For many, managing diabetes begins with a Dia-Log

Entrepreneur puts help for fellow diabetics right at their fingertips

Shock. Denial. Fear. When first informed they have diabetes, people react in all sorts of ways. Mike Boeselager was no different. Except his reaction was to develop a groundbreaking service to help diabetics monitor and control their disease in ways never before possible. 

Now, following a recent re-launch, Dia-log.com (www.dia-log.com) is poised to revolutionize the way thousands of diabetics around the world manage their daily lives. Soon, it could also change the way doctors and diabetic educators advise and treat their diabetic patients or even how insurance companies reward diabetic clients for maintaining healthy lifestyles. And that's just for starters.

Heady stuff for a guy who never gave diabetes a passing thought until he was diagnosed in 1991, while he was in his early 20's. 

Until then, Boeselager, like many people, thought diabetes was a disease that only affected seniors or people with unhealthy eating habits. That all changed during a weekend camping trip he took with a few friends from college. 

"I started developing all the classic symptoms," explains Boeselager. "It's almost laughable to me now but I had no clue back then."

First, he noticed his eyesight going bad. Then he felt the urge to urinate every 20 minutes. Still, Mike didn't regard the situation as all that unusual. But the symptoms persisted until finally he mentioned them to his sister, a nurse practitioner. 

She immediately encouraged him to see a doctor who quickly confirmed her suspicions. Mike had developed Type 1 diabetes.

Though initially shocked by the diagnosis, Mike's concerns were eased after meeting with a diabetic educator who began the long process of acquainting him with the in's and out's of the diabetic lifestyle.

"My first reaction was.okay, it could be a lot worse," says Boeselager. "I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but at least it was something I could manage and control."

Having graduated with dual degrees in Management Information Services (MIS) and marketing, Mike's first inclination was to find a software product that would help him track his eating habits and blood glucose levels. To his surprise, he found few available. And even the software that was on the market Boeselager deemed to be sorely deficient. 

If he was ever going to have a proper tool to manage the complexities of the diabetic lifestyle, Mike concluded, he would just have to develop it himself.

The idea that evolved was a sort of online diabetes diary that allowed Boeselager to record and track the effect that eating different foods had on his blood glucose level. He could then use the information to forecast how future meals and insulin dosages would impact his readings.

By basing the application on the web, instead of on the desktop, he could access the information from anywhere-at home, from work or on the road. The application could also produce reports, graphs and charts that Mike could refer to and share with his doctor.

Boeselager quickly realized that he had created an invaluable tool he could share with all diabetics, including those affected by either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, who were looking for a better way to manage their disease. He also decided he wanted to make the application available free of charge, allowing as many fellow diabetics as possible to benefit.

In 1999, he released the application to the public calling it "Dia-Log.com". It wasn't long before the site attracted a loyal following, based solely on word-of-mouth and by people conducting their own web searches on diabetes.

But even as the site's popularity continued to grow, Boeselager became well aware of its limitations. While technically sound and functional, the site was hardly inviting, especially to children, who comprise the fastest-growing segment of diabetic patients. As a new parent himself, Boeselager considered this particularly troubling.

He was also anxious to incorporate new features into the site. At his doctor's suggestion, Boeselager had begun using an insulin pump with great success and he wanted to expand the site's functionality to accommodate this entirely new segment of the diabetic community.

Boeselager decided a complete overhaul was in order. To assist with further developing the site's technical capabilities, be brought in a partner, Marc Ruesch, who also has a degree in Management Information Services as well as a background in project management. 

Working well into the night and through weekends for months (both partners have always held professional day jobs), the pair labored to streamline the site's functionality and add new features. Among these were a Doctor Visit Log, for users to record and track detailed information from consultations with their physicians, and a News section, where users could read up on the latest articles about diabetes and find links to other diabetes resources. Tying into the huge national trend, they also added a section dedicated to low-carb nutrition, including special low-carb recipes which they could update frequently.

Finally, Boeselager and Ruesch teamed up with a visual design firm to re-brand the site with a fresh look as appealing to children as to older users. They set a goal of establishing Dia-Log as the leading online resource for diabetics worldwide.

Early in 2004, the newly revamped version of Dia-Log.com made its debut to rave reviews of old and new users alike. After the months of 16-hour workdays to update the site, one of Boeselager's greatest satisfactions is going through the e-mails he receives daily from grateful users.

One message, from a Type 1 diabetic in Minneapolis , reads, "I just wanted to thank you and tell you how much I love your site. I have actually enjoyed keeping track of my sugars and all the work has paid off!"

Another, from a user in Missouri , relates, "Dia-Log for me is not just a record, but an incentive to do better. It's a daily reminder that I need to improve."

For Mike, who has never derived any income from the site, it's messages like these that have made all the work worthwhile. Not that he and Ruesch don't harbor bigger plans for Dia-Log.

"Our next step is to reach out to diabetic educators," says Boeselager. "They're the ones in closest contact with diabetics who have just been diagnosed, and those are the people we feel Dia-Log can benefit most."

Boeselager and Ruesch also foresee the day when users will be able to access the site via "mobile media" like cell phones or PDA's, allowing them to get the information they need just prior to a meal at a restaurant or while out on the road. They're also exploring possible partnerships with insulin pump manufacturers to create an interface that would allow a user's individual pump data to be directly uploaded into the site. 

As someone who knows all too well the costs of diabetes to individuals and employers alike, Mike also envisions the possibility of partnering with insurance companies to encourage their plan members to use Dia-Log, decreasing risk for the companies and rewarding members with lower rates.

But for now, Boeselager is just content to know Dia-Log is already making a difference in the lives of those faced with the never-ending challenge of trying to manage diabetes.

"Every diabetic has to make a daily, even hourly, choice to either control their disease or allow their disease to control them," says Boeselager. "We've just tried to provide a way to make the choice to manage it a little easier."

For further questions and support please email info@Dia-Log.com