, smile and cry.  With each story that I read I started to smile more, each story that is on the page makes the diabetes community stronger.  Each story is told by someone that is not ashamed that they have the disease.  I encourage anyone living with diabetes to share their story, you never know who will read it and the effect it will have on their life.  Click here to share your story.

My favorite stories-

I'm Angelica and my son is my #1!
I'm Pam and my 2 1/2 year old son spencer is my #1!
I'm Lorrie and my daughter is my #1!
I'm Nancy and my son and daughter are my #1!
I'm Nathan and I am my #1!

Something has definitely changed in my body this spring.  I still don't know what it is but I like it.  Last spring I had a lot of trouble with my blood sugars after breakfast.  This morning I woke up with a blood sugar of 62, not how I wanted to start my morning.  Starting the day with a low makes the rest of the day very tough, your so scared of being low all day that you cut back on insulin and end up high for a good portion of the day.  After pounding a large glass of apple juice and eating a granola bar, I made a couple eggs and a muffin top for my real breakfast.  As I cooked my eggs I talked to myself and decided that I would not take any insulin, I knew that I had a lot of walking ahead of me at work and didn't want to be 60 and unable to work for a half hour.  I thought that I would get up to around 220 before my blood sugar started to come back down to normal range.

The weirdest thing happened though, my pump never beeped today.  My blood sugar crept up to 171 around 730 but never above the 177 alarm.  As I sat down to my lunch I was in shock, I was getting insulin all morning but how did I not take any insulin and stay below 180?  What is going on with my body?  With this morning on my mind I decided to only take 1.2 units of insulin to cover my lunch of 43 carbs.  My afternoon was a bit hectic and I would be around 70 at 230 but again very little insulin and no raise in blood sugar.  I can't explain it!!  With rain in the forecast tomorrow it will be interesting to see how my body reacts to being inactive all day.

This morning started with a run to work, a little bit of foreshadowing, no headphones were needed this morning due to the warm weather and clear skies.  Working out early in the morning is easy when nature is so beautiful.  I still have trouble with my blood sugar when it comes to running before breakfast, I will very rarely use a temp basal while running.  For some reason running doesn't cause my blood sugar to plum it the way that cycling does.  I will often go out and run and then eat breakfast.  My usual insulin will work nine times out of ten, today was that one time that it did not work.  My blood sugar would climb up to 269 before returning to normal for the rest of the day.

Running home from work after a long day is very tough, what is my motivation?  I just did a ton of physical labor for eight hours why should I run home?  I'm a strange person, my motivation to run home lies in what on my iPhone, normal people will run to some kind of rock music, something to pump them up.  What is on my iPhone for music, nothing!!  I have speeches!!  Yes speeches.  I have speeches from Martin Luther King to odd pregame speeches from Bobby Knight.  Today's speech always gets me motivated, this speech will make me think, laugh but most of all it motivates me.  At 4pm as I get ready to run or ride my bike my body is very sore and this speech takes away that pain for fifteen minutes.  I'm sure people think I'm crazy when they see me running, I will be laughing, crying, or saying the speech as I run, I'm sure it is a sight to see.  I encourage everyone to give it a try the next time that you workout.  Tonight I highly recommend listening to the speech below before heading to bed. 

This past Sunday I ran in the Clamdigger 5 K Road Race, an annual 5k in Westerly that is put on by the Westerly Track & Athletic Club, Inc.  This was my first 5k in almost five years, as we all know a lot has changed in five years.  I did not know what to expect in the race, I just wanted to finish and have fun.  What happened was that I ran the race in a time of 22 minutes and 30 seconds, which put me in 30th place overall and 4th in the 30-39 age group.  After the race I had a moment to myself, in this moment I reflected on the past five years and how much things have changed.  Five years earlier in a different race I finished in 71st place overall in a time of 26 minutes and 40 seconds.

What changed in five years to have this much of a change in my 5k time.  Was it because today I'm thirty pounds lighter than five years ago? Maybe.  Is it because I try to workout at least three times a week? Possibly.  Or could it be because I have an all state high school track runner, and a track coach of five all Americans for a wife?  That helps a little but that isn't the reason.  The reason is that I finally have control of my diabetes.  Five years ago who knows what my blood sugar was at when I ran a race.  On Sunday I made sure that I had a blood sugar above 130.  Having control of my diabetes has made me an athlete.  Having control of my diabetes has made it possible for me to train as much as I do.  Five years ago if I thought about riding my bike or running to work I would have had no chance at doing so.  I didn't know my blood sugars and had no idea how to properly train with diabetes. 

After the race on Sunday I was all excited, I had just run a great race and I thought that I would be getting a trophy for finishing in the top five in my age group.  I found out later that only the top three in each age group would get a trophy, I was a bit mad once I realized I would not be recieving a trophy.  Minutes later the smile was back on my face, I'm not running for a trophy.  I'm running because I can and after each race I have a lot of trophies.  The biggest trophy is being alive and being able to hug my wife after a race.  Five years ago I was headed down a road that would more than likely take my life.  I'm very happy that I got off of that road.


Celebration of Life 5k Run
Wakefield, RI, April 26, 2008
PLC Time Pace PLC/Group PLC/Sex Bib#     Name              Town, State
71   26:40 8:36 13/19-29         47/M     68 Ryan Noonan Westerly,RI

Clamdigger 5 K Road Race Results
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Place    Name           City               Bib No  Age Gend  Age Group     Time        Pace  
30    Ryan Noonan Westerly  RI       71    30        M    4 30-39   22:30.0      7:15/M

In the 19th century, after researchers figured out that the body needs this critical hormone to burn glucose as energy, doctors tried different ways to restart production of insulin in people with type 1 diabetes. Some physicians even tried feeding fresh pancreas to patients. The experiment failed (and probably left more than a few patients begging for a palate-cleansing sorbet), as did the other attempts to replace missing insulin.

Finally, in 1922 a former divinity student named Dr. Frederick Banting figured out how to extract insulin from a dog's pancreas. Skeptical colleagues said the stuff looked like "thick brown muck." Banting injected the insulin into the keister of a 14-year-old boy named Leonard Thompson, whose body was so ravaged by diabetes that he weighed only 65 pounds. Little Leonard developed abscesses on his bottom and still felt lousy, though his blood sugar improved slightly. Encouraged, Banting refined the formula for insulin and tried again six weeks later. This time Leonard's condition improved rapidly. His blood sugar dropped from 520 mg/dl to a more manageable 120 mg/dl. He gained weight, and his strength returned. (Poor Lenny -- although his diabetes remained in control for years, he died of pneumonia when he was just 27.)

Banting and a colleague, Dr. John Macleod, won the Nobel Prize for their work. Commercial production of insulin for treating diabetes began soon after. For many years, drug companies derived the hormone using pancreases that came primarily from stockyards, taken from slaughtered cows and pigs, which didn't need the organs anymore.

Animal insulin has saved millions of lives, but it has a problem: It causes allergic reactions in some users. In 1978, a fledgling biotechnology company named Genentech produced the first synthetically manufactured insulin that could be made in large amounts. Using bacteria or yeast as miniature "factories," the gene for human insulin was inserted into bacterial DNA. The result was human insulin, called recombinant DNA insulin, which did not cause the problems that animal insulin sometimes did.

When it became widely available in the early 1980s, this new insulin changed the treatment of diabetes forever. Today, almost all people with diabetes who require insulin use a form of recombinant human insulin rather than animal insulin. (Article source Discovery Health)

Early blood glucose monitors relied on reflected light to determine the amount of glucose. They were bulky, expensive, and heavy and found mostly in hospitals, unlike current meters that are inexpensive small and effective. These early devices tested glucose in the blood or urine of people suffering from diabetes. The predecessor for current devices was first developed by in 1962 by Clark and Lyons at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital. The device relied on the electrochemical reaction reactions of glucose and the glucose enzyme or better known as electrochemical sensors. The blood glucose monitor relied on the reaction between Glucose Oxidase (enzyme), Glucose (in the blood), and oxygen. The reaction produced gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The meter measured the change in oxygen levels, which was directly related to the amount of glucose in the blood sample.

The early blood glucose monitor had reproducibility issues i.e. they were unable to reproduce their results consistently. They did however lay the important foundation in the history of the development of glucose meters. In 1973, the glucose meter analyzed the amount of hydrogen peroxide amperometrically (uses amperes). The next glucose meter developed at about the same time relied on a color. The device measured the color of the test strip after the glucose in the blood reacted with the glucose oxidase coated strip.

It took more than a decade for the glucose meters to advance to the current home use friendly monitors to help in the management of diabetes. The modern glucose meter uses an electric potential that is between two electrodes. The current that goes between the two is converted to a concentration reading. The testing strips contain the glucose enzyme acts as the first electrode. The advances in digital technology served well in the history of glucose meters. Advances in silicon chips, sensor technology, and thick film sensor technology led to the glucose monitors currently available. These advances have led to small hand held point-of-care with significantly reduced result time readings. The newer meters offer continuous glucose monitoring and are used in conjunction with an insulin pump.

As technology advances, the history of glucose monitors is an ongoing saga. The future promises glucose monitors with pain free blood extracting devices with the ability to draw minuscule amount of blood from above the nerve cells. The blood glucose monitor will be more accurate and offer readings faster due to the continual advances in technology. (Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2200366)