Investigate.Inform. Inspire
Dear Nadia, I just started dating someone I really like. When do you think it’s a good time to tell this person I have diabetes? I don’t want to scare him off. Anne Portland OR Dear Anne Your question is somewhat subjective. In my personal experience, when I first started dating my previous husband, who has type 1 diabetes, he first told me about
Read more
I love carbohydrates, and sometimes, I hate carbohydrates. I think part of my love/hate relationship with food goes back to the days just before my diagnosis of type 1 as a teenager. At 18 years old, I was suddenly eating everything in sight as the hunger from my high blood sugar, due to undiagnosed diabetes, kicked in. I lost more and more weight and became
Read more
Hi Nadia, I have had Type 2 diabetes for ten years and I control it with diet and exercise. My fasting sugar levels are always high. My sugar level will not go down. What do I need to do to bring my fasting blood sugar level down? Thank you, Jack Dear Jack: I am assuming that when you say fasting blood sugar, you mean your
Read more
The first time Gavin Griffiths ran a marathon to raise money for his local diabetes clinic, the local newspaper reporter told him, “you’re plucky, but you don’t stand a chance.” Spurred by the words of anti-inspiration, Griffiths – nicknamed the Diathlete, a superhero moniker for a tough endurance athlete – ended up running the 29-mile coastal race in England’s county of Kent in just a
Read more
The headline sounded too good to be true. Scientists were reporting that the old-fashioned licorice stick contains a natural substance called amorfrutins that not only lowers blood sugar but also reduces inflammation. Great news, right? Not if you’re taking the heart medication Lanoxin, also known as digoxin. In that case, regularly snacking on even a modest amount of licorice could increase your risk for developing
Read more
“I was just diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and was wondering if I should be tested for celiac disease? Dave Madison Wisconsin Hello Dave, It estimated that 1% of the population has celiac disease. If you have Type 1 diabetes, you have an 8% chance of having celiac disease. It is an autoimmune disorder that may or may not have visible symptoms Some physicians recommend
Read more
With kidney disease one of the most devastating complications of type 2 diabetes – and a risk for about 35 percent of those with the disease – a new study suggests that losing weight can help significantly lower the risk of nephropathy in overweight or obese adults with type 2. In fact, according to a study that appeared in the journal The Lancet Diabetes &
Read more
A past Wall Street Journal article shows once again how misinformation about diabetes-related topics can be spread by even the most expert journalists. The article, headlined “Eli Lilly to Pay for Right to Sell Diabetes Treatment Outside U.S.,” begins, “Eli Lilly & Co. will pay Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. for the right to sell a controversial diabetes treatment outside of the U.S.” (our italics) The article discusses Lilly purchasing the
Read more
Dear Nadia, Is there any promising research for curing type 1 diabetes? Seven years in our family. Any hope? Steve, Twitter Follower Dear Steve: Yes, there is hope—a considerable amount of it, thanks to research focusing on ways to “tell” the body not to mistakenly attack insulin-producing beta cells. This means that at some point, although I can’t guess how soon, we will be able
Read more
Diabetes self-care is much more fun when I’m happy. It’s so much easier when I have a smile on my face. For a long time I thought negative emotions could be controlled or denied. I thought I could just put on a smile, and they would go away. But they didn’t. Then I ran across the work of David Reynolds Ph.D. In his book, “Pools
Read more