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A great diabetes ambassador, well worth the time to watch
Showing posts with label diabetes management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diabetes management. Show all posts
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Friday, 1 February 2013
Diatribe - The step-by-step approach to better blood sugars and a healthier 2013
by Adam Brown
We’re now four weeks into 2013, and if you’re like me (and many Americans), you might have a health-focused New Year’s resolution posted on your wall. Indeed, according to a 1,000-person survey conducted on January 7, the top 2013 New Year’s resolution was to lose weight (37%), closely followed by exercise more (28%). However, that same survey found that one week in, 11% of Americans had already broken at least one of their New Year’s resolutions. This also wasn’t an isolated finding, as another 15,000-person survey in 2008 found that four out of five people who make New Year’s resolutions eventually break them. Let’s face it: making resolutions is easy, but sticking to them is hard.
As I pondered this question, I thought about scientifically testing the simplest, most fundamental exercise possible: walking. It can be done anywhere, does not cost anything, and requires no equipment. And because the barriers to doing it are so low, it also helps address that very basic New Year’s Resolution conundrum outlined above. What follows is my personal diabetes experience testing the blood sugar benefits of walking, a brief review of studies on diabetes and walking, and five tips to incorporate walking into your daily routine.
Walking with diabetes – my own experience
As a fitness fiend my whole life, I tend to think of “exercise” with a very intense frame of reference: cycling, strength training, and playing basketball. So when I approached the question of how much walking could really drop my blood sugars, I was skeptical. In an effort to test it objectively, I performed 12 periods of walking, and measured my blood glucose immediately before and immediately after finishing. I timed each walk with a stopwatch, always made sure I had less than one unit of insulin-on-board, and tried to go at a normal speed.
On average, walking dropped my blood sugar by approximately one mg/dl per minute. The largest drop I saw was 46 mg/dl in 20 minutes, more than two mg/dl per minute.On average, walking dropped my blood sugar by approximately one mg/dl per minute. The largest drop I saw was 46 mg/dl in 20 minutes, more than two mg/dl per minute. In all 12 periods of walking, there were only two cases where I did not see a drop in blood sugar; in these instances, I suspect it was either blood glucose meter inaccuracy or a delayed blood glucose rise from meals (e.g., fiber, fat) that contributed to the increase. Those interested can see the complete table of my walking endeavors at the end of this article.
Some might argue that one mg/dl per minute does not sound hugely impressive, but the key for me is the comparator. One unit of insulin tends to drop my blood glucose by 25 mg/dl (morning) and 35 mg/dl (afternoon and evening). My rapid-acting insulin (Novolog) takes about 90 minutes to peak and three hours to completely finish working, meaning any drop in blood glucose takes a while. With a blood sugar of 135 mg/dl, I could either take one unit of insulin and wait well over an hour for my blood glucose to drop, or I could walk for a little more than 30 minutes. I found it liberating that something as simple and easy as walking could be a replacement for (or augment to) taking insulin.
I originally had hoped to test the effects of walking after meals but found it hard to do a thoroughly scientific job of it. What I can say, however, is that walking after meals definitely lowered my insulin requirements. Generally, planning a post-meal walk of around 20 minutes meant I needed about half the insulin as normal, and in some cases no insulin at all. The caveat is that I do tend to eat pretty low carbohydrate meals, so those eating higher carb meals may find their needs differ. The best way to see how walking affects your blood sugar it to try it for yourself.
What does the research say about walking with diabetes?
I found many published studies on walking with diabetes, and most showed a benefit. I’ve categorized them below into type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and prediabetes/overweight/obese. The list below is not exhaustive by any stretch, but I hope it gives a broad sense of some of the scientific research supporting the benefits of walking.
A 2012 study of 201 people with type 2 diabetes found that every additional 2,600 steps of walking each day was associated with a 0.2% lower A1c.
Type 2 Diabetes: A 2012 study of 201 people with type 2 diabetes found that every additional 2,600 steps of walking each day was associated with a 0.2% lower A1c. For reference, 2,600 steps is a little over a mile (about 20 minutes walking at a normal pace). In an interesting 2005 study of 179 patients with type 2 diabetes, medication costs, insulin usage, and physical activity were tracked over a two-year period. Over that time, taking a three-mile daily walk (about an hour per day) was estimated to reduce drug costs by $550 and other medical costs by $700. The number of patients on insulin therapy also fell by a compelling 25%. And a small 2012 study examined the emotional effects of walking in individuals with type 2 diabetes – in the 16 patients that participated in the study, 20 minute walks were associated with significant positive influences on psychological well-being.
Type 1 Diabetes: I was only able to find one study directly testing walking in people with type 1 diabetes. The 2012 study was published in Diabetes Care and examined 12 patients with type 1 diabetes over 88 hours. Those who walked after meals had approximately one half the glucose excursion compared to those who did not walk after meals. Interestingly, the same study found a similar glycemic benefit in those without diabetes. The researchers concluded, “Walking significantly impacts postprandial [after meal] glucose excursions in healthy populations and in those with type 1 diabetes.”
Prediabetes/Overweight/Obese: A 2007 study, which included five studies examining walking and the risk of type 2 diabetes (data from a staggering 301,221 people), found that those who walked regularly (about 20 minutes per day) had a 30% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who did almost no walking at all. A 1999 analysis of the famous Nurses Health Study also examined the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, this time in over 70,000 female nurses over an eight-year period. Walking was strongly associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, and the speed was important – compared to those who walked at an “easy pace” (longer than 30 minutes to walk one mile), those who walked at a “normal” pace (20-30 minutes per mile) had a 14% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Walking at a brisk pace (faster than 20 minutes per mile) was linked with a 41% lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
How can I incorporate walking and other types of exercise into my daily routine?
1. Take it one step at a time: A good way to start something new is to take it slow, set achievable goals, and then make them more ambitious over time. If you don’t walk at all right now, make a goal to walk one minute per day. Next week, walk two minutes per day. Starting small and building up over time makes starting a new goal less daunting. Plus, the gains you make will give you a sense of satisfaction and encourage you to keep going.
2. Make a schedule: One easy way to remind yourself to walk or exercise is to schedule it on your calendar – this can serve as a daily reminder, as well as a way to protect that time and avoid overscheduling yourself. And if your goal is 100 minutes of walking per week, a calendar can make it seem manageable: just 15 minutes per day.
3. Involve friends and family: Having someone join you in an exercise program can help keep you accountable (i.e., you may be less likely to skip out on a session if you know you’d be letting your partner down), make the time pass more quickly, and even help foster some healthy competition.
4. Make it fun: To pass the time while walking, I’ve become a huge fan of listening to audiobooks, music, or calling family members. There are also a variety of smartphone apps that are designed to make walking more fun, trackable over time, and even more competitive. A bit of online searching led me to Walkmeter (an award winning tracking app), Every Body Walk! (tracking and connecting with walking groups), and Arookoo (intended to make walking more fun with challenges and awards). There are also many activity trackers that can be motivating, including Bodymedia’s device, Fitbit, Zamzee, Nike’s Fuelband, and others.
5. Sneak it in: If you’re not into planning exercise, there are still cool and easy ways to get more walking in. You can park farther away when you go to the store, take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator, and take walking breaks with colleagues at work – the latter is a diaTribe staff favorite to enjoy the beautiful Lower Haight neighborhood here in San Francisco.
Minutes of Walking Pre Walk Blood Glucose Post-Walk Blood Glucose Blood Glucose Change Change per minute Overall Average 14 mins 126 mg/dl 111 mg/dl -15 mg/dl -1.1 mg/dl/min #1 10 103 74 -29 -2.9 #2 12 153 120 -33 -2.8 #3 20 138 92 -46 -2.3 #4 8 117 103 -14 -1.8 #5 14 121 99 -22 -1.6 #6 13 125 110 -15 -1.2 #7 17 125 107 -18 -1.1 #8 12 109 100 -9 -0.8 #9 20 125 113 -12 -0.6 #10 14 123 118 -5 -0.4 #11 12 147 153 6 0.5 #12 17 126 144 18 1.1
via diatribe.us
The step-by-step approach to better blood sugars and a healthier 2013: walking
Monday, 21 January 2013
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Friday, 2 November 2012
Friday, 24 August 2012
Six Until Me.: From Abby: Absolutely Not Medical Advice.
From Abby: Absolutely Not Medical Advice.
Like we said before, this is NOT medical advice. Not even close. But Abby has some opinions that are influenced by her years with type 1 diabetes, her nursing degree, and all the stuff she hears people saying about diabetes, and she wants to share those opinions here.
Myth #3: ALL METERS SHOULD BE ACCURATE ALL THE TIME - ALWAYS!
I love me some accuracy. I fully appreciate and take advantage of the photo opportunity that is a matching finger stick and Dexcom reading. That being said, I want people to remember something about the 20% frustration factor. Think about the fact that labs are little tiny experiments, whether a finger stick glucose reading or a lab draw for yearly cholesterol - it is measuring a small (like, really really small) sample of fluid and figuring out how many of that "thing" is in that sample. You try making technology that requires a micro-amount of capillary blood that will give you the same reading every time. The bigger problem here is that when you think about it there is NO WAY that the glucose concentration in your pinky finger is the same as in your antecubital as in your ear lobe. It's impossible! How could it be the same throughout your body?What helps? Using the same meter all the time, using unexpired strips, getting a new meter every two - three years, and only base your medication dosing on that meter. When you think about it, if your particular meter reads 100 mg/dL, but your venous blood is 120 it's fine because you're going to do the same thing every single time with that meter reading of 100, which will result in a consistent A1c that will match. See? Stop using 48 different meters and getting mad because they are 8 points off from each other. The key to science is consistency, and diabetes is science.
Note: if you feel low, and your meter reads an in-range number, get back to basics. Wash your hands, chose a new finger, and test again with an ample sample. Test strips are mass manufactured and they are not perfect all the time. Also, remember than any blood glucose reading is more accurate than a urine strip that gives a vague reading of "in between brown and greenish but more on the brown side" on it. There has been progress!
Myth #4: My hydration status does not effect my diabetes. Water is not insulin.
Okay, this is sort of kind of true and not true. Fact: Water is not insulin. Fact: Hydration has a HUGE effect on diabetes. Like, arguably the biggest effect of anything short of pasta. I actually heard a doctor say in a lecture a few weeks ago "I've seen people admitted with HHS (the type 2 version of DKA) whose blood sugar went from 1500 mg/dL to 800 mg/dL after two liters of fluids and no medication." Want more evidence of hydration influence? Think about the symptoms you have when you are dehydrated - thirsty, dizzy, nauseous, headache ... sound familiar? If not, you've never felt a high blood sugar. More fluid dilutes your blood, which lowers the ratio of glucose to blood, which is also known as mg/dL - which is how you measure your finger stick glucose on your tiny little meter. So, it's safe to say, that if you are dehydrated your "blood sugar" will increase. Thirsty yet?(Please note that water is not a substitute for medication. Ever. In any sense of the idea. Ever. Do not drink a bottle of water and think you don't need insulin or your pills. It's not true. It never will be true. What you can do, is if you have a stubborn high that you're afraid of rage bolusing into a low, drink some extra water and wait a little bit - it might not do anything, but a little extra water never hurt anyone right?*)
*If you have kidney, heart, or any other sort of medical issue PLEASE PLEASE follow your doctor's plans for fluids. I am aware that many people have a strict fluid intake limit. Again, this is Absolutely Not Medical Advice. Ever. Seriously.
* * *
Posted by Abby (the Person) on August 22, 2012 09:19 AM | Permalink
Comments
I'm guilty of comparing meters during BG tests (what can I say, I love to be frustrated?). But you make a valid point that I've been wondering in the past few days - it does make sense to stick with one meter for consistency! However I do have a problem with getting accurate results from that one meter. Yesterday for instance I tested at 83 mg/dL on my Verio IQ but 65 on my PDM. I don't usually feel my lows so I can't go based on how I feel. Had I not tested with the PDM additionally, I wouldn't have wondered if I was low or going low and may have went about my way unexpecting. That scares me.
Posted by: Stacey D. | August 22, 2012 10:09 AM
I was so excited when I saw the title of this post! I really love this weekly dia-myth-busting stuff! :) Keep it up
Posted by: Anonymous | August 22, 2012 01:14 PM
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Monday, 20 August 2012
Brenden Hills: Living with diabetes | thetelegraph.com.au
Picture: Thinkstock Source: The Sunday Telegraph
The number 62 never had much of a bearing on my life.
I was born in the 1980s and I'd never lived anywhere with a number higher than 29 on the letterbox.
But 62 changed my life on January 14, 2010, at Neutral Bay Medical Centre. It was my blood sugar level. A normal level is five.
"Have you been vomiting?" the doctor asked. Nope.
"Well, it's not far away, so I suggest you get yourself to the emergency room as fast as you can because I've never seen a blood sugar level this high.
"I think you've got type one diabetes."
And that was it. I did.
At least I'd entered the world of incurable disease with a higher score than anyone else.
Most people get diagnosed when their level hits 20, the doctor said.
Rugby league star Brett Stewart could only manage in the 30s.
There was no explanation for how it happened.
Diabetes wasn't in my family. A great-aunt I'd never met had it, but no one else.
There was some mystery thing inside my body which decided it was time to kill off the important parts of my pancreas and, as a result, my ability to produce insulin naturally.
Insulin? I'd never heard of it.
It's a hormone produced by the pancreas which pushes sugar from your blood into the rest of your body. My pancreas had just packed it in. We'd only just met.
I was now signed up for a lifetime of strict diet and exercise.
At 29 I had to become accountable for everything I ate and drank.
No more boozy nights with the boys topped off with a race to see who could get through 20 chicken nuggets the fastest at 4am.
No more competitive eating at the all-you-can-eat pizza bar.
On the plus side, I'd probably never again be thrown down the stairs of the Bull and Bush Hotel by a bouncer after singing into a microphone I wasn't authorised to.
A run or a surf would now have to be preceded by a complex mathematical equation.
Once on the early-morning bus to work I could feel the sugar level slide and struggled to open a value pack of Skittles that exploded when I pulled too hard in my dopey state.
They ended up scattered all over the bus, but still I gathered a few off the floor and the person next to me and ate some.
Beer became low-carb and flavourless. But at least I have developed a taste for top-shelf spirits, taken neat.
These are tough realities for a man with a fondness for chicken schnitzel and a schooner.
The other downside was my new life as a pin cushion.
When your pancreas stops working, you have to perform its role by injecting insulin.
That means five injections a day. Minimum. Two in the morning, one at lunch and two more at night.
As a diabetic, routine is king. You have to structure your main meals to occur at roughly the same time every day and accompany them with an injection of insulin timed just right to shift the sugar.
The problem is there's a lot of guess work.
Too much insulin and your level goes low, meaning you're at risk of passing out, or death.
Too high for too long and you run the risk of all sorts of medical blowback.
And for some reason it gives you a shorter fuse than Hulk Hogan.
So, you've got to park it in the middle, on the edge of that five-cent piece.
It's weird at first.
I felt like a junkie, jabbing myself with needles five times a day.
It's confronting for others to watch. I still refer to it as "shooting up". At least it goes in the stomach and I don't have to look for a vein.
Before diagnosis, I ate whatever I wanted.
Now I lock my survival lollies in a safe to keep my wife's lack of willpower from killing me.
Workmates love the endless supply of snakes on my desk, but they're always careful to leave me enough to live.
But with your pancreas on the blink the Mars bars or pasta you've been eating push up your sugar level.
When it hits 15 or higher you get thirsty. Really thirsty.
Every drop of water tastes as good as if I'd run the London Marathon with a hangover on a 42C day in a ski suit.
When the levels are wrong water isn't enough.
I turned to sports drinks, which are refreshing but are more sugary than Froot Loops. In the weeks leading up to diagnosis I was so thirsty I must have drunk 50 of them. They pushed my blood sugar level sky high.
Once you are diagnosed with a level that high it's quite a process to bring it down.
For me it took two days hooked up to a drip on a bed that had been wheeled into a Royal North Shore Hospital storeroom due to a lack of space in the rest of the hospital.
Once the adjustment is made, it's about coming to terms with it and just doing it.
So says Manly Sea Eagles fullback Stewart, who is a great ambassador.
That Stewart can maintain a steady blood sugar level through 80 minutes of rugby league shows you can live to your full potential.
"After a while you just figure out what works for you because everyone responds to it differently," he told me. "You just have to plan for everything and eat accordingly."
Wonder how many carbs are in that pic? ha ha
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Leading My Own Life with Diabetes - Diabetes Daily Voices
Each day with diabetes brings about challenges, new and old, that continue to make us feel like we were recently diagnosed. We learn, relearn, and continue to count our carbs, check our blood sugar, take our insulin and still end up with a blood sugar that makes us ask, “What the heck?”
The day came for me to complete my 13 mile run in preparation for my first marathon and I did everything right. Or, so I thought at the time. The night before the run I had a balanced meal, made sure to stay hydrated by drinking a ridiculous amount of water, set a temporary basal to kick-in at 4:30a.m. for a 7:30a.m. run by using the “patterns” function on my pump, and went to bed the night before with an ideal blood sugar.
Everything was going well…until I woke up! First thing, I check blood sugar. 294 mg/dL.
“What the heck?”
I was hoping to jump out of bed being excited for my big run, but I practically had to be pushed out of bed because I was so tired from the high. I had a little over an hour until I was going to start my run and I had some decisions to make.
- I need to lower my blood sugar to around 150 mg/dL without causing it to go much lower during my workout.
- I need to eat some carbs to give me energy for the run without increasing my blood sugar.
- I need some coffee, because I have a 16 month old! More of a necessity than a decision!
But more than anything else, I need to prepare myself mentally for the longest run of my life. I have been training for months now to get to this point and regardless of how my diabetes is trying to interrupt my plans, I am going to do this run!
I have come to realize that living with diabetes is similar to training for a marathon, only one has a finish line and the other does not. The daily training of diabetes/running continue to make us more disciplined, better prepared, and stronger mentally and physically. But every once in a while we have a day where we just cannot seem to get things going.
You start chasing a high blood sugar and the next thing you know you are eating glucose tabs for a low; much like a runner struggling to get to the top of a hill and then using the momentum of the downhill to propel them to pick up the pace. Unfortunately, the temporary burst of energy from your blood sugar dropping, or running downhill will eventually lead to fatigue because of the erratic levels.
So, when I woke up with a blood sugar of 294 and my diabetes telling me to give some insulin, go back to bed, and complete my run tomorrow, I needed some motivation. Being a music junkie I turned on my iPod to one of my favorite songs, from the band Rise Against, called “Paper Wings,” and headed for the door. I kept singing the line, “Is this the life that you lead or the life that’s led for you? Will you take the road that’s been laid out before you? Will we cross paths somewhere else tonight?”
My Answer: I lead this life with diabetes and although diabetes tests me with different challenges each day in an attempt to take the “reins,” I am not going to take the road that has been laid out before me. We (diabetes and me) will cross paths somewhere else tonight, tomorrow, and the next night, and I am prepared more than ever for your next challenge!
I finished the 13 mile run with a blood sugar of 133 mg/dL!Related:
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Saturday, 18 August 2012
Drinking Alcohol Safely With Diabetes - Diabetes Daily Voices
Alcohol. Yep, some people with diabetes drink it. I do, on occasion. Some argue that drinking alcohol with diabetes isn’t the healthiest choice, but I could say the same thing about diet soda.
Whatever your stance on it is, it is something that should be handled with care, especially when you are dealing with diabetes.
As anyone with diabetes (or someone who loves a PWD) knows, it is a balancing act. Between food, exercise, hormones and the like, we are constantly chasing that elusive 100 mg/dl on the meter. Alcohol can really throw your blood sugars into a tailspin. Let’s not even start on carbohydrates in your drink. Your liver and its functions are a very big player in how you manage diabetes while drinking. Instead of helping to regulate your blood sugar, your liver is busy metabolizing the alcohol, which can result in some scary lows. Be prepared with glucose tabs and make sure to check regularly if you are having a drink.
What to Drink?
I like to stick to drinks that don’t have carbohydrates in them: a good red wine, vodka and club soda or Fresca, or an occasional martini are predictable for me. Plus, I don’t have to take any insulin with them which makes it easier. If I am having a beer or something fruity like rum punch, I make sure to limit how much I am having. I once had an endocrinologist tell me that after every 3 drinks make your fourth one with carbs. I don’t know how good that advice was, I don’t follow it… But I do stick to what I know, I test very often, and I make sure to eat something while I am drinking.
Bedtime Cautions
Yes, you should be cautious before bed even when not drinking but you need to be even more on track of what your blood sugar is when you are. I cannot stress enough to test right before bed (and before you brush your teeth) to make sure you are in a healthy range. I usually have a little snack like bread and cheese or something with fat, carbs and protein to make sure that I stay safe.
If you don’t live alone make sure that your spouse/roommate/partner, etc. knows what your blood sugar level is and that you have had a drink (or two). If they really love you they will keep their eyes out for you so you are ok.
The Day After
Since the effects of drinking alcohol can last for 24 hours after (not just a hangover but diabetes wise) it’s important to make sure you test a lot the next day. From your liver working to process the alcohol, it is not unlikely you will be low. Again, test a lot, wear a CGM if you can, and keep on top of it. Eat something a little carby if you like- I am a big fan of a bowl of Pho- and take it easy. Don’t plan on any big workouts. I have been there and had to sit out of many runs and yoga classes eating glucose tabs because I was constantly low. That is no fun either.
I find that an occasional drink can be a fun way to relax with friends or to enjoy with a meal. I make sure to make diabetes my top priority with drinking so that I can remain healthy and in control. Do you drink alcohol with diabetes or do you find it doesn’t fit in with your lifestyle? I want to hear all about both sides! If you do drink, what do you find works best for you? Any tips you can share to safely drink with diabetes?
Photo Credit: Anders Adermark
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And guess what Im another one that loves a glass of wine or three
Drinking Alcohol Safely With Diabetes - Diabetes Daily Voices
As anyone with diabetes (or someone who loves a PWD) knows, it is a balancing act. Between food, exercise, hormones and the like, we are constantly chasing that elusive 100 mg/dl on the meter. Alcohol can really throw your blood sugars into a tailspin. Let’s not even start on carbohydrates in your drink. Your liver and its functions are a very big player in how you manage diabetes while drinking. Instead of helping to regulate your blood sugar, your liver is busy metabolizing the alcohol, which can result in some scary lows. Be prepared with glucose tabs and make sure to check regularly if you are having a drink.
What to Drink?
I like to stick to drinks that don’t have carbohydrates in them: a good red wine, vodka and club soda or Fresca, or an occasional martini are predictable for me. Plus, I don’t have to take any insulin with them which makes it easier. If I am having a beer or something fruity like rum punch, I make sure to limit how much I am having. I once had an endocrinologist tell me that after every 3 drinks make your fourth one with carbs. I don’t know how good that advice was, I don’t follow it… But I do stick to what I know, I test very often, and I make sure to eat something while I am drinking.
Bedtime Cautions
Yes, you should be cautious before bed even when not drinking but you need to be even more on track of what your blood sugar is when you are. I cannot stress enough to test right before bed (and before you brush your teeth) to make sure you are in a healthy range. I usually have a little snack like bread and cheese or something with fat, carbs and protein to make sure that I stay safe.
If you don’t live alone make sure that your spouse/roommate/partner, etc. knows what your blood sugar level is and that you have had a drink (or two). If they really love you they will keep their eyes out for you so you are ok.
The Day After
Since the effects of drinking alcohol can last for 24 hours after (not just a hangover but diabetes wise) it’s important to make sure you test a lot the next day. From your liver working to process the alcohol, it is not unlikely you will be low. Again, test a lot, wear a CGM if you can, and keep on top of it. Eat something a little carby if you like- I am a big fan of a bowl of Pho- and take it easy. Don’t plan on any big workouts. I have been there and had to sit out of many runs and yoga classes eating glucose tabs because I was constantly low. That is no fun either.
I find that an occasional drink can be a fun way to relax with friends or to enjoy with a meal. I make sure to make diabetes my top priority with drinking so that I can remain healthy and in control. Do you drink alcohol with diabetes or do you find it doesn’t fit in with your lifestyle? I want to hear all about both sides! If you do drink, what do you find works best for you? Any tips you can share to safely drink with diabetes?
Photo Credit: Anders Adermark
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And guess what Im another one that loves a glass of wine or three
Thursday, 16 August 2012
New Report: Insulin Pump Use in Australia
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released a new report today, “Insulin pump use in Australia”.
The report notes that 10% of Australians with type 1 diabetes use insulin pumps, with almost half of these people under 25 years of age. 88% of people interviewed chose insulin pumps for better control of their diabetes.
Importantly, the report states that “There are both clinical and lifestyle benefits to using insulin pump therapy. Studies have shown that people using pumps have lower HbA1c levels, lower insulin requirements and improvements in glycaemic control compared with people using MDIs …This improvement in the overall management of diabetes also reduces the risk of long-term health complications such as retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy.”
In addition, while the report recognises that the ongoing costs of consumables for insulin pumps can be more expensive when compared to the costs of multiple daily injections, it also states that “this expense is thought to be a more cost-effective option in the long term for most users due to the improvements in lifestyle and in the reduction in long-term medical complications”.
JDRF supports the use of insulin pumps for the type 1 community, when deemed appropriate by a relevant health professional. Unfortunately, government funding for the JDRF-administered Type 1 Diabetes Insulin Pump Program (t1dIPP) has now been fully allocated for 2012, and JDRF is unable to process any more subsidies until further funding is released by the Australian Government.
Please be reassured to know that JDRF has secured an understanding from the Department of Health and Ageing that they will work proactively with JDRF to seek increased funding for the t1dIPP in the 2013 May budget. JDRF hopes that the positive results of this new AIHW report will support this bid for increased funding in 2013.
via jdrf.org.au
Interesting research
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Friday, 3 August 2012
Talking Diabetes Over a Cup of Coffee - Diabetes Daily Voices
It always shocks and saddens me when I meet a person who has lived with diabetes for years and years without having ever had the chance to connect in real life with another diabetic. While forums and online communities are incredible, there is something about sitting across a table in your local coffee shop from another person who lives with this disease.
Simply having someone you can call, meet up with for lunch, or even just text, “My blood sugar is 348 mg/dL! Insulin expired! Bleh! This sucks!” is an intangibly wonderful thing. It’s gives you something that even your greatest type 3s (the people who love and support you) can’t give you.
I know I can always log on to my own Facebook page or Diabetes Daily’s and reach out to fellow PWDs (people with diabetes) whom I’ve never met in real life for this venting/support, but through the years I’ve always discovered a small but powerfully supportive community of PWDs in the town where I live.
Some of these people I met online first, and then proceeded to meet with in real life. Others I simply met by being involved in local diabetes events, and most importantly: not ever hiding the fact that I do live with diabetes.
One of my favorite local PWDs is a woman my age whom I was introduced to by a mutual friend. She dated a friend of mine briefly, they remained friends, and after a couple months it finally dawned on him that he should introduce us, merely for the fact that we both have diabetes. She is awesome, and she’s also someone I know I can call or text any time I need to.
Another local PWD is another woman I met at the gym who had recognized my name and face from an online community, though we had never really spoken to each other online. She introduced herself and we’ve been close friends ever since.
There are support groups, mentor programs (where adults mentor kids), and non-profit organizations in your community that could lead to incredible friendships with people who know exactly what life is like with diabetes. The inexplicable support that comes from simply knowing someone down the road who lives with this disease is, I promise, worth the extra effort of putting yourself out there.
The most important step: being confidently open about the fact that you live with diabetes. I wear diabetes proudly on my sleeve, because I’m proud of myself for managing it day-in and day-out. If I hide my diabetes, I will limit my ability to connect with other people in this disease. Through being outspoken about diabetes, I meet new people and make new friends who live minutes from my home all the time.
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Diabetes Mellitus and Ramadan Fast
a better understanding of pathophysiological changes during Ramadan fasting in diabetic patients has provided a few guidelines on how to advice diabetics who want to fast.
For all the people of faith
Monday, 30 July 2012
Coaching for a Better Diabetes Life
That’s why the “Diabetes Coach” is becoming a resource that more PWDs are turning to. They’re not trained medical professionals, but life-balance experts who may have a lot to offer in helping us cope with our day-to-day D-struggles.
via diabetesmine.com
I'm not convinced that this is a valuable resource. Id rather be direct with my endo if i wasn't get thr right advice or ask online for Anecdotal experience for scenarios but am I in a minority?
Little Diabetes Tricks.
I'll be the first to admit I don't follow all the rules of diabetes. I think it's only fair because diabetes doesn't follow my rules
via sixuntilme.com
Any things you do, that you would never admit to your endo
Concierge Medicine :: Diabetes Self-Management
As health-care costs continue to rise in the United States, some doctors are adopting a payment model that makes costs even higher for their patients — and many of those patients willingly and even enthusiastically participate
Would you put your health in the hands of a Diabetes concierge?
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