Medical monitor

Projects General Guidance
1

Hello Arduino folks. I need your Help!
I own many different Arduino systems and have been tinkering for around two years. I'm an EMT and Search and Rescue Medic. I wanted to use them for rescue gadgets. Then after our daughter who is now 2 was born, my wife suffered many major complications. my wife got really sick. And after multiple surgeries and treatments, we have a final diagnoses which sadly only gives her about 2 years left. She is in a motorized wheelchair and suffers many major issues as I will get into next.

My wife has been diagnosed with Addisons Disease (severe adrenal insufficiency), tumors and cysts in her brain, lungs, and chest, and severe Narcolepsy. She has seizures, stroke like symptoms, passouts, and Cataplexy (complete and sudden muscle paralysis)

I've been wracking my brain trying to build a few things and was wondering if your team could help me figure out an all in one unit. I would like to built a medical monitoring computer unit that can also detect falls and seizures and alert me on my phone wherever I am...

I need this computer system to monitor blood preasure, heart rate, falls, have a button for her to push to alert me or medical help, medication reminder, and anything else i might need it to do... I also need it to monitor her sleep quality and whether she gets up to sleep walk.

I've looked into all in one professional units online but 1, they are all ridiculously expensive and 2, they only cover 1 or 2 of the things needed, never all.

With a 2 year old and the risk factor involved in my wife being left alone, I really need something to help monitor all this.

I own uno r3's, megas, Nano's, ardupilot, atmegas, and thousands of different modules and can easily buy more if needed.

Please help if you can

2

Some of the stuff you want to do is relatively simple, like monitoring heart rate. Some is much more complicated, like monitoring blood pressure.

Having a switch that can summon help is easy enough to monitor. Having the Arduino decide whether to call you or call for help is NOT an easy decision. But, perhaps that was just a poorly-worded requirement.

Detecting a fall might not be too difficult. An accelerometer could be monitored, and the sudden acceleration/deceleration on impact with the floor could be detected.

I have my doubts that there is a suitable sensor, or process, for detecting a seizure.

and anything else i might need it to do.

Now, THAT is just too unrealistic a requirement to take seriously.

I also need it to monitor her sleep quality and whether she gets up to sleep walk.

The accelerometer would usable to tell if she got up and started moving. It has no way to know if she woke up to go to the bathroom, or is sleep-walking.

I know of no way to measure quality, of anything. One can measure any number of attributes, but whether the attribute relates directly to quality, or indirectly, is a whole different issue.

With a 2 year old and the risk factor involved in my wife being left alone, I really need something to help monitor all this.

So, you think a $20 Arduino will handle all of your concerns?

3

for connection via phone try this "SIM900 Quad Band GSM GPRS Shield Development Board For Arduino"

4

TBH it sounds like what you really need is to have someone to be with her at all times. You, neighbours, family, friends, maybe even a professional nurse. Great that you're called when you're on the other side of town, what can you do, really? There is only so much technology can handle.

blood preasure, heart rate, falls, have a button for her to push to alert me or medical help, medication reminder,

Those are all quite readily implemented in an Arduino (except maybe blood pressure, I only know those air pressure things that go around your arm).
Heart rate sensors are common.
Falls can be done indeed with an accelerometer.
A button of course.
Time based medication reminder, no problem (use an RTC for accuracy).
Alerts - many options. Mobile networks or WiFi (your LAN) are probably the most practical.

Sleep, wouldn't know how to even monitor that short of trying to sense brainwaves. It's hard enough for a human to reliably tell whether someone is just moving a lot in their sleep, or is awake just lying really still.

5

Thanks all. I agree some are hard to do... I also appreciate all the feedback. I have all those units. I'll be working on it...

wvmarle:
TBH it sounds like what you really need is to have someone to be with her at all times. You, neighbours, family, friends, maybe even a professional nurse.

I have been here 24/7 for two years. I'm an EMT and actually quit my day job to do that. We are looking into nursing and hiring someone but when I run an errand, I needed to know when my wife falls. I have accelerometer and all modules needed. I believe I'll try the ESP and make it a WiFi notification to my phone.

Could still use alot more thoughts

6

Start with the heart rate monitor and the personal alarm button, plus the notification part. Those are easiest to implement (notification is already a bit harder), and give you at least something working. In case there's something and she's not completely incapacitated she can at least press the button for alarm. That may cover most practical situations already. Plus a large part of the psychological part.

Falls are a harder thing to monitor, especially false positives: a harmless bump into a table or so, especially if it's the sensor that's hit directly, this happens to everyone and likely more to her. I'm guessing a peak in acceleration (the fall itself) combined with a drastic change in orientation of the sensor (she's not standing/sitting any more but is flat on the ground). Maybe even combined with a lack of movement in the next few seconds.