First of all, let’s start with a video, before we get into quite what the obscure reference in the title refers to.
I recently came across this in my socials.
Notwithstanding the clear Dexcom image on am Apple watch, nor the terrible acting associated with the “high glucose” moment, this is very clearly an advert targeting those with diabetes and suggesting that a smartwatch with non-invasive sensor could replace fingerpricks or medical grade lightly invasive CGM.
Is this a case of a Dreamcatcher moment? For those that don’t remember, SSDD, or “Same Shit, Different Day”, similar to the last watch that made this type of claim, or is it something that works?
Having seen the advert, Diabettech had to follow up and ordered one. The following tells you what you wanted to know, or might have already guessed!
Watch specification
Once again, there’s very little information on the specification of any of these watches. This one, for reference, is an F57L, and what I can find is very limited.
What’s worth bearing in mind is the video I posted above. If you look carefully you’ll see that the watch I purchased following the link they provided isn’t the non-apple watch in the video. The button/crown is in the wrong place. So what hope is there that it actually works?
Watch performance
This time around, the glucose data captured by the watch is not being transferred to the app. The only place you can see it is a one off reading on the watch. There are no historic records.
This means we go back to a spreadsheet to capture data, although there seems little point in that, given the performance that a cursory use over two days provides.
At a relatively normal glucose level, the two images below show the watch and a Dexcom device. They’re within 0.5mmol/l of each other, which isn’t too bad.
As we’ve seen with other “Non-invasive CGM” Smartwatches though, they typically produce reasonable results at normal.glucose levels.
If we check at higher and lower levels, we see the following, with blood checks for reference.
This is rather less encouraging. There is no way you’re managing to avoid a high or low if you don’t know it’s happening!
With the lack of continuous uploads, it’s hard to draw patterns, but the spot checks suggest this one is worse than the last one I tried.
Do you really need a conclusion?
Only that these cheap, supposedly non-invasive CGM watches don’t offer any kind of utility. Rather, I think they offer futility.
They are a waste of money, and their advertising suggesting that they’re better than fingersticks is a plain lie.
Referring back to the title, this really is a Dreamcatcher moment, and I feel justified in saying that yes, they are the Same Shit, Different Day.
I admire your vigilance to satisfy your curiosity even in the face of despair 😆
Problem is that if someone does produce something like this that works, we won’t believe it. And what are the regulators doing about it?
I’d suggest that as these aren’t claiming to be medical devices, despite that video, they don’t get regulated.
I’d be pretty comfortable that a device with FDA approval would do what it says, and I’m comfortable none of the ones I’ve seen would get that!
Less accurate ones would still be useful for non-T1 people not on insulin.
You haven’t mentioned last month’s new 15 day FreeStyle Libre 3 that’s Vitamin C compatible and has FDA approval for automatic dosing pumps. Omnipod 5 and Tandem will be first.
There is also now a Libre 3 reader for people without smartphones.
That’s where I disagree with you. Some of these watches (this one especially) are so bad that they don’t really register fluctuations in glucose (as I was trying to show here, which makes them almost dangerous , even for non-T1 people with some levelmof glucose impairment.
You’re correct. I haven’t mentioned Libre 3 here, because that’s not the point of the article. As it happens, the first system to make use of it in AID is CamAPS, which is using it now in the UK and Germany.
I too ordered one and found that no matter what my blood glucose level was the watch never showed less than 6.2 or more than 6.9. I wrote to the company and called Amazon. This aimed at people who want an easy solution and don’t question anything or do research!
I have one. BP readings and HB are fine. Blood Sugar not so much. I got a reading of 5.9 then checked with my Regular Meter and it was 53. I knew I was running low just before dinner. This is too wide of a discrepancy.