Underwater Blood Sugar!!!!!

First off, I would like to thank Louis and Kay at Divevolk for their generosity and genuine support for this experiment. I could not have done this without you, and meeting you at SCUBA show this year was extra meaningful for me.  I was lucky enough to try a Divevolk Sea Touch 4 Max housing for my phone. As many of you know I monitor my blood sugar and insulin pump on my phone via the Omnipod 5 and Dexcom G6. I am currently on a Samsung S22, however Divevolk does make housing inserts for a wide array of phone makes and models.

The Divevolk housing is the only one I am aware of in which you have full control of your phone’s touchscreen once the phone is placed inside. This allowed me to have full access to my insulin pump and blood sugar readings underwater at any depth! The Omnipod signal is transmitted via Blue Tooth and even though this technology doesn’t travel too far underwater, it worked like a charm within 6-8” of the pod location.

In today’s world of technology, a T1D’s reliance on knowing where our blood sugar is and where it’s heading is critical to keeping ourselves healthy. Not knowing exactly what my blood sugar is, sometimes for hours on end often causes several days of blood sugar roller coaster rides of trying to correct highs and lows. As someone who works in the SCUBA industry teaching, guiding and working on boats this is a challenge to say the least. I also travel every chance I get and when I do that means SCUBA diving…and lots of it!

I remember my first several years of multiple daily injections and painful finger pokes, the advancement of an insulin pen for convenience and privacy, then to move to an insulin pump in the early 2000s, even the tubeless pump many years later to ultimately end up with a closed loop CGM and pump that works together almost like a real pancreas (cue Pinocchio’s voice here!) To me and the life I live this is just one more major advancement and leap towards freedom, health and the ability to live my life to the fullest every opportunity I get.

*Please ignore my high blood sugar ;-)

My first experience using the housing was in a pool. I figured in a shallow, controlled environment I could work out any logistics or issues and protect my phone. To my surprise there were no issues. I entered the pool and quickly watched my phone as the blood sugar reading disappeared as my pod went under water. I placed the phone (inside the housing) next to my thigh where the pod was located and with 1-2 seconds there it was….my blood sugar reading! I won’t actually admit to this, but I may have cried a tear or two at this point.

I had seen enough of diving in a pool and being excited to stare at my phone under chlorinated water. Next stop Beqa Island,  Fiji! Because, why not? So, I loaded up the Divevolk housing with my phone, clipped it to my BCD and headed for tropical paradise. This time, not surprisingly the housing and my insulin pump worked exactly as I had hoped. Amongst the tropical fish, coral reef and even a shark or two my blood sugar was right there on the screen. While I am not interested in being an underwater screenager or watching Tik Tok while I dive, it was extremely comforting to know I could look at the reading, adjust if I needed to and focus on what’s most important…the fish!

Go to my Instagram @type1scubasteve to see the video of the exciting action!

This setup has become integral to my daily dive set up. I dive nearly every day, and for me to be able to manage my diabetes on the level I should be managing it is truly like I said, a game changer. 

Thank you again to the folks at Divevolk I can’t express my gratitude enough. https://www.divevolkdiving.com/ 

Thank you to Allie Kahler for loaning me your GoPro for the footage and Ryan Singer for putting up with my underwater experiment and making sure I was able to focus on something so important to me.