[kmadson]

I am a 22 year old type-1 diabetic myself and am currently working at a technology company right now. I have always been interested in creating new applications for devices like the iPhone and iPod touch... There are tons of glucose tracking applications and diet applications out there all ready so I am trying to think outside the box here. An idea I was thinking of were ways of using glucose checks and results and somehow turning that into a game... A game would allow for younger diabetics to not be so afraid of the disease when they first get it, as well as encourages them to achieve better glucose readings... What do you all think?

[dano]

I have given you question some thought and while it is a novel idea I am not so sure that it would be used by preteens. Think back when you were a wee lad of 6; where most of your T1 diabetes decisions not made by your parents? This would include the major things like when to check for DKA, insulin dosage, blood testing, food calculations for bolus injections, etc. I can see where a carb counting program, to help them make wise decisions on nutritional food choices might be beneficial. The post-teens can pretty much use the adult versions of software, for their T1 needs, and all they really care about in the video games is how many cyber villains they can kill.

If you are really interested in creating software and helping T1's, message me your email address. I have a topic for you!

[iaedyene]

You know what I'd really like to find? An iPhone app that allows you to track your meals that shows both calories AND carbs per meal. I have found a ton of calorie counting apps yet they only show the daily total of carbs and I have to look at each item and add them up. It's a bit inconvenient and having it show in one spot would be great. If someone knows of an app that does that - please share!

Glucose Buddy is hands down the best diabetes app out there. My doc loves it since I can email them my numbers and she can see how a new med is effecting me before my next appointment and we can adjust it as needed. I've been using it for over a year now. You guys have been amazing!!!

[dano]

Me Too!

I tried to get the Lose It! app writer to put that into their app, but I didn't have any luck!

[iaedyene]

I too am using Lose It and also sent a suggestion to add it up. Can't be that much coding.

[dano]

No there is not that much coding involved. They already have the carb information there and all they need to do is total it and stick it next to the calorie information. I didn't have much luck getting it done. I don't think that I have gotten an update since I started using that app. I think that all the suggestions for the Lose It! App falls on deaf ears.

[nwieler]

I've never used Lose It but I do know that Restaurant Nutrition allows you to track your meals when you go to just about any restaurant in North America. It's actually been pretty useful for me.

But back to the topic on hand. I was diagnosed at 14 and the nurses and doctor at the Children's Hospital were what really got me through. They explained it to me very simply and helped me understand what my body was, or rather wasn't doing. At that age, cutesy stuff doesn't go far at all. Even some of the visual aides they had I remember thinking they were stupid and childish. But when you're younger it's different. How many things do you still just automatically think or do that you were taught as a small child? When we're young like that, we can be trained much easier. We haven't begun to settle down into our own routines or mindsets just yet. We can still be molded. The main thing I would think they would be concerned about is dealing with the needles and finger pricks. And I'm afraid no app can help you past that.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, it probably just needs a little more work.

[alleycatla]

MyNetDiary will show how many carbs have been used in a meal, but you have to turn the option on in the prefs.

[dpawley]

I use http://www.fatsecret.com via pc-web, iPad and iPhone. It's great! It even has a barcode scanner via the camera, it gives you all the Info on a nutrition labels by item, by meal, incl snack and by day as well as % kcal for carbs/fat/protein and Percent of RDI which you can manually or set to auto value. and you can export to PDF or CSV via day, week or month with summaries or detail.

It also has a weight and exercise tracker if you want to use. You can enter items if the item barcode does not match something already put in by someone else, or enter entire meals.

I used it to loose over 80 lbs since last January, by mainly controlling my net carbs to approx 100g and sugars to 50g per day. Oh and A1c has dropped from 5.9 to 5.5.

[maddi450]

I do not know anything about creating apps so if this idea would not be possible, I apologize for my ignorance. I know that some apps my kids and I get "addicted" to on ipod are appls like cityville, city story, fashion story, farmville and story which are time manangement related. BG testing seems to me a good area to utilize time management skills and therefore maybe kids (or adults) could earn things towards the community they are building. As in city story, you have to check at certain times to collect your products. Possibly a component could be added that you would have to earn certain numbers to get certain prizes or even averages over a week or two weeks, etc. Let me know what you think.