Scanner puts finger pricks in past
A Dunedin woman says using a new device for monitoring her diabetic daughter’s glucose levels is as simple as ‘‘scanning a product at the supermarket’’.
Before Olivia McKenzie, 7, started using the FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring device a week ago, she endured painful finger prick tests up to seven times every day and night, her mother Margaret McKenzie said.
‘‘We’ve done that since October, every night.’’
Now McKenzie uses a small hand-held ‘‘reader’’ to scan a sensor attached to the back of Olivia’s arm to get her glucose reading. The sensor, which is the size of two stacked $2 coins, measures glucose levels every minute and provides an average every 15 minutes.
Without a Pharmac subsidy, the reader and sensor cost $85 each. A new sensor is needed every two weeks.
The products were approved for use by children aged 4 to 18 with insulin dependent diabetes last month, and for adults in April 2017.
Manufacturer Abbott has applied to Pharmac for funding.
‘‘It would be amazing if they were actually free because they make a huge difference to your life,’’ McKenzie said.
She was happy to pay for the product herself in the meantime.
Olivia was diagnosed with autoimmune disorder type 1 diabetes while on holiday with her family in Christchurch last year.
The disorder causes the body to attack cells in the pancreas – the organ that produce insulin and regulate glucose.
Daily monitoring with finger pricks and injections of insulin started immediately after Olivia recovered from a coma.
She will have to undergo lifelong surveillance to ensure her glucose levels are kept stable and avoid a potentially fatal reaction from letting them get either too high or low.
McKenzie said Olivia cried a few times during the procedures in hospital, but had been incredibly resilient since then.
‘‘She’s pretty good, she’s a really good kid actually, she’s taken to diabetes really well . . . I’m lucky she’s a good girl.’’
Olivia’s monitoring continues during the night, with McKenzie having to set an alarm for 2am every day. Now she can scan the sensor without waking Olivia up.
For the estimated 2500 children and teenagers with type 1 diabetes in New Zealand, the new technology provided another tool to help manage the condition, paediatric endocrinologist Ben Wheeler said.
‘‘Of all of the new technologies we’ve had over the past 20-30 years, while many have offered benefits, very few have decreased the burden of the illness. This device does promise a reduction in that burden.’’
Wheeler said his youngest patients were only 6 months old and the constant monitoring and injections created huge stress for them and their parents.
‘‘Imagine pinning down your 1-year-old to give a finger prick.’’
He said some parents of children aged under 4 may be tempted to ignore the recommended agerange for the device.
At least 10 per cent of Wheeler’s patients had already bought the product from Britain or Australia before it became available in New Zealand.