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May 2012
Diabetes Health recently submitted some questions to CVS Caremark Corporation regarding its "The State of the States: Adherence Report." The report compiled data from more than 50 million patients to track their level of adherence to drug prescriptions for four chronic diseases: diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
2 comments - Posted May 4, 2012
American Idol judge Randy Jackson has embarked upon a mission of education and advocacy, urging those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes to take a stand for their health and well-being.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2012
April 2012
On April 19, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to diabetes patients not to combine the blood pressure medication aliskiren (Tekturna) with ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers. The warning also applies to patients who have renal impairment.
2 comments - Posted Apr 30, 2012
NeuroMetrix, Inc., a Massachusetts-based medical device company, has filed a 510(k) form with the US Food and Drug Administration for the SENSUSTM, a pain therapy device for people who suffer diabetic neuropathy. A 510(k) is a "premarket notification" of a company's intent to market a medical product. The FDA then tests the product and provides feedback to the manufacturer. Once the FDA clears the product, its maker can introduce it to the US market.
1 comment - Posted Apr 24, 2012
As we approach the summer season, our thoughts turn to barbecues, picnics, amusement parks, and road trips to the beach. It is a season of fun, but it can be hard for people with diabetes to enjoy the festivities and still maintain healthy eating habits.
1 comment - Posted Apr 23, 2012
Bariatric surgery, not medications, may be the key to producing dramatic drops in weight and even the remission of diabetes symptoms among type 2 patients, says a study from the University of Rome.
0 comments - Posted Apr 20, 2012
North Carolina-born chef Sam Talbot first came to national attention when he placed third in the Season 2 run of Bravo's Top Chef TV competition. Sam, who has type 1 diabetes and wears an insulin pump, held the executive chef position at several New York City restaurants, including Black Duck, Williamsburgh Cafe, and Punch, before opening his current restaurant, the acclaimed Surf Lodge, in Montauk on Long Island.
0 comments - Posted Apr 11, 2012
Iranian scientists report that a traditional Middle Eastern yogurt drink, doogh, when fortified with vitamin D, decreases the markers that indicate inflammation in persons with type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 3, 2012
As I listen to the news of the recent Mega Millions jackpot of over $600 million, my dreams aren't about fast cars, vast mansions, or plush vacations. My thoughts revolve around my diabetes. How awesome would it be to have the best care that money can buy?
7 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2012
March 2012
It's spring break again, when thousands of people head to the beach. A lot of wonderful things come with being out and about on spring break, but if you have diabetes, there are also several things you should consider. There's going to be more traffic, fewer parking places, lots of people, an abundance of uncalculated carbohydrate sources, and longer waits for everything, to name just a few.
2 comments - Posted Mar 26, 2012
After my recent heart attack, it got harder to keep my diabetes under control. No matter how hard I try, I'm always struggling with my sugar levels these days. Checking them at every meal and at bedtime is a job, but it keeps me healthy and alive. So many people I know have died from diabetes, in part because they failed to do the daily maintenance that came with controlling their condition.
When I was told that I have coronary artery disease, I was baffled. After all, I am only 36, and CAD is a condition of the elderly, or so I thought. The heart specialist, however, let me know that anyone may be susceptible to the condition. Coronary artery disease is caused by a buildup of plaque in the arteries of the heart. Uncontrolled blood sugar levels increase the risk of heart attack because the sugar in the blood damages blood vessels throughout the body, including the heart.
2 comments - Posted Mar 23, 2012
(Editor's Note: Some information in this article is from a press release issued by Medtronic, Inc.)
0 comments - Posted Mar 9, 2012
Sometimes I feel like an idiot. It usually happens when I read a blog by one of my favorite "D" parents telling about how their children are handling life with type 1 diabetes. These brave kids put up with the same things that adults with diabetes do, and some are literally too young to even understand what's going on. Reading about these little warriors makes me regret even more the fact that I wallowed in self pity all afternoon just because my blood sugar didn't cooperate flawlessly during my daily walk.
2 comments - Posted Mar 6, 2012
Maryland-based Telcare, a mobile health app provider, is offering a free application for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad users. MyTelcare Diabetes Pal, which synchronizes with the company's wireless blood glucose meter, allows diabetes patients and caregivers to see the readings sent to them by the Telcare BGM blood glucose meter. They can combine those readings with other patient data about medications, nutrition, and activities, thereby generating a comprehensive overview of their progress with the disease.
0 comments - Posted Mar 4, 2012
LifeScan has announced the voluntary recall of its OneTouch Verio IQ Meter in the United States and Canada. The company reports that under very specific circumstances, the meter turns itself off when users attempt to access the "Results Log" to view stored test results. When the meter is turned back on, it enters the "set up" mode and requires users to confirm the date and time settings before being able to test again.
According to LifeScan, this issue has no effect on the accuracy of test results or functions such as on-screen pattern notifications, averages, result tagging, or downloading, and data are not lost. If the user does not confirm all settings, however, testing is not possible. As a result, treatment may be delayed or a treatment decision made without a blood glucose reading.
0 comments - Posted Mar 2, 2012
February 2012
"I knew I didn't eat a totally healthy diet because bread is a big weakness of mine. Worse, exercise was something I kept planning to do but hadn't gotten around to," recalls 62-year-old Laura M., who lives in a New York City suburb. "I had been feeling more tired than usual and had a cut on my right leg that seemed to be healing slowly, but other than that I felt fine. When during the course of an annual check-up, my doctor said I had diabetes, I practically fell apart."
1 comment - Posted Feb 28, 2012
As a woman with diabetes, you may have noticed that you face unique challenges, from where to place your insulin pump, to pregnancy, to hormone fluctuations. Many diabetes books offer general diabetes advice, but few focus on women beyond just a short chapter. That is, until now.
3 comments - Posted Feb 20, 2012
Using a log book can be cumbersome, but it has many benefits. Tracking your blood sugars allows you to spot trends and provides a landscape view of how your body reacts to changing circumstances. It’s crucial to understand your body’s responses to food, illness, stress, and simply over-indulging in festive activities. Keeping track of these variables helps you better manage your diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Feb 15, 2012
Burbank, Calif.-February 2012 - Although it is illegal to throw used needles and syringes in the trash in California, more than 936 million home-generated sharps end up in the waste stream annually, according to CalRecycle. This is often due to the lack of convenient return options for users of these medical products.
2 comments - Posted Feb 11, 2012
Barley has more beta glucan fiber than any other grain, and it has repeatedly established positive clinical results with regard to diabetes control. It not only boosts immune function by supporting macrophages and neutrophils, lowers blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and helps control obesity, but also attenuates postprandial glucose levels, improves insulin sensitivity, and promotes a feeling of satiety.
6 comments - Posted Feb 5, 2012
Winter in Chicago is catching up with my diabetic feet. No matter how much I lotion up before bed, the cracks are beginning to show. I recall a visit to my endocrinologist where she tested for sensitivity and scoped for cracks, wounds, or anything out of the ordinary. She told me how lucky I was that the skin on my feet was smooth and well maintained. She said to keep up with what I was doing. Though truthfully, I wasn't doing anything, it was summer and my feet were in good condition because of the warm weather and pure luck.
7 comments - Posted Feb 2, 2012
January 2012
The first time I worried about traveling with diabetes was after the 9/11 tragedy. I had been offered a trip to New York to attend a writer's conference. I jumped at the chance, looking forward to the conference, sightseeing, shopping, and seeing the musical The Producers on Broadway.
9 comments - Posted Jan 30, 2012
Animas Corporation, a division of Johnson & Johnson that manufactures insulin pumps, has been reprimanded by the FDA for not reporting serious problems resulting from use of its equipment. The parent company was warned that it could face fines and more for selling faulty insulin pumps and failing to disclose serious injuries to diabetic patients who used the OneTouch Ping and 2020 insulin pumps. According to reports, J&J continued to sell the pumps even after the company knew that some had failed.
1 comment - Posted Jan 29, 2012
Until now, drawing blood has been an unavoidable component of being tested for prediabetes and diabetes. Nobody enjoys the process, and it probably makes many people shy away from undergoing diagnosis at all.
1 comment - Posted Jan 28, 2012
With the recent news of Paula Deen's battle with type 2 diabetes, diabetes has been getting some negative coverage in the media. I've even heard comments like " No wonder Paula Deen has diabetes when she eats so much sugar and butter." This is frustrating because it perpetuates the false stereotype that all people with diabetes are the same.
6 comments - Posted Jan 27, 2012
RALEIGH, NC- DiabetesSisters is pleased to announce that registration for the 2012 Weekend for Women Conference opened on January 1, 2012, at 8 AM. The conference, a revolutionary weekend designed specifically for women with diabetes, will take place Friday, May 18, through Sunday, May 20, 2012, at the Marriott City Center in downtown Raleigh.
0 comments - Posted Jan 24, 2012
The FDA has given Roche the go-ahead to market its Accu-Chek® Nano SmartView blood glucose monitoring system. The Nano, which uses Accu-Chek SmartView test strips, will be available to US consumers within the first half of this year. It is part of the same product line as the Accu-Chek Aviva Nano and Accu-Chek Performa Nano systems, which Roche has already launched in several overseas markets.
3 comments - Posted Jan 22, 2012
A young man in his early thirties struggles through traffic on his small Honda motorbike. As he enjoys a short break at a traffic signal, one foot on the road, his eyes are attracted to a billboard picturing a succulent burger. While he gazes, fantasizing about lunch, his vision starts to blur.
3 comments - Posted Jan 21, 2012
When your doctor recommends a new drug or treatment for your diabetes, do you know if the doctor has received payment from the company that markets the drug or device? If the Obama administration has its way, you will. It is proposing a new law that will require drug companies to disclose payments made to doctors for research, consulting, speaking, travel, and entertainment-even something as minor as coffee and bagels delivered to a doctor's office for a meeting.
10 comments - Posted Jan 20, 2012
Ethan Lewis, diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 12, founded GlucoBrands only 11 years later. The company produces a portable, inexpensive, tasty, fast-acting glucose gel that people can take to quickly restore healthy blood sugar levels when they experience hypoglycemia.
1 comment - Posted Jan 16, 2012
LifeScan has introduced the OneTouch® VerioTM IQ, a meter that not only tracks and displays blood sugar patterns, but also announces them with messages, such as "Looks like your blood sugar has been running LOW around this time."
2 comments - Posted Jan 15, 2012
Minneapolis-based Medtronic, Inc., has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration has given it the go-ahead to market its mySentry monitor, which allows caregivers to check the blood sugar of a diabetic person sleeping in another room. The bedside monitor, which costs around $3,000, works in tandem with Medtronic's MiniMed Paradigm® REAL-Time RevelTM System, a combined insulin pump/continuous glucose monitor unit.
3 comments - Posted Jan 9, 2012
Some women who drink two of more sugary beverages daily are lucky: their consumption of sweetened drinks doesn't put on extra weight.
0 comments - Posted Jan 5, 2012
Spring Health Solutions, Inc., has released an instructional video describing its Spring Universal Infusion Set, recently approved by the FDA and Health Canada. The video, at www.SpringUniversal.com, is designed to help consumers properly use the product.
0 comments - Posted Jan 4, 2012
December 2011
Vaginal yeast infections are annoying, not dangerous, but they can seriously hamper your sex life, especially if you have diabetes. What's the connection, and what can you do to prevent and treat yeast infections?
3 comments - Posted Dec 29, 2011
Diagnosed with diabetes at age 15, Brandy Barnes went on to a successful career as a pharmaceuticals salesperson, but she deeply missed having other diabetic women in her life to whom she could relate. Finally, after a difficult pregnancy, long thought, and prayer, she founded DiabetesSisters (www.diabetes.sisters.org), a North Carolina-based nonprofit organization that provides education and support to women of all ages with all types of diabetes. DS offers conferences, websites, blogs, and a "sister match" program, all designed to lessen feelings of isolation and deepen bonds of connection among women with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Dec 28, 2011
Editor' Note: This article continues Katherine Marple's series on pregnancy with diabetes as a complicating factor. For previous articles, enter her name in the search feature at the top right-hand of this website. The next installment, "Birthing Options," will appear on December 30.
1 comment - Posted Dec 27, 2011
Health experts are unanimous that obesity or being overweight are major factors in the onset of type 2 diabetes. So it's no surprise that researchers here and abroad are working to develop weight-loss drugs that can help people shed pounds and lessen their susceptibility to diabetes.
1 comment - Posted Dec 23, 2011
Even the best known actors can't make a hit movie on their own. They need people behind the scenes. Just like those stars of the silver screen, the standard insulin pump can't do its job all by itself. No, the classic-model pump needs an infusion set to deliver its insulin to patients.
0 comments - Posted Dec 21, 2011
In some US markets, people with diabetes who are covered by Medicare cannot get the mail order diabetes testing supplies that Medicare promised.
1 comment - Posted Dec 19, 2011
Here's the scenario: You're a famed prosecutor who happens to be on an insulin pump. One of the criminals you put away years ago has been released from prison, and he's eager for revenge. This is a particularly cunning criminal, so he hatches a subtle plan. He hacks into your insulin pump, giving you a massive dose of insulin without warning. As you drive to work one day, you begin to feel woozy. That's odd, you think, looking down to where the pump attaches to your stomach. I just ate....
1 comment - Posted Dec 12, 2011
This year's DREAM Award, presented by the Disability Rights Legal Center (DRLC), was given to Nick Jonas, the musician and actor best known as one of the three Jonas Brothers. He was among the special recipients at the DRLC's annual Franklin D. Roosevelt Dinner, held this year on November 17, 2011.
2 comments - Posted Dec 3, 2011
Just take a look around. It's pretty clear that many of us are carrying more weight than we used to. Obesity has skyrocketed in recent years, and it's not about to stop. Roughly one in three adults is obese today, and researchers now predict that 164 million adults will be obese by 2030. That's half of all adults in the country.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2011
November 2011
Earl "the Pearl" Monroe was one of the greatest guards in the history of the National Basketball Association, playing from 1967 through 1980 for the Baltimore Bullets and the New York Knicks. A member of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, he was enshrined in the league's Hall of Fame in 1990. The Knicks retired his jersey number, 15, in 1986.
0 comments - Posted Nov 29, 2011
You might think that it is too late to do anything for Diabetes Awareness Month. Heck, it's late November, so it's too late, right? Nope, wrong. You see, diabetes didn't just go away during the last month. Diabetes is funny that way-it just does not care. Well, we care. We're the Diabetes Research Institute, and we want to end diabetes forever.
3 comments - Posted Nov 28, 2011
Diabetes Health publisher Nadia Al-Samarrie recently spoke with television and movie actor Anthony Anderson, who has taken a lead role with Eli Lilly & Company's F.A.C.E. campaign, a diabetes outreach to African Americans. A veteran of more than 20 films, Anthony, age 41, currently plays Detective Kevin Bernard on NBC's Emmy Award-winning drama, "Law & Order."
1 comment - Posted Nov 27, 2011
There's nothing quite like wondering how you're going to pay for prescriptions. I find it odd that we usually don't know what our out-of-pocket cost will be until we're standing in front of the pharmacy staff and praying that we have enough in our wallet to cover it. I often feel like a reality show contestant waiting for the grand total. My pharmacy-based reality show would probably be called "The Biggest Payer," or perhaps "The Amazing Guess," or, aptly, "Survivor." If you've ever walked away from the pharmacy counter embarrassed, panicked, or depressed, you know the feeling I'm referring to. It's a pain no prescription can cure.
37 comments - Posted Nov 26, 2011
A sleek new version of the humble blood pressure cuff is turning heads. The Withings Smart Blood Pressure Monitor just won a 2012 iF product design award for its maker, the French company Withings. The iF product design award is an international prize, sometimes called the "Design Oscar," that is awarded by a German group.
0 comments - Posted Nov 23, 2011
In one of Devon Inglee's artworks, a teddy bear, the symbol of childhood innocence, lies flat on its back with three menacing syringes piercing its furry tummy. In the background, the bear's owner, a small girl, stands above the teddy eating an apple. Inglee writes, "In ‘Tit for Tat,' a sweet girl contently eats an apple while hiding a large syringe behind her back, oblivious to her beloved, yet murdered toy. This piece deals with the process of anger, mourning, and denial associated with my personal diagnosis of a chronic disease." For the 33-year-old art student, this work is about mourning and letting go of preconceived notions and ideas of what the future will be.
0 comments - Posted Nov 22, 2011
Heather Shields was thrilled when she got the opportunity to dance with the famous Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. At 11 years old, she dreamed of one day becoming a professional ballerina, and this trip would bring her dream a little closer. A long way from home for this California girl, Heather traveled with her family to the "Big Apple" for the month of July. During that month she remembers dancing six to seven hours a day in the heat of the summer. She began losing weight, but shrugged it off, assuming she'd caught her mom's stomach bug.
0 comments - Posted Nov 17, 2011
For a person with diabetes who is beginning insulin therapy, the range of products can be overwhelming. The options are often limited by the patient's healthcare plan, however, and the initial selection of a product is frequently influenced by the healthcare provider. With diabetes education tailored to the individual patient, the delivery of insulin through a particular device is achieved by teaching proper injection technique and selecting an appropriate needle.
2 comments - Posted Nov 6, 2011
October 2011
Wrongly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when he was 30 years old, Chris Angell spent several frustrating weeks trying to make sense of his condition and not understanding why he wasn't getting any better. His diagnosis was eventually changed to type 1 diabetes, but Chris never received the necessary education to get his blood sugars in control. "I didn't know what I was supposed to be eating or how to count carbs, and I really felt isolated," he says.
1 comment - Posted Oct 25, 2011
Winter might be on its way, but there's plenty of fall color to celebrate in the meantime. You can find fresh inspiration with the Divabetic Octoberfest, a series of events sponsored by the nonprofit wellness group for diabetic women.
4 comments - Posted Oct 24, 2011
Need to take control of your diabetes and your health? Going to the doctor frequently might be just what the doctor ordered, according to a study from Brigham and Women's Hospital published last month. The researchers looked at how long it took type 2 patients to reach their goals in three areas: A1C levels, blood pressure, and LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Those who interacted with doctors frequently -- every week to two weeks -- achieved their goals far more quickly than those who interacted with doctors every three to six months.
0 comments - Posted Oct 13, 2011
The answer to the looming threat of obesity and cardiovascular disease could be as simple as putting one foot in front of the other. Indeed, according to a new campaign from managed-care giant Kaiser Permanente, walking has benefits in the short and long term.
0 comments - Posted Oct 7, 2011
News from Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo Nordisk reinforces the growing trend toward using a two-drug combination in the early treatment of type 2 diabetes. (See "A Conversation About Janumet and Earlier Combination Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes" for more discussion about this phenomenon.) In a study it released in Lisbon, Portugal, at the recent meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Novo said that combining its recently released drug Victoza® (liraglutide) with another drug early in therapy helps recently diagnosed type 2s achieve greater blood glucose control than they can with a single drug.
0 comments - Posted Oct 2, 2011
September 2011
Being a rookie driver on the fast-paced IndyCar racing circuit is pressure enough for any 26-year-old. But for Charlie Kimball, one of four wheel men on businessman Chip Ganassi's IndyCar race team, there's the added need to manage type 1 diabetes while roaring around the track at speeds that often exceed 200 miles per hour.
0 comments - Posted Sep 25, 2011
Imagine if there were a cure for diabetes that could be found inside your own body? Wouldn't it be nice if instead of depending on durable medical equipment, we could one day heal ourselves?
1 comment - Posted Sep 24, 2011
So, you're pregnant! Many who are in your shoes have worked very hard and diligently to begin this excursion. Others have reached this milestone unintentionally. Either way, you are about to embark on a journey that will completely challenge everything you know about your type 1 diabetes management. These next few months will challenge your motives, your emotions, your determination, and everything that makes up who you are. So sink your heels in. Take each step one at a time.
5 comments - Posted Sep 20, 2011
Claire Duncan is one of many people with type 1 diabetes who wears a continuous glucose monitor and an insulin pump, in this case, an Animas® VibeTM. In an age of almost routine medical marvels, Duncan doesn't really seem to be an exception.
2 comments - Posted Sep 17, 2011
It may sound silly to say this, especially in this era of computing and high technology, but in our house, one of the most important tools in managing diabetes is a notebook, an ink pen, and three brightly colored magic markers. Of course, I'm talking about the logbook. That's not to say we don't also rely on complicated software to help track our daughter's blood sugars. But when it comes to understanding and using the data to our advantage, there is some truth to the age old belief in hands-on training.
1 comment - Posted Sep 16, 2011
My son just turned twenty. For the first time, we didn't have a cake, ice cream, friends, balloons, or presents. He spent the day in jail. With vivid memories of his heroin-addicted evening in the ICU several months ago, we had nursed high hopes that his life would be on the mend. But healing takes time, and life doesn't always deliver the happy ending we long for.
9 comments - Posted Sep 14, 2011
Massachusetts-based Quantia Communications has released DailyCoachTM, a fitness coaching app that runs on both iOS and Android and is available free at https://dailycoach.quantiacare.com/. The app also runs on smart phones and tablets and is available on the Web.
1 comment - Posted Sep 12, 2011
Here's the scenario: You're a famed prosecutor who happens to be on an insulin pump. One of the criminals you put away years ago has been released from prison, and he's eager for revenge. This is a particularly cunning criminal, so he hatches a subtle plan. He hacks into your insulin pump, giving you a massive dose of insulin without warning. As you drive to work one day, you begin to feel woozy. That's odd, you think, looking down to where the pump attaches to your stomach. I just ate....
1 comment - Posted Sep 10, 2011
When you live with diabetes, there's a lot to do. Checking blood sugars. Counting carbs. Exercising. Not to mention all those fun-filled doctors' appointments. So the last time your physician or diabetes educator suggested ketone testing, it's completely understandable that your head was nodding but your mind was thinking "No way, Jack." But before abandoning the idea completely, there are a few things you should know.
5 comments - Posted Sep 8, 2011
Combination therapy, in which doctors prescribe more than one drug to treat type 2 diabetes, is a fairly common practice. However, most newly diagnosed type 2 patients start off with metformin or a sulfonylurea and don't go on a two-drug therapy until their first drug begins to lose its effectiveness. But combination therapy could soon become an earlier option for people with type 2.
2 comments - Posted Sep 7, 2011
An estimated 34 million Americans will be on the road during Labor Day weekend, many of them with type 2 diabetes. Road travel can interfere with blood sugar management and lead to low blood sugar, which can cause serious complications, such as loss of consciousness, if not treated quickly.
1 comment - Posted Sep 6, 2011
Abbott Diabetes Care is discontinuing its FreeStyle Navigator System, a continuous glucose monitoring device, in the United States. Abbott blamed supply problems that have prevented the company from selling new units or replacing parts under warranty.
0 comments - Posted Sep 4, 2011
Don't think that you can pull one over on your diabetes educator anymore. The American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) has developed an official, standard method to measure the progress made by their diabetic patients.
12 comments - Posted Sep 2, 2011
When diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I was eighteen years old, scared, and confused. Although bone thin, I was older than the usual juvenile diabetic, so the doctor didn't know if I had type 1 or type 2 diabetes. At first, the doctor gave me pills to lower my blood sugar. I avoided carbohydrates and threw myself into exercise, then watched helplessly as the numbers on my blood sugar meter continued to rise.
10 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2011
August 2011
As an NFL quarterback, Jay Cutler makes his living putting a football into the hands of an open receiver before getting slammed to the ground by a huge defensive lineman. It's a stressful occupation, all about timing, a little luck, and seeing the big picture in a split second.
8 comments - Posted Aug 31, 2011
Utah-based Essential Preparedness Products (EPP) offers an emergency storage case for people with diabetes, called Diabetic med-EcaseTM. The yellow cases, made of high-impact material, are waterproof, airtight, and can float. Buyers of the $69.99 product receive foam inserts for both type 1 and type 2 needs and can outfit the case accordingly.
5 comments - Posted Aug 30, 2011
Spices not only add zing to meals, but they may also reduce the high levels of triglycerides produced by eating high-fat meals.
0 comments - Posted Aug 28, 2011
US Action Follows Stop-Ship That Began in June
0 comments - Posted Aug 27, 2011
Walking down the aisle of our church, I held onto my Dad's arm and tried to breathe deeply, but the flutters in my stomach and beads of sweat sliding down the back of my legs made me wonder if my blood sugar was dropping. When I reached the front of the church, I took my future husband's hands and saw that he was shaking too. I breathed a sigh of relief and realized it was just nerves.
1 comment - Posted Aug 23, 2011
Scientific studies -- and our own common sense -- tell us that staying motivated and engaged helps control our diabetes. We know what we should resist temptation at the dinner table, monitor our blood sugars avidly, and get regular check-ups. But knowing all of these things, and knowing that self-motivation is the way to achieve them, isn't quite enough.
1 comment - Posted Aug 19, 2011
Charlie Kimball, the first and only driver with type 1 diabetes in the history of the Indy Racing League to race cars at its highest level, needs your help: Just as when he's racing, Kimball finds himself neck-in-neck in a competition. In this case, he's looking to win the Firestone Tire-iffic Award and you can help him out by voting for him---but you only have till Thursday, August 11, to do so.
2 comments - Posted Aug 10, 2011
In 2004, pro snowboarder Sean Busby was on the top of the world.
12 comments - Posted Aug 8, 2011
A Boston-based study has found that vitamin D supplements can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in people with prediabetes by improving their beta cell functioning.
2 comments - Posted Aug 3, 2011
July 2011
People with type 2 diabetes often find visits with their physicians frustrating. Dr. Jeffrey Mechanick, MD, FACE, FACP, Secretary of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), observes, "Many times when patients come to the doctor, the first thing that they say is really what's on their mind--that's their top priority. But oftentimes physicians don't address that at all. Instead, they move on to what's on their own agenda."
3 comments - Posted Jul 31, 2011
How many times has this happened to you? You're driving somewhere and something feels off. You suspect that your blood sugar level may be dropping, but you plow ahead. Now, imagine your car sounding the alarm: "Attention: This is your car speaking. Your blood sugar is low. Pull over and eat a snack."
3 comments - Posted Jul 30, 2011
The ArterioFlow 7500 is a pump that exerts pressure on an affected part of the body to force blood to flow more freely and widely. Increased blood flow is often the key to speeding up the healing of diabetic ulcers and preventing them from turning into infected wounds that can lead to gangrene and amputation.
1 comment - Posted Jul 29, 2011
Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly have begun sales of Tradjenta, a drug for type 2 diabetes, in U.S. pharmacies. The drug (generic name linagliptin) comes in tablet form and is intended to compete with Amylin Pharmaceuticals' Byetta, which is injected, and Merck's Januvia, which also competes with Byetta. Both are well-established in the U.S. market.
2 comments - Posted Jul 27, 2011
I am excited to have this opportunity to write a diabetes-focused blog for Diabetes Health about living and thriving with type 1 diabetes. First of all, I am extremely passionate about racing road and mountain bicycles, running 5K runs and sprint triathlons, and doing other activities that I find to compete in for Team Type 1. But before I start blogging, I would like to tell a little about myself.
3 comments - Posted Jul 26, 2011
With severe weather predicted for Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Meredith Cummings thought carefully about where to park her car-eyeing the large trees in her historic neighborhood-when she arrived home on the afternoon of April 27. As she walked to her door, she reassured herself: Those trees had been there for more than 100 years. What were the odds of them coming down today?
0 comments - Posted Jul 22, 2011
Italian researchers have found that increased consumption of omega-3 fatty acids leads to a decrease in insulin resistance, a common precursor to the development of type 2 diabetes. It also improves lipid profiles and adiponectin levels. (Adiponectin is a protein that is involved in metabolizing glucose and fatty acids. Low levels are associated with insulin resistance, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and obesity.)
0 comments - Posted Jul 21, 2011
Erin lay on a bed in the emergency room, finally serious about getting help. Her second episode of diabetic ketoacidosis in a single year had sent her to the hospital shaking and vomiting. For the past seven years, she had been driven by one desire: to lose forty pounds. She refused to give herself her full dose of insulin, fearing weight gain. She hadn't seen her endocrinologist or checked her blood sugar for a year or two.
5 comments - Posted Jul 18, 2011
Nobody thought for even a second that Crystal Bowersox's second-place finish on "American Idol 2010" meant that the 26-year-old was headed back to her native Elliston, Ohio, to resume a quiet life.
1 comment - Posted Jul 14, 2011
Victoza, a drug aimed at type 2 diabetes, may turn out to be a boon for type 1 diabetes patients as well. A small clinical study shows that patients with well-controlled type 1 who took Victoza daily for just one week experienced a 15 percent drop in their blood sugar levels. Patients who took the drug over a full 24-week test period needed less and less insulin, decreasing their average mealtime dose by seven units and their all-day insulin requirement by eight.
2 comments - Posted Jul 11, 2011
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York is working on a new approach to blood sugar monitoring that could open the door to an artificial pancreas. The plan is to develop an automated monitoring system so sophisticated that it can take into account the often great differences in blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity among people with type 1 diabetes.
4 comments - Posted Jul 9, 2011
Roger Hurdsman lives in Roy, Utah, surrounded by women. His wife of four years, Hilary, is there, along with his two young daughters, Bonnie and Tess. He seems to be handling the estrogen well though, perhaps because he devotes his days to designing software for the Department of Defense. He is able to spend time with computers and gadgets before being inundated with tea parties and dress-up when he gets home.
1 comment - Posted Jul 4, 2011
"Good news," my diabetes nurse educator says to me. "Your new insurance covers continuous glucose monitoring supplies!" I give her a half-smile as my brain screams at me, "CGM? Really? Something else to deal with on top of this damn disease, an insulin pump, exercise, and nutrition?" But I comply, and a CGM is added to the rest of my paraphernalia.
26 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2011
June 2011
In the last decade, dramatic changes have occurred in our understanding of the onset and progression of prediabetes. Lightning speed changes have also occurred regarding the therapies available to achieve optimal blood glucose control. Even with all of this change, however, many old dogmas hang on. It's time to be aware of the new realities. In this article, I focus on two common old dogmas and the new realities.
71 comments - Posted Jun 28, 2011
Lap-Band manufacturer Allergan has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow surgeries using the device on overweight teenagers as young as 14 years old.
3 comments - Posted Jun 27, 2011
The main question that doctors---and patients---ask about a prescription drug is simple: Does it work? Does this medicine improve the condition it's prescribed for?
0 comments - Posted Jun 25, 2011
"My pump, my pump, my lovely little pump!" My sister invented her own version of the Black Eyed Peas' song, "My Humps" to poke friendly fun at my insulin pump.
20 comments - Posted Jun 24, 2011
Medtronic and Ford Motor Company have teamed up to develop a prototype device that will allow people with diabetes to monitor their blood glucose levels as they drive. Using Bluetooth technology, the system will connect readings from Medtronic's continuous glucose monitor to Ford's onboard communications system, called "Sync."
8 comments - Posted Jun 22, 2011
An Australian researcher who deliberately fed his lab rats a high-sugar/high-fat diet says that a flavonoid called rutin helped block the growth of fat cells in their abdomens and kept them from putting on weight despite their bad diet. Flavonoids are plant pigments that researchers are finding have beneficial metabolic effects because of their antioxidant capabilities.
0 comments - Posted Jun 21, 2011
Over the last decade, dramatic changes have occurred in our understanding of the onset and progression of prediabetes. Lightning speed changes have also occurred regarding the therapies available to achieve optimal blood glucose control. Even with all of this change, however, many old dogmas hang on. It's time to become aware of the new realities. In this article, I focus on two common old dogmas and the new realities.
2 comments - Posted Jun 16, 2011
Max Bruno, a freshman at the State University of New York at New Paltz, tries to get to the gym about four times a week. He says that he knows his limits for working out, but likes to push himself. "I just have to be careful," he explains. "About an hour or so after I'm done working out, my blood sugar drops really low."
14 comments - Posted Jun 14, 2011
Verizon Wireless and Medco Health Solutions have released "Medco Pharmacy," a mobile app for BlackBerry and Android smart phones aimed at Medco's 65 million pharmacy customers. The app has three features:
1 comment - Posted Jun 13, 2011
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that starting on November 18, 2011, it will restrict retail pharmacy sales of three diabetes drugs manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline: the stand-alone Avandia (rosiglitazone) and the combination drugs Avandamet (rosiglitazone and metformin) and Avandaryl (rosiglitazone and glimepiride).
0 comments - Posted Jun 11, 2011
Whenever I tell someone that I have type 1 diabetes, the first words that I typically hear are "I'm terrified of needles! I could NEVER give myself a shot!" But needles are the least of my fears when it comes to my disease. I have bigger fish to fry. Concerns about daily management, combined with fears of heart problems, blindness, and kidney failure, equal one very stressful disease.
5 comments - Posted Jun 10, 2011
The makers of "PhoneMyDoctor," a new telemedicine service, say it offers the ability integrate patient calls, doctor feedback, pharmacy ordering, and follow-up instructions into one documented record, using a medical practice's existing telephone equipment.
0 comments - Posted Jun 7, 2011
I recently had the experience of flying from Tampa to Los Angeles, with a layover in Atlanta, totaling about seven hours spent in airports or up in the sky. To prepare for such a trip, you have to ask yourself a lot of "What if" questions. What if your plane is delayed? What if you miss your connecting flight? What if you have to stay over an extra night? What if your pump fails? What if you are on the tarmac for four hours and you go low?
22 comments - Posted Jun 2, 2011
May 2011
"Nutrient Depletions" is a new smart phone app that allows users to see which of their prescription medications may be draining nutrients from their body. The app, available at iTunes stores for $1.99, works on Apple's iPhone, iTouch, and iPad products.
4 comments - Posted May 31, 2011
U.S. insulin pump maker Medtronic and blood glucose monitoring system maker LifeScan have reached the end of their three-year contract in which LifeScan was an exclusive provider to Medtronic.
1 comment - Posted May 29, 2011
A recent article in the Chicago Tribune reports that patients using Lipitor, Actos, or Plavix may start enjoying savings of up to 90 percent as patents on those drugs expire. The three drugs comprise a significant percentage of the $300 billion brand-name U.S. pharmaceutical market, according to the Tribune.
2 comments - Posted May 27, 2011
A monitor attached to a mobile device helps people with type 2 diabetes lower their blood pressure more than simply having a blood pressure monitor available in the home. That's the conclusion of a year-long study conducted by the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada. The study showed that type 2 patients whose blood pressure was actively reported to their doctors via a Bluetooth-enabled device enjoyed lower blood pressure than patients whose readings were not passed on to doctors.
1 comment - Posted May 26, 2011
Swimsuit season lasts for at least five months in the South. The good news is that we live close to the beach, but the bad news is that after 25 years of living with diabetes (and three Caesareans), my body is starting to read like a map of my medical journey.
8 comments - Posted May 25, 2011
French drug maker Sanofi-aventis says that results from a Phase III trial of its experimental type 2 diabetes drug lixisenatide show that the drug successfully lowered patients' blood glucose levels and body weight, but did not increase the risk of hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted May 23, 2011
You're heard the doctors. You've read the articles. You know all about tight control.
25 comments - Posted May 20, 2011
There's more to that little box of pen needles than meets the eye, according to Holly Hartshorn of UltiMed. In early March, UltiMed launched a 50-count box of UltiCare pen needles into the marketplace. We spoke to Holly to find out exactly what kind of thought goes into such a product before it appears on pharmacy shelves.
3 comments - Posted May 17, 2011
Dr. Jonathan Beach is a 35-year-old emergency medicine physician who has had type 1 diabetes for 31 years. He owns and operates Urgicare, a wellness center that includes The Northeast Center for Diabetes Care and Education in Plattsburgh, New York, an isolated rural community that has few other resources for diabetes. This is his story of his life with diabetes and his professional experience with the insulin pump.
5 comments - Posted May 12, 2011
Gene Thornton was in the Army in Germany when he got type 1 diabetes. It was 1965, 46 years ago, and he was 24 years old. This is his story, in his own words.
5 comments - Posted May 10, 2011
The drug discussed below is for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
7 comments - Posted May 6, 2011
Recently, we published an article about the implantable pump "A Miracle Technology for Type 1s: Can It Be Saved?" Following the appearance of this article on the Diabetes Health website, over 100 readers commented, most of them expressing a heartfelt desire for access to this technology in the U.S.A. To read the original article click on link below:
A Miracle Technology for Type 1s: Can It Be Saved?
34 comments - Posted May 5, 2011
Molly Martin is a vibrant and energetic 18-year-old from Texas who's had type 1 diabetes since the age of two. Five years ago, Molly took up motocross racing. She says, "I love riding motocross---it's just you and the bike. I feel free when I ride, like I don't have to think about diabetes. I do have to make sure that I test before I get on and during breaks, to make sure my sugar is doing what it's supposed to be doing. But when I get out there, it's just me and the bike, going."
1 comment - Posted May 5, 2011
Ryan Shafer is a 44-year-old professional bowler from Elmira, New York, who was 19 when he developed type 1 diabetes. For a couple of weeks, he experienced the usual symptoms of weight loss, lethargy, extreme thirst, and frequent urination, as well as vision problems. "Being that age," he says, "I was afraid to go to the doctor. I thought it would just go away." When he finally saw his family physician and was diagnosed, he says, "I was actually relieved--not that I thought diabetes was a piece of cake, but I was glad to know what was wrong with me."
3 comments - Posted May 1, 2011
April 2011
Kent David is a 47-year-old licensed civil engineer who has had type 1 diabetes since 1981. This is Kent's diabetes story in his own words.
5 comments - Posted Apr 29, 2011
Chase Pelletier is an up-and-coming kart racer from Canada who is 14 years old. When he got type 1 diabetes just before his eleventh birthday, he recalls, "It was pretty overwhelming at first. But me and my family decided early on that we're not going to get down on diabetes in general, and we're going to try to think of positive ways to deal with it."
0 comments - Posted Apr 28, 2011
Recently I had the pleasure of attending the Barbara Davis Center's "Management of Diabetes in Youth" conference, held every other year in beautiful Keystone, Colorado. The focus is on all of the latest and greatest in type 1, and it's a real treat to have so many of the best names in this field gathered in one place. The Barbara Davis Center (BDC) is one of the premier programs in the world focusing on type I diabetes management, and the one (Dr. Peter Chase, to be precise) who brought us the famed" Pink Panther" book, Understanding Diabetes - the reliable handbook of type 1 diabetes that many parents of newly diagnosed kids rely on.
3 comments - Posted Apr 25, 2011
Medtronic, Inc., says that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the marketing of the company's CareLink® Personal 5.4 Therapy Management Software for the Mac OS platform.
4 comments - Posted Apr 21, 2011
Phil Southerland's autobiography is an inspirational coming-of-age memoir about a type 1 baby who wasn't supposed to live. But his doctor's dismal prediction didn't take into consideration his mother's indefatigable determination that her baby would thrive no matter what, and Phil's own fierce drive to conquer every single challenge he encountered, including his diabetes. It's an engrossing book, a sports adventure story with a medical subplot and a roster of dynamic characters, the most dynamic of whom is Phil himself. If we could harness his energy, our dependence on foreign oil would be a thing of the past.
2 comments - Posted Apr 20, 2011
Mike Fisher is a 23-year-old from Ontario, Canada, who's been snowboarding since he was 13 years old. At the age of 18, he was involved in a motorcycle crash that necessitated the amputation of one leg below the knee. He says, "At first, I felt that my life was coming to a crashing halt. But I just pushed myself to recover as fast as possible and get my life back on track, go to school, get back into snowboarding and motorcycles-just anything so that my life wasn't affected at all. I had a lot of support, and I would say that I was pretty optimistic about it and took it almost as a challenge. By the time that I was 19, I was happy. I was walking again, I was back in college in London, Ontario, and everything was good. The accident was a minor setback to me, and I rose above it. I was just continuing with my life."
12 comments - Posted Apr 19, 2011
A new study has proven that use of a blood glucose meter with advanced features, when paired with diabetes education, more effectively manages blood glucose than using a basic feature meter. This information was presented at the recent 46th European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden.
4 comments - Posted Apr 18, 2011
What if there were a technology that could make people with type 1 diabetes feel absolutely wonderful, completely healthy, better than they ever realized was possible? And what if it were about to disappear? Well, there is such a technology, and it is in serious jeopardy. It's called the implantable insulin pump, currently made by Medtronic. This is the story of four people who have been using this device for 20 years, and their desperate crusade to keep it from disappearing forever.
117 comments - Posted Apr 17, 2011
3M Health Care has introduced CavilonTM Antifungal Cream for use by caregivers and patients in incontinence settings. The cream is the latest offering in the company's Cavilon line of skincare products designed for professional healthcare providers.
1 comment - Posted Apr 13, 2011
Jeff and Natalie Kolok live in northwestern Vermont with their three children: Naomi, 16, and Johanna and Nicholas, each ten years old. Both Johanna and Nicholas have type 1 diabetes, Johanna since age four and Nick since age six.
1 comment - Posted Apr 7, 2011
Prodigy Diabetes Care is an aptly named company, a very young enterprise with the talents of a much older organization and a future that promises prodigious rewards. It was founded in 2006 by Ramzi Abulhaj and Rick Admani, two brothers from Palestine who are its sole owners. In the five years since then, they have built a company that is successfully competing against the diabetes old guard by focusing on engineering and a unique marketing strategy.
8 comments - Posted Apr 2, 2011
March 2011
UltiMed, which offers the only pen needles assembled in the United States, has announced that it is now offering a 50-count universal-fit pen needle.
2 comments - Posted Mar 28, 2011
Silicon wristbands were first popularized by the yellow LiveStrong band and then became widespread as a way to raise awareness for charities. Light, colorful, easy to wear, and inexpensive, they have now become an option for personal identification and medical alert information as well.
1 comment - Posted Mar 17, 2011
You know that awful feeling when a sugar low is coming. I break out into a cold sweat, feel panicky, get nauseated, and have trouble answering extremely simple questions like "Do you need to eat?" Well, I was feeling it again, and again, and I didn't know why. That's what I hate the most: When things go wrong, but I think I've been doing everything right.
1 comment - Posted Mar 8, 2011
My almost 20 years as a diabetes educator have been memorable in many ways, but certain moments stand out more than others. Because blood glucose testing is an important part of diabetes management for everyone I see, I try to assess each person’s skills and habits in this key area. I’ll never forget the time I asked a client how often he changed his lancet. He had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about four years earlier and was checking regularly, so it seemed like a reasonable question. He proceeded to look at me with a puzzled expression and say, “You mean you’re supposed to change those things?”
0 comments - Posted Mar 8, 2011
February 2011
A couple of diabetes recalls are in the works, one for a group of insulin cartridges manufactured by Animas and another for the entire line of ACCU-CHEK® FlexLink Plus infusion sets, manufactured by Roche.
0 comments - Posted Feb 28, 2011
Silicon wristbands were first popularized by Lance Armstrong's yellow LiveStrong band and then became popular as a way to raise awareness for charities. Light, colorful, easy to wear, and inexpensive, they have now become an option for personal identification and medical alert information as well.
0 comments - Posted Feb 17, 2011
It's hard enough to be pregnant, but pregnancy with diabetes is especially challenging because it's so difficult to keep blood sugar within a normal range at a time when hormones are surging. All women try their best with the tools that they have, but even so, about half of all babies born to mothers with type 1 diabetes are overweight or obese at birth because of too much sugar in their mothers' blood. Mothers with high blood glucose levels also increase their child's risk of congenital malformation, stillbirth, neonatal death, preterm delivery, and neonatal admission.
0 comments - Posted Feb 9, 2011
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture has announced its 60th annual Good Design Awards, which honor "quality design of the highest form, function, and aesthetic." Guess which paragon of contemporary design won an award this year? An insulin needle. Called the NovoTwist and made by Novo Nordisk for use with insulin pens, this marvel of design has a bayonet fitting that allows "just twist" attachment and detachment to compatible pens, and an audible and tactile "click" that confirms attachment of the needle.
3 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2011
January 2011
It's Labor Day weekend in Pittsburgh, just outside of the Steelers' Heinz Field, and the Bret Michaels Band has come home for some hard-driving rock and roll. The 20,000 screaming fans are a generational mix, shrieking 16-year-old girls side-by-side with moms and dads who have temporarily abandoned their parental roles to dance, sing the familiar words to "Look What the Cat Dragged In," and howl into the nighttime air. On stage is Bret Michaels, the boy from Butler, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town just an hour north.
16 comments - Posted Jan 27, 2011
Developing a noninvasive, wireless, transdermal continuous glucose monitor requires brilliance, commitment, innovation, and....a LOT of money. We recently reported that Echo Therapeutics, Inc. is developing just such a CGM, called the Symphony, along with its companion skin preparation system. Fortunately, their money picture is looking bright: Echo just raised approximately $2.5 million through "a series of private placements of the Company's stock and warrants, and it has received a binding commitment for an additional $3 million."
0 comments - Posted Jan 25, 2011
It doesn't matter if you're a computer geek or complete technophobe: If you've ever made the effort to download your blood glucose meter, you probably don't have a clue about what to do with the data once you've gotten it. That needs to change. Those of us who live with diabetes need to become more adept at analyzing our own data, to see what's working and what isn't both for our own sake and that of our time-strapped healthcare providers. .
2 comments - Posted Jan 25, 2011
Self-management is the key to healthy living with diabetes, but there are always challenges to maintaining optimum blood glucose levels. Lagging motivation and focus can be obstacles, and adjusting diet and medications to meet changing conditions is challenging. If you have ever wished for a person to help you improve your skills, someone who could offer informed guidance between appointments with your doctor - you may have been wishing for a diabetes coach. Diabetes coaches are personal trainers for individuals with insulin-dependent diabetes. This unique branch of diabetes education delivers ongoing, one-on-one consulting from a trained certified diabetes educator.
0 comments - Posted Jan 24, 2011
Infopia USA's Eocene System is a diabetes management system with a data collection device that gathers data from a meter, blood pressure cuff, and a thermal scale. Readings are stored on Infopia's network and available to you and your health team. See the video on Diabetes Health TV here.
0 comments - Posted Jan 13, 2011
The Diabetes Research Institute Foundation (DRIF) announced a new, first-of-its-kind partnership aimed at helping the more than 200,000* Broward County, Florida, residents affected by diabetes. Diabetes Research Institute Live Well Broward County is a joint effort of the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, Walgreens in South Florida, LifeScan and a cadre of local physicians that will help residents "Manage Well, Stay Well and Live Well" with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 12, 2011
Results are expected by the end of the month in an efficacy study on a new drug that promises to improve diabetic wound care. Derma Sciences is wrapping up work on a phase 2 trial of DSC127, a drug already shown to speed up healing in animal tests.
0 comments - Posted Jan 11, 2011
The crowd in the small Boston theater laughed and clapped. The comedy show was a good one, and I was enjoying it from a cramped seat in the balcony. It was October 29, a Friday, and while it was brisk outside, winter hadn't yet clamped down.
0 comments - Posted Jan 11, 2011
Introducing "Type-1 University" (T1U) - the online school for people with diabetes who use insulin, including parents and caregivers. The school can be found only in cyberspace - at www.type1university.com
2 comments - Posted Jan 7, 2011
December 2010
Most holiday stories are comforting and familiar, wrapped up with the happiest of endings. But the tales that swept the nation this Thanksgiving were sometimes distressing and strange, and the one told by Laura Seay has no resolution or simple solution. Seay was one of the travelers caught in the center of the debate over the Transportation Security Administration's forceful new screening methods.
6 comments - Posted Dec 23, 2010
Abbott Diabetes Care today announced that it has initiated a recall of 359 lots (approximately 359 million strips) of Precision Xtra®, Precision Xceed Pro®, MediSense® Optium, Optium, OptiumEZ and ReliOn® Ultima Blood Glucose Test Strips in the United States and Puerto Rico.
1 comment - Posted Dec 22, 2010
Research firm Frost & Sullivan, a leading international healthcare consulting company, released a market study analyzing and estimating the demand for Pepex Biomedical Inc.'s new biosensor technology for blood glucose monitoring for diabetes sufferers worldwide. The researchers interviewed diagnosed diabetics, diabetes educators, endocrinologists, and manufacturers of biosensors, blood glucose meters, or other clinical diagnostic or patient monitoring equipment suppliers for the study. The Frost & Sullivan report concluded that the Pepex Trio technology has the "potential as a new standard for measuring blood glucose levels."
6 comments - Posted Dec 21, 2010
Valeritas, Inc., a medical technology company committed to the development and commercialization of innovative drug delivery solutions, announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration has cleared the company's V-Go Disposable Insulin Delivery Device for the continuous subcutaneous delivery of insulin in preset basal rates and with on-demand bolus dosing for adult patients requiring insulin. V-Go devices will be available in a preset basal rate to deliver 20, 30 or 40 Units of insulin in one 24-hour period (0.83 U/hr, 1.25U/hr or 1.67U/hr respectively) and on-demand bolus dosing in 2 Unit increments (up to 36 Units per one 24-hour time period).
1 comment - Posted Dec 9, 2010
It's that time of year, when health plan open enrollment gives you the chance to change insurance providers. Perhaps you've been dissatisfied with your old insurer, and you've decided to switch to another insurance company that seems like a better choice. But before making your decision, you call the company to ask about its coverage of durable medical equipment. That's when you learn that the new company covers different devices than your old one. Now what? You want to compare the various brands to make sure they're equivalent, but the prospect seems like an overwhelming chore. That's where the Diabetes Health Product Reference Guide comes in.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2010
November 2010
The competition for a continuous glucose monitoring system that can replace the classic finger prick blood tests for diabetes is heating up. Several new products have come to the market this year that use various techniques to test blood glucose levels continuously without the need for a blood test, but several have faltered with complaints of inaccurate readings and skin irritation.
2 comments - Posted Nov 29, 2010
Insulet Corp., the leader in tubing-free insulin pump technology with its OmniPod® Insulin Management System, recognizes the outstanding achievements of Christopher Gorham, age 12, of Waterford, Michigan for bringing home both silver and bronze medals in the Sparring and Forms competitions at the 2010 World Karate/Kickboxing Council World Championships held in Albufeira, Portugal. Chris is a 2nd degree black belt in training for a 3rd degree black belt; he has been in martial arts since he was four years old, competing all over the world.
0 comments - Posted Nov 25, 2010
If you're getting information about diabetes from groups or friends on Facebook, you might want to be careful. A new study suggests that a quarter of posts in these groups are possibly ads, and not for FDA-approved treatments, either.
5 comments - Posted Nov 17, 2010
Solianis Monitoring AG is developing a groundbreaking device for the diabetes community- a noninvasive continuous glucose monitoring system that delivers reliable and consistent data.
4 comments - Posted Nov 11, 2010
October 2010
Regular physical activity and exercise are recommended for the general population for overall improved health. However, exercise of moderate intensity increases the risk of hypoglycemia during and following exertion in those with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Accordingly, exercise guidelines for T1DM focus on prevention of exercise-induced hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Oct 31, 2010
Tarra Robinson was afraid that she was going to lose her job. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 18 months old, Tarra had recently developed hypoglycemic unawareness, which affects about 17% of type 1 diabetics. Tarra was passing out at work, and once she even crashed her car when her blood sugar dropped unexpectedly. She went on a pump and tried a CGM, but nothing seemed to help. She was still having frequent, dangerous lows.
0 comments - Posted Oct 28, 2010
Calibra Medical has announced that it received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its FinesseTM insulin patch-pen for up to three-day use with Novo Nordisk's Novolog® rapid-acting insulin. This much-anticipated step closer to market release follows the announcement in January that Calibra received FDA clearance for the device for use with Eli Lilly's Humalog® rapid-acting insulin.
1 comment - Posted Oct 18, 2010
JACKSONVILLE, FL - October 13, 2010 - The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) today published a consensus statement for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) online, and will be published in the next issue of the association's official medical journal Endocrine Practice.
0 comments - Posted Oct 14, 2010
What do you get when international best-selling author Dr. Steven Covey joins forces with Bayer Diabetes Care and the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE)? You get an inspirational booklet that is a simple, practical resource guide to help people get started in managing their diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Oct 12, 2010
The day I learned that I had type 1 diabetes was no doubt one of the most heart-wrenching, confusing, and angry days of my life. But I quickly decided that I had to channel those feelings into something productive, something worthwhile. I gained confidence as a person with diabetes, and even though, yes, the shots stung, I wasn't going to flinch. Welcome to my life.
0 comments - Posted Oct 11, 2010
In July, I went to order a refill of my pump and was refused. My account was overdue, and my pump company wouldn't issue a refill until I could pay at least $400 of the $1200 I owed. I didn't have $400. I am a freelance writer and stay-at-home mom with a knack for stretching my husband's paycheck. I'd been making small monthly payments of about $50 because that was all we could afford, but now they wouldn't send me any more. So I went to the pharmacy and bought a box of syringes for $25. I didn't want to go back to multiple daily injections, but I didn't see that I had a choice.
1 comment - Posted Oct 9, 2010
Dance Out Diabetes is a non-profit organization that addresses a critical component missing in most diabetes programs: PHYSICAL ACTIVITY! Our mission is to help individuals prevent or manage diabetes through dance and education.
0 comments - Posted Oct 6, 2010
Last week, sanofi-aventis announced the upcoming launch of the blood glucose meters BGStar® and iBGStarTM (developed by sanofi and its partner AgaMatrix), which should be available in early 2011.
1 comment - Posted Oct 4, 2010
September 2010
I’m back. I started working with Diabetes Health 10 years ago. At that time, Diabetes Health was the one publication open enough to talk about a subject that was controversial at that time… Lower Carb Options. That was my column, and I got a lot of slack from it. I didn’t understand why. People with diabetes want and need lower carb options. What was the problem with giving people options? That’s what Diabetes Health is all about – teaching people there are healthy options. Now it’s common to see lower carb options for people who have diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 29, 2010
Sanofi-aventis announced the upcoming launch of the blood glucose monitoring (BGM) devices BGStar® and iBGStarTM, developed by sanofi-aventis and its partner AgaMatrix. Due to their convenience, accuracy and ease-of-use, BGStar® and iBGStarTM will help the decision-making process for people with diabetes and their healthcare professionals, with the aim of improving patient self-management. iBGStarTM connects to the iPhone® or iPod touch®. This is an important step towards sanofi-aventis' vision of becoming the leader in global diabetes care by integrating innovative monitoring technology, therapeutic innovations, personalized services and support solutions. BGStar® and iBGStarTM are planned to be made commercially available in the first markets in early 2011.
0 comments - Posted Sep 27, 2010
Do you ever wish you could leave your diabetes at home? Maybe you're at a holiday party, chit chatting with your buds gathered around the bar enjoying an adult beverage (or two), maybe grazing at the table of cookies, cakes and other tempting morsels. "Oh, I think I'll try one of those. Maybe one of those too. I didn't bring my diabetes with me, so I don't have to think about it tonight." Diabetes is not last year's outfit you can leave at home, or a bad relationship you can dump and move on. It is more like a tattoo. It goes everywhere with you.
0 comments - Posted Sep 24, 2010
In late July, five teenagers and five adults hiked to the summit of Mount Shavano, one of Colorado's famed 14,000-foot peaks. For this particular group, the journey to the top of Shavano was designed to be an intensive educational experience on the topic of diabetes management. Each teenager had type 1 diabetes, and the adults were mentors dedicated to helping the teens feel more in control of the disease. The team made it to the summit by performing countless blood sugar tests, counting carbs, and experimenting with insulin pump basal rates. The outfit behind the expedition was Testing Limits, an outdoor adventure club just for people with diabetes, operated by the non-profit Insulindependence.
0 comments - Posted Sep 17, 2010
On July 2, 2010, when Lt. Jose Lopez took the podium at the recent Children With Diabetes Friends for Life Annual International Conference in Orlando to speak to the parents of children with diabetes, his goal was to use his own story to reassure them about their children's future. "What I most wanted to convey to them was that people with diabetes, especially children, can do normal stuff and live their dreams. I am not a super hero - and I did it."
0 comments - Posted Sep 14, 2010
The exact cause of type 1 diabetes is still unknown, but international researchers have found a link between the blood sugar disorder and a network of immune system genes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 13, 2010
Going back to school can be a little scary for someone with diabetes. There are a lot of things to think about when it comes to making it through the school day without having problems with your blood sugar levels. In school, we strive for that all important "A" on a test; to score 100. The same is true about blood sugar/glucose levels; the closer I come to keeping my blood sugar level at "100," the better for my health and the better for my grades; high and low blood sugars aren't helpful in keeping a clear, quick-thinking mind.
0 comments - Posted Sep 10, 2010
In my office, there is a box. Nothing fancy, just a plain brown box filled with a collection of "old school" diabetes stuff: "boil and re-use" syringes, urine test tape, screw-driven insulin pumps, medieval injection aids and lancing devices, and so on. Of course, no such collection would be complete without an array of classic blood glucose meters. The oldest one I have is a plug-in-the-wall model called a "Dextrometer" that featured test strip rinsing solution and a red LED display that could burn the retina of anyone within six feet.
0 comments - Posted Sep 9, 2010
The Holy Grail pursued by all diabetes researchers is a complete cure for both the type 1 and type 2 forms of the disease. But until then, the "artificial pancreas," a combination of glucose monitoring and insulin dosing technology, may be as close as they get to a final breakthrough in treating diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 3, 2010
August 2010
The Flamingo Flock diabetes awareness campaign is the brainchild of 9-year-old Noah Brokmeier, "The Diabetes Dude." Noah's blue flamingos are landing on lawns nationwide and appearing at big events like the Boston Marathon. Wherever they go, the birds pose for pictures, which are then posted on Noah's website, www.thediabetesdude.com. The location of the birds is also flagged on his "official flamingo tracking map," to show the progress and growth of the campaign.
0 comments - Posted Aug 30, 2010
MannKind Corporation announced that the company will supply its novel, ultra rapid acting insulin AFREZZATM (insulin human [rDNA origin]) for use in a study being conducted by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) as part of its Artificial Pancreas Project. The planned two-year study in patients with type 1 diabetes will leverage the unique rapid action of AFREZZA for use in a closed-loop blood sugar monitoring and insulin delivery system, termed the "artificial pancreas" by the JDRF. The study will be managed in conjunction with the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
0 comments - Posted Aug 29, 2010
Working toward the goal of unifying patients' diabetic treatment information in a single place, the PositiveID Corporation hopes to patent a new device that monitors insulin pens. The Insulin Tracker would attach to a user's insulin pen and record the times and amounts of injections. That information would then be sent to a database that allows for comprehensive monitoring. Insulin pens come in disposable and cartridge-replaceable flavors; the tracker can be moved easily from one pen to another.
0 comments - Posted Aug 27, 2010
NaturEra, (http://www.NaturEra.com) a dietary supplements emerging leader, this month announced the launch of its new Sugar Crush dietary supplements would take place at the American Association of Diabetes Educators meeting in San Antonio, Texas. Sugar Crush research has been accepted for Poster presentation at the AADE meeting. The full clinical research study (http://www.naturera.com/Manuscript.pdf) shows that NaturEra's 'Sugar Crush' and 'Sugar Crush Daily' dietary supplement formulas used in combination lower and maintain healthy blood sugar levels for people with diabetes.
1 comment - Posted Aug 26, 2010
Novo Nordisk announced today the availability of NovoDoseTM - the first-ever mobile insulin dosing guide for physicians to look up dosing guidelines and blood glucose goals for their patients with diabetes, a disease that affects nearly 24 million Americans. The guide is available as an application on iTunes and is specific to Novo Nordisk's modern insulin analog portfolio: Levemir® (insulin detemir [rDNA origin] injection), NovoLog® (insulin aspart [rDNA origin] injection), and NovoLog® Mix 70/30 (70% insulin aspart protamine suspension and 30% insulin aspart injection, [rDNA origin]).
0 comments - Posted Aug 24, 2010
Epic Wound Care, a subsidiary of New York-based United EcoEnergy Corp., has signed a three-year sponsorship agreement with the American Diabetes Association in support of the ADA's "Mission to Stop Diabetes®" campaign.
0 comments - Posted Aug 20, 2010
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared Baltimore-based health software company WellDoc to begin marketing the DiabetesManager® System, a mobile phone application designed for patients and healthcare providers who are dealing with type 2 diabetes. The company, founded in 2005, plans to start selling the product early next year.
0 comments - Posted Aug 19, 2010
"Absolutely not. I'm not going to mess with that."
0 comments - Posted Aug 18, 2010
We can all come up with plenty of excuses not to test our blood sugar. For one, yeah, it stings a little (No pain, no gain, the angel on my shoulder whispers in my ear). For another, testing isn't convenient, no matter how quickly the meter works or how small it is. While seemingly everyone else is carelessly enjoying a meal or leaping into the swimming pool, you are on the sidelines trying to ignore your diabetes. And of course, sometimes, we just do not want to know what the number will be. It's easier to ignore the ugly truth than face it.
0 comments - Posted Aug 3, 2010
July 2010
Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego and GlySens Incorporated have developed an implantable glucose sensor and wireless telemetry system that continuously monitors tissue glucose and transmits the information to an external receiver. The paper, published in the July 28, 2010 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine, describes the use of this glucose-sensing device as an implant in animals for over one year. After human clinical trials and FDA approval, the device may be useful to people with diabetes as an alternative to finger sticking, and to short-term needle-like glucose sensors that have to be replaced every three to seven days.
0 comments - Posted Jul 31, 2010
Last summer, I led the third annual swim-run biathlon for the Barton Center for Diabetes Education, which hosts two Massachusetts camps for children with type 1-Camp Joslin for boys and Camp Clara Barton for girls. It was at Camp Joslin that I met a memorable eight-year-old boy who exemplifies what being a diabetes hero is all about. I'll call him "Adam."
0 comments - Posted Jul 29, 2010
I was in the parking lot of the mall, walking past wheelchair parking, when I noticed a man using the lift gate of his specially equipped van. There he was, lowering himself and his motorized wheelchair down to the ground all by himself. As I walked through the mall that day, I couldn't get the man in the wheelchair off my mind.
0 comments - Posted Jul 26, 2010
Looking for novel ways to help improve patient outcomes, the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institute is using innovative adult education techniques to train diabetes educators around the world. While the cultural and epidemiological differences in each region can be challenging, David L. Horwitz, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, Chief Medical Officer of the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institute, feels confident this program can make a positive impact to help improve patient outcomes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 17, 2010
Medtronic, Inc. announced today that Test B4U Drive, the first-ever, free program for teens with diabetes combining advanced driver skills training with diabetes management education, will be held July 19-21 at The Forum in Los Angeles. In partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes No Limits Foundation, Medtronic will continue the program throughout the summer across the country to teach teens with diabetes that good diabetes management is a key to staying safe behind the wheel.
0 comments - Posted Jul 14, 2010
A massive study involving 485 people with type 1 diabetes at 30 locations across North America shows that the combination of an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor helps patients achieve significantly lower A1c levels than multiple daily insulin injections.
0 comments - Posted Jul 13, 2010
My diabetes and I have traveled a lot of miles together in nineteen years. Racing Ironman triathlons in Australia, Europe, the Carribean and all over North America, climbing and camping at the top of 14,000 foot Mt. Whitney, and of course dozens of family vacations and business trips. Packing equipment and supplies for an Ironman triathlon and 3 weeks in Australia requires a bit of planning and preparation, but when you have diabetes you feel like you do that for just a weekend out of town. Meters, strips, insulin, syringes, infusion sets, pump supplies, snacks . . . a simple weekend trip becomes a lunar expedition.
1 comment - Posted Jul 10, 2010
June 2010
It is official! Today at the World's largest Diabetes Congress, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 70th Scientific Sessions (Booth 305) in Orlando, Florida, Diabetes Health Magazine (www.diabeteshealth.com) launched the first diabetes magazine Mobile Application, Diabetes Health Mobile (DH Mobile.)
0 comments - Posted Jun 29, 2010
Diabetes is often perceived as a physical disease, an issue with one's body. But those of us with diabetes know that it affects every area of our lives, including our emotional, spiritual, and mental health. People with diabetes are more likely to experience depression than the average person, and it doesn't take a doctor to explain why. Diabetes is daunting, complicated, and confusing. There's no one-size-fits-all explanation or treatment plan, and even when we arrive at something that works, diabetes throws us a curveball and we are forced to reinvent our treatment regimen---time, and time, and time again.
0 comments - Posted Jun 18, 2010
As a type 1 diabetic, I have found that it's a good idea to plan for the unexpected when traveling. Life is full of surprises, and so are vacations. The flight is late. The flight has been cancelled. We had a flat tire or ran out of gas. There is an accident on the highway, and the traffic isn't moving. Who would have ever thought that airline flights would be grounded for five days in most of Eastern Europe because of volcanic ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland? If a diabetic had planned on going for a week-long vacation in England or France and had taken limited insulin, syringes, or infusion sets, he might have been in big trouble. Trying to replenish medical supplies in a foreign country could prove to be very difficult.
0 comments - Posted Jun 16, 2010
I am that mom. The one who buys organic foods, bakes her own bread, bans high fructose corn syrup and trans fats, and always totes around healthy snacks. I don't drink soda, my toddler has never consumed fish sticks, and not once since her birth have we visited McDonalds for a "value" or Happy Meal.
0 comments - Posted Jun 10, 2010
BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company, announced today the launch of BD Ultra-FineTM Nano-the world's smallest pen needle. The BD Nano pen needle is proven to be as effective as longer needles for patients of all body types and proven to offer a less painful injection experience for the more than 5 million people in the United States who inject insulin or GLP-1 to manage their diabetes.[1]
0 comments - Posted Jun 10, 2010
That confused-looking old man in the dietary supplements aisle was more than he seemed. He was actually an undercover government agent.
0 comments - Posted Jun 8, 2010
It's a cool Sunday evening, and I'm sitting in a lively Italian restaurant. My husband is across the table. We've just placed our orders, and we're engaged in easy conversation.
0 comments - Posted Jun 8, 2010
With the rise of the iPhone and the creation of hundreds of thousands of iPhone applications, it's only natural that several wonderful apps have appeared to make life easier for diabetes patients. Here is a quick look at 10 FREE applications, in no particular order, to help you choose the right ones for you.
1 comment - Posted Jun 2, 2010
BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), announced today the U.S. launch of the BD Vacutainer® Push Button Blood Collection Set with Pre-Attached Holder. The ready-to-use product has been designed to help protect healthcare workers from accidental needlestick injuries (NSIs) during the blood collection process and to prevent reuse of the tube holder.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2010
It's early on a Thursday morning in a hotel ballroom in downtown Oakland, and attendees at a breakfast of the annual meeting of the California Dietetic Association are still working on getting fully awake. That problem is solved two minutes after Jay Hewitt, the breakfast's inspirational speaker, takes the stage. Hewitt, a 41-year-old lawyer who was diagnosed with type 1 in 1991, knows his audience is an experienced group of professional dietitians that has dealt with every type of patient and heard every kind of excuse for failure.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2010
May 2010
Investigate. Inform. Inspire. This statement is not only our commitment to you, the readers of Diabetes Health, but also a call to action. In our June/July print issue (available online June 1 under the Digital Edition tab), we've done some investigating. We tracked down educational agencies, websites, software, and applications, and we've listed them for you in our 2nd Educational Resource Guide.
0 comments - Posted May 31, 2010
Abbott announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new FreeStyle Lite blood glucose test strips. The new FreeStyle Lite test strips minimize interference during blood glucose testing and are designed to offer a better testing experience.
0 comments - Posted May 27, 2010
Tattoos aren't just an art form or a way of making a personal statement anymore: They are beginning to save lives.
1 comment - Posted May 20, 2010
Rhode Island-based CVS/pharmacy, which operates more than 7,000 pharmacies and drug stores in the United States, has announced three diabetes-related initiatives:
0 comments - Posted May 15, 2010
Over 80 years ago, famed diabetologist Elliot Joslin said about the treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes: "Ketoacidosis may kill a patient, but frequent hypoglycemic reactions will ruin him." Unfortunately, hypoglycemia continues to be the most difficult problem facing most patients, families, and caregivers who deal with the management of type 1 diabetes on a daily basis. Frequent hypoglycemia episodes not only can "ruin," or adversely impact the quality of life for patients, but also, when severe, can cause seizures, coma, and even death.
10 comments - Posted May 13, 2010
April 2010
Last week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced an initiative to evaluate safety problems that may occur with external infusion pumps. These devices are used to deliver fluids or medications to patients in a controlled manner. Insulin pumps, for example, release insulin into the body at a controlled rate to compensate for a lack of insulin production in people with type 1 diabetes.
8 comments - Posted Apr 27, 2010
Bayer Diabetes Care today announced the introduction of the DIDGETTM blood glucose monitoring system in the United States. The DIDGET meter is unique because it is the only blood glucose meter that connects directly to Nintendo DSTM and DS Lite gaming systems to help kids manage a lifelong disease by rewarding them for building consistent testing habits and meeting personalized blood glucose target ranges. Bayer's DIDGET meter is now available for purchase in the U.S. through CVS.com, Drugstore.com and Walgreens.com.
1 comment - Posted Apr 26, 2010
In the early hours of Saturday, February 27th, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Chile, eventually leaving 1.5 million displaced from their homes. At 6 a.m. that same morning, Hawaiians awoke to the news that a tsunami was barreling towards them and evacuation was necessary. Within minutes, many had left their homes for safe ground.
0 comments - Posted Apr 23, 2010
The first human trials of the latest design of an artificial pancreas for people with type 1 diabetes found the device worked without causing low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).
8 comments - Posted Apr 18, 2010
Roche and Elron Electronics Ltd. announced that they have signed an agreement under which Roche will acquire 100% of Medingo Ltd., a majority-owned subsidiary of the Elron group. Medingo Ltd. is engaged in the development of a semi-disposable insulin patch pump (Solo MicroPump). Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will pay Medingo Ltd.'s shareholders an upfront payment of US$ 160 million as well as up to 25% of the upfront payment in performance related milestones.
5 comments - Posted Apr 14, 2010
While the words "diabetes" and "camp" may not sound like they belong in the same sentence for most people, they sure do for thousands of kids across the country. Diabetes camp is their time to share experiences, learn, and have fun with other kids who have diabetes. You'll find the usual camping activities like hiking, arts and crafts, boating, swimming, and sitting around the campfire, but also lessons on adjusting your insulin pump to compensate for sports and how to give yourself an injection.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2010
March 2010
MINNEAPOLIS - March 17, 2010 - Medtronic, Inc. today announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the MiniMed Paradigm® REAL-Time RevelTM System, the next generation of the industry's only integrated diabetes management system (insulin pump therapy, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and diabetes therapy management software). The system incorporates new innovative CGM features including predictive alerts that can give early warning to people with diabetes so they can take action to prevent dangerous high or low glucose events.
3 comments - Posted Mar 22, 2010
At a two-day meeting (March 16 and 17, 2010) to review blood glucose meters, Food and Drug Administration officials and staff pointed to a number of issues that can prevent people from getting proper treatment and sought input from medical experts and industry on ways to improve test results with the widely used devices.
1 comment - Posted Mar 18, 2010
The demand for diabetes research funding clearly exceeds the funds available. In the United States, 23.6 million children and adults (7.8 percent of the population) have diabetes, and we spent $174 billion on diagnosed diabetes alone in 2007 (the most recent year for which data are available). It is imperative that we take action, but where is the research funding coming from? Can it possibly be sufficient, and how is it being spent?
1 comment - Posted Mar 3, 2010
When I was undiagnosed and sick, I was very angry with God. I didn't understand why I was weak, fatigued, constantly thirsty and hungry, scarily thin, and mentally foggy. I prayed and prayed for an answer. I cried, I cursed, and I yelled. Nothing. For a year and a half. When I received my diagnosis in a local emergency room, I felt instant relief. Finally, I had an answer, a name, and some hope. But soon after, the anger reappeared, this time because God had failed to pass over me. I had done nothing to earn this fate. Why me?
18 comments - Posted Mar 2, 2010
February 2010
My four-year-diabetes-diagnosis anniversary is almost here. It falls on March 24th, a day just like any other to most people, but a day full of sadness, loss, and victory for me. Will I celebrate? I'm not sure if reflection is a form of celebration. I'd much prefer a birthday-like affair featuring balloons, cards, and, of course, something sweet to eat. But I also feel as if the impending date is much like a funeral on the calendar, a time for mourning as well as reflection.
28 comments - Posted Feb 26, 2010
Bayer's A1CNow SELFCHECK, cleared by the Food and Drug Administration last year, is the first and only system of its kind with at-home results in five minutes. It enables patients to more closely watch their A1C level in between doctor visits so they may have a more informed discussion with their healthcare provider to ensure their diabetes plan is working.
2 comments - Posted Feb 18, 2010
Feb. 11, 2010 - At the 3rd International Conference on Advanced Technologies and Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) in Basel, Switzerland, Roche Diabetes Care, the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), and Sansum Diabetes Research Institute announced their expanded collaboration in the Artificial Pancreas Project sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
3 comments - Posted Feb 18, 2010
Sacramento- February 10, 2010 -- Assistant Speaker pro Tempore Isadore Hall, III (D- Compton) today introduced AB 1802, which would clarify existing law by allowing, but not requiring, a parent/guardian-designated teacher, administrator or school employee to administer insulin to a diabetic student while on a school campus.
3 comments - Posted Feb 11, 2010
January 2010
Thousands of elite athletes from around the world are making their final preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. Every snowboarder, short track speed skater, ski jumper and hockey player shares a dream of standing on the medium wearing an Olympic gold medal.
7 comments - Posted Jan 29, 2010
Researchers at Sansum Diabetes Research Institute and University of California, Santa Barbara have concluded that changing the height of a conventional insulin pump in relation to its tubing and infusion set can significantly impact expected insulin delivery rates. Such changes can occur during routine daily activities like dressing, sleeping or showering. The study, "Siphon Effects of Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion Pump Delivery Performance," evaluated the siphon or hydrostatic pressure action effects on continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion and was published in the January issue of Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.
11 comments - Posted Jan 27, 2010
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) announced today an innovative program aimed at improving the treatment of type 1 diabetes by developing novel insulin delivery products to enhance the use of insulin pumps.
0 comments - Posted Jan 22, 2010
Many meaningful events, experiences, and accomplishments have gone into making me the person that I am today. In my life, most of the important milestones came and went as they do for every kid. But for some of us, life throws a curveball and introduces a trauma or an unexpected event that will forever change our lives. When my most meaningful event occurred, on May 22, 2000, there were no cheers, applause, or laughter in the room. That was the day I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
21 comments - Posted Jan 19, 2010
NEW YORK, January 13, 2010 - The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation today announced an innovative partnership with Animas Corporation to develop an automated system to help people with type 1 diabetes better control their disease - the first step on the path to what would be among the most revolutionary advancements in treating type 1 diabetes: the development of an artificial pancreas, a fully automated system to dispense insulin to patients based on real-time changes in blood sugar levels.
9 comments - Posted Jan 15, 2010
BEDFORD, Mass. and BURGDORF, Switzerland, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Insulet Corporation (Nasdaq: PODD), the leader in tubing-free insulin pump technology with its OmniPod® Insulin Management System, and Ypsomed AG (SIX Swiss Exchange: YPSN), a leading independent diabetes specialist and technology provider of innovative injection systems for self-medication in Europe, today announced an exclusive agreement for the distribution of the OmniPod Insulin Management System in nine countries across Europe, as well as China and Australia.
0 comments - Posted Jan 7, 2010
The first time that my fiancé Richard and I got, um, "intimate," I had some explaining to do. "Er, that's for my diabetes. So's that. And this thing. Oh, and this too." Richard was a bit overwhelmed. I think his exact words were, "Are you bionic or something?"
2 comments - Posted Jan 6, 2010
"You have diabetes." Have you just heard these words? Or maybe you recently heard it about your son or daughter. The oxygen rushes out of your body. A knot forms in your stomach. "What now?"
11 comments - Posted Jan 4, 2010
December 2009
As an American living abroad, I tried to follow the debate over healthcare reform in the US, but I had to drop it for my own sanity. How could so many of my fellow Americans say that people like me, with chronic diseases we never asked for, should pay more for healthcare because they don't want to participate in the risk pool? How could people like me, who live in fear of losing health insurance, be blind to how badly Americans with type 1 diabetes can get ripped off? I had to remind myself, "It's okay. I don't live there anymore."
14 comments - Posted Dec 29, 2009
November 2009
Dr. Jennie C. Brand-Miller, from the University of Sydney stated that, "The food insulin index (FII) may provide a better way to adjust insulin dose in Type 1 diabetes.... In time, it may also enable us to design diets to prevent diabetes."
2 comments - Posted Nov 26, 2009
The official site launch for Accu-Chek Diabetes Link Canada was Monday November 16, and is the first of many proposed sites being developed by Roche to link people with diabetes to various resources.
0 comments - Posted Nov 25, 2009
For 2,000 years, diabetes has been recognized as a devastating and deadly disease. A Greek by the name of Aretaeus described its destructive nature in the first century AD, naming the affliction "diabetes," the Greek word for "siphon." Eugene J. Leopold, in his text "Aretaeus the Cappodacian," described Aretaeus' diagnosis: "...For fluids do not remain in the body, but use the body only as a channel through which they may flow out. Life lasts only for a time, but not very long. For they urinate with pain, and painful is the emaciation. For no essential part of the drink is absorbed by the body, while great masses of the flesh are liquefied into urine."
4 comments - Posted Nov 24, 2009
The Food and Drug Administration has given ARKRAY, Inc., a 510(k)* clearance to begin marketing its new GLUCOCARD® VitalTM blood glucose monitoring system in the United States.
3 comments - Posted Nov 17, 2009
When I was a child, my mother always said, "Think before you speak." Have you heard of this before? If not, please digest my words. If you have heard of this simple yet beneficial policy, please reconsider its merit and then implement it into your practice.
34 comments - Posted Nov 7, 2009
I recently ran into Theresa Garnero at the California AADE annual meeting and discovered that Diabetes Health had not yet reviewed her book, Your First Year with Diabetes: What To Do, Month By Month. We regret the oversight because it's a great resource for anyone dealing with the shock of a diabetes diagnosis. And Garnero is the perfect author for a book like this. She's an award-winning certified diabetes educator (CDE) and advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) with board certification in advanced diabetes management (BC-ADM), and she earned an Master of Science in Nursing (MSN). She is also a former national educator of the year, a cartoonist, and the 2008 global recipient of Inspired by Diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 6, 2009
October 2009
Taking your child to the pediatrician for annual vaccinations is bad enough, but if your child requires daily injections, fingersticks, and infusion set changes, it can be traumatic over and over again. Thankfully, help is here! When a pediatrician by the name of Amy Baxter, MD, realized that kids were being told to "just deal with it" when it came to shots, she thought there had to be another way and came up with a nifty FDA-compliant device called a Buzzy.
0 comments - Posted Oct 29, 2009
October 27, 2009 - Huntsville AL-Qualitest Pharmaceuticals today issued a voluntary nationwide recall of all Accusure® Insulin Syringes. The distributed syringes are of the following descriptions and NDC numbers: 28G 1/2cc, NDC 0603-6995-21;28G 1cc, NDC 0603-6996-21; 29G 1/2cc NDC 0603-6997-21, 29G 1cc, NDC 0603-6998-21, 30G 1/2cc, NDC 0603-999-21, 30G 1cc, NDC 0603-7000-21, 31G 1/2cc, NDC 0603-7001-21; and 31G 1cc, NDC 0603-7002-21. All Accusure® Insulin Syringes regardless of lot number are subject to this recall. These syringes were distributed between January 2002 and October 2009 to wholesale and retail pharmacies nationwide (including Puerto Rico). The syringes in these lots may have needles which detach from the syringe.
0 comments - Posted Oct 29, 2009
LEXINGTON, Mass., October 27, 2009 - GI Dynamics, a leader in non-surgical treatments for type 2 diabetes and obesity, today announced data which support the safety and efficacy of the EndoBarrierTM Gastrointestinal Liner for pre-surgical weight loss treatment, along with a positive effect on glucose homeostasis in morbidly obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. According to the study, mean excess weight loss (EWL) achieved after 12 weeks post implantation was 19.0 % for EndoBarrier patients versus 6.9 % for control patients (p<0.002). The results of this European weight loss study were published today in the advance online publication of Annals of Surgery.
2 comments - Posted Oct 29, 2009
Montreal, Canada - 20 October 2009 - This October marks the one-year anniversary of the international launch of the ground-breaking diabetes Conversation MapTM education tools. Created by Healthy Interactions, a global leader in health education, in collaboration with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), Eli Lilly and Company and other leading diabetes experts, the unique Conversation MapTM education tools have been implemented in 68 countries, excluding the United States, in 31 different languages in the last 365 days. To complete the global launch, redesigned diabetes Conversation MapTM education tools will be unveiled throughout Canada in January 2010, along with a new Map designed for parents and children to learn together. New tools will also be introduced to several Sub-Saharan African countries by early next year.
0 comments - Posted Oct 29, 2009
The statistics are chilling. Children born today have a one-in-three chance of developing type 2 diabetes. For Latinos, however, that risk is one-in-two.
2 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2009
Eurotech, an 84-year-old technology company, recently introduced its EverywareTM Medical Gateway, a remote monitoring device that it hopes will bolster the already notable effectiveness that home care diabetes monitoring has had in reducing hospital admissions. Along with several partners, including IBM and Roche, Eurotech demonstrated the device at the October Continua Health Alliance Fall Summit and Plugfest held in Boston.
1 comment - Posted Oct 22, 2009
A law signed by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine that allows teachers to give emergency glucagon shots to students with diabetes has parents elated but has drawn strong opposition from teachers and nurses. The law also allows students with diabetes to test their own blood glucose levels and use insulin pumps while they are in the classroom, two activities that were not previously allowed.
15 comments - Posted Oct 12, 2009
MSGI Security Solutions, which "serves the needs of counter-terrorism, public safety, law enforcement, and commercial security," has moved into a new area: diabetes detection. In fact, it has developed a handheld sensor that detects diabetes by measuring the level of acetone in the breath. The device, which employs carbon-based chemical sensors that detect organic vapors, is based upon nano sensors that NASA originally developed to make scientific measurements during space missions.
7 comments - Posted Oct 9, 2009
The enthusiasm for inhaled insulin has waned, to say the least, since Exubera was pulled off the market by Pfizer. Following the Exubera debacle, the development of two other inhaled insulins (AIR by Eli Lilly and Alkermes, and AERx by Novo Nordisk) was halted as well.
14 comments - Posted Oct 5, 2009
September 2009
For a while now, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) has been conducting clinical trials on the effectiveness of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) for people with type 1 diabetes. Last year, they issued their first two reports on their findings, showing that CGMs can improve control even for people who already have A1c's below 7%. That information has already had a powerful impact: It's convinced a number of large health insurers (including Aetna, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente, United Healthcare, and Wellpoint) to cover CGMs for type 1s, and it's led to the inclusion of CGMs in national standards of care for type 1 diabetes.
6 comments - Posted Sep 17, 2009
It's not on the market yet, but a patch composed of tiny needles, each the width of a few human hairs, could eventually replace hypodermic needles for most drug injections. Preliminary experiments with people with diabetes have shown that the patch can deliver insulin successfully and with less pain than a hypodermic.
5 comments - Posted Sep 9, 2009
August 2009
A Japanese company whose biggest moneymaker is the sale of synthetic fabrics announced a few days ago that it has developed an insulin nasal spray for people with diabetes. The news brought an investor surge that lifted the value of its stocks by 10 percent.
0 comments - Posted Aug 28, 2009
In our last issue, we published a letter from reader Sheila Payne, who wrote that we had been far too positive about continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in our June/July article Get the Facts on Continuous Glucose Monitoring. But her opinion provoked a stack of letters from people who believe that the benefits of CGM substantially outweigh its negatives. To let you in on the debate, we are reprinting Ms. Payne's thought-provoking letter here, followed by two equally thoughtful responses from readers.
12 comments - Posted Aug 28, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning against the use of GDH-PQQ blood glucose test strips by people with diabetes who are taking medications that contain non-glucose sugars. [Note: GDH-PQQ is the abbreviation of "glucose dehydrogenase pyrroloquinoline quinone," a chemical that reacts with the non-glucose sugars maltose, galactose, and xylose, which are contained in some therapeutic products.]
10 comments - Posted Aug 24, 2009
The American Diabetes Association estimates that about 18 million Americans have diabetes. Given that millions of people have lost their jobs during the current recession, the law of averages would suggest that at least a few hundred thousand folks with diabetes are now unemployed. Loss of a job, unfortunately, usually means a concurrent loss of health insurance. For those hundreds of thousands of people with diabetes, no health insurance means big trouble.
0 comments - Posted Aug 18, 2009
Onglyza (saxagliptin), a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor produced by AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
2 comments - Posted Aug 15, 2009
If it's a pump, then where's the tubing? Well, it looks like another company has put a patch on that problem. Medingo Ltd., a company held by Elron Electronic Industries, has received FDA approval to market the Solo MicroPump Insulin Delivery System. The Solo System consists of an insulin-dispensing patch and a remote control device that increases or decreases the patch's rate of secretion.
6 comments - Posted Aug 15, 2009
This year the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) went deep south for its annual conference, hosting the event in Atlanta, Georgia, from August 3rd through August 9th. Diabetes Health was there, hobnobbing with thousands of attendees and hundreds of companies, and it was an amazing experience.
0 comments - Posted Aug 15, 2009
Now there's an iPhone and iPod Touch app for diabetes. AgaMatrix, Inc., the makers of the WaveSense line of blood glucose monitoring products, has announced the launch of the WaveSense Diabetes Manager, an electronic diabetes logbook software application that runs on the two Apple products.
The WaveSense Diabetes Manager, in development and testing for over a year, lays the foundation for a series of upcoming products that will take advantage of the iPhone and other mobile platforms to help people with diabetes manage the disease. AgaMatrix reports that the WaveSense app provides users with the following features:
2 comments - Posted Aug 12, 2009
Until the twentieth century, type 1 diabetes was a fatal disease. Once we came to understand how insulin works in the body, however, everything changed. The discovery of the role of insulin was a group effort by people who didn't know each other, but built on each others' work. In 1869, a German medical student named Paul Langerhans figured out the regulatory role of insulin in the mammal body. In honor of his efforts, his name was given to the islets of Langerhans, where insulin is synthesized within the beta cells of the pancreas. Other Europeans and North Americans made important advancements right up until January 23, 1922, when a 14-year-old boy who was dying of diabetes at Toronto General Hospital was given the first successful injection of cow insulin.
2 comments - Posted Aug 10, 2009
Initially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, Rob subsequently discovered that he had type 1. Knowing that he needed to exercise more, he returned to professional surfing. Today, he is a sponsored professional athlete who uses a CGM.
10 comments - Posted Aug 7, 2009
Metformin is one of the oldest and most tried-and-true diabetes treatments around, but apparently it has a new talent. According to research from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, good ol' metformin reduces a type 2 person's risk of pancreatic cancer by 62 percent.
2 comments - Posted Aug 5, 2009
In April of 2008, our healthy nine-year-old son, Gaspar, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. After his two days in the ICU and a week in the hospital, a new life began for all of us. Although we couldn't immediately grasp all its implications and were simultaneously dealing with our shaken world, we gave the situation a "think outside the box" approach. When the endocrinologist told us, "That's the way it is. Just focus on the controls and all will be fine," we asked whether the condition might be cured or attenuated if we acted quickly at the beginning. We were met with the usual answer: "There's nothing you can do. Just focus on the controls."
8 comments - Posted Aug 3, 2009
In 1994, Kelli Kuehne was on a roll. That year, she won the United States Girls Junior Amateur Golf Championship and a year later, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur Golf Championship, repeating that win in 1996 while also taking the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship. The roll continues. Today, Kelli Kuehne is still playing matches in the LPGA and, through it all, has never allowed type 1 diabetes to beat her on the golf course or in her life.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2009
July 2009
Minneapolis-based Medtronic Inc. is recalling some lots of its Quick-set infusion sets over concerns that they may cause insulin pumps to deliver too much or too little insulin.
1 comment - Posted Jul 21, 2009
Medicare offers: Screenings for people at risk, Diabetes self-management training, Medical nutrition therapy services, Hemoglobin A1c tests, Glucose monitors, test strips, lancets, insulin, and some insulin pumps, Glaucoma tests, Foot exams, foot treatment, and therapeutic shoes, Flu and pneumonia shots, and Cholesterol and lipid checks.
1 comment - Posted Jul 15, 2009
People often ask me, "Why limit diabetes-related services to the iPhone when there are so many other cell phones out there?" I always answer them by asking, "How many applications have you downloaded onto your cell phone?"
15 comments - Posted Jul 13, 2009
April 2009 was an exciting month at the University of Alberta. It marked the tenth anniversary of an unprecedented approach to islet transplantation, recognized globally as the "Edmonton Protocol." Each year since that milestone has produced evidence of progress in the art of islet isolation and the science of the transplant process. I know this because I lived it. I am patient number thirty-three, one of the many who have witnessed the evolution of this continuing innovation.
7 comments - Posted Jul 11, 2009
Dear Aisha and David: I am a 66-year-old woman who has had diabetes for over 64 years. My husband is 52. He wants sex two or more times day. I hate it. I have no sexual drive, and most of the time it is painful. It was not always like this, but he has always wanted more sex than any man I know! We talk about things, but he basically ignores a lot of what I say when it comes to sex. He is actually a very caring person and has put up with a lot considering all the complications I have after 64 years of diabetes. We have been together for 18 years (married for nine). He waits on me hand and foot. I have to tell him to let me do things myself!
14 comments - Posted Jul 10, 2009
I would exercise if I had more time... if I had a health club membership... if it didn't hurt so much... if I knew what exercises to do... if I could do it with my family... if I could control my blood sugar...
0 comments - Posted Jul 8, 2009
Roche Diabetes Care Announces Unique Coaching Program for Diabetes Educators as Part of Long-Term Commitment to Fight the Disease
1 comment - Posted Jul 8, 2009
How many times during your work with young people and their families have you wished that you could really help them through a rough time in their lives? Young people with diabetes and their families often feel overwhelmed, both physically and emotionally, by all that they must learn and manage. They can feel very alone if they don't know anyone who can understand their diabetes fears and trials.
0 comments - Posted Jul 2, 2009
June 2009
Until now, care for insulin-dependent diabetes has focused on the delivery of insulin combined with frequent blood glucose (BG) testing. Keeping your A1c down is, and always will be, the name of the game. But numerous studies have shown us in the last few years that having access to continuous glucose data has a huge impact. How you deliver the insulin doesn't necessarily matter-you can use a pump, a syringe, or an insulin pen, it's knowing your personal BG trends that makes all the difference.
11 comments - Posted Jun 29, 2009
Rachel and her husband adopted a beautiful baby girl in November of 2008. Their daughter is now seven months old. You can read Rachel's article about diabetes and adoption here.
5 comments - Posted Jun 26, 2009
In May, 2009, a jury in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) discriminated against Jeff Kapche when it refused to hire him as a Special Agent because of his diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 26, 2009
One of the fondest hopes of people with type 1 diabetes has long been for the creation of an artificial pancreas, a reliable combination of automated glucose monitoring and insulin delivery that could serve in place of a defunct pancreas.
16 comments - Posted Jun 24, 2009
Gale Fullerton is a 65-year-old Californian who has the distinction of being a Joslin 50-Year medal winner. Elliott P. Joslin, M.D., knew that good self-management was the key to minimizing long-term diabetes complications, and the medal program was designed as an incentive for those committed to good diabetes care. In 1970, Joslin Diabetes Center expanded the program and began awarding a 50-year bronze medal. They presented the first 75-year medal in 1996.
24 comments - Posted Jun 16, 2009
Here’s a handy meter to have if reading your meter is a challenge. The Prodigy Autocode meter speaks your test results in seconds, and it’ll do so in English or Spanish. The audible function also promotes team work by allowing you to hear your child’s or spouse’s test result from across the room and work together as a team to manage diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2009
The polls are open for voting for new members of the AADE board, AADE officers, and the nominating committee. The good news is that you can vote for three people! Diabetes Health wishes Board of Directors candidates and former DH Guest Editors, Jane Jeffrie Seley, Kim Higgins, and Deborah Greenwood, the best of luck.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2009
May 2009
Pump Wear has a new product called a "Draw Pak"-it's a pump pack that you can truly make your own. The pack, which is made of black cordura, has a white vinyl front that your can decorate yourself with "Sharpie" permanent markers. (Hint: Costco sells a package of every color you could possibly need.) Want to practice your picture? Use washable markers to play with your ideas, then wipe it clean until you're ready for the final design. Test your creativity and create your own sports design, fun fashion design, or special events logo-it's all up to you.
1 comment - Posted May 26, 2009
The polls are open for voting for new members of the AADE board, AADE officers, and the nominating committee. Diabetes Health wishes Board of Directors candidates and former DH Guest Editors, Jane Jeffrie Seley, Kim Higgins, and Deborah Greenwood, the best of luck.
1 comment - Posted May 19, 2009
April 2009
What do you eat in a 140 mile Ironman triathlon? I get that question a lot. It's been said that the Ironman race is 10% fitness, and 90% nutrition. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but for those of us with diabetes, that's our daily life. Nutrition affects everything we do. Exercise, sleep, driving a car, all of those activities require a person with diabetes to think about the carbohydrates they have consumed and when they will eat or drink them again
2 comments - Posted Apr 30, 2009
When Smiths Medical announced in late March that it was discontinuing the manufacture and sales of its Deltec Cozmo insulin pumps, the company's annual sales of that product were about $36 million. In contrast, Medtronic, manufacturer of the Minimed line of insulin pumps reported sales of $727 million in the nine months from April 2008 to January 2009.
8 comments - Posted Apr 29, 2009
Insulin pens have been very popular in Europe for quite some time and interest is building steadily in the United States. Many people prefer an insulin pen over the standard syringe and vial because the pens are more convenient and more accurate. Pre-filled disposable insulin pens are the easiest of all, because you don't never have to install a new cartridge when the pen is empty-you just toss it out.
4 comments - Posted Apr 28, 2009
Many people with diabetes who have ditched multiple daily injections in exchange for an insulin pump regret not doing so sooner. Ask them why they didn't, and arguably the most common answer has something to do with vanity. Still, while many might feel overjoyed by their optimum blood sugar control, they're not in love with their new appendage and may struggle with self-image as a result.
1 comment - Posted Apr 25, 2009
Women hate their bodies. At least, an overwhelming collection of statistical data suggests as much. Consider the following facts compiled by Liz Dittrich, Ph.D, at About-Face.org, which aims to combat negative and distorted images of women:
0 comments - Posted Apr 24, 2009
Long before Joy Pape, RN, BSN, CDE, WOCN, CFCN, served a stint as the clinical editor and contributing columnist for Diabetes Health Professional, she was a seasoned diabetes expert who knew her way around almost every aspect of the disease.
0 comments - Posted Apr 22, 2009
The Insight Foot Care Scale is a unique bathroom weight scale designed to help people with diabetes check their feet every day. As most people with diabetes know, daily foot observation is an important step in managing diabetes. Neuropathy, a common complication of diabetes, can cause complete loss of sensation in the extremities, which makes it possible for minor cuts and sores to go unnoticed until they are problematic.
1 comment - Posted Apr 8, 2009
My whole childhood, I was a bit of a pudgy girl. At the age of eight, I weighed over 110 pounds, wore a woman's size 8, and stood a mere five feet tall. I wasn't grossly obese, by any means, but it was enough to keep me off the cheerleading squad and out of the popular crowd at school. I didn't really have any health issues besides the weight.
27 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2009
March 2009
In a study funded by Novo Nordisk, researchers at Ohio State University have found that type 2s who move from oral meds to insulin would be wise to start with an insulin pen rather than a syringe.
16 comments - Posted Mar 21, 2009
Physicians who treat people with type 2 diabetes face difficult choices when selecting the best medical therapy for each patient. The decision process is further complicated by the fact that because type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease, therapeutic agents that were initially successful may fail five or ten years later.
162 comments - Posted Mar 20, 2009
Novo Nordisk has redesigned the FlexPen®, the number one selling pre-filled insulin pen in the world, to not only require less force when pushing the button to inject insulin, but also to clearly identify each type of insulin with prominent color branding. The FlexPen® is available with three Novo Nordisk insulin products: Levemir® (insulin detemir [rDNA origin] injection); NovoLog® (insulin aspart [rDNA origin] injection); and NovoLog® Mix 70/30 (70% insulin aspart protamine suspension and 30% insulin aspart injection, [rDNA origin]).
6 comments - Posted Mar 18, 2009
Eric Devine, a 30-year-old English teacher and writer who's lived with type 1 diabetes for 18 years, has written a young adult novel, This Side of Normal, that will be published this month by Long Tale Press.
10 comments - Posted Mar 12, 2009
Scientists at a Cambridge, Massachusetts, laboratory who set out to develop a tattoo for tracking heart health may now be on track for developing a tattoo for people with diabetes that changes color as blood glucose levels rise and fall. If it becomes a workable approach, the tattoo technology could spare millions of people the tiresome, often painful routine of pricking themselves throughout the day to produce blood samples for their glucose monitors.
15 comments - Posted Mar 6, 2009
It was in the spring of 2005 that I received a call from the director of the diabetes camp in the state where I lived and worked as a sales rep for a blood glucose meter company. He was calling to ask if I would volunteer as a counselor at the week-long camp, which served around 200 campers, the vast majority with type 1 diabetes. I'd known for years that counselors were always in demand at the camp, but had never stepped forward to volunteer. I'd heard the stories of how tough and exhausting it was keeping up with your group, performing 2:00 AM blood sugar checks, and ensuring that they all stayed safe and had fun. Frankly, I'd always had serious doubts as to whether I was up to it. This, however, was the first time that I had been directly asked to volunteer, and something inside me made me grudgingly agree. As I drove to the campsite to begin that week in June, though, I'd be lying if I did not admit to being as nervous as any of the kids who were attending.
5 comments - Posted Mar 6, 2009
I was diagnosed with type 1 relatively late in life, at age 24. People sometimes remark to me, with genuine kindness, that it must have been harder on me. Perhaps they think I recall what it was like to be a "normal" child and young adult, to do and eat what I wanted without insulin, checking blood sugar, or worrying about highs and lows or long-term complications. I appreciate their sincerity, but I always correct them. Diabetes is not harder for me. It is hard on everyone. Whether you were diagnosed as a child or an adult, it complicates your life and the lives of your family.
1 comment - Posted Mar 4, 2009
A few years ago a young man named Jeff came into my office seeking help to lose weight. He was 5'10" tall and weighed 130 pounds. Jeff denied starving himself, denied making himself throw up, and denied over-exercising. I tried to convince him that he was actually 30 pounds underweight. As I looked for the most effective ways of motivating him to restore his health, he brought up the fact that he had type 1 diabetes. Jeff said that he rarely gave himself insulin and that he had "diabulimia." I had never heard of diabulimia and had no idea what I was dealing with. I gave him a list of clinicians and asked him to call me back after he made appointments with an endocrinologist and a psychotherapist.
13 comments - Posted Mar 3, 2009
February 2009
Do infusion sets refuse to stick to your skin?
7 comments - Posted Feb 27, 2009
I admit it: I've had diabetes for seven years, and only recently did I even think about buying a medical alert ID. It's not like me to be this irresponsible, but diabetes crept up on me, rather like type 2 does, although I'm a type 1. My diabetes is a slowly progressing adult-onset form, sometimes called type 1.5. For the first five years after my diagnosis, I controlled the disease with diet.
12 comments - Posted Feb 24, 2009
Sanofi-aventis U.S. and Children with Diabetes have announced the arrival of a multimedia resource, called the KidCare Kit, which gives families the tools and information they need to get through the challenging first 30 days after a diagnosis of type 1.
0 comments - Posted Feb 18, 2009
Baxter International, Inc., which produces the peritoneal dialysis solution Extraneal (icodextrin), has teamed with MedicAlert Foundation International to encourage peritoneal dialysis patients to add a warning to their MedicAlert bracelets regarding the fact that icodextrin may cause false readings on non-specific glucose monitors.
0 comments - Posted Feb 5, 2009
January 2009
Remember that New Year's resolution that you made a few weeks ago? Oh yeah, that one. How's that going? If you're like most people, you may have started to slack off just a little bit. Or even worse, maybe it's already a distant memory. No worries, I won't tell. Let's get you going again.
1 comment - Posted Jan 27, 2009
You've been diagnosed with diabetes because there is too much glucose (a kind of sugar) in your blood.
7 comments - Posted Jan 16, 2009
As the 76-million-member Baby Boomer generation ages-its oldest members are now 63-nursing homes are bracing for an unprecedented demand for their services. Along with increased pressure from the sheer number of patients, nursing homes will also have to deal with the skyrocketing number of seniors with type 2 diabetes.
2 comments - Posted Jan 15, 2009
December 2008
Sandy was giving her son his evening dose of NPH insulin - something she had done many times. But as she finished pushing in the plunger, she said to herself, "That shot took too long." She immediately realized that she had given Joey the wrong dose. In other words, by mistake, she had given him a potentially lethal dose of insulin.
61 comments - Posted Dec 25, 2008
For 2,000 years diabetes has been recognized as a devastating and deadly disease. In the first century A.D. a Greek, Aretaeus, described the destructive nature of the affliction which he named "diabetes" from the Greek word for "siphon." Eugene J. Leopold in his text Aretaeus the Cappodacian describes Aretaeus' diagnosis: "...For fluids do not remain in the body, but use the body only as a channel through which they may flow out. Life lasts only for a time, but not very long. For they urinate with pain and painful is the emaciation. For no essential part of the drink is absorbed by the body while great masses of the flesh are liquefied into urine."
45 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
Take this test on insulin and see if you can get a higher score than hospital doctors and nurses.
19 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
When the sun rose that morning, I was in the kitchen as usual with my daughter, preparing to take my insulin. I usually don't take it in front of her, but we were engaged in one of those frustrating conversations that were so common now that she was a teenager.
20 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
Diabetes Health magazine recently had the pleasure of interviewing Doug Burns for a lengthy feature. He is a well-spoken and forthcoming man with a good sense of humor and an easy-going manner. Altogether, he comes across as a very nice person. On Sunday, however, Doug Burns was severely beaten by police during an episode of low blood sugar that occurred at a movie theater in Redwood City, California.
60 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
It has been rags to riches for singer Elliott Yamin. With his naturally soulful singing voice, listeners feel his raw emotion and they like it. When you hear him, you know immediately that few guys in any musical genre sing with this kind of authenticity.
29 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
Most people with diabetes will tell you this: Everything about having it is a hassle, an annoyance and sometimes utterly overwhelming. Endless worrying over meal plans, carbohydrate counting, finger-stick checks, pills, injections, lab tests, prescriptions, supplies and doctors’ appointments are nobody’s idea of fun.
7 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
Bob Cleveland wondered if he’d live when he went to the hospital as a 5-year-old. In 1925, hospital visits were made for dire reasons.
3 comments - Posted Dec 17, 2008
Need gift ideas? Holiday gift-giving can be a challenge. Some people like surprise gifts, some make “must have” or “wish” lists. I don’t always know what is on someone’s list, or if they would enjoy a surprise.
1 comment - Posted Dec 10, 2008
Hanukkah treats? Christmas traditions? Kwanzaa celebrations?
2 comments - Posted Dec 10, 2008
The first time I presented medical research findings, I was not yet a physician. The year was about 1975. I was in my early forties and a mid-career engineer. The forum was a scientific symposium on diabetes. At the time, I felt that I had discovered the holy grail of diabetes care and was eager to share what I had learned.
22 comments - Posted Dec 8, 2008
Times are hard this year, and it's that much harder to make your holiday money stretch very far. Charities, food banks, and other causes are feeling the pinch. Food banks, for example, have more people than ever needing their assistance, and fewer people able to give. In fact, people who used to give are now forced to be recipients.
0 comments - Posted Dec 8, 2008
My daughter Lauren was five days shy of her twelfth birthday when she was diagnosed with type 1. We were blessed with a child who could and did take the lead in her recovery and care. She never had any "teen diabetic rebellion" and never adopted a "why me?" mentality. Her health has been great, and her last A1c was 6.7%. With all the hormonal changes that can affect a teenage girl's body and thus change her insulin requirements, Lauren has always stayed on top of her care and never lost her fantastic personality.
24 comments - Posted Dec 2, 2008
Last week we published an excerpt from Chapter 4 of Sheri Colberg's revised, updated, and expanded version of her 2001 book, Diabetic Athlete's Handbook: Your Guide to Peak Performance. Dr. Colberg has a PhD in exercise physiology, is a Diabetes Health board member, and is herself an athlete with diabetes. Her book draws upon the experiences of hundreds of athletes with diabetes to provide the best advice for exercisers with diabetes, either type 1 or type 2.
0 comments - Posted Dec 2, 2008
November 2008
According to a study sponsored by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, it cost $218 billion to treat type 1 and 2 diabetes in the United States in 2007. Of that amount, the federal government spent approximately $85 billion.
1 comment - Posted Nov 24, 2008
Nick Jonas and Bayer Diabetes Care have produced dog tags that feature a lyric from "A Little Bit Longer," the song Nick wrote about his diabetes. Two versions of the dog tags are available: one for people who would like to support the cause and another specifically for people with diabetes. The dog tag for people with diabetes has the lyric on the front, but also has the word "diabetes" on the back to document their personal fight against the disease.
11 comments - Posted Nov 17, 2008
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that Tyco Healthcare Group LP (Covidien) is recalling one lot of ReliOn sterile, single-use, disposable, hypodermic syringes with permanently affixed hypodermic needles due to possible mislabeling. The use of these syringes may lead to patients receiving an overdose of as much as 2.5 times the intended dose, which may lead to hypoglycemia, serious health consequences, and even death.
0 comments - Posted Nov 10, 2008
The ADA has a new book out, called What to Expect When You Have Diabetes: 170 Tips for Living Well With Diabetes.
1 comment - Posted Nov 10, 2008
Even as diabetes researchers worldwide strive for total control over-or even an outright cure of-type 1 diabetes via gene therapy, altered cells, or surgical intervention, other researchers continue to press toward creation of a functional "artificial pancreas."
1 comment - Posted Nov 3, 2008
October 2008
David Kliff of Diabetic Investor was the first to report last week that Animas, the Johnson and Johnson unit that makes the OneTouch Ping blood glucose monitor, is recalling the Ping. The brand-new Ping received FDA clearance this past summer on July 1. According to reports, there is a small problem with the Ping that has nothing to do with the Animas 2020 insulin pump it works in concert with. The bolus calculator on the Ping does not work properly when it isn’t synched with the pump. When the two are synched, it works fine. Animas says the problem has been corrected and they are sending new units to customers to replace the defective ones.
0 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2008
If you use more than 200 units of insulin a day (or your child needs more than three units of insulin per kilogram of body weight per day), and you aren't reaching your blood glucose goals, you may want to consider U-500 insulin.
4 comments - Posted Oct 27, 2008
The stock of Byetta manufacturer Amylin Pharmaceuticals has lost more than half of its value over the past eight weeks, thanks to FDA concerns that the type 2 treatment may be connected with the deaths from acute pancreatitis of six Byetta users. Although the FDA has not proven a direct association between fatal pancreatitis and the use of Byetta, Amylin's stock has fallen nevertheless.
0 comments - Posted Oct 13, 2008
A new pharmacy that focuses on patients with diabetes, A1c Rx, opened this month in the San Diego, California, area. A1c Rx works with patients to review medications and demonstrate testing techniques. It also utilizes a robotic pill dispenser to safely and accurately dispense diabetes meds.
5 comments - Posted Oct 13, 2008
September 2008
Sleep disorders are very common in modern society. Mild forms are familiar to everyone, and up to 10 to 20 percent of adults suffer from organic sleep disorders. Diagnosing sleep disorders, however, often requires extensive and expensive sleep recording at a sleep laboratory.
0 comments - Posted Sep 29, 2008
Joel Shpigel's dad was considered a "large" man. He was 37 the day he had a "heart scare." "He didn't have a heart attack, but his doctor said he was headed for one," Shpigel recalls. His father decided to begin exercising. Joel, who was also overweight, decided to join him.
1 comment - Posted Sep 29, 2008
A small, portable device used for the home diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea has been deemed very reliable, according to new research presented at the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in Chicago, Illinois.
0 comments - Posted Sep 29, 2008
These days, Doug Burns is a modern Sampson. The reigning Mr. Universe, he’s two hundred pounds of sheer muscle and the picture of good health. Of the skinny little boy with type 1 who used to work out in the woods alone, all that remains are a wry sense of humor and an attractively self-deprecating manner. They’re unexpected in a man who’s triumphed in the uber-masculine world of bodybuilding, but there’s a lot that’s unexpected about Doug Burns.
31 comments - Posted Sep 22, 2008
Originally ice cream consisted of milk, cream, sugar, flavoring and lots of air. But modern brands adhering to this original recipe are few and far between.
1 comment - Posted Sep 22, 2008
The OneTouch® UltraMini® Meter by LifeScan, Inc., is now available in Purple Twilight and Blue Comet.
3 comments - Posted Sep 18, 2008
Diabetes educator Cindy Young used case studies to illustrate the many little things that can have a big effect on your blood glucose-or just on the readings you get with your meter.
7 comments - Posted Sep 11, 2008
A study sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation confirms that many older type 1 patients achieve better control of their blood sugar levels by using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) than by conventional monitoring with a meter and finger pricks.
1 comment - Posted Sep 11, 2008
When Gina Capone, a thirty-something type 1 for eight years, got married this year, she and her husband decided it was time to start thinking about having a baby. Like all women with diabetes who are planning a pregnancy, Gina needs her A1c to be as low as possible in order to prevent complications for her and her baby. This strict control can be very challenging and time-consuming, requiring up to 20 blood sugar tests a day.
3 comments - Posted Sep 4, 2008
August 2008
My husband and I have nine children. Elliott is our oldest and when he was diagnosed with type 1 at age 11 in 1996, we were blindsided. Neither my husband, nor I, nor anyone in our extended family had diabetes. Elliot had all of the classic symptoms: excessive thirst, frequent urination, uncontrollable hunger, occasional blurry vision, and (something I think a lot of parents don't recognize as a sign) bedwetting.
11 comments - Posted Aug 28, 2008
The exhibit hall at this year's Children with Diabetes conference in Orlando, Florida, from July 23 to 27, 2008, featured expensive and elaborate booths from well-known companies like LifeScan and large organizations such as the American Diabetes Association. But another kind of company also welcomed people to their booths. They were the diabetes start-ups, companies that were started more often than not because of an intimate connection to the world of diabetes. I spoke to representatives of five of these companies about their products, their mission, and their inspiration.
3 comments - Posted Aug 28, 2008
The members of the AADE are an impassioned group who genuinely want to make a difference in their patients' lives. It was an ideal place for me to be, especially because I had a concern of my own: Why am I getting red dots every time I inject? Every educator I asked went right to work examining the problem and investigating my behavior, truly wanting to help. Unfortunately, they are dwindling in number each year, while patients are increasing in number, making their work ever more demanding.
4 comments - Posted Aug 20, 2008
Diabetes educator Mary M. Austin reported that many people are paying for blood glucose test strips even though their insurance plans would cover them. "There is a lot of misunderstanding," she said. For example, a client of Austin's got a free meter at a health fair. He then paid for strips on his own for six months, until he found out that his insurance plan would cover them if he got a prescription for the strips from his healthcare provider.
3 comments - Posted Aug 20, 2008
My eye was caught recently by a cool company called FiveHumansTM. I was drawn in by their name and logo and then happily found that their product didn't disappoint. The company's website, FiveHumans.com, explains that Dan Grunvald and Lee Fine first dreamed up the concept of producing T-shirts with slogans and information related to a variety of diseases, which they called Disease Tees, in 2001. Their goal was to raise awareness and provide a tangible opportunity for people to support a cause near and dear to them.
3 comments - Posted Aug 20, 2008
Results from a Harris survey commissioned by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) show that people with diabetes who must take insulin often struggle with dread and negative impacts on their lives because of it. But more than half of them—52 percent—are reluctant to share their concerns with their healthcare providers.
10 comments - Posted Aug 14, 2008
When the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) hosted its convention June 30 through July 5 in Dallas, Texas, it awarded the Access Plus (A+) Award to Diagnostic Devices, Inc., makers of Prodigy® blood glucose monitoring systems. “The A+ Award program was designed to reward companies that make consumer products that are truly accessible for blind people,” said Eileen Rivera Ley, Director of Diabetes Initiatives for the NFB. The A+ Award is for products that afford the blind the same convenience and features available to everyone else and is awarded only to products and services that meet the highest standards of accessibility.
0 comments - Posted Aug 5, 2008
July 2008
In a report published in the December 23, 2000, issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), researchers at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom write that hypoglycemia is one of the complications of diabetes most feared by patients. They point out, "Intensive research has been devoted to the development of hypoglycemia alarms."
13 comments - Posted Jul 31, 2008
If you are a New Yorker and have been denied CGMS coverage by insurance or would like coverage for a continuous glucose monitoring system, Gina Capone, founder of Diabetes TalkFest, wants you to Raise your Voice.
3 comments - Posted Jul 25, 2008
The provincial government of Ontario has announced it will spend $741 million over the next four years to combat diabetes, including paying the costs of insulin pumps for adults with type 1 diabetes.
5 comments - Posted Jul 25, 2008
You might think that having a disease is the last thing you would want broadcast over the World Wide Web. But for some writers, getting the word out there is the main idea. In a world inundated with celebrity gossip and angst-ridden posts, a few people rise above the online mess and use their blogs to foster a sense of community in what could otherwise be an isolating dilemma: living with diabetes.
10 comments - Posted Jul 25, 2008
Before diabetes, I was a normal teenager whose greatest worry was whether I’d get an A or a B on a test. I was strong and healthy. Somehow, I took for granted all the freedoms that diabetes took away from me. Last year, at the age of fifteen, I learned that every day, even every breath, that we are given is a true gift.
4 comments - Posted Jul 25, 2008
What follows is Medtronic's response to Zachariah Kramer's letter to Diabetes Health cautioning against unrealistic expectations about CGM systems.
2 comments - Posted Jul 16, 2008
What follows is DexCom's response to Zachariah Kramer's letter to Diabetes Health cautioning against unrealistic expectations about CGMS.
1 comment - Posted Jul 16, 2008
In the wake of its clearance by the FDA, Animas Corporation says it will make its new OneTouch® Ping™ glucose management system available to people with diabetes by mid-August.
3 comments - Posted Jul 10, 2008
The non-profit Institute for Safe Medication Practices says there has been an increase in reports about mix-ups between prescriptions of insulin U-100 and insulin U-500 (U-500 is a concentrated insulin that is five times stronger than U-100).
0 comments - Posted Jul 3, 2008
VALLEY STREAM, NY: July 2, 2008 -- On Tuesday, July 1 online community Diabetes Talkfest sponsored the first CGMS Denial Day online rally highlighting the excessively high rate of denials issued by insurance companies for continuous glucose monitors. CGMS have been proven to help people with diabetes control their blood sugar levels, and quality of life. The event was held in association with social network site Tudiabetes.com.
5 comments - Posted Jul 3, 2008
I’ve always been a pretty good traveler. I simply checked the weather at my destination and packed accordingly. Easy. Then I learned that I had diabetes, and suddenly even weekend trips required an intense amount of additional preparation.
2 comments - Posted Jul 3, 2008
June 2008
Clinical trials have been a staple of diabetes research ever since 1922, when doctors in a Toronto hospital injected a young boy dying from the disease with pancreatic extracts. (The extracts contained the recently discovered hormone, insulin. The boy survived and lived another 13 years.)
3 comments - Posted Jun 19, 2008
Having a health issue that requires precautions shouldn't mean the world has to know about it. Your health matters are private, but in times of a car accident or other emergency, they must be made public. “Lauren’s Hope” is a line of contemporary, interchangeable medical ID bracelets for anyone living with a health ailment or undergoing medical treatment that calls for an ID to be worn at all times.
0 comments - Posted Jun 12, 2008
Dear Diabetes Health,
After reading the story in the April/May Diabetes Health about the mother and daughter who won approval from Blue Cross/Blue Shield to pay for the continuous monitor, I wanted to share our story.
5 comments - Posted Jun 12, 2008
People in the diabetes community, desperate for a cure, sometimes express considerable paranoia about the goals of the pharmaceutical industry.
15 comments - Posted Jun 11, 2008
Dear friends of Diabetes Health,
We value your hard-earned diabetes wisdom and we want you to share it with the world! Please join us as a professional or lay diabetes advisor in one of our Diabetes Health website content Rooms.
3 comments - Posted Jun 6, 2008
May 2008
With annual worldwide sales topping 1.3 billion dollars, insulin pumps are one of the most popular devices in the treatment of diabetes. Not only do they allow people with type 1 diabetes to more easily manage their blood glucose levels, but they also help users regain their freedom and enjoy a more normal life.
14 comments - Posted May 30, 2008
Dear Editor, I am a medical student in the M.D. program at Oregon Health and Sciences University and a type 1 diabetic of almost 10 years. I use a Medtronic pump and I also use their continuous glucose monitoring system (Paradigm Real-Time).
34 comments - Posted May 22, 2008
Nassau University Medical Center said it had underestimated the number of diabetes patients potentially exposed to reused insulin pens and would be sending letters to at least 840 of them, instead of 185, urging them to be tested for hepatitis C and B and HIV.
3 comments - Posted May 22, 2008
Let me start with my maternal grandmother, Helen. Helen had diabetes and lived to the age of 73. We all assumed that she didn’t do a good job with it, as we would often find candy wrappers under her bed. When it came to taking care of herself, Helen was my mother’s role model.
5 comments - Posted May 15, 2008
According to the American Dental Association (ADA), people with diabetes are more prone to periodontitis, tooth decay, oral fungal infections, taste diminishment, gingivitis and delayed healing time than people without the disease.
7 comments - Posted May 15, 2008
Newswise — “The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists applauds the FDA’s efforts to protect the safety of children and adolescents who are using insulin pumps,” said Dr. Richard Hellman, the Association’s President.
1 comment - Posted May 15, 2008
The Diabetes Exercise and Sports Association Conference will feature speakers from the sports and health care professions, the latest research on diabetes, a discussion on the role of exercise in insulin pump therapy, and advances in diabetes treatment and management.
0 comments - Posted May 8, 2008
I was diagnosed with type I insulin-dependent diabetes 54 years ago at the age of 22 months. A dear family friend suggested my parents take me to our family doctor and have me checked for diabetes after I showed some of the more common symptoms. I was unusually cranky and always hungry, but had a stomach that was hard to the touch as though food was not digesting properly. I was also always thirsty, drinking a lot and urinating frequently. Our doctor tested my blood sugar, and the result was high enough to indicate diabetes. He put me on 60 units of insulin per day and told my parents to take me to the hospital 30 miles from the little Western Kansas town where we lived to get a shot of insulin once a day.
17 comments - Posted May 8, 2008
April 2008
Carol Whitton of Coral Springs, Florida, discovered that her blood sugar often increased sharply after she drank a diet soda while dining in a restaurant. So she started to test her diet drinks for sugar, a practice she learned from watching the “Living With Diabetes” television program.
29 comments - Posted Apr 28, 2008
Hi, Keith,
One of our most popular articles right now is about the many, many folks who accidentally mix up their insulin bottles and take a huge dose of fast-acting insulin by mistake, thinking they are taking long-acting. (See the article and the 22 reader comments here.)
10 comments - Posted Apr 28, 2008
Have you ever met anyone who thinks they get enough exercise? Everywhere you look there are books, web sites, exercise videos and articles telling people how to get started and how to stay motivated. Our family certainly avoided any kind of exercise plan. Although we played in the yard, took walks, rode our bikes, and played soccer, I never woke up thinking, "What can we do for exercise today?" Even though I knew we weren't active enough, I didn't want another thing to do.
0 comments - Posted Apr 28, 2008
The FDA has cleared the OneTouch UltraLink wireless meter as the only meter certified by Medtronic to wirelessly communicate with its diabetes management products in the United States. The meter uses Medtronic-certified wireless technology to transmit glucose readings directly to MiniMed Paradigm insulin pumps and the Guardian® REAL-Time continuous glucose monitoring system. This makes bolus dosing more accurate and easier for patients compared to the manual entry of blood glucose readings.
8 comments - Posted Apr 28, 2008
A Question-and-Answer Session With Jordan Hoese, A 14-Year-Old Type 1 Marathon Runner.
16 comments - Posted Apr 21, 2008
We’d like to invite diabetes professionals, persons with diabetes (and the people who love and help them) to contribute articles to Diabetes Health.
0 comments - Posted Apr 21, 2008
This is a thank-you note for the article, “An Appeal to Insulin Manufacturers,” on page 27 of Diabetes Health (Feb/March 2008). In the 10 years that I have been using insulin, I have made the “near fatal” mistake twice. I use Lantus and Apridra (5 units of Apidra before breakfast and lunch, and 8 units before dinner; 50 units of Lantus at bedtime). I realized what I had done after the fact and stayed up all night eating and monitoring. I was so scared each time I ate my blood sugar up to 300 mg/dl and 400 mg/dl!
1 comment - Posted Apr 21, 2008
Tim’s Parker’s 15 minutes of fame – at least in the diabetes community – began in March when he learned that he had been the purchaser of Medtronic’s one millionth continuous glucose monitoring sensor.
1 comment - Posted Apr 16, 2008
It is estimated that nearly 3 million African-Americans have diabetes – 17 percent of all diabetes patients in the United States. That figure is growing as the proportion of African-American patients diagnosed with diabetes consistently increases year to year, according to research from GfK Market Measures’ Roper Global Diabetes Group.
0 comments - Posted Apr 16, 2008
Years from now, when we’re looking for significant milestones in the struggle to get insurers to cover the cost of continuous glucose monitors, keep this one in mind: Medtronic has just announced the sale of its one millionth sensor from its line of CGM products.
7 comments - Posted Apr 10, 2008
Hi, Mr. King: Thanks so much for Diabetes Health. Being a type 1 diabetic, I have benefited from many of its articles. I would like to tell you a story concerning my daughter, Morgan, and say what an inspiration Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers is. Morgan is 12-½ years old and a huge Jonas Brothers fan! Of course she and her friends wanted tickets for the Louisville Palace show in February. A few of her friends’ mothers went and stood in line on the cold morning that the lottery tickets went on sale.
53 comments - Posted Apr 10, 2008
On April 25-27, 14 families of children with diabetes will enjoy a weekend at the Double H Ranch in Lake Luzerne, N.Y., thanks to Pump Wear Inc., which manufactures insulin pump-related accessories.
2 comments - Posted Apr 9, 2008
When Dee Brehm was diagnosed in 1949 with type 1 diabetes, her prospects were not bright: a permanent chronic condition, a reduced life span, potentially devastating complications and perhaps no children. She married Bill Brehm in 1952, and they began a partnership knowing that together they would have to manage her disease. Dee subsequently defied the dim outlook for her life: She has two children and six grandchildren, and she has surpassed the half-century mark with this disease having been spared the ordeal of complications.
23 comments - Posted Apr 2, 2008
Hello to all of you hardworking diabetes educators. We have some exciting news from California! It's about the first case of a health insurance company paying for a patient's continuous glucose monitor, as well as the ongoing monthly supplies. It's also the story of a mother-and-daughter team that had the courage to blaze a new trail for us all. These two women, Laura and Gillian Miller, truly went where no man has gone before! That's why Diabetes Health Professional is honored to tell their story, which you can read on page 27.
1 comment - Posted Apr 2, 2008
March 2008
Professional surfer Scott Dunton, 21, has two missions in life: To keep climbing in the rankings as one of the world’s top competitive surfers, and to spread the word to children and teenagers everywhere that having diabetes doesn’t mean life’s joys come to a halt.
16 comments - Posted Mar 27, 2008
Fifteen-year-old Californian Laura Miller, a brittle diabetic, and her mother, Gillian, thought they had a strong case when they asked Blue Cross in late 2007 to pay for a continuous glucose monitor for her.
15 comments - Posted Mar 27, 2008
Scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston have initiated a phase 1 clinical trial to reverse type 1 diabetes. The trial is exploring whether the promising results from the laboratory of Denise Faustman, MD, PhD, can be applied in human diabetes.
13 comments - Posted Mar 19, 2008
Blood sugar control is the heart and soul of diabetes management. How you handle it determines what will be the consequences of your diabetes.
2 comments - Posted Mar 13, 2008
Janel Johnson also works for Can-Am Care, and is the product manager for their line of glucose products (Dex 4) designed to treat hypoglycemia. She talks with Scott King about the new ways to get the glucose we need when we are having episodes of low blood sugar. Products include tablets, gels, and liquids.
0 comments - Posted Mar 5, 2008
February 2008
Eli Lilly and Company has introduced KwikPen, a pre-filled insulin pen containing its Humalog insulin brand of insulins. The pen is the third that Lilly has introduced over the past 12 months, following in the wake of the HumaPen MEMOIR, a digital insulin pen with memory, and the HumaPen® LUXURA HD, a reusable pen for people who need insulin dosing in smaller increments.
9 comments - Posted Feb 28, 2008
A Texas endocrinologist who recently put the recently FDA-approved Medtronic iPro continuous glucose recorder through its paces with diabetic patients calls the tool a major step forward in doctors' ability to accurately monitor the disease.
10 comments - Posted Feb 18, 2008
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the newest continuous glucose monitoring system from diabetes management device manufacturer Medtronic.
0 comments - Posted Feb 15, 2008
To successfully treat diabetes, you must take charge of your own diabetes management. You need to know your medications, and you need to know your pharmacist. But that kind of intimate knowledge has become a lot more complex in the past decade.
3 comments - Posted Feb 12, 2008
The FDA is currently reviewing a continuous glucose monitoring system from Abbott, the "FreeStyle Navigator." The CGM device, if approved, will join the CGM systems currently offered by Medtronic and Dexcom.
5 comments - Posted Feb 11, 2008
Dear Diabetes Health, after seeing your Web TV show where Scott King went on the Dexcom device for the first time, I have several questions.
14 comments - Posted Feb 3, 2008
I don't know if you watched this show that aired the week of January 20 here in Rochester, N.Y., on WXXI Public TV. The program included a short segment where a 12-year-old type 1 diabetic relied upon a medical dog to avoid seizures. It was very incomplete and misleading.
5 comments - Posted Feb 2, 2008
January 2008
Editor: I am an enthusiastic reader of your magazine. I appreciate the number of times you have tackled some of the bigger questions of diabetes management that others have ignored.
31 comments - Posted Jan 23, 2008
"It feels like you accidentally pricked yourself with a pin, only it's not accidental and you have to do it over and over again in the same areas."
34 comments - Posted Jan 18, 2008
Startling statistics are only one reason sufferers should get help and why research into this lethal combination must continue. On the list of deadly diseases in the United States, diabetes ranks fifth. And for so many reasons: major killers like heart attack and stroke are among a slew of diabetes' potentially lethal complications.
15 comments - Posted Jan 12, 2008
Because scientists often tend to dismiss what they don't fully understand, many of them used to think that C-peptide had no physiological function. But while it's true that C-peptide does nothing to lower blood sugar, recent research is finding that it might have a role in preventing diabetes complications.
19 comments - Posted Jan 3, 2008
December 2007
Bayer Diabetes Care has recalled 230,000 bottles of Contour TS test strips after finding that the strips resulted in blood glucose readings 5 to 17 percent higher than actual levels.
0 comments - Posted Dec 29, 2007
When my son Danny was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I was in such a state of shock that I couldn't absorb the two days of education that our hospital provided. My head was reeling.
1 comment - Posted Dec 22, 2007
The name insulin comes from the Latin insula, for islands. It refers to the pancreatic islets of Langerhans that contain the beta cells.
1 comment - Posted Dec 20, 2007
"Delight" is a word rarely found in company mission statements, but it's part of Owen Mumford's rather sweet and very British declaration - the company aims to "delight its customers" with its products, keeping in mind that they just might "change the life of our nearest and dearest."
0 comments - Posted Dec 19, 2007
To conclude our pump survey, we asked you how you'd like to see pumping improved. As usual, you came up with a plethora of intriguing suggestions, although some were a bit more visionary than others: One reader said, "I wish someone would invent a device that could be waved over a meal, and it would display the number of carbs in the meal."
43 comments - Posted Dec 14, 2007
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved new Healthcare Common Procedural Coding System (HCPCS, known as "hickpicks") codes for continuous glucose monitoring.
8 comments - Posted Dec 12, 2007
For more than fifty years, I have been a type 1 diabetic. I am writing to bring attention to the fact that huge amounts of insulin are wasted due to the insulin packaging practices of the pharmaceutical industry.
39 comments - Posted Dec 11, 2007
I have lived with type 2 diabetes for thirteen years, and I know very well how to take care of myself. In fact, I have it down to a routine. The flaw of a routine activity, however, is that it is so very routine: you go through the motions without thinking. And that, as I learned to my deep chagrin, can be dangerous.
42 comments - Posted Dec 6, 2007
November 2007
For my contribution this month, I wanted to share an important lesson I learned about twenty years ago from Peggy Wong at the UCSF Diabetes Teaching Center. It concerns how long insulin lasts after you push down that plunger and create a "depot" of insulin under your skin.
12 comments - Posted Nov 28, 2007
Over the course of the year, we meticulously update all our charts to bring you the most accurate information about hundreds of products, services, and medications. Now we've gathered every one of those charts, from humble lancets to sophisticated continuous glucose monitors, into one handy place.
1 comment - Posted Nov 26, 2007
Diabetes educators are no less than a lifeline for patients, providing vital insights into the self-care behaviors that keep diabetes in check: managing blood sugar, dosing medications and insulin, exercising, and understanding all the numbers involved.
30 comments - Posted Nov 15, 2007
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just approved pre-filled pens for administering Symlin, which was previously available only in vials. The SymlinPen 60 delivers 15, 30, 45, or 60 micrograms per dose.
9 comments - Posted Nov 14, 2007
West Chester, PA - November 8, 2007 - Animas Corporation today announced that it has been named the exclusive distributor of inset™ 30, the first all-in-one angled insulin infusion set and inserter. inset™ 30, from Unomedical, features an innovative product design to help people with insulin-requiring diabetes manage their diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 14, 2007
Los Angeles Times columnist and newly diagnosed type 1 David Lazarus is becoming quite an advocate for people with diabetes.
4 comments - Posted Nov 10, 2007
Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and fires strike fast, creating challenges that can be especially difficult for people with diabetes.
1 comment - Posted Nov 9, 2007
October 2007
This morning, a major meter manufacturer announced that its blood glucose meters will now operate on Microsoft's HealthVault. HealthVault is an online service that allows a patient to store and manage his health records without paying a fee.
32 comments - Posted Oct 31, 2007
Frost & Sullivan, whose mission is to research and analyze new market opportunities for corporate growth, has some happy news about the diabetes epidemic: It's creating a huge demand for glucose meters and strips in Asia.
4 comments - Posted Oct 30, 2007
I am a survivor and proud of it. Not only have I lived with diabetes for 52 years, since the age of five, but I am also a breast cancer survivor for over fifteen years.
3 comments - Posted Oct 22, 2007
Want a meter that matches your ensemble of the day? LifeScan has the very thing. Now you can get their OneTouch UltraMini blood glucose meter in pink, black, silver, or green.
4 comments - Posted Oct 5, 2007
Just between you and me, in all my years with diabetes (thirty-five and a half to be exact) I've never worn a medic alert bracelet. While I'm no fashionista, I don't like the way they look, and I don't like the reference I make in my head - "damaged goods." Then, too, just to be clear, I've never (yet) had an incident where I needed one.
3 comments - Posted Oct 4, 2007
According to Pulse, the UK's leading medical weekly, a review of the evidence has concluded that for type 2s on oral medication whose A1c's are below 7.5%, blood glucose monitoring offers "little advantage and may increase the likelihood of hypoglycemia."
7 comments - Posted Oct 2, 2007
Anyone who knows Al Lewis of Vancouver, BC, understands why he wouldn't switch to an insulin pump until a waterproof model became available in 1977: His whole life has revolved around water.
2 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2007
September 2007
As a scientist who has type 1 diabetes, Dr. Kowalski knows that the cure may be a long time coming. But he's optimistic, nevertheless, because he believes that technology will revolutionize diabetes management long before the cure raises its shy little head.
1 comment - Posted Sep 18, 2007
Swaying in rhythm like drunk fans singing their team fight song, we campers bellowed our camp theme, clapping and banging on dining tables: "Shock, shock for Camp Firefly! We take the insulin - try not to cry!"
7 comments - Posted Sep 18, 2007
I've been doing a lot of flying lately, and it's given me time for reflection. While aloft a few days ago in JetBlue's comfy seat, as I took out my syringe and Humalog to dose for my snack, I realized how many things I no longer do that I was once taught to do.
1 comment - Posted Sep 16, 2007
Life in the trenches with type 1 diabetes is challenging. Unpredictable blood sugars can leave a person with diabetes (PWD) feeling frustrated and helpless. The acute toxic effects of abnormal blood sugars also contribute to depression, anxiety, irritability, and food cravings.
4 comments - Posted Sep 9, 2007
We recently wrote about a study which concluded that blood glucose meters are a waste of time for people with type 2 diabetes who are not using insulin ("Is Using a Meter a Waste of Time for Type 2s?"). Our readers vehemently disagreed with that conclusion.
2 comments - Posted Sep 6, 2007
I remember someone once telling me, "I don't participate in trials for new medicines because you never know…but devices – that's another story!" So, here's my story.
2 comments - Posted Sep 6, 2007
August 2007
I've generally been a "good" person. I try to do those ten things on Dalai Lama's list. You know, be kind, not hurt others, let people know you love them, hear a tree when it's falling even if you're not there...
2 comments - Posted Aug 30, 2007
A Canadian Olympic rower and marathon runner, Chris Jarvis, age 26, exhibits the endurance of most elite athletes. However, few would know that for nearly 13 years he has lived and struggled with type 1 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 25, 2007
It's about time that we Americans catch up with the rest of the world when it comes to using insulin pens. Maybe we will, now that SoloSTAR, sanofi-aventis's disposable insulin pen, is available in the United States.
2 comments - Posted Aug 15, 2007
Everyone knows that for meter manufacturers, a meter is simply a means of selling a lifetime of strips. The Eocene blood glucose meter is no different in that respect, but it does have something extra to offer.
1 comment - Posted Aug 14, 2007
If you're tired of stuffing your diabetes supplies willy-nilly into any old handbag, aDorn Designs may be just what you need to get organized. And if you want a man-bag, they've got that too.
0 comments - Posted Aug 11, 2007
Diabetes is a chronic yet manageable malady; as such, it requires constant interaction between the person and the disease. You must pay attention to the endless flow of information produced by your various management tools.
1 comment - Posted Aug 10, 2007
According to a University of Oxford study led by Dr. Andrew Farmer, home monitoring of glucose with a meter did not improve glucose control in non-insulin-requiring people with type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2007
July 2007
If you've got a big protein molecule like insulin, right now the only option for getting it into your body is via a needle or cannula into the subcutaneous tissue. It can't be swallowed because the digestive system would, logically enough, digest it.
1 comment - Posted Jul 29, 2007
This issue, we lay out the many devices with which diabetic people must poke themselves: syringes, pen needles, and lancing devices. And we top them off with a sprinkling of sugar: a chart outlining all the sources of fast-acting glucose.
0 comments - Posted Jul 26, 2007
If your Paradigm pump has been not been exposed to powerful magnetic fields, such as those found near MRI machines, you have nothing to worry about. Go about your merry way and keep up the good work. In the unlikely event that such exposure has occurred, however, you need to be aware that it may cause the pump's motor to malfunction and significantly over-deliver insulin, causing severe hypoglycemia.
2 comments - Posted Jul 20, 2007
A life-time resident of the Syracuse, New York, area, Gerald Cleveland has had a history of not quite coming out on top - at least until now.
2 comments - Posted Jul 19, 2007
Beaded Daisy owner Regan King, who has two kids with diabetes, started her company when her ten-year-old son couldn't find a non-traditional medical ID that he liked. Beaded Daisy makes medical ID bracelets and necklaces to fill that need at affordable prices.
1 comment - Posted Jul 19, 2007
You know how the pump works: it has an infusion set with a soft cannula that's inserted only once every few days, and your insulin infuses into your body by way of the cannula. You certainly don't get poked with a needle every time the pump sends you some insulin.
1 comment - Posted Jul 13, 2007
Born on the family dairy farm in New York, the second of five children, Carolyn Gridley was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes after her grandmother noticed sugar crystals on her diaper that attracted the bees and flies around the farm.
1 comment - Posted Jul 11, 2007
Across the Atlantic ocean, Abbott has received European CE Mark (Conformite Europeene) approval for the FreeStyle Navigator® Continuous Glucose Monitoring System for people with diabetes.
1 comment - Posted Jul 8, 2007
Sidney, NY, July 6, 2007 - A study by the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston has found that the AT-A-GLANCE® Balance & Stretch® Day Planner is an effective tool in improving the management of type 1 diabetes in children. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) highlighted the results of the study at its 67th Scientific Session in Chicago.
0 comments - Posted Jul 7, 2007
Each year, one hundred thousand peregrinos, or pilgrims, set out for Santiago De Compostela in northwestern Spain to visit the bones of St. James buried beneath the cathedral. Called El Camino de Santiago, it's one of the world's largest Christian pilgrimages.
1 comment - Posted Jul 6, 2007
Bozeman, Montana - Many people consider a diagnosis of diabetes a sentence to a life full of limitation. "That's not so," says Jeff Mazer, the Bozeman organizer of MADiDEA 2007, an event highlighting how to live a full life with diabetes while addressing the challenge of managing the disease.
0 comments - Posted Jul 3, 2007
I was diagnosed with diabetes in September 1953. During that summer, I was in my second year of graduate school at UCLA when I noticed that I was losing weight and had severe polyuria (frequent urination).
1 comment - Posted Jul 1, 2007
June 2007
Kamaal Washington was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was nine. He's thirteen now. In those four years, he's become an advocate for diabetes and the author, with his brother Malcolm and help from his parents, of a diabetes educational superhero comic book that's swept the nation beyond their wildest expectations. But it all started when he began to be really, really thirsty.
1 comment - Posted Jun 27, 2007
Adolescents don't always check their blood glucose levels as often as they should. Because frequent monitoring is a keystone of diabetes care, this can make their parents frantic.
0 comments - Posted Jun 24, 2007
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of three, and I have lived with it for 62 years. I can still remember my mother learning to inject insulin into an orange at Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas.
1 comment - Posted Jun 24, 2007
Soon you will be able to keep your DexCom sensor in place for a whole week instead of just three days. We know you've been doing that already, but now you'll have the full approval of the authorities.
0 comments - Posted Jun 23, 2007
Anne Williamson has had type 1 diabetes for forty years, since the age of seven. But because of the Easter basket incident, she still vividly remembers her time in the hospital. Anne was alone in her hospital room when a volunteer insisted on leaving a candy-filled Easter basket by her bed.
0 comments - Posted Jun 23, 2007
The results of our pump survey are in, and we had 841 respondents! Clearly, people are passionate about pumping, both pro and con. In fact, they seem to be more passionate about pumping than about sex, judging by the far greater response we got to this survey than we did to our survey about women and sex!
9 comments - Posted Jun 21, 2007
The insulin pump is a wonderful device, a marvel of engineering that allows diabetics to screw up at the push of a button. With the pump in use, however, instead of staring at a syringe and racking your brain to remember what you injected into where and how much, a few button clicks will remind you of your mistake, allowing you to correct it with unprecedented accuracy.
0 comments - Posted Jun 11, 2007
A 22-year-old who's planning to graduate from college this spring with a degree in criminal justice has run up against a Massachusetts state law that bars anyone who wears an insulin pump from being hired as a full-time police officer.
1 comment - Posted Jun 4, 2007
NEW YORK, May 29, 2007 - The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is proud to announce that recording artist Elliott Yamin will serve as a celebrity advocate for its signature event, “Children’s Congress,” and their “Promise to Remember Me” campaign.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2007
May 2007
Two new meters that purport to measure your blood glucose without a fingerstick are currently in the works–again. The road to a non-invasive meter is one that many have traveled before, but no one, thus far, has ever reached the market.
7 comments - Posted May 30, 2007
Meters have come a long way since 1969, when the first meter went on the market. The meter measured the amount of light reflected off a Dextrostix, a paper strip that turned various shades of blue, depending on blood glucose level, after a large drop of blood was placed on it and then washed off.
0 comments - Posted May 24, 2007
Recently, while preparing to give a speech, I found myself reminiscing about my life with diabetes. It was 33 years ago that I was diagnosed with type 1, but I remember it like it was yesterday.
0 comments - Posted May 22, 2007
Because of recent changes in airline regulations concerning the transportation of medication, diabetics have more to lose than just their lotion or soda. Now more than ever, it is important to know how to notify security and flight personnel of your medical needs, what documentation to bring, and where to find supplies if yours are damaged.
0 comments - Posted May 21, 2007
A study recently published in Diabetes Care has found that people with type 1 who become happy pumpers share characteristics in common. They actively participate in self-care, have realistic expectations of pump performance, and clearly remember how they felt when they were first diagnosed. The researchers believe that these characteristics may help predict who will be a successful pumper.
0 comments - Posted May 11, 2007
Continuous Glucose Monitors Are Revolutionary - I’ve always believed that if I could give myself insulin conveniently and constantly knew my blood glucose, I could control my blood sugar almost as well as a non-diabetic person. Nine years ago, an insulin pump made the first condition come true. Since then I have been waiting for the magic blood sugar machine.
2 comments - Posted May 10, 2007
A teeny weeny new pump, about a quarter the size of existing pumps, is being readied for the market in 2008. Developed by Debiotech, the “Nanopump” will be made of two parts: a permanent part containing the electronics and a disposable skin patch with the reservoir and pumping mechanism.
0 comments - Posted May 10, 2007
Ever try to check one meter against another by testing with both at the same time and seeing if their results match up? Ever wonder why they might not?
0 comments - Posted May 7, 2007
When it comes to administering insulin, many people prefer an insulin pen over the standard syringe and vial because they find pens more convenient and more accurate. And pre-filled disposable pens are easiest of all, because you don’t have to install a new cartridge when the pen is empty–you just toss it out.
5 comments - Posted May 5, 2007
We’ve gotten the results from our women's sex survey, and now the word is out about you, your diabetes, and sex...
0 comments - Posted May 3, 2007
Last summer our family changed forever when Lauren, our nine-year-old daughter, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. A whirlwind of shock, anger, and worry engulfed me as I watched an incurable chronic illness move into our home.
5 comments - Posted May 1, 2007
April 2007
At 63 years old, I've coped successfully with insulin-dependent diabetes for 46 years. Education and acceptance are the keys, but it took me years (and the support of loving family and friends) to achieve them.
0 comments - Posted Apr 27, 2007
Dismal Predictions - In 1949, at the age of 13, I was diagnosed with diabetes. I was told that I would have to take shots for life and that my life would probably last only 25 years longer. Furthermore, I could eat no candy, and all my children would be diabetic.
2 comments - Posted Apr 23, 2007
Milpitas, CA, March 30, 2007 – LifeScan, Inc., maker of OneTouch® Brand Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems, is offering customers that own one of several models of OneTouch Brand Systems a no-charge meter upgrade to one of the company's latest, most innovative meters.(1)
0 comments - Posted Apr 20, 2007
If you have type 1 diabetes and feel like the rest of the world doesn’t have an inkling about your disease, you’re right. According to a nationwide survey, nearly eighty percent of Americans don’t know the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 20, 2007
About three million people in the United States have type 1 diabetes, yet there are fewer than 300,000 insulin pumpers. Given the highly touted data in favor of insulin pumping, we want to know your reasons for either going or not going on the pump. So we've posted a survey here where you can reveal why a pump is, or is not, for you. Your attitudes are important to us, and to all of you, because real change is based on understanding.
4 comments - Posted Apr 19, 2007
Animas has just introduced its fifth generation insulin pump, the 2020. Especially for those without 20/20 vision, it comes with a self-illuminating, high contrast color screen that uses Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) technology.
1 comment - Posted Apr 18, 2007
GlucoLight's continuous, non-invasive device is a novel approach to glucose monitoring in the acute care environment. Using optical coherence tomography (OCT), the device is able to measure blood glucose levels through a unique anatomical area in the skin that shows physiological changes that directly correlate to changes in blood glucose. The GlucoLight monitor displays real time glucose measurements with an initial single point calibration.
0 comments - Posted Apr 18, 2007
Are you a lefty? Then be sure to read your OptiClik pen right side up, advises the Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
0 comments - Posted Apr 14, 2007
There’s a new pump in town, and it’s part of a whole pumping system. The ACCU-CHEK® Spirit insulin pump system includes not only the pump, but also one of the three ACCU-CHEK® blood glucose monitors, software with a bolus calculator on a Palm PDA or smartphone, and a carrying case.
1 comment - Posted Apr 14, 2007
In December 2006, the injected medication Byetta was approved by the FDA for people with type 2 diabetes who are taking a thiazolidinedione (TZD), but don’t have good control of their blood sugar.
0 comments - Posted Apr 14, 2007
What’s the most important goal for kids and families dealing with diabetes? Learn all you can, and then strive for the best possible blood glucose levels without excessive hypoglycemia. This is a tough goal to attain. Our tools, food, insulin, and monitoring, while the best they have ever been, are still imprecise. And although optimal glucose control is critical for immediate and long-term health, one must always be wary of severe and recurring hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Apr 13, 2007
To the general public, the mood swings of a teenager are the wildest personal roller coaster around. But there’s another roller coaster out there that puts that kiddie ride to shame: the mood swings of a diabetic person like me. In an average teenager, hormones cause mood swings.
1 comment - Posted Apr 11, 2007
Six years ago, Julie DeFruscio’s two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Two years later, her 13-year-old son was also diagnosed with type 1. And four months after that, her ten-year-old son diagnosed himself with diabetes - unfortunately, he was right.
0 comments - Posted Apr 11, 2007
Half of Fifty 50’s profits are donated to research seeking a diabetes cure that, once found, will put Fifty 50 out of business. Its a novel business plan, funding your own demise, but it works for Gary Russell, the companys president and one of its three founders, along with John Beers and Patricia Gawdun. Since the company debuted its first product in 1991, its given away over ten million dollars to diabetes research.
0 comments - Posted Apr 7, 2007
Here are some useful tips to help you choose a meter that’s right for you - and continue to use it successfully.
0 comments - Posted Apr 3, 2007
Dr. David Reiss had never heard of diabetes until age 16, when he found out he had type 1 during his college physical exam. He rebelled and refused injections for a year, but by then there were ketones in his urine and he had no choice. That was 42 years ago, when people gave themselves just one injection a day.
0 comments - Posted Apr 2, 2007
March 2007
Deborah Tally has found a fun and inexpensive way to pump up the coolness quotient of insulin pumps, by using colorful cell phone cases from the dollar store instead of a standard pump case.
2 comments - Posted Mar 31, 2007
Medtronic has received FDA approval for pediatric models of both of its REAL-Time continuous glucose monitors, the MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time System and the Guardian REAL-Time System. Previously approved only for adults, both pediatric models will be appropriate for kids ages 7-17.
0 comments - Posted Mar 29, 2007
The day after my eleventh Easter, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I got a shot that very night, and at least two shots every day for the next fifteen years, until I went on the pump. It seems appropriate that on the day the disease took over my body, a fire took over the chimney of our house.
0 comments - Posted Mar 29, 2007
Neal Brenner, 41 of Roanoke, Virginia is embarking on the journey of a lifetime which began on March 8 and lasts until March 24. With nothing but a laptop, a satellite phone, and his insulin pump to manage his diabetes, Neal will drive over 4,800 miles through the Arctic Circle with a friend as they take part in a 16-day adventure from Edmonton and ending in Tuktoyaktuk (the uppermost edge of Canada’s Northwest Territories).
0 comments - Posted Mar 20, 2007
Lilly has launched Memoir, a sleek reusable insulin pen that looks like a classy Mont Blanc writing pen instead of a medical tool. The first insulin pen with a memory, it allows users to record and review their last 16 insulin doses, including the priming doses and the time of delivery. It uses Humalog and is available by prescription.
0 comments - Posted Mar 17, 2007
New York, New York - March 12, 2007 - About 1,000 people attending the Diabetes Research Institute’s Carnival for a Cure fundraising event in New York yesterday were treated to a live concert by the young pop rock band, the Jonas Brothers, and some surprising inspiration from one of the band members.
123 comments - Posted Mar 13, 2007
If Professor Brent Cameron has his way, people with diabetes will soon be able to measure their blood glucose by simply shining a light into their eye.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2007
February 2007
BOSTON - Feb. 27, 2007 - It is widely recognized that the teenage years are often a challenging time for youth with diabetes to maintain good blood glucose control. Hormonal changes, peer pressure, food temptations, and resistance to following good health practices are among the factors that make it difficult for many youngsters. Unfortunately, poor diabetes control places youth at increased risk of developing complications from diabetes later in life.
0 comments - Posted Feb 28, 2007
On October 10, 2006, Roche Diagnostics announced the launch of the first ACCU-CHEK branded insulin pump—the ACCU-CHEK Spirit insulin pump system.
1 comment - Posted Feb 28, 2007
Many people think of their blood glucose meter as a sort of sophisticated electronic toy. But the numbers it displays after you check your blood really are meaningful.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 11 months old, and I have struggled for almost 46 years to keep control of it. With diabetes, you never get a break.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
Distributed by Diagnostic Devices Inc. (DDI), of Charlotte, North Carolina, Prodigy is a talking glucose meter. According to DDI, the Prodigy line of glucose meters are all “affordable, accurate, and easy-to-use.”
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
Data presented at the November 2006 Diabetes Technology Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, found that the Contour Blood Glucose Meter from Bayer accurately detects hypoglycemia.
1 comment - Posted Feb 1, 2007
Bayer Diabetes Care announced it has partnered with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) to help support the IDF’s “Unite for Diabetes Campaign.”
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
On November 6, 2006, Bayer HealthCare issued a news release that addressed the issue of miscoded blood glucose meters.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
The latest and greatest skins are a great way for youngsters to express themselves and show off their cell phones and MP3 players. Now Medtronic MiniMed is offering skins for its Paradigm insulin pump.
1 comment - Posted Feb 1, 2007
Kids who discontinue pump therapy become “less adherent” and achieve poorer BG results than kids who remain on the pump, according to Joslin researchers who followed a group of type 1 youth starting the pump between 1998 and 2001.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
Medtronic MiniMed’s Guardian RT is being called a “useful and important diagnostic tool for a phenomenon known as nighttime ‘late-onset hypoglycemia’.”
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
Researchers in New York are saying that insulin pump therapy at the time of type 1 diagnosis “provides a positive experience … with excellent clinical outcomes and apparent prolongation of the honeymoon period.”
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
Roche Diagnostics recently announced the launch of the first ACCU-CHEK branded insulin pump—the ACCU-CHEK Spirit insulin pump system.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
You might know me as the publisher of Diabetes Health. I’m also a mother of two, the daughter of a woman who died of type 2 diabetes, and a theater buff. But from now on, I hope you’ll come to know me as someone who brings important stories to you every issue, stories about people who are making a difference in diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2007
December 2006
“Discontinuing basal insulin during exercise is an effective strategy for reducing hypoglycemia in children with type 1 diabetes,” say researchers from Tampa, Florida, “but the risk of hyperglycemia is increased.”
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
The new ezManager Plus from Animas Corporation is an upgrade from the older ezManager product, and adds the ability to download information from the Animas IR1000/1200 insulin pumps and numerous blood glucose meters. The ezManager Plus is actually two programs— one for a PDA and one that runs on Windows-based PCs. The Palm OS (PDA) application lets you count carbohydrates, calculate insulin dosages (carbohydrate dosages, too) and log meals, insulin, blood glucose and activity.
2 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
In November 2006, Insulet Corporation, maker of the OmniPod Insulin Management System, announced that it had won a Nixon Peabody/Smith & Nephew Medical Device Innovation Award from the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC).
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
A few pump users have noted some odd occurrences in the day-to-day management of their insulin pump. Skin problems are a real concern and, sometimes, a puzzle to solve.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
LifeScan promotes its new OneTouch UltraMini meter for people with diabetes who don’t have health insurance coverage.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
As any fan of the mega-hit television show American Idol knows, making it through the first stage of auditions is not easy. Contestants wait in line for up to 12 hours to get the chance to sing a few bars before the discerning ears of judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell.
3 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2006
November 2006
When Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive lineman Kendall Simmons won the 2002 Joe Greene Great Performance Award for being the Steelers “Rookie of the Year,” he felt at the top of his game.
0 comments - Posted Nov 27, 2006
This month in our Meters and Pumps & Infusion Sets sections we are doing something a little different. Diabetes Health is launching Diabetes Health TV from our homepage (www.diabeteshealth.com).
1 comment - Posted Nov 1, 2006
October 2006
Let’s be realistic. Many children look forward all year long to Halloween, and Halloween usually means bags full of sugary candy. But Halloween can still be enjoyed by children with diabetes if parents help monitor their snacking. With some planning, Halloween treats do not need to cause havoc with your child’s blood glucose control.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
Have you dreamed of having a low-cost diabetes management program to track daily nutrition information, exercise, medication and blood glucose levels? D-Diabetic Software from Sugar World offers these features and more.
3 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
A German company has developed the world’s first blood glucose meter that can wirelessly transmit your blood glucose test results. The GlucoTel is the first meter to support Bluetooth wireless technology.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2006
September 2006
Real-Time Pump and CGMS Technology Given the Go-Ahead by the FDA
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
On June 22, 2006, Generex Biotechnology announced it had signed an agreement with Cardinal Health to manufacture clinical trial batches of Generex Oral-lyn, an inhalable insulin spray that is already available in the country of Ecuador.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
TriActive America of San Luis Obispo, California, offers more than 55 outdoor exercise products. In May 2006, they announced a widely expanded product line that includes:
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
DexCom’s real-time continuous sensor—the DexCom STS—burst on the scene in March 2006.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
What are your expectations when it comes to pump training? Are they realistic? Do you want improved blood glucose control, improved health and flexibility in choosing when and what to eat? Or, do you just want to avoid frequent intensive insulin injections? Are you a “set it and forget it” type?
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2006
Everyone with diabetes can agree on one thing: Life needs to be a whole lot easier. To find that ease, we support research funding, we fight for access and we push for innovation.
1 comment - Posted Sep 1, 2006
August 2006
For many years, we have been told that an artificial pancreas is several years away. After the May 16 Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Artificial Pancreas Forum, that message hasn’t changed.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
As a user of LifeScan glucose meters, I was eager to take a look at their diabetes management software. I installed the software, hooked up the data cable, grabbed my trusty UltraSmart glucose meter and started up the software with a double-click on the OneTouch icon.
8 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
Continuing last month’s “What’s New” theme, we offer you a rundown of the latest and greatest in insulin pumping. Below are some highlights of developments to keep your eyes on.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
Medtronic MiniMed has linked an insulin pump with a continuous glucose monitor. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April, the pump part of the combination is already available. The company expects the monitor component to be available by the end of August.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
I am always willing to discuss diabetes with anyone who is interested. And since I openly perform my blood glucose tests and administer insulin shots in public, it is fair to say that many people around me do become interested.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2006
July 2006
I just discovered your May 2005 article, “Why Did the JDRF Try to Discredit Cure Research?” That, and lingering resentment over my own futile correspondence with Van Etten and Ahearn, inspired me to dig deeper into some points you made and some reasonable suspicions your article aroused.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Living Protein is a non-soy plant-based protein supplement manufactured by Living Fuel, Inc., in Tampa, Fla.
1 comment - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Sweet Simplicity is a new sweetener on the market made from erythritol (an all-natural sugar alcohol found in grapes, pears and even some soy products), fructose (found in a variety of fruits and in honey) and natural flavors.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Tumaro’s announces the availability of its new Soy-Full Heart flatbreads.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Television chef and food personality Emeril Lagasse has teamed up with B&G Foods, Inc., to develop three all-natural cooking stocks.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Novo Nordisk announced that Levemir is now commercially available in the United States.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Langham Engineering has announced the release of the Vial Vase. Invented by J. Michael Langham, a diabetic for 30 years, Vial Vase is designed to keep insulin vials upright, secure and organized in the refrigerator, on the countertop or anywhere insulin is stored.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
The FDA has informed Medtronic, Inc., that it was approving its MiniMed Paradigm Real-Time Insulin Pump and Continuous Glucose Monitoring System.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
What’s New LifeScan, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, has introduced its OneTouch Ultra2 Blood Glucose Monitoring System. LifeScan says the new meter is designed to help diabetics see the impact of their food and portion choices on their blood glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Bayer Diabetes Care of Tarrytown, New York, announced that its Ascensia Breeze blood glucose–monitoring system received an ease-of-use commendation and a product seal from the Arthritis Foundation. According to Bayer Diabetes Care, Ascensia Breeze is the first blood glucose meter to be recognized by the Arthritis Foundation for a design that is user-friendly for the more than eight million Americans with arthritis who also have diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Pump Expeditions from Medtronic MiniMed is a CD-ROM-based program that offers users both entertainment and education.
1 comment - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Jane complains of a burning pain at the abdominal insertion site as soon as the cannula is inserted. It doesn’t subside, so she removes the set and re-inserts at a new location.
1 comment - Posted Jul 1, 2006
Summer is synonymous with travel; family vacations, reunions, weddings, you name it. It seems like we all find some reason to hit the road during the summer months.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
David Kliff is the editor of The Diabetic Investor. In 1994 he was diagnosed with type 2.
1 comment - Posted Jul 1, 2006
This may well go down in history as the Year of the Meter. Not since Tom Clemens patented the first blood glucose meter in 1971 have we seen such significant advances.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
As David Mendosa points out in his feature article this month, ‘The Year of the Meter,’ 2006 is barely more than half over and we have already an abundance of new blood glucose meters. Well, it’s not only meters that are in abundance this year, but other diabetes drugs, devices and technologies as well. So much so, that there haven’t been enough pages in Diabetes Health to cover all of the new products.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2006
June 2006
Many of you may remember “The Canal Murder,” a murder mystery written by Evelyn Geisler, part of which was serialized in Diabetes Health last year.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
On January 31, 2006, GenExel-Sein, Inc., of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, announced it had received U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance for its Duo-Care device, which combines a home-use blood glucose monitor with a wrist blood pressure monitor—eliminating the need for two separate devices.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
In recent history, can you think of a more popular television show than “American Idol”?
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
On March 13, 2006, Abbott Diabetes Care of Alameda, California, announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its FreeStyle Freedom blood glucose-monitoring system for consumer use.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
A noninvasive meter that measures glucose in perspiration instead of glucose in blood is being developed.
1 comment - Posted Jun 1, 2006
Problems with blood glucose control need to be prevented and solved when using an insulin pump. When something goes wrong, do you blame it on the pump or suspect you made an error? Do you assume there is a pump problem with each alarm?
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
Are you unable to tear your child away from the computer? Do you want your child to learn more about diabetes? “Type 1 Diabetes in Children: A Passport to Knowledge,” from Savvy Knowledge Systems, may be your solution.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2006
In 1998, Eli Lilly & Co.’s rapid-acting insulin analogue lispro (Humalog) appeared on the U.S. market, followed in 2000 by Novo Nordisk’s rapid-acting counterpart aspart (NovoLog). Joined now by sanofi-aventis’ glulisine (Apidra), these rapid-acting insulins offer both convenience and improved blood glucose control to people who require bolus insulin.
1 comment - Posted Jun 1, 2006
May 2006
The continuous glucose sensors of today that will in time lead to development of an artificial pancreas are getting a tremendous boost from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF). The boost is the organization’s commitment of up to $6.5 million dollars this year and next.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
The Body Journal software from Berkeley Medical is a new entry to the market and is not simply for managing your diabetes information: It allows you to record, save and share complete health information for your entire family.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
Choosing the right insulin pump and infusion set can be a daunting task for prospective users, and the number of options available may be overwhelming.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2006
April 2006
Why are today’s insulin syringes and pen needles better than ever?
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
If you are an endocrinologist or primary care physician who works with diabetics, you have undoubtedly heard of the insulin pen. You probably know of their popularity in Europe or have heard testimonials from pen users about their ease of use.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
For diabetes patients who inject insulin through a syringe, the people at Becton-Dickinson (BD) say that they should always know exactly which brand, dose capacity and needle size to use and why.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
An interview with Alan Marcus, MD, FACP, the global medical director at Medtronic Diabetes
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Several months ago, I met Sophia, a woman in her mid-40s who had been struggling to manage her type 2 diabetes for years. Her blood glucose levels were typically well above 300 mg/dl, and she had an equally high A1C of 12.5%. She made it clear that the last thing she wanted was insulin.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Although they are equally effective when it comes to delivering insulin, more insulin-using patients expressed a preference to continue using an insulin pen after trying one.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Because people with diabetes sometimes suffer from visual impairment as well as reduced manual dexterity, Japanese researchers assessed the reliability of dose selection and setting of five insulin devices by patients using auditory and sensory confirmation.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
A group of Buffalo, NY, researchers recommend that patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes who take extremely high doses of insulin give the insulin pump a try.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Pump therapy in preschool children, according to researchers at Texas Children’s Hospital, is “feasible and safe.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Spanish researchers claim that in most studies of small children with diabetes, insulin pump therapy resulted in improved A1Cs and a decreased rate of hypoglycemia without an abnormal increase in body mass index (BMI) and without adversely affecting psychosocial outcomes in young people with type 1.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
In 1998, Eli Lilly & Co.’s rapid-acting insulin analogue lispro (Humalog) appeared on the U.S. market, followed in 2000 by Novo Nordisk’s rapid-acting counterpart aspart (NovoLog). Joined now by sanofi-aventis’ glulisine (Apidra), these rapid-acting insulins offer both convenience and improved blood glucose control to your patients who require bolus insulin.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Recent developments in the treatment of diabetes mellitus have shown that “tight” control and intensive therapy are necessary to prevent complications, increased morbidity and mortality. We are all familiar with the findings of the DCCT and various UKPDS studies and sub-studies. The importance of these “landmark” studies does not need any further discussion at this time.
2 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Some things I remember very clearly. Like the moment the doctor told me that I had to take injections for the rest of my life. This news bothered me horribly. But what if he had told me I could inhale the insulin instead? I would have been on cloud nine.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Abbott Diabetes Care is already looking beyond continuous sensing. More than two years ago it asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve its FreeStyle Navigator Continuous Glucose Monitor; that application is still pending.
1 comment - Posted Apr 1, 2006
This month we take a look at a Web-based product called DiabetEase from DiabetEase, Inc. DiabetEase, like other diabetes management software programs, provides you with tools to save, track and graph blood glucose data.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
Pramlintide (Symlin) is a synthetic amylin analogue. First described in 1987, amylin is a neuroendocrine hormone produced by beta cells, which also produce insulin. This hormone is absent in type 1 diabetes and decreased in type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
While people with diabetes know that they face a long list of possible complications, it looks as if there’s one more to worry about: We now know that diabetics also face a higher risk of colon cancer. However, there is some consolation in knowing that colon cancer can often be prevented with proper testing.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
If you have ever dreamed of taking your insulin without needles, your dream came true on January 27, 2006. That was when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Exubera (insulin of human [rDNA origin]) Inhalation Powder for treatment of adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2006
March 2006
If you can read Diabetes Health, you don’t need a SensoCard Plus meter. But there’s a good chance that a friend or someone in your family does.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
Are you an expectant mother with diabetes? If so, are you wondering about the disappearance of infusion sites as your baby grows and your abdomen expands? Do you anticipate that “pinching an inch” will become more of a challenge? Are you concerned about the angle and depth of insertion, and how often you should rotate insertion sites? Here are a few suggestions for you:
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
This month we are taking a look at Accu-Chek Compass from Roche Diagnostics. This diabetes management software works with their Accu-Chek line of glucose meters.
11 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
If you are like me, you test your blood glucose at least four times per day, and you have been noting your blood glucose readings in a logbook. While this certainly helps to keep track of blood glucose data, I normally look only at how to manage the current reading.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2006
February 2006
Many concerns arise when patients consider the costs of insulin pump therapy. The following are a few of the most frequently asked questions:
9 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
Christine Olinghouse, RD, RN, CDE, BC-ADM, says, “If your patients take insulin, a glucagon emergency kit is the best treatment system you can have for severe hypoglycemia.”
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
For Deb it was a vicious circle. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 33 years ago at age 20. It was four weeks before her marriage. You can imagine the stress she endured at that time. “I have lived on a diabetes rollercoaster ever since, until about eight months ago,” she says.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
HemoCue knows accuracy. And precision. But Americans with diabetes don’t know HemoCue. Yet. That’s about to change.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
This month, we are taking a look at the Precision Link Direct program from Abbott Diabetes Care.
3 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
Kris Freeman, 25, is a three-time national champion and the number one cross-country skier in the United States. In the history of American cross-country skiing, Freeman is the second most successful skier of all time.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
Since his type 1 diagnosis 20 years ago, Doug Frazer of Forest Knolls, California, had been using Lente as his basal insulin. His regimen of Humalog at mealtimes coupled with Lente at bedtime provided him with what he considered great control.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2006
January 2006
Over the past 20 years, a group of researchers at the University of Virginia Health Science System have developed and tested a training program, called Blood Glucose Awareness Training (BGAT), for adults with type 1 diabetes. This research was funded both by the National Institutes of Health and the American Diabetes Association.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2006
Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta have just finished their first study of blood glucose meters. They found that meters could vary significantly.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2006
Many pump manufacturers have online stores where you can order and pay for your infusion supplies. In addition to manufacturer Web sites, services are offered by Advantage Rx, CCS Medical, Fifty 50 Pharmacy, Focus Pharmacy, Logimedix and National Diabetic Pharmacy. In Canada, supplies can be obtained from AutoControl Medical.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2006
For Scott Verplank, staying on top of his diabetes with frequent blood glucose testing means staying on top of his game for the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour.
8 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2006
December 2005
What is Roche Diagnostic’s position in the diabetes care industry?
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2005
Most of the products reviewed in this column over the past few months have come from glucose meter and insulin pump manufacturers and independent software companies. This month, we will take a look at an offering from one of the major insulin manufacturers: DiabetesWatch, a Web-based product from Aventis Pharmaceuticals.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2005
Not everyone with diabetes leads an active lifestyle and tests often. But my guess is that the readers of this magazine are on the go more than most people and monitor their blood glucose when they are away from home.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2005
Could it be that when it comes to diabetes and the workplace, honesty isn’t always the best policy?
2 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2005
In a recent journal article, researchers noted that early exposure to and high frequency of severe hypoglycemia “negatively affects long-term spatial performance” in children with type 1.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2005
Scott Dunton, 20, is a world-class professional surfer, currently ranked 220th in his first year on the professional circuit.
4 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2005
November 2005
This month, our focus is on giving thanks, or at least, thinking about the good things in life. Being able to plan and eat a Thanksgiving dinner and still maintain blood glucose control is an obvious topic.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2005
We have so many blood glucose meters to choose from that it’s hard to know which one to use. I count 43 home meters for sale in the United States right now.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2005
It is estimated that that between eight and nine million people use syringes at home, generating two to three billion used needles each year in the United States. About two-thirds of the needle users are injecting for medicinal purposes like diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2005
I often wonder why insulin pens are so popular in Europe, yet usage in the United States continues to hover around 12 percent. I think the main reason is that many healthcare providers are not familiar with insulin pens or how to train people to use them, so they don’t recommend pens to their patients.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2005
The OmniPod Insulin Management System, which was introduced at the August 2005 American Association of Diabetes Educators Conference in Washington D.C, is a two-part system consisting of the OmniPod and the Personal Diabetes Manager (PDM). The System features automated cannula insertion, a fully integrated design including an integrated blood glucose meter that uses blood glucose test strips, and no tubing.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2005
Five thousand feet above a city besieged by water, you feel very small. A devastated New Orleans smoked from chemical explosions and other rolling disasters. To say it seemed like a war zone is not quite complete. Our small jet banked slowly, and I realized that as far as I could see, I could not see the end of it.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2005
Dear Ann Landers,
With all due respect—you blew it!
10 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2005
He grew up among country folks in Mississippi. As a child, he performed on street corners for dimes, sometimes in four towns each night. That was only the beginning for the man who ended up being perhaps the most successful blues musician of all time.
1 comment - Posted Nov 1, 2005
October 2005
This month, we take a look at the Medtronic CareLink Therapy Management System for Diabetes. This is an online diabetes management program from the folks who make the Medtronic MiniMed insulin pumps.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2005
Will Cross has taken diabetes to new heights—literally. The Pittsburgh-based expeditioner and former high school principal became the first person with diabetes to reach the South Summit of Mount Everest, with a successful summit on May 31.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2005
If you’ve never been able to go to New York to see endocrinologist Richard Bernstein, MD, FACE, FACN, CWS, now Richard Bernstein can come to you.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2005
It takes lots of work to make an effective continuous blood glucose monitor. It also takes performance standards.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2005
There’s no argument that an insulin pump is the best choice for diabetes management for a very young child. Many articles have appeared in the past five years that support this opinion.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2005
September 2005
On June 17, 2005, Novo Nordisk received word from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that their long-acting insulin analog, Levemir (insulin detemir), had received approval. Levemir will join Lantus (insulin glargine) as a basal insulin option for people with diabetes who take insulin.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2005
Recently, I had a phone call from a friend seeking advice on whether or not to hire a nanny who has diabetes. I was shocked.
3 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2005
Diabetes Cure May Reside in Adult Stem Cell Research
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2005
Guidelines for Injecting Insulin Comfortably and Safely
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2005
Type 1 Kids Do Well on Pumps
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2005
Diabetes researchers at the American Diabetes Association’s 65th Annual Scientific Sessions in San Diego made thousands of presentations this year. Of the 2,851 available abstracts, 55 were about blood glucose testing. That’s a small percentage of the total. But after winnowing through them, I found lots of gold.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2005
Does monitoring your blood glucose readings and trying to figure out your insulin dosages intimidate you? Do you have trouble keeping enough data for your diabetes care team to analyze?
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2005
Do disappointing blood glucose results make you feel like a failure? Don’t let them. They aren’t report cards, and you can’t pass or fail. These numbers are not there to hurt you, but to help direct you.
1 comment - Posted Sep 1, 2005
August 2005
Because each person’s resting metabolism rate is unique, the people at Healthetech emphasize that knowing your “metabolic fingerprint” is the key to achieving and maintaining healthy lifestyle goals—particularly when it’s medically necessary to monitor diet and exercise.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2005
Recently Diabetes Health asked experienced pump users, What are the most important things a new pumper or a potential pumper should know? What advice would you give someone who is frustrated with the pump learning curve while trying to achieve the goal of improved blood glucose control?
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2005
A dozen companies market blood glucose meters in the United States, but Accu-Chek, by Roche Diagnostics, is number one in sales both in the United States and worldwide. They were also one of the first brands of blood glucose meters. The original Accu-Check bG came out in 1982.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2005
Most of the products reviewed in this column over the past few months have come from glucose meter and insulin pump manufacturers and from independent software companies. This month, we will take a look at an offering from one of the major insulin manufacturers: Keeping Well With Diabetes, a Web-based product from Novo Nordisk.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2005
There is no doubt that living with type 1 diabetes is a fulltime job. But like any job, the more knowledgeable and skilled you become, the better your chances of success.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2005
July 2005
This is another letter in response to Scott King’s column that ran in the February 2005 issue (“Random Shots”).
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2005
The new Insulin Helper from Mistebar is designed to be an easy reference for your insulin-dosing needs.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2005
This month we take a look at the Dana Magic Bolus Calculator from Dana Diabecare USA. These are the folks who make the Dana Diabecare II insulin pump.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2005
The temperatures are climbing; does this mean trouble for you and your insulin pump? Will your insulin’s potency be affected? Will your glucose levels climb or drop in the warmer weather?
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2005
“People who are no longer successful on oral agents can now add Byetta [exenatide] instead of insulin,” says Anne Peters, MD, director of the USC Clinical Diabetes Programs.
1 comment - Posted Jul 1, 2005
June 2005
On March 16, 2005, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of San Diego, California, announced it had received FDA approval for Symlin (pramlintide acetate) injections to be used in conjunction with insulin to treat diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2005
What is Disetronic’s role in the pump market right now?
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2005
If you want to know how well you are controlling your diabetes, you have had only two options. You can check your current blood glucose level with a meter, or you can check your average over the past two or three months with an A1C test. Now there’s a third and quite promising option—the GlycoMark test.
1 comment - Posted Jun 1, 2005
Medtronic, Inc., now has an event finder at their Web site (www.minimed.com) to help patients locate free diabetes management classes in their communities. Patients can simply enter their zip codes to learn the dates, times, locations and directions for free local classes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2005
May 2005
Back in February, I wrote about what I keep in my diabetes kit. Well, just last month, the contents of that kit, along with my waist pack, disappeared during a trip out of town. I found myself without a meter and no insulin. Anyone whose life depends on these things will be able to identify with me—I felt quite naked.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2005
• A grandmother in Tampa, Florida, who knocked her A1C down two percentage points
• A female bodybuilder on an insulin pump
• A 12-year-old who estimates that he has tested his blood glucose more than 100,000 times in the past three years
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2005
I have noticed in online discussions about insulin pump therapy that prospective pumpers tend to be much more curious about pumps than they are about infusion sets. But once they start pumping, reality sets in: Getting a pump may be like climbing into the driver’s seat of your diabetes management, but finding the right infusion set for your body and your lifestyle is like putting the key in the ignition. You’re getting somewhere with insulin pump therapy only if the insulin is getting into you reliably and comfortably.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2005
Improved glucose control helps you metabolize food more efficiently. Prior to pump use, you may have lost glucose in the urine. If so, those were calories you did not have available to maintain a normal weight. Was your A1C higher before pump therapy? If your A1C has improved, then you are using the nutrients in your food and losing less of them.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2005
The following is excerpted and adapted from the book “Taking Control of Your Diabetes,” by Steven Edelman, MD, and friends, 2001.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2005
It’s news whenever a new blood glucose meter becomes available. Two new blood glucose meters from a new company is even bigger news. The biggest news is that one of these new meters works with a device that automatically uploads your readings to family or healthcare professionals—all without using a computer.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2005
Being the parent of a child with type 1, I was anxious to evaluate Diabetes Education for Kids by Dbaza, Inc. This software explains the different elements of diabetes and shows the child how to manage them.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2005
Q: I change my lancet once a month. How often do you recommend changing lancets?
1 comment - Posted May 1, 2005
April 2005
I appreciate the many letters we received about my February 2005 column. It’s great to have a good debate every now and then.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2005
“Errors in calculation of insulin dosage by adolescents occur frequently,” write U.C. Davis researchers in a recent study. “Consistent use of an insulin dosage calculation device may help to improve metabolic control in adolescents using multiple daily injections (MDI) or continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion pumps (CSII).”
4 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2005
In February 2005, Insulet Corporation of Bedford, Massachusetts, announced that its OmniPod Insulin Management System received FDA approval.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2005
When we think about Medtronic MiniMed, insulin pumps usually come to mind. That makes sense, because MiniMed was among the first to market an insulin pump and today dominates the U.S. market with more than a 70 percent share.
1 comment - Posted Apr 1, 2005
I spent some time this month reflecting on the products I have reviewed over the past year and realized that diabetes management software is getting more and more sophisticated. I have been asked if there is any “basic” software out there for diabetes management.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2005
It isn’t too early to be thinking about diabetes summer camp for your child.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2005
Recent correspondence and commentary in “My Own Injection” in this publication reinforce what most of us who inject insulin daily know all too well about diabetes: so-called “professional” advice is either contradictory or just plain wrong. The common, well meaning, but just plain wrong admonition: "Don't inject through clothing” is a fine example. Another is “Don’t reuse needles because you may develop an infection.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2005
March 2005
The U.S. Congress is back in session and hopes are high for diabetes victories.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2005
What do you get when you cross a pelican with an albatross?
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2005
This month, Abbott Diabetes Care gave me the opportunity to review their new FreeStyle CoPilot Health Management Software, which works with the Precision Xtra and Therasense glucose meters. I was especially anxious to look at this software because it also works with the data from my CoZmore insulin pump and glucose meter combo.
2 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2005
Your insertion sites are red. You wonder if you did something wrong during site preparation or insertion, and you wonder what you should you do about it now and do differently next time.
1 comment - Posted Mar 1, 2005
February 2005
What’s in your sick-day supply kit? Are you prepared for the common cold or a stomach bug? Do you have the supplies you need to get through the inconvenience of being ill? Have you made sure your insulin and pump supplies are plentiful and not outdated?
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2005
A friend recently asked me what I have in the diabetes pack that I carry everywhere.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2005
Not even 20 years ago, it was uncommon for a woman with diabetes to choose to have children of her own. Many doctors discouraged attempting pregnancy based on the high incidence of complications that both a mother and an infant could suffer due to poor blood glucose control.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2005
On November 22, 2004, the diabetes business unit of Medtronic, Inc., and Novo Nordisk announced an agreement to develop the first prefilled cartridges designed for use with Paradigm external insulin pumps.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2005
Smiths Medical MD has received FDA 510(k) clearance for their new Cleo 90 infusion set.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2005
Glucose monitoring systems that continuously plot the course of blood glucose promise much greater control over blood glucose levels. Detecting when you are going low is just one benefit, but it is the most immediate reward.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2005
As a user of LifeScan glucose meters, I was eager to take a look at their diabetes management software.
20 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2005
Although severe hypoglycemia is a definite problem for children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes, newer therapies may improve control without increasing the risk of severe hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2005
January 2005
I have always hoped for a cure for diabetes—who hasn’t?
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2005
It seemed that every time we gave something a try and it didn’t quite work out, Mom and Dad always had a cliché at the ready to cushion the blow.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2005
The SimpleChoice Easy and Easy Pro 30-degree insulin pump infusion sets are now available from SimpleChoice, a SpectRx company.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2005
Do you plan to go sledding, skiing, ice skating or snowshoeing this winter?
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2005
Smiths Medical of St.Paul, Minnesota, is now shipping the CozMore Insulin Technology System.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2005
The insulin pump remains the gold standard for optimal control of type 1 diabetes and for anyone who needs intensive insulin therapy.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2005
What are the biggest challenges facing the insulin pump market today?
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2005
Do you currently use a Hypoguard glucose meter such as the Hypoguard Advance or QuickTek?
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2005
It has long been our dream to have some sort of device that would test blood glucose without breaking the skin to take a drop of blood.
1 comment - Posted Jan 1, 2005
December 2004
I recently spoke at the Diabetes Camping Association’s annual meeting for healthcare professionals and camp directors. This group serves a network of more than 150 organizations providing summer vacation camp for children, and adults, with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
Following the success of “The Low-Carb Barbeque Cookbook,” Carpender returned to the test kitchen and created “500 More Low-Carb Recipes: 500 All-New Recipes From Around the World.”
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
Lancing devices are critical tools for obtaining blood samples for glucose measurement. While good diabetes management requires frequent blood testing, the pain and inconvenience involved in lancing can prevent a person with diabetes from undertaking the appropriate number of daily blood glucose tests.
2 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
Since the early 1980s, people with diabetes have needed accessory cases to carry their testing and insulin supplies with them. As the goal of better blood glucose control led to more frequent glucose testing, multiple daily injections and insulin pumps, keeping supplies and life support systems handy has become ever more important.
2 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
Do you use a personal computer running on the Windows operating system?
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
For people living with diabetes, constant vigilance is required in order to stay healthy. But when a person with diabetes has a child, the parent must balance the demands of taking care of children while also attending to his or her own health needs. From one parent living with diabetes to another, here are a few suggestions: 1 Manage Your Stress
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
Hockey players often joke about the rugged nature of their sport by touting the popular mantra, “Give blood, play hockey.”
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
How do you choose which insulins to use for your patients who use insulin?
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
The accuracy—or typically the lack thereof— of blood glucose meters is a big concern of mine. I have written several articles on this topic. But first of all, you have to know if your meter is precise.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
Understanding the federal government is complex, and the Medicare program can be even worse.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
Living With Diabetes, an interactive series of motivational seminars and workshops, is offering a learning cruise of the western Caribbean.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2004
November 2004
Though I didn’t get a cake, I just celebrated my biggest birthday. I have now lived for 30 years with diabetes—that’s 30 years of effort and worry, 30 years of information-gathering, testing, dieting, hypos, injections and doctor visits. Somehow, luckily, I have thrived.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2004
Before the mid-1950s, people with diabetes injected insulin using glass syringes with detachable steel needles. Between injections, the glass syringes were boiled and the needles were soaked in alcohol to keep them as germ-free as possible. To reduce the pain of the injection, people would sharpen their needles on a sharpening stone.
1 comment - Posted Nov 1, 2004
James Jopling of Monroe, Louisiana, has had type 1 diabetes for 39 years. Two of his sons also have type 1.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2004
Susan B. Sloane, BS, Rph,CDE, has been a registered pharmacist for more than 20 years and a certified diabetes educator for 15 years.
2 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2004
October 2004
We asked a few pump “veterans” what they love and hate about their pumps. Here is what they had to say.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2004
Q: I just noticed that my strips are code 10, but I forgot to change my meter, which is still set at code 2. My meter is a LifeScan OneTouch Ultra. I don’t know how many bottles of strips I have gone through at this wrong setting.
Have my readings been too low, or too high? And by how much have they been off?
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2004
I am thrilled that last month’s cover person, Gary Hall, Jr., has claimed the title of “Fastest Swimmer in the World”!
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2004
September 2004
New Generation of Abbott Monitor Sports Extra Features
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2004
The following are summaries of studies presented at the June 2004 ADA Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Florida:
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2004
Do you currently use a Bayer Glucometer or Ascensia brand glucose meter? Are you looking for a way to download your glucose readings from the meter to diabetes management software on your computer? Bayer may have a solution for you: their Ascensia WinGlucofacts software.
7 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2004
Did you know that more than one billion syringes, pen needles and lancets are disposed of each year, posing possible safety risks?
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2004
July 2004
This month’s column is for anybody interested in understanding the terms used with insulin pump therapy. Clip and save this for your reference.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2004
The MedGem, manufactured by HealtheTech, is a new hand-held metabolic rate device that measures after-meal energy expenditure.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2004
Good Humor-Breyers is offering two free brochures for those of us who love ice cream.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2004
Pepperidge Farm has announced that it has transitioned its entire line of Goldfish crackers to be free of trans fatty acids.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2004
June 2004
So, you aren’t pleased with your blood glucose control.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2004
Would you like to be able to share your blood glucose information with your doctor between scheduled visits?
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2004
A few years ago, the International Diabetes Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, compared meter systems. What I remember most about the comparison was the cost of blood glucose test strips—they were so close.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2004
Since Lantus first appeared on the market in 2001, it has been praised as the best basal insulin for good blood glucose control, primarily because it has a flat, peakless action. It fills a need for people who desire consistent insulin action around the clock, but like other basal insulins, it has to be set, tested and adjusted to match the user’s need.
1 comment - Posted Jun 1, 2004
Nicole Johnson doesn’t know how to take it easy. An admitted type A personality, Johnson—who enjoyed the national spotlight as Miss America 1999—serves as a consultant or spokesperson for about a dozen different organizations.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2004
Allied Domecq Spirits and Kahlua recently announced a licensing agreement with Seattle-based Da Vinci Gourmet, the maker of flavored syrups and sauces for specialty coffee and tea drinks and sodas.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2004
Fast on the heels of her two best-selling cookbooks, Dana Carpender’s new collection of low-carb barbecuing recipes has just been released.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2004
Containing only 10 calories and 2 grams of sugar per 6.76-ounce serving, Kool-Aid Jammers 10 Tropical Punch is a new option for kids with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2004
May 2004
Mindy Mendenhall plays basketball the way a bull browses a china shop. She’s all muscle and emotion under the hoop, and she’s manic enough to launch her body across the court after loose balls.
1 comment - Posted May 1, 2004
If you provide them they will test…
15 comments - Posted May 1, 2004
LifeScan has introduced a new and improved test strip for its OneTouch Basic, Profile and II meters.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2004
In a January 20, 2004 letter, LifeScan informed its OneTouch Ultra Test Strip customers it was voluntarily removing a single lot of 50-Count OneTouch Ultra Test Strips.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2004
Does your child have diabetes? Do you communicate well with him or her?
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2004
The number of people opting for insulin pump therapy grows. Worldwide, the number is approximately 300,000.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2004
A Novo Nordisk-sponsored study demonstrated that eight out of 10 elderly people with diabetes who have visual and motor difficulties preferred the Novolin Innolet doser to vials and syringes.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2004
Wow! This is my 142nd, and last, column for Diabetes Interview.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2004
April 2004
Since October 2003, meter maker LifeScan has been partnering with pump manufacturer Animas Corporation.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2004
One of the largest physician organizations in the country has developed a new guide for self-testing of blood glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2004
Clif Bar Inc. of Berkeley, California, has introduced a low-carb snack made especially for women.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2004
By far, the most important medical legislation passed in 2003 was the Medicare Reform Act
1 comment - Posted Apr 1, 2004
The race is on! Since 1986, the contestants—more than 100 start-up biotech companies—have been competing for the prize: a chunk of the billion-dollar market that awaits the manufacturer of a reliable, FDA-approved, noninvasive glucose monitor.
3 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2004
The American Academy of Family Physicians now publishes a diabetes treatment guide for clinicians that offers what it calls “practical advice for treating patients with diabetes.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2004
March 2004
On January 13, 2004, Abbott Laboratories bought TheraSense, Inc. for $1.2 billion.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2004
Medtronic MiniMed’s Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS) improved kids' control by providing them with accurate data—for adjustment of insulin treatments—and by promoting better communication and motivation.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2004
For the purpose of detecting low blood glucose, researchers say you should test at the fingertip.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2004
Do your diabetes supplies take up so much room in your purse or handbag that you have little room for non-diabetes paraphernalia?
2 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2004
Looking for an inexpensive software package to help track your diabetes-management data? Do you want a Web-based program? How about the ability to e-mail the data directly to your doctor or certified diabetes educator (CDE)? Diabetes Assistant, a software program from Roche Diagnostics Corporation, might meet your needs.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2004
“Smart Pumping for People With Diabetes” by Barbara J. Anderson, PhD, and Howard Wolpert, MD, a new book published by the American Diabetes Association, teaches people with diabetes how to use the insulin pump effectively.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2004
Medtronic MiniMed announced the introduction of its Paradigm 712 insulin pump, which incorporates a larger reservoir for diabetes patients who require more insulin. The pump also performs complex diabetes calculations and recommends correct insulin dosages.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2004
Today’s finger-piercing lancets draw much less blood than their predecessors did. But they still hurt, say some. Today’s insulin needles are models of precision engineering. But they’re still not comfortable for everyone—especially if they hit a nerve.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2004
Nearly 10 years ago when Chris Smith was 27, he got bad news in the form of a type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Now known as the Diabetic Chef, Smith is making the most of having diabetes by “re-teaching America to cook.”
1 comment - Posted Mar 1, 2004
February 2004
A new product called Glucokit, manufactured by Massachusetts-based CommAve LLC, helps users integrate meters and accessories into a pocket-size package.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2004
Best-selling cookbook author Dana Carpender has released her newest collection of tasty lower-carb recipes, entitled “15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes: Instant Recipes for Dinners, Desserts, & More!” (Fair Winds Press, 2003).
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2004
Animas Corporation announced it had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the world’s smallest insulin pump.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2004
You’ve gone through all the diabetes education classes. The insurance company pays for them.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2004
January 2004
I never gave much thought to the issue of how to care for my meter until my three-year-old daughter decided to dunk my Ascensia Elite XL in a glass of water.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2004
If you have diabetes and use an insulin pen, odds are you don’t live in the United States.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2004
Who is a “typical” pumper? To find the answer, we went to insulin-pumpers.org, the not-for-profit Web-based Insulin Pumpers Organization (IP) of Milpitas, California. In the “About Insulin Pumpers” section of this Web site, executive director Michael Robinton has collected and compiled data from the more than 4,000 members who choose to fill out a survey.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2004
People with diabetes know that we are all supposed to check our blood glucose. But it’s sometimes frustrating to look at the results and see a number that’s too high or too low.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2004
December 2003
Wearing medical identification can provide emergency medical workers with potentially life-saving information if you are in an accident or end up in an emergency room.
2 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2003
May 2003
All Disetronic D-TRON insulin pumps should have been replaced with the D-TRONplus model by May 30, 2003.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2003
Insulin pump users can get sick, just like everyone else.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2003
It's the instrument we all love to hate: the lancing device.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2003
Roche, best known for its Accu-Chek family of blood-glucose monitors, made an offer in February 2003 to buy Disetronic's insulin pump division. A decision on the purchase should be finalized in May or June if Disetronic's shareholders accept Roche's tender offer of two nonvoting Roche equity securities and a price of 670 Swiss francs (about $490 U.S. dollars) per share.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2003
Abnormally high exposure to static electricity could cause Medtronic MiniMed's Paradigm insulin pump to "freeze," the company states in its Winter edition of Positive Pumping. This problem could result in insulin delivery being interrupted without an accompanying alarm or other warning.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2003
A new educational tool is now available to help people with diabetes learn virtually firsthand the impact of using insulin pump therapy to achieve tight blood-glucose control.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2003
April 2003
Walk into any pharmacy and pay close attention to the diabetes display. More than likely, you will find the display fairly close to the pharmacist's counter.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2003
We hear the statistics so often that we take them for granted.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2003
Linda McNeely, a retired registered nurse, remembers her first insulin pump.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2003
As a diabetes researcher, exercise physiologist and individual with type 1 diabetes, I am always curious about how the latest diabetes technology fits into an exercise program. Exercise is, after all, one of the three cornerstones of diabetes management, along with diet and medication.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2003
Francine R. Kaufman, MD, president of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and division head of endocrinology at Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles, California, was presented with the Woman of Valor Award at a benefit dinner on February 6, 2003.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2003
Becton, Dickinson and Company, of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, best known for its insulin syringes, has entered the blood-glucose meter market with two products: the BD Logic blood-glucose monitor and the BD Latitude Diabetes Management System.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2003
Do you find yourself squeezing out a huge drop of blood-even for meters that require only a pinpoint of fluid-just to make sure you fill the strip.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2003
March 2003
Not so long ago, there were two insulin pump companies—MiniMed and Disetronic. In the past couple of years, however, new companies seem to come along every few months. Now we have Medtronic MiniMed, Disetronic, Animas, Dana, Deltec and soon Nipro.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2003
The American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) has developed a new resource for diabetes educators who want to spice up their patient and community group presentations.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2003
Roche Diagnostics recently received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its Web-based diabetes management program, known as the Accu-Chek Diabetes Assistant (available through the Web site www.accu-chek.com).
1 comment - Posted Mar 1, 2003
In Defense of Non-Western Medicine. I was disappointed with Ron Zacker's editorial in the December 2002 issue ("Keep Your Eyes on the Prize," p. 46). It seemed that Zacker lost sight of the prize with his statement, "Too much information and too many options can distract us from what's really important."
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2003
Select a new insulin syringe from the bottom and dispose of a used one in the top of a new all-in-one syringe dispenser and disposal unit called the UltiGuard, made by Ulti Med, Inc., of St. Paul, Minnesota.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2003
February 2003
Insulin-to-carbohydrate (I:C) ratios, which are used to calculate the insulin doses people with diabetes need for specific amounts of food containing carbohydrate, are an important part of any intensive diabetes management program.
5 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2003
Reasons for choosing a particular blood-glucose meter are as varied as the users. Some users want it simple, some want all the bells and whistles and many want something in between—as long as the meter and strips are affordable and accurate. Not to mention fast!
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2003
Software designed to help children who are newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes learn how to manage their condition is available from dbaza, Inc., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for use by both individuals and professionals.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2003
EMLA, an anesthetic cream made by AstraZeneca of Wilmington, Delaware, has been temporarily removed from the market. The cream is frequently used by insulin pumpers to numb the skin before inserting an infusion set.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2003
You're out on a date. Things are going smoothly, and you are surprisingly at ease. Is it time to introduce your diabetes, or should you keep it hidden?
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2003
EMLA, an anesthetic cream made by AstraZeneca of Wilmington, Delaware, has been temporarily removed from the market. The cream is frequently used by insulin pumpers to numb the skin before inserting an infusion set.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2003
January 2003
People with diabetes know that we are all supposed to check our blood glucose. But some of us do a better job of it than others. Frankly, it's sometimes frustrating to look at the results and see a number that's too high or too low.
3 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2003
So you've become a pumper. You know how to program your pump. You know how to count carbs. You know how to correctly insert your infusion set. You're prepared for any delayed meal, extra activity, party or unexpected event that comes your way.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2003
If you test your blood glucose regularly, you probably think you have a pretty good idea of how high or low your numbers rise and fall during a typical day and night. However, what if you had 288 blood-glucose readings every 24 hours, instead of only a handful?
1 comment - Posted Jan 1, 2003
Prepackaged one-day supplies of vitamins, minerals and alpha-lipoic acid in a mix that is said to benefit people with diabetes are available from Nature Made.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2003
December 2002
Novo Nordisk has introduced its NovoLog Mix 70/30, which consists of 70 percent insulin aspart with protamine crystals to slow down absorption and 30 percent NovoLog (insulin aspart).
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
Macintosh users who have been bemoaning the lack of diabetes management software designed for their operating system now have access to a new program.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
The dry skin that often accompanies diabetes can be alleviated by applying lotion to the affected areas—and a lotion that contains gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) can both restore moisture and provide long-term relief, says the president of ShiKai, located in Santa Rosa, California.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
When I worked as a consultant for one of the "Big 5" consulting firms a few years ago, I was always traveling around the country to different destinations. At each destination, I was confronted with decisions that affected my diabetes management—or lack thereof.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
When you first started insulin pump therapy, your doctor gave you a basal rate (or rates) and bolus doses to help you get started. You tested your blood glucose frequently, and the basal rates were correspondingly changed to prevent wide fluctuations while fasting. Then the bolus doses were adjusted to prevent post-meal hyperglycemia (or hypoglycemia). Once your blood-glucose values were stabilized, you might have felt as if you were "set for life."
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
Knitters know that, for a perfect match, you need to buy all the yarn for a project from the same dye lot to eliminate subtle changes in color that can make your solid red sweater come out looking like it has stripes. The reason? Minute changes in dyes that cause just the slightest difference in hue.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
If you're still putting your used lancets, pen needles and syringes in a coffee can or empty detergent bottle and surreptitiously burying it under the empty cans and boxes in the trash because your community doesn't have a sharps disposal program, Becton Dickinson (BD) of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, has a solution.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
With more flavors of calorie-free syrup than Baskin-Robbins has ice cream, Da Vinci Gourmet sugar-free flavored syrups can add flavor to your dishes and drinks in more than 30 ways—from almond to white chocolate and a plethora of flavors from the mundane to the esoteric.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
LeCarb frozen desserts, which have 3 grams of sugars per serving—compared to 14 grams in regular ice cream—are now available at Wal-Mart Supercenters across the country and at Brookshire's, Super 1 Foods and Ole Foods stores in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
A new placemat from Tabletop Nutrition LLC of Sammamish, Washington, is designed to help educators teach people with diabetes about the relationship of insulin and/or oral diabetes medications to food and exercise.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
Knitters know that, for a perfect match, you need to buy all the yarn for a project from the same dye lot to eliminate subtle changes in color that can make your solid red sweater come out looking like it has stripes. The reason? Minute changes in dyes that cause just the slightest difference in hue.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
When I worked as a consultant for one of the "Big 5" consulting firms a few years ago, I was always traveling around the country to different destinations. At each destination, I was confronted with decisions that affected my diabetes management-or lack thereof.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
LeCarb frozen desserts, which have 3 grams of sugars per serving-compared to 14 grams in regular ice cream-are now available at Wal-Mart Supercenters across the country and at Brookshire's, Super 1 Foods, and Ole Foods stores in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
Macintosh users who have been bemoaning the lack of diabetes management software designed for their operating system now have access to a new program.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2002
November 2002
Guilty pleasures are certainly in abundance between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. However, if you are a person with diabetes, too much guilty pleasure may make your A1C resemble something less pleasant than a picture print by Currier and Ives.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
Deltec, Inc., of St. Paul, Minnesota, is the latest company to bring a new insulin pump to the market. Its Cozmo pump received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administra-tion in mid-August 2002.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
Parents who wanted to see GlucoWatch Biographers on the wrists of their children with diabetes received good news on August 28, 2002, with the announcement that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved the GlucoWatch for use with children ages 7 to 17. The device received earlier FDA approval for adults with diabetes in April 2002.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
With the launch of its new D-TRONplus, Disetronic is expanding its practice of including an identical back-up pump with each pump it sells. While the company's H-TRONplus pump has been marketed as a pair in the past, the D-TRON was previously sold as a single unit.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
7-Eleven began test-marketing Crystal Light Raspberry Ice Slurpees at 7-Eleven stores in Detroit, Michigan, and Kansas City, Missouri, in July, with plans to expand to stores across the country that offer at least six Slurpee flavor barrels. 7-Eleven had previously added Crystal Light Lemonade to its array of Slurpee flavors.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
Shorter needles for both insulin syringes and pens mean no more pinching and less bleeding and bruising, says Becton Dickinson and Company of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, in introducing its BD Mini pen needles and insulin syringe needles.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
LXN Corporation, which made the InCharge blood-glucose meter, GlucoProtein test strips (which measure fructosamine levels) and InCharge Glucose test strips, has recalled all GlucoProtein test strips, discontinued all its products and ceased operations.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
Testing. Testing when you get up… before meals… after meals… before and after (and sometimes during) exercise. Testing when you feel "funny."
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
As an insulin pumper, are you prepared for unexpected (or expected) events? For instance, there might be a time when you are not using your insulin pump—either by choice or by necessity. Is this a time for panic?
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
It's fortunate that Gillian Larner was at her 11-year-old son's bedside in the hospital after his surgery in May 2002.
1 comment - Posted Nov 1, 2002
This year, 17 million people in the United States lived with diabetes.
4 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
Do your favorite restaurants and fast-food eateries fit comfortably into your diabetes meal plan? Now they can!
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
Guilty pleasures are certainly in abundance between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. However, if you are a person with diabetes, too much guilty pleasure may make your A1C resemble something less pleasant than a picture print by Currier and Ives.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2002
October 2002
Researchers in Canada studying barriers to self-monitoring of blood glucose discovered that—surprise!—people who were given free strips tested more often than those who had to pay for them. An added benefit of more frequent testing was better blood-glucose control.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2002
People who wear insulin pumps get asked all the time about their devices, and it often inspires creative replies. When you have a busy little box connected to you, it helps to have a sense of humor.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2002
A former Wal-Mart pharmacist with diabetes who closed the store's pharmacy in Chadron, Nebraska, while he ate lunch is not covered under the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed in a July 2002 ruling.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2002
As a nation, we are aging. By the age of 65, two-thirds of us take one or more medications a day—and a lot of us take as many as three.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2002
As a nation, we are aging. By the age of 65, two-thirds of us take one or more medications a day-and a lot of us take as many as three.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2002
September 2002
Vicki Abbott, a 65-year-old medical transcriptionist from Portland, Oregon, has taken the idea of tight diabetes control to heart. She adheres to a control regimen that is almost militaristic in its method, and her goal is perfect blood glucose.
4 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
Researchers in Chicago, Illinois, using the Medtronic MiniMed Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS) conclude that the variable glucose profiles generated during endurance competitions such as marathons "indicate the need for intensive and accurate glucose monitoring."
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
It's usually one of the first questions asked by new insulin pumpers: "How do I wear this thing?" The answers are as varied as pump users themselves and can range from the mundane to the esoteric. From pockets to gun holsters and from waistbands to a white satin bag sewn especially for a bride, you can find pumps anywhere.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
Imagine being able to pop a blood-glucose testing device into your personal digital assistant (PDA), put blood on the strip and store the results in the PDA. Now you can do just that, thanks to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of two such devices in mid-June 2002.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
"Your Child Has Diabetes" is an easy-to-read resource that touches on the basics of diabetes in children: understanding the difference between type 1 and type 2, using insulin and oral medications, planning meals and exercise, and dealing with the emotional aspects of having diabetes. It is packed with illustrations and written for a seventh- and eighth-grade reading level.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
Foot specialists can now create custom orthotics on site in just one hour using a process from Riecken's Orthotic Laboratory in Evansville, Indiana. The Shoe and Foot Interfacing Orthosis (SAFIO) process, which uses the patient's foot as its model, eliminates the need for foot forms, plaster work and delivery delays and allows the patient to walk out of the office with a pair of custom inlays. Riecken can also do the work in-house, if desired.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
If you base your lancet changes on the turning of the seasons, you might want to rethink your policy.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
Researchers in Chicago, Illinois, using the Medtronic MiniMed Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS) conclude that the variable glucose profiles generated during endurance competitions such as marathons "indicate the need for intensive and accurate glucose monitoring."
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
Using a simple push of a button, people with diabetes can dispose of their syringes using a new portable needle-destruction device.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2002
August 2002
Starting next month, Bayer will change the name of its line of Glucometer blood-glucose meters to Ascensia.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
Will Lantus Give Me the Same Flexibility the Pump Does?
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
Once again, Diabetes Health has read through more than 2,500 abstracts of research presented at the American Diabetes Association's annual Scientific Sessions and selected a few of the more interesting ones to pass along to you as part of our annual "Research Extravaganza" feature.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
Over the past seven years, the number of oral drug therapies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes has dramatically increased. Of the six basic types of medication that can help normalize your blood glucose, five are available as oral drugs.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
A dermatologist-developed skin lotion said to soothe irritated skin and diminish the appearance of wrinkles is now available from dermatologists.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
Bayer Diagnostics announced on May 28, 2002, that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of its complete line of blood glucose meters for alternate-site testing.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
An implantable insulin pump may provide better blood-glucose control and help lower A1Cs, say researchers who compared the control provided by continuous peritoneal insulin infusion from an implantable pump to that offered by continuous subcutaneous infusion using a standard (external) insulin pump.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
Over the Fourth of July weekend, my family and I went to the county fair. It was a great day, but the noise really started to bug me, and I began to get cranky. How dare the barkers at the carnival shout so loudly! Why did the rides have to play music incessantly? My children wanted money for this ride and that toy, and I wanted to yell at them and tell them they couldn't have one more nickel!
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
Both short-term and long-term quality of life are improved in people with type 1 diabetes who use an insulin pump.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2002
July 2002
When Charles H. Raine III, MD, director of the Diabetes Control Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina, learned he had type 2 diabetes, he went straight to insulin as his preferred method of control.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2002
It happens. After three and a half years and more than 10,000 tests, my meter screen displayed a glitch. So I called the company, explained to the rep what had happened and was told I would be sent a new meter.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2002
"When I think of how long I have waited for the GlucoWatch Biographer, I could just cry!"
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2002
Novo Nordisk, of Princeton, New Jersey, has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a new insulin delivery system with a special feature and design.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2002
Medifast, Inc., of Owing Mills, Maryland, is launching a new line of meal-replacement products designed for people with diabetes. The Medifast Plus for Diabetics line features soy-based foods and includes products such as shakes, bars, soups, oatmeal, chili and ready-to-drink beverages that are low in sugar, fat, calories and carbohydrates and are also low on the glycemic index, according to a Medifast news release.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2002
Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals of Princeton, New Jersey, has formed an alliance with Rite Aid Corporation to provide better care for people with diabetes who use insulin therapy. Rite Aid stores will give preferred status to insulin formulations and delivery systems produced by Novo Nordisk, according to a press release from the pharmaceutical company.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2002
When Charles H. Raine III, MD, director of the Diabetes Control Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina, learned he had type 2 diabetes, he went straight to insulin as his preferred method of control.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2002
Twenty-four-hour continuous glucose monitoring can provide extremely useful information about an individual's blood-glucose pattern and fluctuations during the day and night.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2002
June 2002
Scott W. Lee, MD, Saima Sajid, MD, and Michelle Cao, MD, of Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, California, have reported two case studies on square-wave and dual-wave bolusing.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2002
Normal bolus! Extended bolus! Square-wave bolus! Combination bolus! Dual-wave bolus!
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2002
A hormone called GLP-1 offers promise for treating type 2 diabetes, say researchers from Denmark. A lab-engineered version of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) was shown to regulate blood-glucose levels and improve insulin sensitivity in a small test group, researchers report in the March 9, 2002, issue of Lancet.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2002
People who inject insulin can confuse Lantus (insulin glargine) with short-acting Regular insulin or rapid-acting Humalog (insulin lispro) or NovoLog (insulin aspart) because they are all clear in color, warn doctors from the Yale University School of Medicine.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2002
The West Boca Raton, Florida, school district has decided not to reprimand an assistant principal accused of harassing a student who was wearing an insulin pump, according to an April 24 South Florida Sun-Sentinel article.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2002
I Developed Type 2 Diabetes From Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2002
The West Boca Raton, Florida, school district has decided not to reprimand an assistant principal accused of harassing a student who was wearing an insulin pump, according to an April 24 South Florida Sun-Sentinel article.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2002
The U.S. Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against concert promoter SFX Entertainment, Inc., for its policy that prohibits insulin users from bringing their diabetes supplies into concerts. Filed with the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, the lawsuit claims that the policy violates the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2002
May 2002
Whether or not people with diabetes can test in public places is a nonissue. Every person with diabetes is entitled to his or her respective life, liberty and pursuit of good blood-glucose control—despite the occasional stare of a passerby.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
What do the school nurse and the education staff of your child's school know about insulin pump therapy? What should you tell the school system?
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
Beauty, Grace and Diabetes: Ballerina Zippora Karz, now 37, started studying dance at the age of 7. At 18, she was invited to join the New York City Ballet—one of the most prestigious ballet companies in the world.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
If hunting alligators in pitch darkness doesn't make Todd Sievers jumpy, then it's no wonder he can unflinchingly kick field goals in front of a packed crowd with a game on the line.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
This past December, Jason Johnson, 28, a starting pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles baseball club, was the co-winner of the Tony Conigliaro Award. The award is presented annually to a major league player who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage.
1 comment - Posted May 1, 2002
Imagine discovering at a young age that you are a gifted athlete—gifted enough to possibly one day represent your country in the Olympics. Imagine training and honing your skills for years and years, until you are among the best at a particular sport. Imagine the Olympics on the horizon and within your reach—so close you can almost taste it.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
Pump Wear, Inc., of Latham, New York, is offering clothing and accessories for children with type 1 diabetes that allow them to wear their insulin pumps in style.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
SpectRx, Inc., added another tool to the insulin delivery arsenal when it received marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on February 4 for its minimally invasive insulin patch infusion set for use with insulin pumps.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
Children with type 1 diabetes need intensive insulin therapy to help them achieve better long-term blood-glucose control and avoid complications later in life, according to Swedish researchers writing in the October 2001 issue of Diabetes, Nutrition & Metabolism.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
Measuring blood-glucose levels with a sample drawn from the forearm using the Sof-Tact meter made by Abbott/MediSense will yield the same results as fingerstick testing, say researchers in Massachusetts. The researchers also found that the hematocrit (Hct)—the percentage of whole blood that is composed of red blood cells—was significantly higher in the forearm blood samples than in fingertip blood samples, according to the study published in the February 2002 issue of Diabetes Care.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
Are you planning to start your child on an insulin pump during summer vacation? While this may be a great time to get comfortable with a pump, the next challenge will come when the child returns to school.
2 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
SpectRx, Inc., added another tool to the insulin delivery arsenal when it received marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on February 4 for its minimally invasive insulin patch infusion set for use with insulin pumps.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2002
April 2002
When I was asked to write this article, my first thought was, "Oh, boy, this should be fun." But as I started my research, I found that I was way behind the curve in my understanding of the importance of tracking my food intake.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2002
A noninvasive blood-glucose monitor has long been awaited. People with diabetes do not look forward to monitoring their blood glucose every day, as it involves pricking their fingers to obtain blood samples.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2002
“You shouldn't have to futz around with shots,” says Wendy S. Lane, MD, of Asheville, North Carolina. ”[If I had my way], newly diagnosed type 1s would be put right on pumps, if it weren't for insurance companies.”
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2002
Researchers from the New Jersey Institute of Technology have been awarded a $75,000 grant to begin developing a noninvasive device for measuring blood glucose from the eye, as part of a system that could simulate pancreatic function.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2002
Apex Foot Health Industries, Inc., of Teaneck, New Jersey, is now offering seam-free socks, which are recommended for people with diabetes. The Comfort n' Care Seamfree Socks provide even pressure throughout the foot to avoid cutting off circulation. The socks feature a thickly knit, soft acrylic fabric for added comfort and to protect the foot from moisture.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2002
Podovis, of Chicago, Illinois, is offering a line of all-natural foot care products to help people with diabetes maintain good foot health. Each product contains a medicinal seaweed extract from the South Pacific, which has nourishing properties, according to the company. The line of products includes Dry Foot Moisturizer; Pumice Cream, which acts as an exfoliant; Cream Talc, which protects against perspiration; Moisturizing Relaxing Gel; and Foot Deodorant. Prices range from $3.99 to $5.59.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2002
You keep your A1Cs in line by testing your fasting and before-meal blood-glucose levels, but could you have a time bomb ticking in your body by failing to keep after-meal glucose levels down?
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2002
Insulin delivery devices come in many shapes and sizes. The most familiar and widely used in the United States is the traditional insulin syringe.
1 comment - Posted Apr 1, 2002
March 2002
Do you find yourself squeezing out a huge drop of blood—even for meters that require only a pinpoint of fluid—just to make sure you fill the strip?
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
NovoLog (insulin aspart) has received supplemental approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in external insulin pumps, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals announced in December 2001. This decision, according to Novo Nordisk, makes NovoLog the only rapid-acting insulin analog to be indicated for use with pumps.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
The Accu-Chek Advantage blood-glucose meter could sometimes save a test result incorrectly in its memory feature, Roche Diagnostics has announced. The incorrect storage of a reading in the meter's memory could occur once every seven days.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
LifeScan's One Touch Profile meters may develop display problems, the company said in a January 8 letter to its customers.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
The evolution of insulin has taken a turn that even Banting and Best could not have foreseen when they discovered the hormone back in the 1920s.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
It's not exactly the tortoise versus the hare, but in the effort to get islet transplantation and a closed-loop artificial pancreas to the market, there seems to be a race.
1 comment - Posted Mar 1, 2002
Sometimes I sit and dream of the things I could buy and the places I could visit—if only I didn't have all the expenses that go with having diabetes. Topping the list of those expenses are blood-glucose testing strips. In less than one minute after you take one out of the container, you throw about 70 cents—more or less—into the trash.
6 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
It's happened again. You test and the number that pops up on your meter is low. Way too low! But you feel fine. Shouldn't you be experiencing that fuzzy-headed, heart-pounding, shaky-bodied, world-swirling feeling that goes with hypoglycemia?
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
Q: I am a 52-year-old person with type 1 diabetes who is at least 40 pounds overweight. I have tried many ways to lose the extra weight, but I can never seem to get my blood glucose under good enough control so that I don't have too many lows.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
Q: All insulin vials are packaged with an insert that tells you not to use the insulin if the solids stay caked when you roll or shake the vial. For around 23 years, I used Iletin I and never encountered that problem. The solids always distributed themselves through the liquid the way they were supposed to. In two or three years of using Humulin, however, I've had to throw away at least four vials because the insulin cakes up and will not uncake itself no matter how much rolling, tipping or shaking I do. I can't imagine why the old "standard" insulin, which worked better in general, cost less than what we're using now, and tended to survive better on the shelf, is no longer produced in this country but is apparently still made in eastern Europe, where medicine is supposedly less advanced!
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
A little boy wanted ice cream after dinner one night. Because his parents had already counted his carbohydrates and given him a carefully calculated dose of insulin, his mother tried to dissuade him.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2002
February 2002
The Diabetes Technology Meeting also highlighted research into new methods of insulin delivery, including a "pumpless" insulin infusion device and the use of controlled-release microchips.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2002
First Human Trials With a Novel Noninvasive, Nonoptical Continuous Glucose Monitoring System
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2002
Whether you are a beginner or a veteran of insulin pump therapy, a new book called "Optimal Pumping: A Guide to Good Health With Diabetes" could prove to be a valuable resource.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2002
Whether type 1 or type 2, young or old, all people with diabetes have one thing in common: their blood-glucose meter.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2002
Blood-glucose meter maker LifeScan agreed on November 26, 2001, to pay $45 million to hundreds of thousands of people with diabetes—avoiding a trial that was set to begin that week.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2002
As you may be aware, NovoLog (insulin aspart) is the new rapid-acting insulin analog from Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc. On paper, its action is supposed to be similar to Lilly's Humalog (insulin lispro). However, my experience, as well as the experiences of other people I've talked to who are using it in pumps, is very different.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2002
January 2002
Seniors with diabetes may need to make changes to their diet to remain healthy, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). In addition, people may have more difficulty preparing food as they get older.
0 comments - Posted Jan 2, 2002
If you are careful—and lucky—it's possible that you will never end up in the emergency room. Many people with a chronic medical condition such as diabetes prefer to hope for this best-case scenario rather than wear visible medical ID.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2002
If you have diabetes, having friends who also have diabetes is an important part of life. Those friends provide support and, often, a sense of humor about what it means to live with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2002
Riecken's Orthotic Laboratory, of Evansville, Indiana, is offering shoe insoles custom-designed to help reduce foot ulcers. The Butterfly inserts are made with a gel that "moves, flexes and can flow with the foot's movements," says Carl Riecken, C.Ped, OST, president of Riecken's Orthotic Laboratory. The substance, "flesh-like in consistency," provides a "positive, shock-absorbing foundation" that molds to fit the shape of a person's foot. The smooth surface reduces friction and effectively helps decrease callus build-up, according to the press release.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2002
What was a groundbreaking blood-glucose meter only a few years ago has now been put out to pasture.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2002
Kaiser Permanente, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. are working together to expand the use of Archimedes, a computer simulation model that can be used to develop diabetes care programs.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2002
Another study is suggesting that continuous glucose monitoring could be a superior testing method for determining optimal control.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2002
You might be seeing a great pump doc now, even if you aren't using insulin pump therapy. An endocrinologist or diabetologist will suggest a pump if you meet the criteria for insulin pump therapy.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2002
When Will Medicare Cover the Cost of Insulin Pumps for Type 2s?
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2002
December 2001
With winter weather approaching, many of us take precautions to handle worsening driving conditions: we install snow tires, pack our trunks with sandbags and ease up on the accelerator when the roads turn slippery.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2001
One would think that with all the technological advances in handheld computers, there would be a plethora of software products available for every need. In fact, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of software products on the market today. However, finding the specific type of software you need can be quite challenging.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2001
Q: I am a diabetes educator, RD, and insulin-pump trainer. I have trained many patients on the pump (using Humalog) and have instructed them on eating soundly and exercising regularly.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2001
My son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 2½ years ago at age 24. For about the past year, he has been using the MiniMed pump very successfully.
1 comment - Posted Dec 1, 2001
After 40 years on insulin, Bob Teskey, 56, could no longer keep his blood-glucose levels under control. As his condition worsened, his hypoglycemic (low blood-glucose) episodes became more and more intrusive on his life. Teskey talked to his doctors, but there was nothing they could do except tweak his insulin regimen, which did not solve the problem. He continued to collapse unexpectedly, as his blood-glucose levels dropped without warning.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2001
Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc. of La Jolla, California, and Smith & Nephew PLC, of London, England, announced the FDA approval of Dermagraft, a treatment for foot ulcers resulting from diabetic neuropathy. Advanced Tissue Sciences is the first company in the United States to receive FDA approval for a skin treatment that is engineered from human cells.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2001
Pharmaceutical giant Roche Diagnostics has now added an alternate-site-testing meter to its arsenal of products after acquiring the company that pioneered the technology itself.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2001
Correction: In the Letters to the Editor of the November issue (p. 61), we made an incorrect statement about the use of Lantus. The sentence should read "..those who take three meal-time shots of short-acting insulin plus basal Lantus will take four shots of insulin a day." We apologize for this error.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2001
Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc. of La Jolla, California, and Smith & Nephew PLC, of London, England, announced the FDA approval of Dermagraft, a treatment for foot ulcers resulting from diabetic neuropathy. Advanced Tissue Sciences is the first company in the United States to receive FDA approval for a skin treatment that is engineered from human cells.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2001
November 2001
Researchers at three centers in the United Kingdom have been successful in demonstrating that using an insulin pump helps to control blood sugar and A1c levels, and can assist in preventing serious diabetes complications in a variety of patients—from long-term type 1s with erratic control to children and pregnant women.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
One of Diabetes Health's most popular sections is its "Question & Answer" column. Our readers ask questions that cannot always be answered in a 10-minute office visit, and we pose these questions to our arsenal of diabetes professionals who offer their expertise.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has implemented stepped-up security measures at the nation's airports in response to the tragic events of September 11. Some new security measures may affect airline passengers with diabetes. The American Diabetes Association recognizes the added inconvenience this may pose for individuals with diabetes, but understands the necessity to secure airline passenger safety.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
John Hughes of Woodburn, Oregon, had never bothered to get a letter from his doctor stating that he has diabetes and is required to carry sharp-pointed insulin-pump infusion sets, lancets and emergency syringes with him into airplane cabins.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
Roche Diagnostics of Indianapolis, Indiana, is now offering a new lancet with unique functions for making blood sugar testing as painless as possible. Called the Accu-Chek Softclix, the lancet features 11 different depth settings, which can be set to match your skin type. In addition, the lancet does not use a spring-loaded system, which can cause skin tissue to dilate or tear. Instead, it uses a linear sliding motion to avoid pain caused by side movement, according to company's press release.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
Working in collaboration with diabetes health-care professionals at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, Kathy Jensen, RD, CDE, has produced the first in a series of programs designed to be available and affordable to families with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
For decades, people with diabetes have known the drill: prick your finger, get a good-sized drop of blood, apply the drop of blood to a meter, wait for the result and adjust your insulin, eating or exercise regimen accordingly.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
If only all those high-carb foods like pasta and pastries weren't so high on the glycemic index, you could eat them more often.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
Ferndale Laboratories of Ferndale, Michigan, is now promoting its time-released, deep penetration topical skin cream for purchase on the Web and pharmacy shelves.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
DanaDiabecare, of Coral Springs, Florida, is now offering a new version of its insulin pump for purchase. The DanaDiabecare II pump promises user-friendly features and affordability, with a compact, lightweight size, lock-out mode, simple icon display screen and minimal button pushes to program basal and bolus rates. Some added memory features of the pump include space to hold 50 bolus rates, 50 daily totals, 50-item history of use, an alarm history feature and the ability to pre-program a bolus.
1 comment - Posted Nov 1, 2001
If you're breaking your back—or calculator—trying to compute the carbohydrates in every meal in order to set your insulin dose, then work no more. Family Health Publications of Costa Mesa, California, is now offering a software program that counts the amount of carbohydrates in the most common type of foods, including fast food. The program can by uploaded on to a PalmPilot, where the carbohydrate count, in addition to calorie, fat and protein content of a selected food pops up on the screen.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
You don't necessarily have to sacrifice style when wearing medical identification. Lauren's Hope, of Kansas City, Missouri, announces its new Medical ID Bracelets that combine fashion and practicality. Originally designed for a 13-year-old with diabetes who refused to wear other ID bands on the market, the Lauren's Hope bracelets are made with multi-colored beads and an unobtrusive identification tag. Five styles are available, each made with mineral, crystal or metal beads that range in color from blue, red, white, gold, green and black. The prices range from $39.95 to $65.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
An insulin pump you can toss into the garbage like a disposable contact lens— not a concept many people can fathom. But two people have, and they have recently patented the idea and closed their first round of funding at a substantial $11 million.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
On August 1, pump maker Animas Corporation received the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) award for its long-term implantable optical blood glucose monitor.
1 comment - Posted Nov 1, 2001
Researchers at three centers in the United Kingdom have been successful in demonstrating that using an insulin pump helps to control blood sugar and A1c levels, and can assist in preventing serious diabetes complications in a variety of patients-from long-term type 1s with erratic control to children and pregnant women.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
This month, I am featuring the second in a series of guest editorials. Jan Chait, a frequent contributing writer to DIABETES HEALTH who has type 2 diabetes, writes this one.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 2001
October 2001
Now, doctors and patients can access all the information they need regarding the patient's health with the InSight Professional. In August 2001, Disetronic Medical Systems Inc. of St. Paul, Minnesota, launched the online diabetes management program that allows users to create a personal database of their insulin intake, blood-sugar levels and more. Patients can upload information directly from their insulin pumps and blood glucose meters from their home computers.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2001
Eight years ago, Apple Computer Corporation introduced the Apple Newton MessagePad 100, thus launching the hand-held computer revolution. As technology has facilitated the way we use these types of computers, many electronics manufacturers have jumped on board in the development and marketing of their own handheld devices.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2001
How do I know my three-year-old meter is still providing me with accurate test results?
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2001
I recently had a drink with 124 grams of carbohydrates, 19 grams of fat and 23 grams of protein in it. It is important to know that two hours prior to this, I rode my bike for one hour and 45 minutes at a moderate-to-high effort. Now I will tell you how I adjusted and administered my insulin to make sure my blood sugar stayed level.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2001
Q: Last summer, through one of your links, I found a few used MiniMed pumps for sale—$1,500 or so—and now I can't find the link.
14 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2001
iMetrikus of Carlsbad, California, announced its partnership with Home Diagnostics Inc. (HDI) to offer a new system for people with diabetes to test blood sugars and track the results in a format that can be provided to their doctors.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2001
September 2001
Researchers in France and California are saying a closed-loop system can work together to maintain normal blood-glucose levels after long-term glucose sensors were implanted into the jugular veins and connected to implanted insulin pumps in two men with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2001
MiniMed's Continuous Glucose Monitoring Device was used to measure the prevalence of nighttime hypoglycemia (BGs below 40 mg/dl) and associate the occurrence of nighttime hypos and interstitial glucose levels every five minutes in a study of 47 children with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2001
Type 2s Say They Like the Pump Better
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2001
"I think the InDuo is the cat's meow," says Jane Seley, RN, NP, CDE, a doctoral candidate at New York University. "It's fast, easy and accurate."
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2001
Retailers should not switch the brand of diabetes supplies without first informing patients or their healthcare providers, according a recent survey sponsored by Becton Dickinson (BD) of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. The vast majority (90 percent) of doctors and nurses surveyed said that they don't approve if a retailer changes a syringe from a prescribed brand to a store brand without telling them or the user.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2001
Carrying your medical history on you might just come in handy during an emergency. Or, at least that's the reasoning behind creating a miniature capsule called the Acu-Life Med ID Emergency Medical Info Viewer.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2001
Electric pulses helped to heal foot ulcers for people with diabetes, according to the results of a study out of the University of Texas that were published in the June issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2001
August 2001
There may come a time when your health-care provider wants to have some tests done to help diagnose a condition or to decide the most appropriate course of action. A diagnostic test is a laboratory, or other non-invasive, invasive or imaging procedure. Non-invasive diagnostic tests include urine tests, electrocardiograms, simple X-rays, MRI and CAT scans. Invasive diagnostic tests include any non-surgical procedure that includes an insertion of a medical device or medication for the purpose of evaluating or measuring a physiological function or response.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2001
It may no longer be necessary to visit your doctor to get advice and the results of blood tests, according to researchers in Creteil, France, who presented their findings at the American Diabetes Association's scientific sessions in June. Using e-mail to send data from self blood glucose monitoring to your doctor and ask questions is efficient and economical, they say.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2001
Researchers speculate that incorrect use of insulin pens may harm one's ability to control diabetes. However, after studying the effects of correct and incorrect use of insulin pens on users, they found that the method of injecting did not affect a person's HbA1c—despite the fact that incorrect injecting is common.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2001
The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) recently revised its policy for coverage of insulin pumps so that more people may now get the cost of their pumps paid for by Medicare.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2001
On May 15, Roche Diagnostics of Indianapolis, Indiana, introduced its new software package for tracking blood sugar levels and presenting them in formats that help patients better manage their diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2001
July 2001
"The thrill of victory—the agony of defeat" can play havoc with your blood-glucose levels—even if you're merely cheering for your favorite team.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
I am in my 32nd week of pregnancy with my second child and I wonder if I have developed gestational diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
The first days and weeks of pump therapy can be very exciting. However, there is a lot to learn to help ensure that your experience with pump therapy is successful. With so much to learn, it can seem overwhelming.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
In July 1999, John Buse, MD, PhD, CDE, director of the University of North Carolina's Diabetes Center told Diabetes Health that patients enrolled in clinical trials for insulin glargine (Lantus) absolutely "loved" the 24-hour-a-day long-acting (basal) insulin. Most of the people who participated in the clinical trials were not doing well on just NPH or Ultralente, and Lantus improved their control. However, Buse added, "[The clinical-trial participants are] upset that they cannot continue on it." That was because, at the time, the clinical trials had ended and the participants were told they would have to wait at least one year for FDA approval of Lantus and longer until they could get their hands on it.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
Kelly Van Horn, RD, CDE, of Sammamish, Washington, received the Creative Nutrition Education Award from the American Dietetic Association for her innovative product that teaches educators and their patients about nutrition.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
Pump maker Disetronic announced on May 29 that its new Ultraflex Soft infusion set is now available for all insulin-pump users.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
Carb Cards LLC of Montrose, Colorado, has introduced its 21/2 x 31/2 flash cards designed to help children and adults with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
On April 30, The Kamut Association of North America announced that its Kamut Pasta was awarded the Low-Glycemic Seal of Approval by the The Glycemic Research Institute of Washington, D.C.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
On May 23, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) of New Brunswick, New Jersey, announced it has entered into an agreement where it would acquire Inverness Medical Technology (IMA), in a deal valued at $1.3 billion.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
On May 30, medical-devices maker Medtronic Inc. of Minneapolis agreed to buy insulin-pump maker MiniMed Inc. and Medical Research Group Inc.—a firm partly owned by MiniMed—for $3.7 billion.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
A new basal insulin now in Phase III trials worldwide promises to offer a smoother action than NPH with a more predictable activity curve.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
Not much strikes fear into the hearts of the parents of a type 1 child than one who is sick and cannot hold his or her food down or who refuses to eat. But researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, have found a solution.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
I am in my 32nd week of pregnancy with my second child and I wonder if I have developed gestational diabetes. Diabetes does not run in our family, and I am not overweight. Furthermore, I did not develop gestational diabetes with my first child.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2001
June 2001
Caryn was a six-year-old who had had type 1 diabetes for one year. She once confided in me during one of her hospitalizations that she did not want to play soccer because she did not want to have to eat before each game. No one else had to and her friends starting saying she was weird.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
For many parents, the most troubling aspect of diabetes is the possibility of low blood sugars during the night. We have recently tested two new products that are providing solutions to this problem.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
Many new technologies have recently become available to help manage type 1 diabetes. Among these, insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors are proving to have great benefit, even in young children.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
On March 16, Futura Medical Company announced the release of a new blood-testing lancet specifically designed to reduce needle-stick injuries.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
On April 11, Abbot Laboratories MediSense Products announced that its alternate-site BG-monitoring Sof-Tact is now available.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
Pump maker Disetronic has issued a new recommendation regarding the use of their H-TRON and H-TRONplus insulin pumps in the water after receiving reports that users experienced hypoglycemic episodes after swimming or bathing. They speculate that, in those cases, the pumps released more insulin than programmed.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
Very Fine Products of Littleton, Massachusetts has announced the arrival of Fruit2OPlus, a new line of flavored spring water enriched with vitamins and herbs.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
According to Instrumentation Metrics, a manufacturer of medical devices, results of a recent trial demonstrated that a new non-invasive testing technology using light successfully measured BG levels.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
Infusing insulin on a continuous basis has been shown to help control sugar levels and hypoglycemia in children and adolescents.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
Carla Elliot liked to keep busy. A bright and outgoing 14-year-old girl, Carla involved herself in as many activities as she could. Whether it was swimming, cheerleading, softball, 4-H club meetings or simply running around the neighborhood, Carla was there.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
For many parents, the most troubling aspect of diabetes is the possibility of low blood sugars during the night. We have recently tested two new products that are providing solutions to this problem.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
Many new technologies have recently become available to help manage type 1 diabetes. Among these, insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors are proving to have great benefit, even in young children.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
Six things to consider if you are thinking of putting your diabetic child on an insulin pump:
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2001
May 2001
Cygnus, Inc. of Redwood City, California, has finally completed its long journey to receiving FDA approval for its GlucoWatch Biographer. People with diabetes, however, should expect to wait until the end of 2001, or later, before being able to purchase one.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2001
I am a type 1 insulin-pump user and I intend to try the GlucoWatch as soon as it's available.
2 comments - Posted May 1, 2001
On February 8, the Children with Diabetes Foundation (CWDF) announced it will be funding a study to test the efficacy of the GlucoWatch Biographer on children with diabetes.
1 comment - Posted May 1, 2001
Many diabetes-related foot injuries get worse because sensations in the feet are diminished. This can eventually lead to lower-limb amputations.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2001
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the One Touch Ultra blood-glucose monitoring system. Manufactured by LifeScan of Milpitas, California, the One Touch Ultra offers a number of features to support better diabetes management.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2001
In the aftermath of the severe damage caused by the series of earthquakes in El Salvador in January, international relief efforts were made to treat people with diabetes in need of medical supplies.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2001
On November 28, 2000, Bio-Rad Labratories announced that its new instrument for measuring HbA1c levels, called Micromat II, was chosen for use in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) trial. The ACCORD trial is aimed at reducing cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes. The test will be used to measure the patients HbA1c levels at 60 different test sites throughout the U.S. and Canada.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2001
April 2001
Managing diabetes is hard work. It can also be very discouraging when you are making a consistent effort to manage your blood glucose, and your efforts are rewarded by unpredictable high and low blood-glucose readings.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2001
If you use lispro (Humalog) insulin in your pump and are seeing dents in your skin at your infusion sites, a switch in insulin can stop the problem.
4 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2001
According to a January 9 press release from the American Diabetes Association (ADA), a new law in the state of Michigan requires health policies to cover supplies, medications and related services for people with diabetes within 90 days.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2001
March 2001
While exercise can improve your body's sensitivity to insulin, it can also complicate blood glucose (BG) control. Normally, exercise causes your body to use more blood sugar without insulin. Therefore, when insulin users participate in physical activities, they frequently need to make insulin adjustments to keep BGs normal.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2001
The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Diabetes Association have established general clinical practice recommendations for exercise and diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2001
Life Services of Neptune, New Jersey, now manufactures a high-protein/low-carbohydrate macaroni and cheese dinner called KETO Macaroni and Cheese. Each serving contains five grams of carbohydrate.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2001
On December 15, 2000, after a three-year government investigation, LifeScan, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, entered a plea of guilty to three misdemeanor charges relating to a federal government investigation of its SureStep Blood Glucose Meter. LifeScan will pay a fine of $29.4 million and an additional $30.6 million in civil settlement to the government.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2001
Guylian USA of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, has introduced the Guylian's No-Sugar-Added chocolate bar, designed specifically for people with diabetes who love chocolate but can do without the bland taste of some sugar-free chocolate delicacies.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2001
February 2001
Many people with diabetes suspect that the insulin they get by mail sometimes has lost its effectiveness. Now, a study has proven their suspicions are probably true, causing the medical community to question mail-order pharmacies and bring people back to their community pharmacies, where face-to-face treatment delivers to them the best care possible.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2001
In addition to being a big hit for people with type 1 diabetes, it is my opinion that insulin-pump therapy can be beneficial to type 2s as well.
1 comment - Posted Feb 1, 2001
In the March 2000 issue of Diabetes Health, reader Ruth O'Hara of New Hampshire said her 12-year-old son has diabetes, and trying to get him to wear any type of medical alert bracelet or necklace met with extremely limited success.
15 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2001
The blood glucose (BG) meter is the "single most important thing" in the life of a person-type 1 and 2-with diabetes, says Jane Seley, RN, CDE, MPH, MSN, GNP, a doctoral candidate at New York University.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2001
Diabetes Health asked some of its readers which blood glucose meter they used. According to a response from 61 people, we discovered the following:-
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2001
Home Diagnostics, Inc (HDI) of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, announced on December 13, 2000 that in less than one year, several top retailers have started co-branding with its Prestige Smart System (PSS) blood glucose monitor. The result, according to a HDI press release, has allowed customers to save on diabetes testing supplies.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2001
For millions of people with diabetes, technology has supplied us with wonderful, helpful aids to help control blood sugar. While some of these medications come in pill form and remain stable when stored out of light and at moderate temperatures, people with diabetes who use insulin need to depend on more than technology to make sure their insulin is in top form.
1 comment - Posted Feb 1, 2001
Many people with diabetes must have daily insulin injections to live. However, what happens to the billions of insulin syringes generated each year in the United States alone? Often, they are thrown in the trash, exposing family members, sanitation workers and landfill operators to accidental needle-stick injuries.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2001
TheraSense, Inc. of Alameda, California, received word on December 13, 2000 that its FreeStyle blood glucose monitor has received FDA clearance for testing on the upper arm, thigh, calf and anywhere on the hand. The FDA had recently cleared the FreeStyle for testing on the forearm.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2001
Bico Inc. agreed to pay $3.45 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging it duped investors into believing the Diasensor - its experimental non-invasive BG meter - was ready for market.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2001
January 2001
On November 13, 2000, it was announced that surgeons in Montpellier, France, implanted the world's first internal artificial pancreas in a person with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2001
Q: My concern is related to slow absorption and decay of lispro insulin used in an insulin pump. My diabetologist, NP/ CDE and I have determined that the infusion site/rotation is not the problem. If my BG is 80mg/dl before a meal and the appropriate bolus delivered, it is necessary that I wait half an hour before eating in order to hold the after-meal spike to 150 points (BG of 230 mg/dl). If pre-meal BG is elevated, perhaps at 130 mg/dl, and meal bolus plus corrective insulin bolus is given, the wait could be 90 minutes.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2001
Disetronic Medical Systems earned a global ranking of 30 among small companies. Forbes magazine bestowed the honor on the pump-supply company from St. Paul, Minnesota, in its October 30, 2000 issue.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2001
On November 20, 2000, Abbott Laboratories of Bedford, Massachusetts announced it had received U.S. Food and Drug Administration marketing clearance for its Sof-Tact. This diabetes management system, according to Abbott, is the first automated glucose monitor to offer lancing, blood collection and glucose testing with a single press of a button.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2001
In November 2000, three new products for people with diabetes were demonstrated at the 17th Congress of the International Diabetes Federation in Mexico City.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2001
December 2000
Recently, I was leafing through the latest research findings of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes in Israel. I found a lot of interesting research on diabetes that I would like to share with you.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2000
Do family, friends and co-workers treat you "special" because of your diabetes?
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2000
On August 31, Wal-Mart announced that people with diabetes will have a new, low-cost option for insulin.
10 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2000
On September 18, the Disetronic Group announced it had reached an agreement with TheraSense of Alameda, California, to market and distribute the innovative FreeStyle blood glucose monitor.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 2000
October 2000
Many of you probably record your blood glucose in a diary or logbook, which you bring to your healthcare team on routine visits. This logbook has been an important component of diabetes treatment programs since the days of Dr. Elliot Joslin (Joslin Diabetes Center), the late pioneering diabetes specialist. Dr. Joslin believed important events in a person's life and diabetes treatment should be entered into a diary that both that person and his health care team could refer back to for treatment decisions.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2000
Whether you realize it or not, most blood sugar meters store information about the tests you perform and also let you recall the date and time that you checked your blood sugars. Some meters keep track of the "control" and "checkstrip" quality control tests done to ensure the accuracy of your meter. More advanced meters even store additional data such as events like low blood sugar symptoms, insulin doses, activity levels, the amount of food consumed or even your HbA1c levels.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2000
On August 9, Disetronic Medical Systems introduced its D-TRON insulin pump, a sophisticated, menu-driven pump that people can customize to accommodate their unique insulin needs.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2000
Q: My 11-year-old son is using an insulin pump. Sometimes, especially at night, I will give him a bolus correction for an unexpected "high" BG number. For example, for a BG of 200, I would give him a bolus of one unit, aiming for a BG of around 100 to 120. Oftentimes, however, his BGs are the same, or even higher, two hours later, even after the bolus. Sometimes this problem persists through two such corrections, and then, suddenly, the next bolus will work as expected. At the next set change, the cannula looks fine.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2000
In late July, Sorbee International of Philadelphia introduced a full line of its sugar-free grocery products in hopes of enhancing diabetic consumer's options.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2000
Stewart's Beverages of Denver has introduced a new gourmet soft drink called "S," which is sweetened with a blend of the low-calorie sweeteners ACE K and Splenda. According to Stewart's marketing director, Ellen Gibson, "S" is a safe diet drink for people with diabetes, pregnant women and people on low-sodium diets.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 2000
September 2000
You made the decision to use an insulin pump. You overcame your anxiety about inserting that infusion set, and you found some basic techniques to wear or hide the pump. But still, some questions may remain. Maybe you're wondering about getting your set to stay in place. Maybe you're concerned about finding an appropriate site to begin with. Either way, the following tips and tricks should help you choose and maintain an infusion site that gives you as little trouble as possible.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2000
Mixtures of Insulin:
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2000
Parents who are concerned about the insulin pump's relative complexity but relish the possibilities of the increased control it can offer children may finally have the solution to their problem. A recent study suggests that part-time pumping can offer improved control for younger children without requiring them to operate the pump on their own.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2000
The Components of an Artificial Pancreas
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2000
On June 6 and 7, academic and industry researchers joined in San Jose, California, for a two-day Artificial Pancreas Symposium. The tone of the conference was to discuss technology capable of monitoring glucose and automatically delivering the correct amount of insulin for the control of blood glucose in people with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2000
Podiatrists argue that moist-wound healing is of utmost importance for diabetic foot wounds to properly heal. According to Debashish Chakravarthy, PhD, head of consumer business development for Advanced Medical Solutions, a new bandage, called the Spyroflex, is specially designed to provide this type of healing environment.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2000
Sugar Busters Ice Cream, manufactured by Marigold Foods of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been introduced nationally as a new dessert option for people with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2000
In a letter to the June 21 issue of Journal of American Medicine, several physicians at the Medical University of South Carolina detailed their observations of six patients with diabetes who were suffering from needle fragments buried in the skin.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 2000
August 2000
Active people living with diabetes love the flexibility and finite control that using an insulin pump provides. Life no longer revolves around timed snacks and meals. Long-acting insulin peaks no longer control you. Even exercise participation can become spontaneous again. Whether you are new to pumping or a veteran, there are things to consider when you manage exercise blood sugars.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2000
Recently, Dr. James Shapiro and a team of transplant surgeons at the University of Alberta in Edmonton transplanted islets into 10 people with type 1 diabetes. In previous studies, only eight percent of islet-transplant recipients have remained off insulin for one year. The Edmonton Protocol is the first study in which 100 percent of islet-transplant recipients have been insulin-independent for one year.
1 comment - Posted Aug 1, 2000
Want to get out of the hospital sooner? Your best bet is to find a team consisting of a doctor, nurse educator and a dietitian, all of whom specialize in diabetes. At the very latest, do it as soon as you enter the hospital. Make sure the people who will be caring for you in the hospital work with your diabetes team.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2000
Dinner is at 5, but you usually eat at 7. Your attending doctor does not do the same things as you and your diabetes team. Your attending doctor knows you have a diabetes specialist but does not call the specialist. You routinely eat a bedtime snack, but nobody in the hospital brings you one. The insulin you use is Humalog, but it is not on the formulary. Neither is your ACE inhibitor.
2 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2000
To the dismay of many Americans with diabetes, the cost of diabetes medications has soared in recent years. This has occurred in large part because relatively new medications such as Avandia, Glucophage and Actos cost a lot more than older diabetes drugs-sometimes up to 10 times more.
3 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2000
If you ever think, "I never go anywhere without my meter; it's like my wallet," think again. How many of us have forgotten our wallets? If it is prudent to own spare car keys, why not own a spare meter? Why not own two meters, one for the home and a spare meter for your workplace? If you exercise at the gym regularly, keeping a third spare meter in your locker is also advisable.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 2000
July 2000
Peter Chase, MD, professor of pediatrics and clinical director of Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes in Denver, has introduced a revised, kid-friendly coloring book called "A Book for Coloring and Learning About Diabetes."
1 comment - Posted Jul 1, 2000
10,000 Babies Per Year to be Screened for Diabetes Risk Genes in Sweden
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 2000
June 2000
This month's cover features an especially inspiring group of people. All of them have diabetes, but it hasn't stopped a single one from achieving pinnacles in their careers and taking their dreams further than most people even dream of.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2000
Getting lost in the Amazon rain forest without a backpack is bad news for a person with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2000
Kellie Kuehne, 23, is in her third year on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. Kuehne (pronounced key-knee), who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 10, is a two-time U.S. Women's Amateur champion.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2000
Diabetes Camp-The Best Thing to Happen to My Son
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2000
Quintessence, a proprietary formulation of essential amino acids, may be used to supplement protein needs for patients with kidney failure who require a low-protein diet. In addition, Quintessence, manufactured by Calwood Nutritionals of Baltimore, can be used to enhance nutritional status in people with a normal protein intake.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2000
The Disetronic Group has initiated and received approval for the development of an innovative new insulin delivery system with integrated monitoring of blood sugar.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 2000
May 2000
Five years ago, on Mother's Day, Eileen Clarke got a surprise that changed her family's life. Her twin daughters, Kelsey and Kayla, just months old, were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Kelsey started injections that day, and Kayla soon followed. From infancy, Kelsey and Kaylas' lives were given to the realities of needles, lancets, strict meal schedules and healthy foods.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2000
Let me start off with a big thank you to all of you. As a person with diabetes, I feel I have the best job in the world! An important goal for me is giving consumers of diabetes products and treatments a voice. That is why you will find your voices included in these pages.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2000
Q: Are there any studies of dietary changes to help with problems of gastroparesis? My daughter has had type 1 diabetes for 32 years and is now suffering complications, gastroparesis being one of particular concern.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2000
In a follow-up study of the 10-year DCCT (Diabetes Control and Complications Trial), it was found that people who intensively managed their blood sugar significantly reduced their risk of developing retinopathy and kidney disease.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2000
On March 20, Eli Lilly and Company announced the availability of the first pre-mixed insulin containing the rapid-acting insulin lispro (Humalog). Called the Humalog Mix 75/25 Pen, the mixture combines 75 percent insulin lispro protamine suspension (similar to NPH) and 25 percent insulin lispro injection (rDNA origin).
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2000
DIABETES HEALTH: The latest figures show that only five percent of people with diabetes see a diabetes specialist. Is there something seriously wrong here?
0 comments - Posted May 1, 2000
April 2000
A small Italian trial tested the accuracy of two popular blood glucose monitors at an altitude of nearly 10,000 ft. The Glucometer Elite II and the LifeScan One Touch II were tested on six type 1s who all had good glycemic control and no diabetes-related complications. The readings from the meters were compared to the results from venous blood samples. The findings were reported in the January issue of Diabetes Care.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2000
On February 18, MiniMed Inc. announced that it had received approval to “CE” Mark its next-generation, model MIP 2007 implantable insulin pump, enabling its commercial distribution in Europe later this spring. MiniMed anticipates the model arriving on the U.S. market sometime in 2001.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2000
Although syringe makers and medical professionals alike caution against needle re-use, the practice is widespread, judging from the response to an informal survey we conducted for this article. Forty-three out of the 57 readers we surveyed re-use their needles, from two to as many as 150 times.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2000
1999 did not produce any dramatic breakthroughs where syringes, insulin pens and injection aids were concerned. New products were minor variations or improvements on the same themes. As always, the focus of new injection devices is on less pain and more comfort. The cost-conscious consumer, however, wants durable products that deliver the least pain at the lowest cost. Often, it is hard for manufacturers to meet all these conditions.
1 comment - Posted Apr 1, 2000
Animas Corporation will be having its coming-out party to the diabetes community this May.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2000
Dr. Sharad Pendsey is a physician based in Nagpur, India. Pendsey recalls the story of a girl named Sudha who came to him when she was eight-years old. Sudha had just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. When she was discharged from the hospital, Pendsey explained to Sudha's impoverished parents that she would have to take insulin to stay alive. Pendsey recalls Sudha's parents asking, "Doctor, if I understand you correctly, Sudha has to take insulin every day for the rest of her life?" Pendsey nodded yes, and said that Sudha would die if she didn't. The parents understood the predicament, but could not afford the cost of her insulin. One month later, Pendsey learned that Sudha had died.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2000
Manufacturers of disposable syringes recommend that they be used only once because the sterility of a reused syringe cannot be guaranteed. However, some individuals prefer to reuse a syringe until its needle becomes dull. Most insulin preparations have bacteriostatic additives that inhibit growth of bacteria commonly found on the skin. For many patients, it appears both safe and practical for the syringe to be reused if the patient so desires. The syringe should be discarded when the needle becomes dull, has been bent, or has come into contact with any surface other than the skin; if reuse is planned, the needle must be recapped after each use.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 2000
March 2000
Kidney disease, retinopathy, angiopathy, neuropathy and delayed wound healing are the more commonly known complications of diabetes. Consider periodontitis, or gum disease, to be the sixth complication of diabetes, an important risk factor that needs to be controlled in order to improve your overall dental health. The more diabetes-related complications you may have, the more likely you are to develop others. Periodontitis has been linked with complications such as retinopathy, angiopathy and kidney disease. Periodontal disease can be monitored and controlled with careful attention to your at-home oral hygiene and regular visits to the dentist.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 2000
February 2000
Researchers at the Walton Diabetes Center in Liverpool, United Kingdom, are saying that in certain individuals with poor hypoglycemia unawareness, the use of lispro in insulin pumps may increase the frequency of hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
Am I Losing Insulin When I Bleed After an Injection?
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
Neutral protamine Hagendorn (NPH) insulin contains several components which need to be evenly mixed to be the most effective. If the solution is not mixed well, it can produce potentially severe episodes of hypoglycemia in its users.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
A pilot study involving 9 patients using MiniMed's continuous glucose monitoring system shows a 1 percentage point drop in HbA1c values after 5 weeks.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
Exercise impacts everyone differently. A minority of people with diabetes who exercise may find it unnecessary to make any insulin or dietary changes to accommodate their exercise regime, like the NPH user who does aerobics early in the morning before her breakfast or morning insulin. Most, however, will probably need to make some adjustments.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
A big issue in diabetes care today is the prevention of foot wounds that could lead to serious consequences. Untreated foot deformities and calluses can lead to ulcers that can subsequently lead to infection and amputation. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) reports that 15 percent of all people with diabetes develop foot ulcers. Diabetic foot problems result in as any as 60,000 major amputations per year in North America.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
Aerobic workouts can be safely enjoyed by people with diabetes. These are fun exercises that can increase your muscle tone and aerobic fitness. A typical workout consists of greater-intensity aerobic work and lesser-intensity stretching and toning activities using hand-held or ankle weights and multiple repetitions (such as abdominal crunches). Classes vary in intensity based on individual ability and level of participation, as well as the nature of the class: high-impact, low-impact, step, hip-hop and others.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
Hunterdon Medical Center of Flemington, New Jersey, selected a new software program to run its diabetes care center. They chose CliniPro by NuMedics.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
You may not be a dummy, but chances are you are overwhelmed by all the diabetes information you are bombarded with, information that can be highly complex, technical and fast-changing. Information about diabetes can be difficult to incorporate into a healthy life.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 2000
January 2000
If you're a person with diabetes who suspects your beta cells may still be hard at work, you may be more right than you know. Most people with diabetes, including type 1s, are still producing at least trace amounts of insulin. And while BGs and HbA1cs may be the foundation for any good diabetes treatment, when it comes to showing insulin production, they don't necessarily paint the full picture.
2 comments - Posted Jan 9, 2000
Medisense, Inc. has begun sales of its Precision Xtra meter, which measures blood ketone content as well as monitoring glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Jan 8, 2000
A recent survey published in the May/June issue of The Diabetes Educator found that most health care professionals with diabetes manage their own care more intensively than most of their patients do.
0 comments - Posted Jan 7, 2000
The Danish company, which specializes in the development and production of infusion sets for insulin pump treatment, is now known as Unomedical Infusion Devices.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2000
Do you feel overwhelmed trying to keep track of blood glucose readings and figure out insulin dosages? Do you have trouble collecting all the data your doctor needs for analysis and for your care? To address these problems, Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) has developed BD Diabetes Software, an easy-to-use program for tracking and analyzing patterns of blood glucose readings and insulin dosages.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2000
Being a 25-year-old woman who has had type 1 diabetes for 20 years, I have had my share of ups and downs.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2000
Pancreas Tonic, a new herbal treatment for people with diabetes, is drawing conflicting opinions from different quarters of the diabetes community. In 1999, Pancreas Tonic was hailed during an episode of the NBC television program EXTRA as "…the cure for diabetes" by William Taylor, MD, an internist. In additon, testimonials were given by people with diabetes who said that Pancreas Tonic really worked for the treatment of their blood sugars. According to transcripts from the EXTRA episode, Taylor added that Pancreas Tonic could be "one of the biggest medical breakthroughs of the century."
3 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2000
An advisory panel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unanimously recommended approval of the GlucoWatch monitor on December 6, 1999. The advisory panel, which approved the GlucoWatch monitor with conditions, said that the monitor could offer a tremendous benefit by measuring glucose far more often than blood tests can.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2000
People with diabetes should know that they have the option of treating their seasonal cold and flu symptoms with a sugar-free cough syrup.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2000
LifeScan has upgraded its Windows-based software by introducing IN TOUCH Diabetes Management Software, Version 1.31. This new software, available for both the patient with diabetes and their health care provider, can download patient blood glucose data from any of LifeScan's current consumer meters. This makes it easier for health care providers to manage many patients and help them better control their blood sugars.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2000
Kumetrix Inc., a privately held medical device company located in Union City, California, recently announced that it will receive $194,000 in state funds to further develop its painless blood glucose (BG) monitoring device.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 2000
December 1999
I recently got together with a new friend named Chris Newman. Chris is the product manager at Disetronic, a maker of insulin pumps. We met on an airplane coming home from a diabetes conference. I had been there representing this magazine, and he was there representing Disetronic. Like me, he has type 1 diabetes and is the father of young children. We compared notes on how we manage our diabetes.
9 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1999
In 1993, Sue Jernigan founded Insulin Infusion Specialties (IIS) because she wanted to set up an insulin pump program offering the most comprehensive and up-to-date diabetes education. Today, IIS provides diabetes management tools to thousands of people on pumps nationwide. According to Jernigan, 30 percent of the people working for IIS have type 1 diabetes and wear insulin pumps. She also emphasizes that IIS has a hiring preference for people with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1999
MiniMed's new Model 508 insulin pump offers several new features, including remote programming capabilities to administer and suspend insulin delivery. It also programs multiple patient-specific delivery patterns, includes a low-volume alert, an optional vibrate mode and a child block feature to restrict programming.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1999
Norman Hart of Tampa, Florida, took his type 2 diabetes diagnosis very seriously. He wanted to find out everything he could about the disease, but found the quality of information disappointing.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1999
How Will My Blood Sugars React To Being Pregnant
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1999
Though it does not test blood, the accuracy of the GlucoWatch monitor compares well with existing blood glucose meters, researchers have concluded.
3 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1999
One year ago, I was standing in line at a local pharmacy to purchase a prescription drug for my wife. The woman in front of me had given the pharmacist a prescription for a mild agent to help her son sleep. This drug is neither essential nor even clearly effective. As the pharmacist gave the woman the bottle of 30 pills, he asked her for $204.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1999
Can-Am Care Corporation has announced the availability of the new Excel GE blood glucose test strips, for use with Glucometer Elite blood glucose meters.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1999
November 1999
After years of lobbying and letter writing by endocrinologists and thousands of people with diabetes, Medicare will finally cover insulin pumps for its beneficiaries with type 1 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1999
I am a fire fighter who uses a Disetronic insulin pump and Tender infusion set. I have frequently asked sales reps, Disetronic engineers in Minnesota and Sweden and lots of diabetes educators, at what temperature does an infusion set melt? I have never gotten a sufficient answer. The standard line is that insulin is not viable over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1999
Q: I am a type 2. Before now, I have always taken Glucotrol. Finding out I was pregnant, I switched to insulin. After taking it for about one month, I am starting to experience a reaction.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1999
I am a 39-year-old type 1. What is a good strategy for controlling BGs during the night?
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1999
Here is a sample of the software available to help keep you on track with your diabetes control.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1999
Biocontrol, one of many hopeful developers of a noninvasive glucose monitoring device, will link with the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. Joslin researchers will conduct clinicals trials for approval of Biocontrol's Diasensor 2000, a device that measures glucose levels with spectroscopy (technology using infrared light).
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1999
Artificial sweetener Splenda is gradually making its way to many sugar-free products on the market. Tropicana Twister Light drinks are the latest to sweeten with Splenda.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1999
While the AIDS Quilt travels around the country, the Diabetes Memorial Quilt hangs in cyberspace. The quilt remembers all those who have died of diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1999
National Diabetes Month is always a good time to stop and take stock of how much you really know about managing your diabetes. With a large assortment of new books on the market, understanding your diabetes can be that much easier.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1999
October 1999
In 1993, Ross Adler of Lakewood, Washington, was 58 years old and taking a four-shot-per-day regimen of NPH and Regular insulin for a total of 110 units per day. His HbA1c was 8.4%, and his fasting C-peptide was 3 ng/mL which strongly suggested type 2 diabetes was caused by insulin resistance. Obviously, with such a high HbA1c, his injected insulin was not lowering his blood sugars.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1999
The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (JDF) is urging people with diabetes to take out pen and paper to ask Congress for more diabetes research money. In September, Congress began its discussion on bills to fund the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1999
Pump manufacturer Disetronic Medical Systems has enhanced its Web site, offering new resources for insulin pump users.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1999
September 1999
In 1978, at age 21, I ran away to Hawaii to work on a cruise ship. In those days, I never told anyone that I had diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1999
Not too long ago, I received a hero's medal from Joslin Diabetes Center for having diabetes for more than 50 years. Now approaching 52 years with diabetes, I'm still going strong. I've had a few complications from diabetes, but nothing that has kept me from leading an active life. The complications I've experienced have made me more determined to maintain my present quality of life.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1999
Palm Pilot people have formed a cultpage 2-like following around their miniscule computers. In case you are not a member of this group, Palm Pilots are hand-held computer datebooks, giving easy access to schedules, addresses, and other personal organizer files. Because it fits in your palm, it can be used anywhere.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1999
Choosing a glucose meter is like choosing a home. You have your dream home in your head, but it does not exist in the real world, just like a noninvasive meter. Then, even among the existing homes, what you really want, (for most of us) you cannot afford. Similarly, the meter that has all the features you are looking for may not be covered by your health insurance. Yet, just when you've given up hope, it all comes together and you find the one you want. After some work, your home, and your meter, become sources of protection and comfort. Most importantly, your meter becomes your lifeline.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1999
LifeScan, manufacturer of blood glucose self-monitoring products, has updated its One Touch Basic meter.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1999
Doctors Say "Noncompliant" is an Irrelevant Term
1 comment - Posted Sep 1, 1999
The D-Care line of products now offers several herbal combination tablets specifically designed for diabetes care. All contain gymnema sylvestre, an herb often linked to improved glucose control, plus other herbs to aid in specific areas of wellness.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1999
Every Thursday night before she goes to sleep, Lynn Dempsky, a 42-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes, uses an Acculink modem. With the push of a button, her whole week of glucose readings is faxed to her doctor. If a follow-up is required, she hears from her doctor the next morning. Dempsky says the new modem system has improved her communication with her doctor and is helping her keep better control of her disease.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1999
August 1999
Q: I have been taking vitamin E for over 10 years. I started on 100 mg., then moved up to 200 mg. About six months ago, I switched to 400 mg. Recently, however, I started having swelling in my lower legs and feet. I also started having blisters that oozed on my legs.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1999
The following studies on insulin pump therapy were presented recently at the American Diabetes Association's Scientific Sessions in San Diego:
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1999
Several years ago, I had a severe insulin reaction while vacationing in the mountains. This was the result of exercising a lot more than usual. Pharmacists often spend eight to 12 hours a day, six days a week behind the prescription counter. On vacation, however, with the combination of increase in exercise, altitude, less stress and changes in food patterns, I went into a convulsion around 3 a.m. My wife could not awake me, and I had forgotten to inform her that I had a Glucagon injection with me. I awoke just in time for her to tell me the paramedics were on the way. I drank orange juice, ate glucose tablets, used a tube of Insta-Glucose and scolded her for telephoning for help.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1999
A new diabetes travel case called the Daily Organizer holds three days of supplies, including insulin and a glucose meter.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1999
July 1999
Q: Our son is 11 years old, and has been on the pump for six months now. He told us that he is having problems with the pump because all the other kids ask him so many questions. He also says that he wants to go back to shots this summer so he can wear shorts and go swimming.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1999
Imagine if a free glucose meter showed up at your door. You'd be thrilled, right? Well, it happened to David Fogarty, but he wasn't thrilled. This Berkeley, California, father was fuming mad. Fogarty's HMO, Health Net, sent a free Precision Q.I.D. meter to his 11-year-old son, Lucas, and to all its other members with diabetes. The catch was, Health Net would soon stop covering strips for Lucas's One Touch Profile.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1999
A compound isolated from a fungus controlled blood glucose levels in mice bred to develop diabetes. Researchers are saying that if the fungus, collected from a plant in the Republic of Congo, demonstrates the same effects in humans with diabetes, then millions of people would be freed from taking insulin.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1999
DIABETES HEALTH: Can you give us a typical day for you, in terms of diabetes self-care?
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1999
Visually Impaired Need Braille on Insulin Vials
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1999
The KenTek Home Diabetic Aide makes it easier to get insulin into a syringe. It is particularly useful for people with vision problems, as it magnifies the insulin dosage numbers.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1999
A new iced tea with exotic, natural flavors could be just what you're looking for to escape the summer heat. Honest Tea is all natural, brewed in spring water, and has about 5 grams of carbohydrate and 34 calories or less per serving, depending on the flavor.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1999
June 1999
In February 1998, Brittany Rausch, 12, and her mother came up with an idea for a skit that she could perform at a diabetes camp in Southern California sponsored by the Pediatric Adolescent Diabetes Research and Education Foundation (PADRE). With a group of other girls she met at the camp, Rausch put together a song and dance routine to the "The Barbie Song," and it was a big hit with the other campers.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1999
NutraSweet Manufacturer: Beware Internet Rumors, Not Us
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1999
DIABETES HEALTH: Chelsea Smith, a 6-year-old reader from Sidney, Maine, was just diagnosed a few weeks ago. First, she wants to know if she can get a poster of you. And, she wants to ask you, do you still take shots?
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1999
The trick to a bedtime snack is to eat just enough to sustain blood sugar while not overeating.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1999
A new insulin pen is available, and it is "open" to using any kind of insulin. From Disetronic, this pen is not prefilled, but you fill it yourself with whatever type of insulin you use. Disetronic is calling the open pen economical, because it can be reused and insulin purchased in vial form is the least expensive.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1999
Hundreds of responses came back when DIABETES HEALTH ran its survey on the popular children's Web site, childrenwithdiabetes.com, asking parents for their favorite products and tips on diabetes care. Here are a few of the responses we received.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1999
May 1999
Each day thousands of people head to the airport to fly off on a journey. If you wear an insulin pump, making it through airport security gates may be a journey of its own.
1 comment - Posted May 1, 1999
DIABETES HEALTH: What have you been up to as America's first lady of diabetes?
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1999
J. Joseph Prendergast, MD, is one of those rare people who blend years of experience with new technology. And, it seems to be working for people with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1999
MiniMed's continuous glucose monitor appears to have passed through the first phase of FDA approval. An advisory panel, which makes initial recommendations to the entire agency, voted unanimously to recommend approval to the entire FDA.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1999
Both the JDF and the ADA continue to pressure Congress to give diabetes research the entire $827 million that was recommended by the Diabetes Research Working Group, a group of researchers that recently gave this figure as the amount needed for diabetes funding.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1999
April 1999
I never thought I would weigh over 200 pounds in my life, yet I stepped on the scales one day and weighed 214 pounds!
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1999
While insulin pens have made blood glucose management easier and more flexible for many individuals with diabetes, they are also susceptible to technical malfunctions. Such malfunctions could result in extraordinarily high blood glucose (BG) levels, and impair the diabetes patient's health.
1 comment - Posted Apr 1, 1999
Nicole Johnson: Congratulations. I saw Scott King's letter in Ann Landers. How wonderful that it was published.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1999
Readers Desperate to Hang On to Animal Insulin
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1999
Eli Lilly prefilled insulin pens have arrived. Lilly now offers disposable, 300-unit pens for Humulin 70/30, Humulin N and Humalog.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1999
March 1999
I recently spoke to 200 people at the Desert Diabetes Club in Palm Springs, California. The talk went great, and the Question & Answer part of the speech was the best part for me because it gave me an opportunity to see what was on the minds of people with diabetes. I learned that what people with diabetes wanted the most was tips and information they could use for the treatment of their diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1999
Q: I just finished reading the November 1998 issue of DIABETES HEALTH regarding the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (JDF) islet transplantation $20 million advance. I didn't see anything about the cloning of islets, however, which I had read about in a previous issue of DIABETES HEALTH. I am curious to know how realistic the cloning process is, and when we might see it actually take place.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1999
Bodybuilders try many substances, both legal and illegal, to develop muscle mass. Lately, insulin has emerged as a popular muscle-enhancing agent, and, according to an article in the May 28, 1998 issue of theJournal of the American Medical Association, it could come with dangerous side effects.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1999
Miss America 1999, type 1 Nicole Johnson, is devoting her year to diabetes awareness. She will check in with DIABETES HEALTH every month, to describe her lobbying and fund raising efforts. She'll also discuss the personal side of being Miss America, including her conversations with others who have diabetes and her own self-care during this hectic year.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1999
Joan Harmon, PhD, senior advisor for diabetes at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases, sees MiniMed's FDA submission as the "most interesting news," however, she stresses that much more is still going on. For instance, the NIDDK's most recent funding awarded $4 million in grants to a variety of promising and innovative research.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1999
It's an incredibly tense race, and in its wake are literal and figurative trails of blood.
1 comment - Posted Mar 1, 1999
This installment in the meters, strips and glucose testing series discusses temperature and humidity and their effects on meter and strip functioning. For comments, contact Sharon Kellaher at (800) 234-1218.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1999
February 1999
My daughter, Savannah, was diagnosed with diabetes at 9 years of age. At that time, she was put on insulin injections. For at least the first three years, her HbA1cs were in the normal ranges, and we were able to control her diabetes. She started having problems, however, as soon as she got into her teenage years. Her HbA1cs rose to the 8% range, and no matter what we did, nothing helped.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1999
Kurt hates shots. Since he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 4, my wife and I administered all of his shots, whether he was at home, school or a slumber party. Kurt seemed unusually sensitive to pain. Although Kurt was intelligent enough to draw them up, count carbs and appropriately suggest how to treat highs and lows, he refused to do the shots himself.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1999
If you've ever hit muscle with a needle, you know the pain. If you've ever injected the right dose of insulin and still found your blood sugar sky high, you might have injected too shallowly and hit skin.
4 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1999
Dear Scott King-From Ann Landers - Many thanks for your letter and the excerpts from emails sent by your readers in response to my column on diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1999
The first continuous glucose monitor could be on its way to doctors' offices. MiniMed will ask the FDA this month to approve its application for the continuous glucose monitoring system.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1999
January 1999
On this issue's front page we begin the story of Ann Landers' comment that people with diabetes who test and inject at restaurant tables exhibit "gross insensitivity and very poor manners."
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1999
For over five years, I thought about starting on the pump, but I always hesitated.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1999
Ann Landers, the newspaper guru of American folk wisdom, has spoken on public glucose testing and insulin injections. Many people with diabetes do not like what she said.
4 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1999
People with diabetes have long been frustrated by variations in glucose meter readings. Now the meter industry has added a new wrinkle, meters that reference plasma rather than whole blood.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1999
A new medical identification bracelet specifically designed for children is now available. Called the Safety Sport I.D., it is waterproof and comes in bright colors.
1 comment - Posted Jan 1, 1999
People who have trouble getting adequate samples may fumble less with a new product, the SampleMate, from Chronimed. Made from elastic, the SampleMate tightens up the top of the finger to keep a good amount of blood there until a drop is drawn.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1999
December 1998
My wife's mother, Carol, has been staying with us recently. She's had type 2 diabetes for 14 years, and this past year her vision deteriorated to the point where she is now legally blind. Then, she had a stroke six months ago.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
Q: Last week, we had a speaker at our pump group who talked about hypoglycemia awareness and its difficulties. When she asked how we treated hypo situations, I commented that I shut down my pump and consumed some quick-acting and complex carbohydrates.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
Tis the season for gift giving. Every year, the kid in me loves to exchange Christmas "wish lists" with my husband, Danny. Year after year, his wish remains that I continue to take good care of my diabetes and stay healthy until he can figure out a way to find the cure. I am always moved by his kindness, partnership and generosity of spirit. This year, I wondered how other families with diabetes feel about holiday gifts. I thought you might enjoy hearing some responses to my question.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
According to a survey conducted by Consumer Health Sciences (CHS), only 70% of people with type 1 and 2 diabetes who are insured have coverage for glucose meters. It was also revealed that 88% have coverage for test strips; 80% have pharmaceutical coverage; 55% have insurance coverage for syringes and only 12% have coverage for insulin pumps.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
Visually impaired people with diabetes now have a glucose monitor, called the Accu-Chek Voicemate, that talks them through their tests. Manufactured by Eli Lilly and Company and Roche Diagnostics, the Voicemate's voice tells people their blood sugar levels and which type of insulin they are using.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
Diabetes supplier Owen Mumford is offering coupons for several products, including the recently updated Autopen insulin cartridge pen and the Autolet Mini lancing device.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
Cygnus Inc. has an idea for a painless glucose meter which will resemble a wrist watch. Calling it the GlucoWatch (R) monitor, Cygnus is searching for a business partner to market the product here in North America. Although the product is not finalized, GlucoWatch is expected to have a skin pad, known as the AutoSensor, which measures glucose concentration with an electric current. Cygnus cannot yet specify an availability date.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
Meals 'n Carbs is a new CD-ROM designed by two diabetes educators to help people plan their meals with diabetes management in mind. The CD-ROM begins with basic information about digestion, diabetes and carbohydrate counting for people recently diagnosed with diabetes. It then progresses to a meal planner, in which you use your mouse to add foods to a meal and print out your nutritional information.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
Enlisting your personal computer in your diabetes care plan can give you a comprehensive, objective picture of your glycemic control. MediSense offers its glucose data management system, Precision Link, for use with its Precision Q.I.D., Precision Q.I.D. Pen, MediSense 2 and MediSense 2 Pen glucose monitors.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1998
November 1998
How do you know the differences between a new pump user, and a not-so-new pump user?
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1998
Five years ago, Nicole Johnson, 24, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes after contracting a flu virus. Up until that point, blood glucose management was probably something to which she had never given much thought. She learned that her daily life would be forever altered as a result of the disease.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1998
Living with diabetes increases the likelihood of experiencing on-the-job discrimination. Since 1992 more than 2,000 people filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) specifically stating they were mistreated at work as a result of their having diabetes. Another 6,500 complaints cite visual ailments and problems with extremities-medical concerns frequently associated with diabetes-as underlying reasons for job discrimination.
8 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1998
MiniMed Inc., with its implantable insulin pump, and Medical Research Group LLC (MRG), with its implantable glucose sensor, recently reached an agreement in an attempt to ease an implantable insulin system into the U.S. market.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1998
October 1998
Diabetes is a rich and growing industry. Last year alone, the diabetes medication market grew 23 percent. Furthermore, 2,186 more of us are diagnosed with diabetes in this country every day. Do the math and you'll see a growing market.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1998
According to the August 1998 issue of Diabetes Care, a recent study supports the belief that blood circulation problems in people with diabetes can be avoided through good glucose control. The study went on to further say that the best way to maintain good blood circulation is through the use of an insulin pump.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1998
How does the cost of increased blood glucose testing and more injections affect those with lower incomes? According to the third National Health and Nutrition Survey, "those without health insurance are twice as likely to suffer a lack of food as those who have health insurance."
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1998
When peering over the edge of Half Dome, one of the signature peaks of Yosemite National Park, it is hard not to worry about falling. When Paul Wiersma reached this precipice, he had other falls to worry about as well. In the Sierra heat of this past summer, Paul, who has type 1 diabetes, had to worry that a combination of exertion and insulin would cause his blood glucose levels to fall too low. Overdosing on insulin and exertion can be dangerous anywhere, but it is especially unforgiving on a mountain trail with perilous drops only a misstep away.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1998
Many people are dissatisfied with a new interim Medicare policy. The policy was considered to be a breakthrough for Medicare patients because for the first time it will cover patients who are not being treated with insulin injections. Prior to July 1, 1998, these patients were not covered by Medicare for their diabetes testing supplies.
2 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1998
The Food And Drug Administration has given marketing clearance for a special laser finger perforator for kids.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1998
NuMedics, Inc. announced in August that the John Muir Diabetes Center in Walnut Creek, Calif., will use its CliniPro software for diabetes management with its patients. CliniPro software manages patients' records and analyzes their information for health care professionals.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1998
Diabetes treatment has made its way into the high-tech age! A new prescription bottle with a "brain" and a beeping alarm clock will help remind patients when to take their medications. It also beeps when it is time for people with diabetes to check blood glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1998
September 1998
Caroline was 29 when she first came to my office in October 1994 for evaluation of her type 1 diabetes. Just over 5 feet tall and weighing 122 pounds, she was a petite and vivacious woman, happily married with one child, and working part-time.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1998
Helping space aliens and controlling blood glucose may sound like an odd mix, but in a new educational software program produced by the Starbright Foundation, a non-profit organization, the two work together to help teach kids about diabetes. The program, funded by Eli Lilly & Company, is just one example of the computer software products available to help people of all ages manage their diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1998
Vince Brewerton has had type 1 diabetes for nine years. By using a software program that was compatible with his glucose meter, he was able to learn how to tighten his control. The software allowed him to see how his glucose levels changed throughout the day and, in turn, adjust his insulin doses accordingly.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1998
Balance PC Diabetes **
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1998
Just when you thought you had artificial sweeteners all figured out and had settled on a particular brand, the sweetener scene is changing again.
1 comment - Posted Sep 1, 1998
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration claims that the Johnson & Johnson company is failing to adequately warn the public about the dangers of using certain defective SureStep blood glucose meters. As reported in DIABETES HEALTH (see "290,000 SureStep Meters Recalled," July 1998, p. 10), J&J recently began recalling its SureStep meters sold before August 1997. The monitors failed to measure blood sugar levels in excess of 500 mg/dl. At such levels, the meters display an "ER 1" error message instead of the glucose concentrations.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1998
August 1998
Yes, it's almost back to school time. If you have been using your pump successfully over the summer, you can continue to do so during the school year. Here are a few things which can help make the first day of school, and the rest of the year, go smoothly.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1998
Before eating lunch at a restaurant, Jim loads his foil packs of insulin into a device about the size of a large flashlight. He then presses a button which releases a cloud of insulin into the clear chamber of the device. He takes a slow, deep draw of powdered insulin into his lungs.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1998
Amira Medical, formerly Mercury Diagnostics, is close to releasing its At Last Blood Glucose Monitoring System, which promises to offer a pain-free method for sampling and monitoring blood glucose.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1998
July 1998
Researchers recently determined that when the delivery of basal insulin is interrupted in the middle of the night, insulin pump users treated with lispro insulin have no greater or more rapid breakdown in glycemic control than those treated with regular human insulin. In addition, they found that high glucose levels fell more quickly and ketones were more fully suppressed when subjects were given lispro insulin after such an interruption. This led them to believe that, "lispro insulin may be more effective than regular insulin in the 'sick day' management at home of patients with IDDM (type 1)."
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1998
Jeremy, who was attending summer football practice, did not want to wear his pump while playing. He had a morning basal rate of 1.0 units (Humalog) per hour. Halfway through practice, he would do a finger stick test. If his glucose was any higher than when he started, he would reconnect to his pump long enough to deliver a 1.0 unit bolus. However, he found this was not working. Practice lasted up to four hours and his afternoon glucose levels were frequently high.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1998
Summer is when pump wearers need to plan ahead and take special precautions. Sun, sand, heat and water are just a few of the hazards that come with the job of summer fun that can impair your pump's performance. If you spend a significant amount of time outdoors, here are a few tips on how to make your pump time worry-free. Have a sensational summer!
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1998
Diabetes control is the place where two worlds collide - the world of the known and the world of the unknown. You know certain things affect your blood sugars - what you eat, how much insulin you take, when you take it and the exercise you do. When you take charge of these areas, you often have good blood sugar readings.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1998
Johnson & Johnson's LifeScan is voluntarily recalling and replacing its SureStep glucose meters sold before August 1997. The monitors failed to measure high blood sugar levels in excess of 500 mg/dl. At such levels the meters display an, "ER 1" error message instead of the glucose concentration. The problem, which is software related and not in the machine itself, does not exist in units sold after August 1997.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1998
June 1998
Researchers in the Netherlands recently found that well controlled type 1s on multiple injection therapy have less variable fasting blood glucose levels and a lower total frequency of hypoglycemia when nighttime pump therapy is substituted for their bedtime NPH insulin injection. In addition, warning signs of hypoglycemia were enhanced and aspects of the counter-regulatory hormonal response to hypoglycemia were improved when subjects were on nocturnal pump therapy.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1998
As a diabetes educator I have worked with a number of people in helping them tackle the tasks of achieving control with an insulin infusion pump. Sometimes the process is quick and easy. Other times it's long and frustrating. As a person who has lived with type 1 diabetes for 25 years and has worn an insulin pump for over three years, I know what my patients must be experiencing. My own situation is simple; pump therapy is the best choice I could have ever made for my diabetes. However, I do not think I fully understood the depth of its true value until the past year or so.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1998
Q: I am a mother with type 1 diabetes and read with interest the "My Own Injection" column in March 1998 ("The Diary of a Diabetic Dad") describing Scott King's trials and tribulations as a dad with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1998
Sixty-seven-year-old Gerald Lundstrom thinks it's his hearty Swedish stock that has something to do with his good health after fifty years of diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1998
When the first pancreas transplant was performed in 1966 at the University of Minnesota, doctors considered it a risky venture at best. Three decades later and over a 1,000 people in the United States undergo a pancreas or simultaneous pancreas/kidney transplant every year. Still, a cloud of misinformation surrounds the procedure.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1998
The following is a greatly abridged list of quotes from respected medical journals on the financial and medical impact of various diabetes practices and products. These can be used in letters to HMOs and purchasers of HMO plans to impress upon them the importance and financial good sense of providing good diabetes care. Again, this list is just a short list of the many facts gathered on the subject. The more you investigate and the more you learn the stronger the case you can present to get the coverage you need and deserve.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1998
Are you a member of a HMO but not getting the coverage you need for proper diabetes care? After finding a primary care physician who is sympathetic to your needs, you may need to contact your HMO and appeal for coverage for the services and equipment you need for good preventative care.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1998
May 1998
You've used Skin Prep and the tape that comes with the infusion set but it still doesn't stick. And what about when the tape comes undone and the infusion set crimps? DIABETES HEALTH asked Bruce Bode, MD, how to solve this problem.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1998
This month DIABETES HEALTH posed a few questions to an expert in pump therapy, Bruce W. Bode, MD, of the Atlanta Diabetes Association. Bode first became familiar with pump therapy in the '70s and has been putting people on the pump in his own practice since 1985. To date, Bode has started over 800 patients on insulin pump therapy. He also maintains the largest database in the world on people who have undergone pump therapy.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1998
Technical Chemicals and Products Inc. in Pompano Beach, Fla., unveiled its new noninvasive TD Glucose Monitoring System at a meeting sponsored by NASA, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and the National Institute on Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1998
Disetronic Group announced it will acquire two Swiss packaging companies, Rondo and Dividella, signaling the company's expansion in the area of injection systems.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1998
In March a U.S. District Court issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Becton Dickinson, a major manufacturer of insulin pens and needles, in its false and misleading advertising suit against its Danish competitor, Novo Nordisk. The court prohibited Novo Nordisk from claiming that its NovoPen 1.5 and Novolin Pre-filled devices can only be used with NovoFine needles.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1998
April 1998
U-Lactin Lotion - 8 oz for $11: "It's available at a low price, and it combines the benefits of ten percent urea and two percent lactic acid. There are no other cremes out there with this combination. The lactic acid helps exfoliate the dead skin cells and the urea helps to hold the moisture in the skin. This is good for anyone with dry skin." - Lea Roberts
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1998
There is a belief that insulin pump users will not have any problems swimming. This may be true for those that dabble in a swimming pool but it is definitely not true for those that swim any distance or do such crazy things as flip turns and racing dives.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1998
Linda Fredrickson, MA, RN, CDE, vice president of global medical education at MiniMed Inc., writes that pump users who do not swim for such an extended period of time usually disconnect from their infusion site. Fredrickson offers Emily Adamski, a 15-year-old who was recently on the cover of Diabetes Forecast, as an example of how the pump can be managed when swimming.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1998
Could there be more than beauty in the eye of the beholder? How about an accurate blood glucose reading? That's what Visionary Medical Products Corporation (VMPC) in Carson City, Nevada, is hoping for - a noninvasive test that will determine BG levels through minute blood vessel changes in the retina.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1998
Several companies are actively working on technologies to improve blood sugar testing and thereby capture a share of the two- to three-billion dollar blood sugar testing market. The goal is to make testing easier, more convenient and, the hope of many, continuous without sticking the finger. Here are some of the companies trying to become the first to offer improved testing and how they plan to do it:
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1998
Selfcare Inc. of Waltham, Mass., recently acquired Can-Am Care Corporation, a leading supplier of diabetes care products, for $27 million.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1998
March 1998
This month Spencer turns five. He was born two years after we started Diabetes Health, and Miranda followed 19 months later. In many ways, we have all grown up together.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1998
Why do teens like using an insulin pump? Here are some representative thoughts from teenagers from Yale Diabetes Service:
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1998
Brittany Broussard of Slaughter, La., spent half of her seventh grade year in the principal's office. Not because she'd done anything wrong, but because she had diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1998
Alfred E. Mann, founder and CEO of MiniMed Inc., endowed $100 million a piece to two Southern California universities in order to establish biomedical research institutes.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1998
February 1998
I was seventeen years old when the doctor told me I had diabetes. In the weeks that followed I heard many strange things about my new disease. Friends, neighbors and relatives had plenty to say about my diabetes and very little of it was positive.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1998
If you have just started on the pump, or if you feel like you need to catch up with technological advancements in pump therapy, a support group could be the best place for you to begin. Undoubtedly, the advice of a peer who has experienced the challenges of going on a pump can be the best help for a pumper just starting out.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1998
We all know there are all sorts of diabetes care supplies that we might want to carry: batteries, pump tubing, lancets, syringes, even log books and emergency information. And what about other treatment aids, such as glucose tablets, urine test strips, or glucagon?
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1998
MiniMed Inc. is petitioning the FDA for clearance to produce and market its continuous subcutaneous glucose sensor. The company hopes for approval in 1998. MiniMed expects to utilize the sensor for a series of products - the first two being a physician diagnostic device and alarm product to warn people with diabetes of dangerously low glucose levels.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1998
In November, President Clinton signed the "Food and Drug Modernization Act of 1997," a new law intended to streamline the regulatory process and improve the regulation of medical devices. One section of the law specifically advocates Congress to encourage the development of safe and effective noninvasive blood glucose meters.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1998
Cortecs International, an Anglo-Australian biotechnology group, recently announced a breakthrough in the search for an oral version of insulin. Cortecs has produced a capsule containing insulin that is able to get to the liver and reduce blood sugar levels. The capsule overcomes the long-standing problem of capsule destruction by the digestive system.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1998
January 1998
Switching to the pump can involve some soul searching and honesty. Are you ready to live with a small computerized device attached to your body? And if so, are you prepared to go through the training necessary to learn how to use one?
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1998
Naturally, people with diabetes want to avoid labels that imply that there is something wrong with them. Because of this, many in the diabetes community are hesitant to wear medical ID. While this aversion to being labeled is understandable, ID provides medical workers with valuable, potentially life-saving information in an emergency.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1998
Glucose monitors have come a long way since the hulking, brick-sized meters of the seventies. Now, new technology has created smaller and lighter monitors the size of pagers. However, people with diabetes everywhere are still feeling the pain of testing. When will painful finger pokes no longer be necessary?
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1998
Once the DCCT results were published showing the benefits of tight control, the importance of self-monitoring to a successful diabetes control regimen was solidified. The BG diagnostics market has boomed as a result. United States revenues for 1997 are expected to top out at $877.2 million, and by the year 2004, they are expected to reach $2.25 billion.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1998
It can be difficult enough being a child, not to mention a child with diabetes. Luckily, there are educational toys, products and information that can help children with diabetes conquer some of the mountains that diabetes can create. DIABETES HEALTH looked into various products and logged onto a web site for children with diabetes - www.castleweb.com/diabetes/ - to ask parents of children with diabetes firsthand how they deal with the day-to-day challenges of diabetes. Here are a few products and parents' tips that you may want to look into.
1 comment - Posted Jan 1, 1998
December 1997
Troubleshooting the pump system involves looking at your pump screen to make sure the appropriate basal is set, the appropriate bolus was given at the last meal and the time is correct. If all of this is working appropriately, make sure your syringe has insulin in it, and there is no leakage. Make sure the set is attached appropriately to your body, and the needle or infusion site area looks normal.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1997
Possible Causes of High BGs on the Pump
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1997
So you've decided to go on the pump and everything is going well: BGs are under control and the Dawn Phenomenon is a thing of the past. Then, suddenly you have an unexplainable high blood sugar. What do you do?
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1997
It's called the Diasensor 1000. The company that built it, Indiana, Pa.-based Biocontrol Technology Inc., claims it's the answer to diabetics' prayers.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1997
The SmartStrip, a new meter-less strip has hit Canada. The strip manufactured by LifeScan, is about the size of a Band-aid and costs $5.00 (Canada) for a pack of five.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1997
MiniMed Inc. recently acquired Home Medical Supply, Inc. (HMS) and its affiliated companies. HMS operates a medical products and supplies distribution business in approximately 30 states.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1997
November 1997
Fewer than 20 percent of Americans exercise regularly. What most people don't know, however, is that if exercise was bottled and sold in pill form its effects would be as revolutionary as penicillin.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1997
Looking for a bloodless, painless way to test for glucose levels, researchers have turned to the skin. Between the layers of skin is a fluid called dermal interstitial fluid (ISF) that, according to a report in September's Diabetes Care, contains enough glucose to be an accurate measure of BGs.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1997
Boehringer Mannheim is currently developing a blood glucose monitoring system that it hopes will measure BGs continuously and as painlessly as possible. Boehringer would like to see its minimally-invasive product, the Komo System, on the market by the year 2000.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1997
October 1997
When human insulin first appeared on the market it was thought to be a "special" insulin and the beef/pork insulin that I had taken for years was termed "standard" insulin. A lot has changed since those days. What was once thought to be the standard is now in danger of being pulled from the market.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1997
The British Diabetic Association's (BDA's) insulin campaign is committed to securing choice for people with diabetes for the kind of insulin that they use. The BDA is therefore committed to securing long-term availability of animal and human insulins, and provision of animal insulins in pen cartridges.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1997
In the early '70s, Elke Austenat, MD, spent her days working at the largest diabetes clinic in Eastern Germany. It seemed to her at the time that many of the patients passing through the clinic were overwhelmed and confused by the task of controlling their diabetes. The clinic once counted 400 patients in diabetic comas admitted in just one year.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1997
Are you a prime candidate for the pump? Since the DCCT found that tight control of BGs would significantly decrease diabetes complications, many have turned to insulin pump therapy as a way of controlling their BGs. However, insulin therapy takes commitment and vigilance. Here are some questions to consider before you try insulin pump therapy:
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1997
I recently visited the Golden Triangle of Central Europe (the cities of Vienna, Budapest and Prague) with seven friends. In the golden city of Prague I had the immense pleasure of meeting much of the staff at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine's Diabetes Clinic, the Klinika Diabetologie. Everyone I met in Prague exuded such hospitality and such a optimistic outlook for these changing times in this historical city. The staff at the Klinika was no exception.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1997
September 1997
I recently learned of a famous diabetologist, Dr. Lawrence in England, who made all the endocrinologists he trained take a shot of insulin to experience an insulin shock. He felt this was necessary for them to become good doctors.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1997
After years of searching for diabetic skin care treatments, Anastasia Marie Chehak developed a line of products called Diabetic Pure Skin Therapy¨. Chehak wanted to create a skin care system that would provide immediate relief as well as long-term therapeutic use. Chehak is a diabetes educator, registered dietitian, clinical nutritionist and a diabetic herself. In treating patients, she found that the typical over-the-counter skin creams didn't do much to improve the condition of her patients' skin.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1997
August 1997
In this study, 152 pump users (using either Velosulin BR or Humulin R insulins) were analyzed during their routine follow up visits to determine what factors had the strongest effect on their current HbA1cs. These patients had an average HbA1c of 7.58 and tested an average of 3.5 times each day.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1997
In this study Bruce Bode, MD, found that using Lispro in pump therapy provided patients with significant glycemic benefits. While daily BG levels did not change significantly, HbA1c levels had a statistically significant drop from 7.51% to 7.26%. The percentage of patients reporting severe hypoglycemic events (including comas and seizures) were also significantly reduced from 17 percent to 7.5 percent. The total daily doses of insulin did not appear to be affected by Lispro, but insulin antibodies dropped on Lispro pump therapy. In addition, the HbA1c improvement was especially pronounced for patients with the human insulin antibodies.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1997
The following case study was submitted by board member, Steven Edelman, MD an endocrinologist at the Veterans Hospital in San Diego.
3 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1997
The use of Humalog with Eli Lilly's Humulin has created some confusion - especially among the elderly - over the similarities in appearance between the two insulins.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1997
July 1997
MiniMed is marketing a new device for use with an insulin pump called the Sof-serter. The company claims that the Sof-serter allows for a virtually painless insertion of an infusion set.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1997
Minneapolis based Disetronic Medical Systems Inc. is marketing the new D-Modem. It can communicate important pump information to healthcare professionals over the phone.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1997
Adam Greiner's story as told to DIABETES HEALTH by his mother, Barbara Greiner-Read, RN, CDE from the Valley Health System in Hemet, Calif.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1997
There is good news for people in the U.K. who are unsatisfied with the lack of animal insulins. CP Pharmaceuticals of Wrexham, England is now producing beef and pork insulins in cartridges for use with a free pen injection device as well as the normal 10 ml vials.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1997
After conducting a three-year audit of the effectiveness of Medicare, the United States General Accounting Office (USGAO) has found some disturbing facts about diabetes care.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1997
June 1997
What kind of durable medical equipment (DME) coverage will you receive?
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1997
You exercise. You do this because it's good for your health, can help stabilize your blood sugars and makes you look and feel better. It provides you with exhilarating, character-building challenges whether you run in the Boston Marathon or increase your walking distance from two to three miles per day.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1997
May 1997
Differing opinions about how to best care for insulin are stirring up a whirlwind of confusion. Over the last few months readers have been sending their questions and concerns to DIABETES HEALTH. The questions are simple enough: What is the best temperature to keep my insulin? Is it okay to use insulin past the expiration date? How should I mix my insulin? But answers to these questions can vary, making it hard to be sure one is doing the right thing. Here the questions and comments of insulin users will be presented with the recommendations of the companies who produce insulin.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1997
Magainin Pharmaceuticals Inc. recently announced successful results in phase III trials for FDA approval of Cytolex, their topical antibiotic cream for the treatment of foot ulcers.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1997
A host of new diabetes start-ups are trying to develop alternatives to finger-stick home glucose testing. It is their hope that an alternative to the finger-stick will bring high acquisition valuations like those paid for LifeScan by Johnson & Johnson and for MediSense by Abbott Laboratories Inc.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1997
April 1997
March 1997
A normal blood sugar level is the primary goal of all treatment options for people with diabetes. It is especially important for young adolescents because poor control can be very problematic at that age.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1997
Many doctors recommend intensified self-management to lengthen lives and reduce long-term costs of chronic health problems associated with diabetes. But a fiercely competitive health insurance market often produces health plans that contradict appropriate medical treatment.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1997
The supreme importance of daily blood glucose (BG) monitoring for proper blood sugar control is well documented. It is quite possibly the single most important step that individuals with diabetes can take to reduce their chances of developing complications.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1997
More than 30 percent of children on insulin may be accidentally receiving injections in their muscle tissue.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1997
Balance PC Diabetes Software, a new product from MediLife Inc., has received a "Favorably Reviewed" seal from the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE). The software is "a complete health management" system for insulin and oral medication users.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1997
February 1997
Your response to DIABETES HEALTH's subscription information raffle cards was overwhelming. Congratulations once again to the 20 winners of five-year subscriptions announced last month.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1997
Bill King was training for the Philadelphia marathon when he noticed that no matter how much he drank, he had an inexhaustible thirst. He was easily fatigued and had to go to the bathroom constantly. He had been running and training hard since the age of 17 as a competitive runner. Yet, at 24, it suddenly seemed like everything he had worked for was slipping through his fingers due to this mysterious illness.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1997
The following is an informal, unscientific review of some of the leading injection aid products on the market. It is not the result of a comprehensive consumer satisfaction survey. While we are thankful for the responses from our readers included in the article, it should be noted that they are the opinions solely of the individuals and do not reflect the views of Diabetes Health.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1997
Is your blood glucose meter giving you accurate readings? Testing under certain circumstances may be giving you misleading results. While most users expect accurate readings from their meters at all times, recent studies have found that many meters on the market today are inaccurate during hypoglycemia and when used at high altitude.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1997
DiabetEase Products Inc., the manufacturer of Syringe Guard, has introduced two new portable diabetes packs. The packs, Samsonite World Sport Cool Packer and Samsonite World Sport Cool Packer Jr., are designed to conveniently hold and protect diabetes care products.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1997
Some criminals will go to enormous lengths to beat a rap. The Palm Beach Post reported a Florida man, Wesley Shaffer, attempted to convince a jury that he was an undiagnosed diabetic who had been driven insane by eating large amounts of cotton candy. The jury didn't buy it. Mr. Shaffer was convicted on burglary charges, and then promptly escorted to jail-far from the tempting dangers of cotton candy.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1997
January 1997
MiniMed Technologies' implantable insulin pump (IIP) has shown to be an effective alternative to multiple dose injection (MDI) therapy.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1997
This case study comes from Peter Lodewick, MD, one of our endocrinology board advisors and the medical director of the Diabetes Care Center in Birmingham, Alabama.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1997
Knowledge Leads to Advancements
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1997
Since ancient times, diet has been acknowledged as the cornerstone of diabetes management. NutriGenie, a company established by a group of Stanford University researchers, has developed software for use on Windows that combines age old methods of diet maintenance with 20th century technology.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1997
November 1996
1000 B.C.- An Indian physician, Susruta, discovers diabetes.
6 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1996
Almost immediately after complaining to a congressional subcommittee that it was unfairly treated by the FDA during its first 510(k) submission, Biocontrol Technology, Inc. announced that it submitted a new revised 510(k) pre-market notification for its Diasensor 1000 non-invasive glucose sensor.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1996
Medisense announced the release of their newest home blood glucose monitor-the ExacTech RSG-at the American Association of Diabetes Educators' annual meeting in August.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1996
October 1996
Disetronic Medical Systems served MiniMed with papers this past June, alleging that MiniMed has launched a campaign to discredit Disetronic by using false and misleading information.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1996
If you're looking for encouraging words and education, but the very words "support group" bring forth images of half-naked men pounding bongos in the forest, don't despair. With over 800 groups in the United States for people with diabetes and a whole host of computer-based discussion groups springing up on the internet every day, there's really something for everyone.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1996
Like many people with diabetes, Ted Wright doesn't always wait 30-40 minutes to eat after injecting his regular insulin.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1996
Pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk filed suit against major competitor Eli Lilly on Aug. 1, alleging that Lilly deliberately created false and misleading packaging information for its new Humulin cartridges.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1996
A new topical skin cream, Iamin Hydrating Gel, promises to ease the pain associated with chronic wounds by speeding the healing process and promoting a moister environment.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1996
September 1996
How do you get a giant pharmaceutical company to listen? Make a lot of noise, say the founders of three patient advocate groups that formed when animal insulins were pulled from the market in Europe and North America.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1996
August 1996
Diabetes has affected my life since before I was born. You see, my father was diagnosed with diabetes in his early teen years. By the time I was born, chronic high blood sugars had done their devastating damage to him-he was nearly blind and in the advanced stages of diabetic kidney disease. He died of the latter complication when he was just over 30 years old. I was nearly 3 at the time and my older brother was five. My mother was left to raise us alone, and developed good deal of anger at the disease. I know many of us share that anger towards diabetes and how it has affected our lives.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1996
Both MiniMed and Disetronic Medical Systems released new insulin pumps at the American Diabetes Association's annual scientific meeting this past June.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1996
July 1996
Though results from the DCCT study showed that intensive therapy can reduce complications of type I diabetes, it also showed that it can increase the chance of hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1996
Now that HMOs have become the most popular choice of health plan for employers, some employees-especially those with diabetes-have found themselves disappointed with the care they receive. Many HMOs do not provide lancets, blood test strips, alcohol swabs or syringes. Many do not cover the cost of specialists such as podiatrists or ophthalmologists.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1996
In response to the proposed removal of animal insulin from the market in the next few years, the Bellagio Group, an international professional group sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, gathered in Bellagio Italy on April 8 to discuss what actions should be taken. The result is this document which they have issued to the World Health Organization and other public health agencies worldwide. The report is a set of guidelines for the use and value of animal insulin.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1996
June 1996
Reviewed by Bruce W. Bode, MD
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1996
A new line of frozen dinners specifically designed for people with diabetes is now available.
2 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1996
The Ukrainian Diabetes Project is asking for help with supplies for diabetic children in the Ukraine.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1996
LifeScan will soon release a new, easier to use, blood glucose monitoring meter.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1996
May 1996
I was recently invited down to Palm Springs by Jim Cook to participate in "A Day of Hope," a day of researchers speaking at the Eisenhower Medical Center Desert Diabetes Club. For two years, Jim, President Emeritus of the Desert Diabetes Club, has worked on this one day to invite all the people concerned about diabetes in the Palm Springs area to hear scientists talk about the latest research-the things Jim feels offer the most hope to people with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1996
Even before the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), people were interested in tight control of their blood sugars. The big problem then, as well as now, was how to keep accurate track of blood glucose levels in order to develop a regimen. Fortunately, in this age of technology keeping track of blood sugars can be done simply and thoroughly using a personal computer.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1996
A major challenge in diabetes therapy is to match the insulin with food and exercise. Changes in the amount of time that it takes for insulin to be absorbed into the bloodstream can be a critical factor in obtaining diabetes control. Both the amount of insulin and its timing are critical, and both of these can be influenced by a wide range of variables. Here is a list of factors which every person taking insulin should be aware of.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1996
Selling stock has been a lifeline for Biocontrol Technology, Inc. With no revenues to speak of, it's been the only way the Indiana, Pennsylvania-based company has been able to raise the millions it's spent over the last decade developing its experimental blood monitoring machine for diabetics.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1996
The Precision QID passed a recent test, proving itself accurate enough to be used by pregnant women.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1996
April 1996
I have been sifting through the pages of several diabetes medical journals from all over the world over. My impressions are mixed. A very few articles are clear and significant for people with diabetes, while most are written only for a select few. These have titles so complicated, I have to get out the medical dictionary even to read them. I don't question their validity, but with titles such as "Anglotensin-converting enzyme polymorphism and development of diabetic nephropathy in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus," it makes it difficult to know whether I'm looking at the next cure or maybe a stepping-stone for someone to get their next grant. I read through over 300 articles and selected the seven which follow. I felt these had relevant information to help people with diabetes make better informed choices.
1 comment - Posted Apr 1, 1996
In 1993 Terri Hopkins was diagnosed with diabetes and placed on insulin. Until only recently, Terri was miserable. Not only was she trying to accept her diabetes (a process that took about two years), but she gained weight. Her blood glucose levels averaged 260 mg/dl, and with an A1c of 9.8, she realized that she would never feel comfortable about having a baby.
1 comment - Posted Apr 1, 1996
The new Accu-Chek Instant is now the fastest blood glucose monitor available. The 12-second test is quicker than other meters whose tests take anywhere from 20 to 45 or more seconds to produce a result.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1996
Biocontrol Technology, Inc. has been receiving a great deal of attention regarding its Diasensor 1000 non-invasive blood glucose meter. Stockholders have been calling the (DIABETES HEALTH) office asking if we know what is going on with Biocontrol-when will the device be ready to market?
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1996
Kids take first priority in Sherry Trunnel's life. As the only diabetes educator at Blank Specialties Clinic of Children's Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa, Sherry skips vacations when the hospital admits a new child with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1996
MediSense has forged to the forefront in biosensor technology with products like the Precision Q.I.D. Blood Glucose Testing System.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1996
The new year is just a few months old, but how many of us have kept our New Year's resolutions to lose weight? For many people, that promise went into the dumpster with the Christmas fruitcake.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1996
The Food and Drug Administration has approved Procter & Gamble's "fake fat" product, olestra, as an additive to chips and other snack foods.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1996
Scientists in Paris and at the University of Kansas have developed an implantable blood glucose sensor. The device, inserted with a needle much like the cannula on an insulin pump, can remain in place beneath the skin for up to four days. A wire connects the sensor to a pocket-sized monitor.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1996
March 1996
Jolted awake at 4 am with a low blood sugar, my heart racing, is not my first choice to begin a bright day. While it was still dark, I staggered out of bed to find my tube of Dex 4's. I should have tried to get right back in bed, but my hunger was overwhelming. Grabbing a bathrobe, I plodded out of the bedroom to plunder the fridge. I ate three oranges, a pear, and two pieces of toast before my hunger pangs subsided. I was wide awake with my heart still pounding from the hypoglycemia.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1996
Go to any bookstore and look at the diet and cookbook section. You'll find book after book of lowfat diet plans and cookbooks. Go to any market and you'll see shelf after shelf of lowfat products. You'd think the lowfat lifestyle was the only way to go. The Fickle Finger of food facts can't abide by this. It just has to swivel in the opposite direction. And strangely enough, that swivel is starting right here in Diabetesland.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1996
Currently there are an estimated 16 million people with diabetes in the United States. Perhaps ten percent are insulin-dependent-the rest have type 2 diabetes, which they control with diet, exercise, oral medications, and insulin.
1 comment - Posted Mar 1, 1996
Because children receive such small doses of insulin compared to adults, accurate measurement is crucial. But doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital reported in the January 1996 Diabetes Care that caregivers overdraw insulin by an average of 0.22 U.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1996
The Medi-Ject Corporation, makers of a needle-free insulin injector, recently announced a new alliance with Becton Dickinson. The collaboration grants Becton Dickinson (B-D) the rights to market a new needle-free jet injector product for insulin and selected other drugs under its brand name. Medi-Ject will manufacture injectors and B-D will manufacture the disposable drug chamber.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1996
February 1996
Do you ever wonder what other insulin pumpers are doing? The San Diego Insulin Pumpers Group recently polled 23 members to find out how often they change their infusion sets and check their blood sugar.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1996
As a registered nurse and director of operations for the Southwest Organ Bank, Alison B. Smith was well-acquainted with type I diabetes long before she herself was diagnosed.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1996
DIABETES HEALTH reader Jeffrey Davis works in a bookstore, which means he's on his feet all day. He looked everywhere for a pair of socks that were both comfortable and safe for his sensitive feet. Since he wears specially made diabetic shoes, he decided to get custom-made socks. Unfortunately, the special socks cost more than $100 and were extremely uncomfortable. Then, Davis found what he calls the answer to his problems.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1996
MiniMed is developing a glucose monitoring system that the company hopes will revolutionize self-care.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1996
If keeping track of your diabetes management is not your idea of fun, Health Management Software, Inc. has a product for you.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1996
January 1996
Q: I am wondering about the benefits and problems of using different injection sites. I am also curious to know about how hormones affect glucose control. I notice that my BGs are different at various points in my menstrual cycle.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1996
Biocontrol Technology, Inc., of Pittsburgh, Pa., has recently received negative media coverage that forced the company to respond in a point-by-point press release distributed in December 1995.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1996
Tricia Fine, manager of customer communications at LifeScan, was kind enough to answer the following letters about meters from our readers.
2 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1996
Vision care for people with diabetes is critical because disturbances of normal sight are common. Until recently it was thought that vision changes were the result of damaging changes in the structure of the eye.
3 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1996
November 1995
About a month ago I was driving to Santa Cruz and noticed a tingling in my fingers. It got worse when I put my hands up on the steering wheel and better when I rested them on the bottom. During this two-hour drive, it was a struggle to keep my fingers from falling asleep. Soon after, I began to wake up often during the night, having to reposition my hands so they would stop tingling.
8 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1995
Teresa L. Zilka, RN, of Portland, Ore. recently conducted a study funded by Eli Lilly and Company and Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital. Zilka determined that mixing NPH insulin and regular insulin and then reusing the syringe causes "statistically significant" contamination of the regular insulin.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1995
Researchers have found that natural latex rubber antigens found in insulin injection materials can cause allergic skin reactions
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1995
When Zachary Ullman was 15-months-old, his parents got the shock of their lives. The symptoms he'd been exhibiting-thirst, weight loss, excessive urination-were more than the usual childhood problems. Their baby had diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1995
October 1995
The company offered 2,500,000 shares of common stock for $13.00 per share (before underwriting discounts and commissions). On September 1st the stock was trading for $11.50 a share since hitting a low of $8.75. The company will receive net proceeds of about $30 million. 850,000 additional shares are available from selling stockholders, one of whom has granted the underwriters an option of an additional 502,500 shares.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1995
Novo Nordisk recently introduced Novolin Prefilled, a self-contained insulin delivery system, in two additional human insulin forms-Regular (short acting) and NPH (intermediate acting).
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1995
There are hundreds of fresh and exciting products out there. Innovative diabetes supplies are hitting the market all the time. Here's a sampling of some of the new stuff you can get.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1995
September 1995
Earlier this summer, MiniMed introduced their new Quick Release Soft Set (see July 1995 issue, page 13). Now a whole new family of sets will be introduced into the United States by Disetronic. This follows after an almost eight-year scarcity of truly innovative infusion sets.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1995
Why would patients veto a device that can monitor glucose levels without the need for blood? Because they had to put the device in their ear. Though technically non-invasive, focus groups found the process unappealing.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1995
He looks a little like NBA player Charles Barkley, but Charles Ray III is another kind of star.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1995
August 1995
According to LifeScan, the new One Touch Profile meter "is the most advanced system on the market, offering a complete diabetes tracking system."
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1995
We all know that one of the best things we can do for ourselves is monitor our blood glucose levels. Of course, the meter we select to help us is vital. In fact, comparing meters is like comparing new cars-it's nice to know what other people are buying.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1995
July 1995
This article is part of an exercise chapter from the authors' new book, Stop The Rollercoaster, written with Lois Jovanovic-Peterson, MD. The book explains the use of multiple injections, carb counting, blood sugar patterns, and reducing risks for complications. Stop the Rollercoaster will be available from Torrey Pines Press (800) 988-4772 in September. For a diabetes update and information on the internet, set your browser to diabetesnet.com.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1995
Physicians are invited to attend one of the MiniMed Insulin Pump Therapy Symposia being offered around the United States. Four symposia are scheduled during the next several months. They will take place in Seattle, Rochester, N.Y., Little Rock, Ark., and Houston.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1995
Up until now insulin pump therapy has meant always being attached to a pump. Despite the many benefits it provides, this is something that has discouraged some people from considering pump therapy for the management of their diabetes. However, a new product may change all that. Introduced at the American Diabetes Association's annual meeting this June in Atlanta, the Sof-set QRª from MiniMed Technologies (Sylmar, Calif.) is a seemingly simple but revolutionary advance in insulin pump technology.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1995
A new video entitled "The Basics of Diabetes" has been released by Pat Gallagher, medical correspondent and producer of the TV show "Living with Diabetes." The video is the first in a series of diabetes education tapes that will be compiled from the previously aired footage.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1995
We all know what daily finger pokes do to our hands. Sore, cracked, calloused skin can be a way of life. Common creams often do not help, as they are not designed to care for our special needs.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1995
June 1995
Today's pump user is afforded a high degree of ease and comfort in maintenance of this type of therapy. Gone are the days where the only options were messy antiseptic solutions and inappropriate bandage tapes. Over the years, a number of special products have been developed to make wearing an insulin pump a relatively problem-free experience.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1995
Reader Disappointed with DI, Says We've Lost Our "Enthusiasm"
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1995
Products come and go. Usually the reasons are relatively obvious, but once in a great while, a seemingly successful product vanishes into thin air.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1995
April 1995
Eli Lilly responded to Ressmeyer with a letter informing him that "The rising costs of continued production of some formulations, in view of decreasing therapeutic use of them here and abroad, forced us to reevaluate our strategy. The result was that we substantially narrowed our insulin product line by discontinuing some lesser used products, such as animal Ultralente insulin."
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1995
Captain's Log, Stardate 43015.283.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1995
After three months on the pump, I may have my basal rate close to being set. This comes just in time to begin a new physical labor job in a week or so and refigure the whole dang process.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1995
It seems almost every blood glucose meter company offers discounts if you trade in your old meter, but have you ever wondered what happens to all those meters they get sent?
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1995
The American Diabetes Association published its first series of Clinical Practice Recommendations in January as a supplement to the journal Diabetes Care.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1995
March 1995
In our November and December issues we tackled the topic of animal insulins being pulled off the market by Novo Nordisk in our article "Where's the Beef?" Also in my column I wrote about my personal experiences with taking beef Ultralente insulin (beef U). I had discovered an insulin which worked perfectly for me while I was off my insulin pump. While taking beef U I had better blood sugar control than I had ever been able to achieve before. The rub in this matter is that the insulin, beef U is no longer available.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1995
I am writing from my personal perspective about diabetes and pregnancy for two reasons: One, because I am a mother and a type I diabetic, and two, because I am a big believer in the virtues of a diabetes and pregnancy team. I don't think I could have had a successful pregnancy without it. I wanted the perfect baby, but, given my medical problems and diabetes, I knew I needed help.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1995
January 1995
The Beginner's Level
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1995
LifeScan scored a pre-trial victory in its patent infringement suit against Polymer Technology, makers of generic test strips for use in LifeScan's One Touch Blood Glucose Monitoring System.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1995
In the ever-changing, unstable business of non-invasive glucose meters only one thing seems certain: nothing is certain.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1995
Steuart Labs is introducing a fast-penetrating foot cream that will soften calluses, reduce itching, and assist in the healing of other slow-healing sores.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1995
December 1994
Introduction This article was originally published in Balance, the magazine of the British Diabetes Association (BDA), and was written for a British audience.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1994
Imagine having a watch that would give you a constant reading of your blood glucose levels without having to prick your finger.
1 comment - Posted Dec 1, 1994
October 1994
Q: I am 23 years old and I have had insulin dependent diabetes for 9 years. My blood sugars during the day are generally under 150 mg/dl, but no matter what I do my fasting blood sugar before breakfast is always high, often over 300. What is going on?
3 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1994
Phyllis Furst, RN, MA, CDE is a diabetes nurse educator in Long Island, New York. She is the Diabetes Education Director at the Endocrinology and Diabetes Associates of Long Island in Rockville Center, a 3 physician diabetes and endocrinology practice, and has had type I diabetes for 22 years.
0 comments - Posted Oct 1, 1994
September 1994
Researchers at Lapeyronie Hospital in Montpellier, France have studied the 7 cases of complications, out of 40 patients treated there with programmable implantable insulin pumps. Based on their study, they recommend that exercise should be limited to moderate exertion, and vigorous activity should be avoided to prevent an increases in the risk of pump-pocket complication.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1994
August 1994
Your pharmacist and his staff screen a new prescription for errors, then enter the data into the computer. If a problem is noted the pharmacist will contact your physician. The prescription is dispensed to you and a face-to-face counseling session informs you how to take the medicine correctly, what possible side effects or adverse effects to be aware of, and what to do about a missed dose. Some computer programs also print out an information sheet about your prescription.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1994
July 1994
Q: I'd like to buy a new meter to test my blood sugar and don't know which one is best. How do I decide which meter to buy?
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1994
June 1994
The letters we received in response to Joan Hoover's article "The DCCT Offers Nothing to Diabetic Patients" were surprising in a number of ways. Firstly, they were primarily from health professionals: doctors, researchers, nurses. Secondly, almost all of them were opposing Ms. Hoover's viewpoint. We are printing the letters (some have been edited for length) because such a response deserves consideration, but also because the letters touch on many of the reasons behind the DCCT study. Also interesting is that each letter has a different view on the DCCT.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1994
Metabolic Control Matters. These words by Dr Richard Eastman, director of the the diabetes program of the National Institutes of Health were meant to introduce the results of the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial 1, a 10 year study in almost 1500 patients that demonstrated a tight correlation of excellent control of blood glucose and a dramatic reduction in the risk of the complications of diabetes. This study leaves little room for doubt: if you want to prevent the devastating complications of diabetes you need to bring your blood glucose as close to normal as possible.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1994
May 1994
New developments in technology and manufacturing techniques have brought a new level of sophistication among lancets. The consumer now has more questions than ever about choosing the right lancet. In light of this, DIABETES HEALTH has compiled a comprehensive look at the lancets currently on the market, and their differences.
3 comments - Posted May 1, 1994
Anastasia Marie Labs: Diabetic Pure Skin Therapy skin cream from Anastasia Marie Labs was specifically designed for people with diabetes, to penetrate and treat sensitive and callused fingertips. Diabetic Pure Skin Therapy contains natural therapeutic agents, including an antibacterial agent, and doesn't interfere with blood glucose results. Diabetic Pure Skin Thera-py is alcohol free.
0 comments - Posted May 1, 1994
April 1994
Many of you read my column one year ago about the birth of my son Spencer. It was probably the most popular column I had ever written and described an event that was extremely challenging.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1994
(Excerpt from "DCCT Report Proposes that Diabetic Patients Try Harder" by Joan Hoover ©6/93.)
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1994
Margaret J. Wilkman, RN, CDE, is a clinical nurse specialist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. She is part of a consulting team, consisting of an endocrine specialist, a dietitian, and a clinical nurse specialist, that sees patients with diabetes who were admitted to the hospital for reasons other than diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1994
The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) was a 10-year, $165 million study funded by the National Institutes of Health. It compared two treatment methods in 1,441 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes at 29 clinical centers.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1994
March 1994
New research is shedding light on one of the most distressing problems faced by a group of people who have diabetes (as well as their family, friends and co-workers). The problem, called hypoglycemia unawareness (HU), occurs when a person becomes incapable of dealing with his own low blood sugars. If unnoticed and untreated, HU can create serious problems, including grand mal seizures. If you've ever witnessed seizure activity or bizarre behavior in someone, you have some idea of the impact of HU and its danger.
0 comments - Posted Mar 1, 1994
February 1994
This is the final installment of Dr. Ginsberg's three-part series called "Intensive Insulin Therapy," which was written in response to the DCCT results. Part one defined intensive therapy and gave an overview of the theories and techniques involved. The second part explained how to start an intensive therapy regimen and calculate your daily insulin doses. The last part deals with adjusting insulin doses when using intensive therapy. The goal of this series is to educate people with diabetes about intensive therapy and enable them to choose the therapy that is right for them.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1994
January 1994
As clearly demonstrated by the DCCT, blood glucose monitoring is a critical element in the maintenance of normal blood glucose levels. Cygnus Therapeutic Corporation in Redwood City, California is working on a new non-invasive glucose monitoring system that could dramatically change the way people with diabetes monitor their glucose levels. Unlike the current procedure, which measures the level of glucose in the blood based on blood samples drawn from the fingertips, the new system is non-invasive, and utilizes interstitial fluid rather than blood.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1994
December 1993
People who use insulin pumps are using advanced technology to help in achieving optimum blood sugar control. The development of this technology and its acceptance by health care providers and users has taken 15 years. Pump use in the DCCT with good results has created wide acceptance of pumping and now moves into the mainstream.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1993
This past week I was in bed for two days with a severe cold, probably stress induced. Forced to rest, I had time to reflect on this past year. What a year-what a lot of stress! I think it has been the most event-filled year in my life. Below are a few of the major changes that have filled 1993.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1993
This is the second part of a three-part series called "Intensive Insulin Therapy," written by Dr. Ginsberg in response to the DCCT results. Part one defined intensive therapy and gave an overview of the theories and techniques involved. The second part explains how to start an intensive therapy regimen and calculate your daily insulin doses. The third will deal with adjusting insulin doses when using intensive therapy. The goal of this series is to educate people with diabetes about intensive therapy and enable them to choose the therapy that is right for them.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1993
November 1993
My father, age 72, fell getting into bed and broke his hip in early September. After laying in pain on the floor of his bedroom for 24 hours, he was finally discovered and taken to the hospital. He underwent successful surgery to mend his hip, but came down with pneumonia the next day. I immediately drove to Sacramento to see him, and help take care of him. When I arrived, he was barely able to breath or talk. When I asked him if he wanted me to help him get better, he said he wasn't sure if he wanted to live or die. He had fractured his hip once before and he was clearly depressed over the prospect of having to relearn how to walk.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1993
August 1993
It took years of refining my multiple injection techniques for me to get my blood sugars down to the levels achieved in the DCCT study. It was tough, but with monitoring 8-10 times/day I was able to lower my average blood sugars and my hemoglobin A1C tests. During this period I could not get health insurance and had to save money wherever I could. I would reuse my syringes until the markings rubbed off and I would cut my strips in half. (Don't try this now because today's meters don't work with cut strips.) Then for a brief period in 1989 I was part of a group health insurance plan that paid for durable medical equipment. This enabled me to afford purchasing an insulin pump.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1993
Exciting research form Austria reports the develpment of a device which allows the continuous measurement of subcutaneous glucose concentration. Using a system of double lumen catheters, glucose concentration is callibrated simultaneous with insulin delivery. A series of in vivo experiments have been performed in both non-diabetic and insulin-dependent individuals with positive results, making closed-loop insulin infusion feasible. We eagerly await further details!
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1993
A team of French researchers report the success of an experimental study involving the implantation of a programmable insulin pump in 214 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes. The pumps used in the study were the MiniMed MIP 2001, the Infusaid M1000, and the Promedos 3. The pumps were implanted into the abdominal wall, with catheters inserted into the peritoneum (the membrane sac lining the abdominal cavity).
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1993
In a 28-week behavioral weight control program, 22 obese patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes (NIDDM) were recruited to determine the effects of self blood glucose monitoring (SBGM) in diabetes management. For the first eight weeks, all the participants met in weekly support groups. After eight weeks, the original group was divided in two, with the first half continuing the support groups, and the second adding SBGM and dietary carbohydrate counting. While the results in weight loss were identical for both groups, the study revealed that people in the support group experienced a substantial decline in HbA1c levels, followed by a rapid "rebound," while in the second group, HbA1c levels consistently declined. The results of the study suggest that SBGM and carbohydrate counting should be recognized as important tools in the management of non-insulin dependent as well as insulin-dependent diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1993
In light of the results of the DCCT, Dr. Barry Ginsberg has written a three-part series on intensive insulin therapy. Look for the continuation of Dr. Ginsberg's "How to Understand and Use Insulin" in future issues.
0 comments - Posted Aug 1, 1993
July 1993
The future of health care in America is going to involve more personal responsibility for self-care and preventive maintenance. We're going to have to learn to analyze and handle many of our own health problems, and one of the most effective ways to do this is through bibliotherapy.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1993
In an effort to report on all sides of the DCCT (Diabetes Control and Complications Trial), we interviewed eleven of the participants about their experiences; four on conventional therapy, four on multiple injections, and three on the pump. Here are excerpts from our interviews with them. It is interesting to note that whenever someone from the conventional therapy group became pregnant, she was transferred to one of the intensive therapies for the duration of the pregnancy.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1993
The National Institutes of Health have announced the results of a long-term study showing that intensive treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus slows the onset and progression of diabetes complications. For many people with diabetes, the standard treatment of one or two shots a day with infrequent blood sugar testing is not enough to prevent complications caused by high blood glucose. Results from this new study show that a tighter control of blood sugar can reduce the incidence of damage to eyes, kidneys, and nerves by 60% or more.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1993
For the last ten years the DCCT has been a big part of the participants' lives, affecting everything from what they eat to how they control their diabetes. The study is over now; the doctors have proven the effectiveness of intensive therapy, they have told us that tight control is the new standard in diabetes care. But they have not told us what the new therapies are like and how they affect our day to day life. For that we must talk to the participants themselves. We contacted eleven of the patients for their insights on the study and the therapies they used.
0 comments - Posted Jul 1, 1993
June 1993
Brett Michaels is the lead singer of the rock group, "Poison," which has sold over 15 million albums. As a rock star, he is on the road 9-10 months of the year, travelling throughout the United States and Europe. In this interview with Pat Gallagher on the live radio show, "Living with Diabetes," he shares his heartfelt ideas and philosophy about living with diabetes. Brett's unusual lifestyle and his willingness to be outspoken about his diabetes provide a sense of encouragement and inspiration to many young people with diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Jun 1, 1993
April 1993
Near-infrared, as you have no doubt heard, is supposedly a technology that allows the taking of a blood glucose reading without the need for a blood sample. The theory is simple: when you shine light on your hand, it passes through it and comes out on the other side (take a flashlight and put it up to your hand: if you look at it from the other side you'll see your hand glowing red). By analyzing the changes in the wavelengths of light after it has passed through an object, it is possible to determine the chemical makeup of that object. Every substance has a spectrum of light that it will absorb and emit; so in theory you can tell just how much glucose is in the blood by analyzing the intensity of the spectrum it emits.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1993
I'm sure you've heard about the non-invasive blood glucose sensors that everyone in the diabetic meter business is talking about; it is, after all, big news. The ability to take accurate glucose readings without the traditional finger-stick would be a blessing to people with diabetes. The estimated $500 million prize going to the inventor of such a device would be a blessing to whichever company produces the first one. The obstacles involved, however, insure that whoever wins it will have to work long and hard.
0 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1993
This is the third and fourth parts of a six part series on "How to Understand and Use Insulin." The goal of this series is to promote a better understanding of insulin for those readers who already take insulin, including the many people with Type II diabetes who have switched from pills to insulin to treat their diabetes. The first and second parts of the series dealt with the technical factors involved in minimizing variations in insulin absorption. These parts focus on adjusting insulin, and parts five and six will focus on insulin research.
6 comments - Posted Apr 1, 1993
February 1993
Diabetes in cats, dogs, and even birds is not uncommon, and as in humans, it can be controlled once it is diagnosed. The basic rule is that any animal with a pancreas has the potential for contracting the disease, and that includes most household pets. Common symptoms to look for are very similar to those found in humans: increased thirst, urination, and weight loss.
9 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1993
New developments in materials, bio-engineering techniques and other disciplines have recently taken the concept of artificial organs from fantasy to reality. EU 346 PANART-Artificial Pancreas, for example, aims to develop an implanted artificial insulin delivery system, which promises to give diabetes sufferers a more normal and healthy lifestyle.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1993
This is the second part of a six part series on "How to Understand and Use Insulin." The goal of this series is to promote a better understanding of insulin for those readers who already take insulin, including the many people with Type 2 diabetes who have switched from pills to insulin to treat their diabetes. The first and second parts of the series discuss the technical factors involved in minimizing variations in insulin absorption. Parts three and four will focus on adjusting insulin, and parts five and six will focus on insulin research.
0 comments - Posted Feb 1, 1993
January 1993
A study from France has concluded that implantable insulin pumps have proven to be reasonably safe and effective on a large scale, although time-limited, basis. The study was conducted by researchers from the EVADIAC Group in France.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1993
This is the first of a six part series on "How to Understand and Use Insulin." The goal of this series is to promote a better understanding of insulin for those readers who already take insulin, including the many people with Type 2 diabetes who have switched from pills to insulin to treat their diabetes. The first and second part of the series will discuss the technical factors involved in minimizing variations in insulin absorption. Parts three and four will focus on adjusting insulin, and parts five and six will focus on insulin research.
1 comment - Posted Jan 1, 1993
Last October, the International Diabetic Athletes Association (IDAA-USA) met in Phoenix, Arizona, for its annual meeting. At the conference, 60 active men and women shared information on methods of integrating a vigorous lifestyle with diabetes. Most of the speakers were athletes and health professionals who spoke of diabetes and exercise from personal experience.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1993
December 1992
To have my own mother come down with diabetes was quite of a shock. It is a big issue for me because my life is already dedicated to helping people with diabetes get a fair shake, and this is such a switch. I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was 17, and it was my mom that cared for me and brought information into our home. Now I have the chance to impact her life in much the same way.
0 comments - Posted Dec 1, 1992
November 1992
In a study published in The Diabetes Educator, May/June 1992, researchers conducted a survey to evaluate the opinions of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes concerning their use of jet injectors for insulin delivery. It was also the intent of the researchers to find out if the use of a jet injector affected the patient's commitment to their treatment program.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1992
Dr. Nancy Bohannon is actively involved in diabetes research and operates a full-time private practice in Internal Medicine, specializing in Diabetes and Endocrinology. Recently Dr. Bohannon spoke to Scott King via telephone from her office in San Francisco about current protocols available for predicting and preventing Type 1 diabetes.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1992
Nearly 5,000 years ago in India, the physician Susruta described a disease "brought on by gluttonous overindulgence in rice, flour, and sugar," in which urine is "like an elephant's in quantity."
6 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1992
To make the withdrawal of insulin easier, Diabetes Insulcap, Inc. has created the Insulcap, a device that allows for the use of both hands on the syringe when removing insulin from the bottle.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1992
We interviewed Cascade Medical after hearing that they had aligned themselves with Boston Advanced Technologies (B.A.T.). B.A.T. recently announced that they had received a grant form NASA to build the first non-invasive blood glucose testing device to go into space. We reached Richard E. Jones, Ph.D., president and CEO of Cascade Medical, at Cascade's headquarters in Eden Prarie, Minnesota.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1992
On June 1, 1992, the Diabetes Association of Greater Cleveland introduced their new and improved Instant Glucose. An advantage of purchasing their improved Instant Glucose is that 100% of the net profits go to support diabetes research.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1992
International Technidyne Corporation (ITC) of Edison, New Jersey, has announced that their Tenderlett finger incision device was been selected by NASA for use in space. In March, NASA sent ITC's Tenderlett device into space with seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis I.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1992
A new line of medical ID jewelry is currently being marketed that will allow easy access to the wearer's personal medical information. Inventor Audrey Eller has created a collection of lockets and bracelets that contain folded inserts disclosing medical information about the wearer. The folded insert can include information about personal physicians, allergies, special medications, blood types, and diabetes status.
1 comment - Posted Nov 1, 1992
Dr. Alan Marcus is a diabetes specialist who practices in Laguna Hills, California. He is also a medical advisor to MiniMed Technologies and a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk Insulin. Dr. Marcus also serves as Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine for the USC School of Medicine.
0 comments - Posted Nov 1, 1992
September 1991
Tamara Norris and Cyndie Flores are insulin pump users who started their own business selling pump accesories. In talking with DIABETES HEALTH, Tamara and Cyndie discuss their first experiences using the insulin pump, and their decision to go into business.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1991
On July 1st,1991, San Francisco introduced a pilot program, initiated by Scott King, Editor in Chief of DIABETES HEALTH, to help reduce the risk of city garbage collectors getting stuck by syringe needles.
0 comments - Posted Sep 1, 1991
January 1991
On August 17, Animas Corporation and the Diabetes Trust Fund announced the creation of The Diabetes Trust Fund Insulin Pump Plan, valued at $200,000. The program will be aimed at offering insulin pumps and supplies to type 1 children and teens in financial need.
0 comments - Posted Jan 1, 1991