via diabetesmine.com
In the not-so-distant future, people with diabetes or parents caring for type 1 kids could have more peace of mind sleeping through the night thanks to a new device Dexcom’s developing.
Showing posts with label nice diabetes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nice diabetes. Show all posts
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Thanks to Diabetes Hands - Tu Diabetes Live Interview with Ginger Vieira
via youtube.com
A great diabetes ambassador, well worth the time to watch
Wednesday, 13 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
Monday, 14 January 2013
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Mamamia - This life long chronic disease doesnt have a cure. Lets help find one
Check out this website I found at mamamia.com.au
A view of a Mum & her newly diagnose T1D child
Thanks to The Age's Tony Wright - When life is lived one needle at a time
ONE hundred kids sat down to a lunch in Parliament's Great Hall on Thursday, only the menu on every table offering a hint there might be a distinction between these and any other children. Each plate of chicken breast with kipfler potato, zucchini and sauteed spinach, the menu informed, equated to 24 grams of carbohydrate. A slice of watermelon was 1.3 grams, ruby grapes were 0.75 grams apiece.
Most of us wouldn't have a clue why such esoteric detail would be of interest, but virtually every kid in the House and all their parents studied the numbers with intent. Carbohydrate, essentially, is sugar, and if you happen to suffer diabetes type 1, you must know precisely how much sugar is in your food, and therefore headed to your bloodstream.
The irony for those with type 1 diabetes is that sugar is both your friend and your enemy: you need a certain amount in your blood to keep your body operating and your brain sparking, but too much will cripple you.
You must discover, before you start, your body's existing sugar content, which requires you to prick your finger, draw blood and test it with a little electronic device. Then you must calculate how much insulin has to be injected into your body to deal with the sugar in your food, which is why a menu with detail about grams of carbohydrates is handy.
AdvertisementIf you do not inject enough insulin, your blood sugar content will soar and you will become very ill indeed. If you inject too much, your blood sugar will plummet and you will lose grasp on reality and head towards unconsciousness.
Either way, if you do not receive help, you will eventually die. It's a delicate computation, performed several times a day. It's not hard for it to go wrong.
And there, in bite-size detail, is daily reality for the 122,300 people in Australia diagnosed with diabetes type 1, also known as juvenile diabetes. Another six, most of them children, are diagnosed every day. Type 1 really ought to have another name, for it is a more terrifying beast than the much more common diabetes type 2, which is often considered a lifestyle disease and can be controlled by medication, diet and exercise.
Type 1 arrives without warning and has nothing to do with obesity or lack of exercise. Your immune system goes haywire, attacks your pancreas and suddenly, irrevocably, denies your body the ability to produce insulin.
From that moment, you must learn about carbohydrates and blood sugar, and accept that hypodermic needles or an insulin pump will remain your constant companions. For as long as you live.
Virtually all these people will come to conceal a secret: they fear going to sleep, afraid that they might not wake up. Sometimes, they do not. There is no cure.
A 15-year-old girl from Adelaide, Shanna McGrath, was MC at Thursday's Kids in the House luncheon. The event is organised annually by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to confront politicians with the truth about type 1 in the hope that decision-makers might find and grant the money necessary to support research towards development of an artificial pancreas - tantalisingly close - or the great hope, a cure.
Shanna told all those in attendance that since she was diagnosed with type 1 at the age of six, she has pricked her fingers 25,000 times. She loved life, but was never OK with the stress and anxiety that accompanied the knowledge of her disease, she said, nor all those times she has felt sick and exhausted.
She introduced Oscar, 8, who declared type 1 was ''annoying and I hate it - it makes me tired and the needles hurt''.
Many in the audience, including this reporter, wept as Justin and Lyndall Haydon, a policeman and a teacher from Sydney, told their story, their three-year-old daughter Mikayla scampering around the stage. Most of us knew precisely what the Haydons were talking about.
Mikayla was diagnosed with type 1 at 11 months. She almost died. Since then the disease has ruled the family's life, and the three-year-old has had her fingers pricked 7000 times.
All the trips to hospital, the exhausting business of checking Mikayla's blood sugar all day and at midnight and 3am, the need to force-feed her sugar or to resort to a glucose injection when she lapses into a sudden low - known as a hypoglycaemic episode - and to seek medical attention when her sugars rage high …
Her parents have used all their leave, have drained their savings to the point they can't hope to buy a house, and rely on extended family to help raise their spirits, or to cry with them.
''We nearly didn't make it here today,'' Lyndall said. On Tuesday Mikayla was raced by ambulance to hospital, and the family was still dealing with her unusually high blood sugar readings.
''Mikayla will have type 1 diabetes every day for as long as she lives unless a cure is found,'' Justin said.
A cure, or anything approaching it, will take money. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has raised $1.6 billion worldwide and more than $100 million in Australia, nearly all of it through the efforts of type 1-afflicted families.
Now researchers have established a clinical research network to throw all their efforts into developing better insulin pumps, an artificial pancreas, trials to transplant insulin-producing islets into the pancreas and other efforts to ease the agony of those who fear their next sleep may be the last. The network needs $35 million over four years: $7 million a year. In federal budgetary terms, it is a paltry amount. The National Disability Insurance Scheme got $1 billion this year simply to begin establishing itself.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on Thursday promised the Kids in the House that a Coalition government would provide the $35 million.
The Gillard government's Health Minister, Tanya Plibersek, came to the lunch and as she ascended the stage, the children and their parents held a collective breath. But when the minister had finished her address, there had been no mention of money.
''Promise to remember us,'' said Shanna McGrath as the politicians left to do battle over a 20-year-old slush fund.
Tony Wright's daughter, Fairfax journalist Jessica Wright, was diagnosed with diabetes type 1 nine years ago.
via theage.com.au
The type of Type 1 Diabetes article that helps to raise awareness
Monday, 12 November 2012
Thanks to JDRP - A leap forward in the quest to develop an artificial pancreas
JDRF-funded Australian research is breaking new ground with the Artificial Pancreas Project at Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
Associate Professor Jenny Gunton from the Garvan Institute and Dr Nigel Greenwood, an Honorary Senior Fellow at the University of Queensland, received an Innovation Grant from JDRF a year ago to carry out initial tests on prototype artificial pancreas software.
The JDRF-funded project used two virtual patients, generated by a simulator created by Dr Greenwood, an Artificial Intelligence expert. These virtual patients’ meal data and insulin data were obtained from actual patients with diabetes. After data analysis, the software calculated suggested insulin dosages, which were given to the simulated patients. Blood glucose readings were analysed after insulin delivery, over 55 simulated days.
The results of the testing period showed that the patients achieved blood glucose levels within the target range of 4.4.-7.8 mmol/L over 90% of the time. The average person with diabetes would be outside that range over 60% of the time. This is a remarkable result, and one that demonstrates the promise of an Artificial Pancreas.
“The ultimate aim for a ‘mechanical cure’ for type 1 diabetes would be to have a closed loop system – where you have an insulin pump which knows how much insulin to give at the right time,” said Associate Professor Gunton.
JDRF’s Head of Research Development Dr Dorota Pawlak says: “Combining diabetes expertise with mathematical innovation, this project draws on resources more commonly found in the military or robotics industries, and applies them to the next big diabetes breakthrough, an artificial pancreas. This approach to modelling possible human outcomes could expedite some of the lengthy and expensive steps of research that would usually be required.”
The next step for this project is human clinical trials.
For more information, please see the press release on the Garvan Institute website.
via jdrf.org.au
Its news like this about a diabetes cure that keeps a smile on your face
Friday, 9 November 2012
My favourite re-blog - An open letter to the Media re: Diabetes
It’s November 9th, and that means it’s D-Blog day. Today, the entire Diabetes Online Community is encouraged to write a post of similar topic on their personal blogs. And today, we’re encouraged to share them with media outlets far and wide. Want to include yours? Write your post and link it here: http://diabetestalkfest.com/blog/?p=507
Our topic today:
Choose a form of Media Outlet to write an open letter to, such as NY Times, CNN, Local/National Newspapers, TV and why it is so important for them to let the world know that diabetes is more than just being overweight and having too much sugar. It is about reporting stories about Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Let them know what kind of things you would like them to write about. If there are specific articles or reports they got wrong, let them know about it! Let’s get it right!
My letter is going to all of the local TV stations here in my city, and it goes like this:
Dear News Director,
We’re in the middle of a very important month for me, and others like me. November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Next Wednesday, November 14 is World Diabetes Day.
I’ve been living with Type 1 diabetes for nearly 22 years, from the time I was 28 years old. I’d like to take the opportunity during this important month to talk about how your organization covers diabetes over the course of the entire year. Over the years, I’ve seen stories about diabetes reported many times, and some of those times, I’ve become concerned about how diabetes is covered, or how issues related to diabetes are covered. I’m very concerned about how this affects the way people with and without diabetes view each other. So if I may, let me dispel a few diabetes myths.
Diabetes is all the same. Actually, there are many types of diabetes. The most common are Type 2, where the body has trouble using the insulin it produces. About 90% of new diagnoses are Type 2. There’s Type 1, which is an autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. But there’s also Type 1.5, or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (or LADA), which researchers are still discovering more about, and Gestational Diabetes, where women have high blood glucose levels only during their pregnancy. It’s discovered in about 4 percent of all pregnant women.
It’s important to note the differences in diabetes, because while we all have the same serious, chronic condition, the way we approach and treat the different forms of diabetes can vary widely.
Diabetes is preventable. Let me say it clearly: People don’t get diabetes from too much sugar, or by being overweight. I developed Type 1 diabetes because my body’s immune system attacked my pancreas and killed the insulin-producing cells there. I was in great shape, at an optimal weight, active all the time, and otherwise, very healthy. In addition, many Type 2s are diagnosed without being overweight and while maintaining healthy diets.
Diabetes can be cured. Actually, it can’t. We can help mitigate the effects of diabetes through diet, exercise, and overall blood glucose management, but we can’t cure diabetes through or drugs, or meditation, or blueberry yogurt, or anything. Anyone who says different is woefully under-informed.
People with diabetes cannot eat sugar. In fact, we
via happy-medium.net
Thanks to Happy-Medium.net, what a great article and I completely agree
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Sunday, 4 November 2012
“If each person helps another person, the world will change”
Dear TuDiabetes Friends
I come to you for help! I believe, it is crucial that our community comes together and take ownership of the wonderful opportunity of doing something really BIG: As you might know, We have less than 14 days to reach our 20000 Big Blue Test entries in order to raise $100,000 for people with diabetes in need. BECAUSE OF THE NOV. 14th DEADLINE, we need to act fast!
I also want to present to you the video we did for the Big Blue Test grantee in Haiti. Please take few minutes to watch the work we could help make possible if we reach our goal.
2012 BiG Blue Test diabetes grantee: FHADIMAC, Haiti
I am so proud of this video. I wish you could been in Haiti with us to realize first hand how important it is that we are able to raise the funds to help nonprofits like FHADIMAC. The video the best next thing I can give you as a good reason to step up! It shows among other things, the power of coming together in helping ourselves and helping others: the element behind our program, and how we can help people empower themselves and others... I believe it is a strong statement to why it is important we do whatever its in our power to reach our goal so we can raise the $100000 Roche has committed for these charities.
I come to you to ask YOU to PLEASE STAND UP and DO THE BIG BLUE TEST! In fact, IF HALF THE COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER ON THIS, WE RUN NO RISK OF MISSING OUR GOAL!
What to Do?1. DO THE BIG BLUE TEST: Do it once or take the chanllenge and do it everyday. It will make a difference. Each test equals a live saving donation of $5 to these charities: http://www.bigbluetest.org/faq/.
2. SPREAD THE WORD | Enlist your Friends/Family/Community: Write a blog-article, contact your local newspaper, send an email to all your contacts, use Intagram. Twitter, facebook to engage other people. (#bigbluetest). Take a Big Blue Test challenge and exercise for 14 days in a row with your family or by yourself and record it using the app or the #bigbluetest
3. ORGANIZE A LOCAL BIG BLUE TEST EVENT: Read this short post with easy instructions, no headaches entering data, I promise… “The idea of you sitting at the computer and logging 100 Big Blue Tests on the Big Blue Test website, however, is less than wonderful (even with the ease of the new Big Blue Test iPhone app now available in the iTunes app store). There are a couple different ways for you to get us batches of results. Pick which way works best for you” READ MORE:Please DO take ownership, if we come together on this, we WILL do something big! Help yourself and help others, we are not alone in this, I know we can count on our community to make the donation to these year Big Blue Test grantees possible, while we help ourselves learning the benefit of geting active
Thank you, we are counting on YOU,
Andreina D.
via tudiabetes.org
What a beautiful message... The Big Blue Test is a great Diabetes related initiative and TuDiabetes is a great site to promote it!
Saturday, 3 November 2012
2012 Review: Blood Glucose Meters
As according to the Consumer Reports, ranking of the top 21 glucose meters available in the United States in their November issue. Do you agree?
Friday, 2 November 2012
Thursday, 1 November 2012
Blue Cupcake, the Diabetes Answer to Hallmark Cards
via diabetesmine.com
When i saw it was called Blue Cupcake my mind when somewhere else but great idea for Hallmark cards
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