I learned that I had type 2 diabetes in February 1994. A dozen years later, I knew I had to make a change. Technically speaking, I was "morbidly obese." I'm tall - 6 feet, 2½ inches - but I tipped the scales at 312 pounds and had a body mass index (BMI) of 40.

7 comments - 28 Nov 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 - 28 Nov 2007 -

Insulin resistance specifically in the brain is being proposed as the reason for the memory loss that characterizes Alzheimer's disease. Because Alzheimer's may be caused by insulin-related dysfunction, some scientists are calling Alzheimer's by a new name: type 3 diabetes.

1 comment - 27 Nov 2007 -

Many medications, both oral and injectable, exist to manage blood glucose in type 2 diabetes. Even insulin has many different formulations, including fast-acting and long-acting analogs as well as various pre-mixed combinations of faster and slower acting insulins in the same vial.

9 comments - 27 Nov 2007 -

Novo Nordisk's Levemir, which came out about five years after sanofi-aventis's Lantus, constitutes about twenty percent of the long-acting basal insulin sold worldwide. Lantus, the only other long-acting insulin analogue, makes up the other eighty percent.

3 comments - 26 Nov 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 - 26 Nov 2007 -

In July, I flew from New York City to Phoenix to meet my new book agent. (Trust me, I would not have deliberately sought out 100-degree weather without good reason.) Always thinking ahead, I decided to bring along a fancy new bag specially insulated to keep my insulin cool. Alas, either the bag failed me, or I failed the bag.

3 comments - 25 Nov 2007 -

Dear Diabetes Health, My 82-year-old father is a type 2 diabetic. He is in extreme pain due to an ulcer on his toe and is at risk of amputation of his foot. Here in Canada, the doctors are quick to amputate.

11 comments - 24 Nov 2007 -

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter; that is, a molecule that carries messages between neurons in your brain. It's a feel-good neurotransmitter that makes you think "I want that! I'm going to get it! And wow, that was great!"

3 comments - 24 Nov 2007 -

In the early 1980s, human insulin produced by recombinant DNA technology came onto the market. It was the first time that this technology had been used in medicine, so hopes were high.

8 comments - 23 Nov 2007 -