Project Inspiration

Debra's daughter, Kaleigh Rose, has Type 1 Diabetes - this means that every day before each meal, her sugar needs to be checked, and the amount of insulin given needs to be calculated.

There is a bit of math involved, and having an app that would take inputs from a user and calculate insulin would be really useful for Kaleigh and her family members, as well as others who are managing Type 1 Diabetes.

Calculator Tool

An example of calculations outlined is:

Kaleigh has a blood sugar “target” of 120, if her sugar is high - let’s say 200, the user would need to take 200, subtract the 120 target, and take the remainder of 80 and divide it by her “correction” factor of 75 roughly = 1 unit of insulin.

Then if she is having a PBJ for lunch, all the carbohydrates need to be counted in the bread = 30, peanut butter = 6, and jelly = 5, total = 41 and divide it by her lunch time “carb ratio” which is currently 16 = 2.5 units, then add the correction and carb calculations to get 3.5 total units of insulin at lunchtime.

Store The Data, Monitor Trends

In addition the app will store this data:

The blood sugars, amounts of insulin given, the carbs consumed, and the target/ratio numbers provided by her doctor.

Other apps exist that track blood sugars and display trends, but there is a lack of apps/sites that store all of the information electronically and provide a calculation tool. A hard copy "log book" is what was provided by Kaleigh's Diabetes Nurse Educator and Endocrinologist, and is used by many others - Insul-Ease removes the pen and paper and will provide a true ability to see trends and make adjustments, which will hopefully in the long run keep her and many others happy and healthy.