Peripheral Neuropathy Trial Now Enrolling
By Web Team
Do you have Type 1 diabetes and peripheral neuropathy? Then you may be interested in the Act1ve Trial, which is currently enrolling participants.
People with Type 1 diabetes lose the ability to produce both insulin and a related substance known as C-peptide. Current Type 1 treatment focus on replacing insulin, but not C-peptide. According to biopharmaceutical manufacturer Cebix, "Published clinical studies suggest that C-peptide is an active hormone in its own right and may be useful in treating complications of type 1 diabetes, particularly loss of sensation (neuropathy)." Cebix has developed a long-acting ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 27, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
Eating Nuts May Lengthen Life
By Diane Fennell
People who eat nuts, and in particular walnuts, more than three times a week have a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer, according to new research from Spain. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in people who have diabetes.
Previous studies have indicated that increasing nut consumption can lower the risk of death from coronary heart disease and cancer. To investigate the link between frequency of nut consumption and risk of death in those at high cardiovascular risk, researchers looked at over 7,000 older people (ages 55 to 90) in Spain. Participants were rando...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 26, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs
Your Body Doesn't Know the Difference
By Scott Coulter
I tend to write about various aspects of stress, mindfulness, and the psychology of diabetes fairly often. My background as a therapist probably has a lot to do with that. In any event, I was looking through my old blog entries the other day and thought it might be interesting to see what I could find out about the actual physical impact of stress on blood glucose. I tend to write about the psychological impact of it, and that's certainly an integral part of the issue with chronic stress, but it has been shown to have physical effects on health — not just for people with diabetes, but for absolutely ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 25, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott Coulter Source Type: blogs
UK Doc: Type 2 Often Curable
By David Spero
According to Dr. Roy Taylor of the United Kingdom's University of Newcastle, we need to change our understanding of what causes Type 2 diabetes. Then we can treat it and reverse it. What is this new understanding?
Dr. Taylor made headlines in 2011 when his team "reversed" Type 2 diabetes in 11 people by putting them on a 600-calorie-a-day diet. His subjects achieved normal glucose levels within a week. That's not so amazing. If you don't eat, your glucose numbers will of course come down. But by the end of the eight-week study, most of them achieved normal numbers on a glucose tolerance test, which is much h...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 24, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
Stairway to Health
By Quinn Phillips
Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City has long been known for his often controversial efforts to improve the health of New Yorkers — including his successful campaigns to outlaw smoking in restaurants and parks, ban trans fats in restaurants, and require the posting of calorie counts at chain restaurants, as well as his more recent unsuccessful push to limit the serving size of sugary beverages sold by certain vendors. Perhaps to make up for this last defeat — or maybe just because Bloomberg will be Bloomberg — the mayor seems not to be slowing down in his final months in office, anno...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 23, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
Depressed
By Jan Chait
Nearly 7% of people in the United States are diagnosed with depression, says the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH). And if you have diabetes, you’re twice as likely to be depressed as somebody who doesn’t.
NIMH says scientists don’t know if diabetes increases your risk of being depressed...or if depression increases the risk of having diabetes. Perhaps it’s both, as current research suggests.
“In addition to possibly increasing your risk for depression, diabetes may make symptoms of depression worse,” according to information from NIMH.
The stress of managing diab...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 23, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jan Chait Source Type: blogs
2013 DiabetesMine Patient Voices Contest: Last Chance to Enter
By Web Team
Do you have ideas about how to best use diabetes technology to improve health outcomes and lives? Then you'll want to enter this year's "Patient Voices Contest," run by DiabetesMine.com.
In an effort to spark discussions "that lead to faster and better development, design, and accelerated adoption of innovations to improve life with diabetes," the site is asking readers to submit a 2–3 minute video testimonial, presentation slides, or photos describing what health outcomes matter to them the most; how they want diabetes technology to fit into their lives; and/or what their biggest concerns are about th...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 22, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
More on Sweeteners: Aspartame
By Amy Campbell
Once again, I'd like to thank everyone for their commentary, feedback, and questions regarding the two sweeteners I've recently written about: Splenda and Nectresse. Due to popular demand, I've decided to extend my series and focus this week on another standby, aspartame.
Aspartame
Aspartame is one of the older nonnutritive sweeteners, having been discovered in 1965. However, it has only been used in the US since the 1980's. Sold under the brand names Equal and NutraSweet, It's also one of the most commonly used sweeteners. Its patent expired in 1992, so generic versions of aspartame are now sold as well. T...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 22, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs
2013 Weekend for Women
By Web Team
If you're a woman with diabetes, you'll want to mark your calendar for the 2013 Weekend for Women in San Francisco, organized by the nonprofit group DiabetesSisters.
Scheduled for October 4–6, the Weekend for Women conference aims to "educate, inspire, and transform women's view of their diabetes so that they can live full, happy lives with the disease." In addition to a keynote speech by a "woman of courage" living with diabetes, the weekend includes a variety of educational and social events, such as breakout sessions featuring diabetes experts, a celebratory dinner, a "Partner's Perspective Program"...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 20, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
Insulin Infusion Set Recall
By Diane Fennell
On July 7, 2013, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reclassified Medtronic's voluntary June recall of Medtronic Minimed Paradigm infusion sets as a class I recall (the most serious type of recall). The recall was initiated because the infusion sets have the potential to cause over- or under-delivery of insulin, which could result in low or high blood glucose levels.
If insulin or other fluids come in contact with the inside of the connector on Medtronic Paradigm infusion sets, the liquid can temporarily block the vents in the connector that allow the pump to properly prime. If the vents are block...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 19, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs
Ain't No Quit in a Diabetian!
By Scott Coulter
Ain't No Quit in a Diabetian!
I've spent the last five days learning more than I ever cared to know about plumbing. My wife and I decided, after years of living with a leaky faucet that required us to turn the hot water on and off by turning the shutoff valve UNDER the sink, to replace our faucet with a new one that would work properly. And we figured we might as well also replace our old dishwasher, which didn't work and recently started ending each cycle with about two inches of brownish standing water in the basin. Needless to say we've been washing our dishes by hand for quite a while (and each time, r...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 18, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott Coulter Source Type: blogs
How Do You Keep Diabetes Logs?
By David Spero
One of the most important self-management skills is keeping logs of health-related information. Do you do that? What do you keep records of? Are you consistent with logging, and does it help?
I'm working a lot these days with people newly diagnosed with Type 2. I believe logging will help them understand how their bodies work and what affects their diabetes, but maybe I'm wrong. How can I help them start with logging, and should I? What should they log, and how can they do that?
I'm asking for help because logging is a skill I'm terrible at. I trust my memory on things like what I ate, how far I could walk,...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 17, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
Medicare and Chronic Care
By Quinn Phillips
When it comes to treating chronic conditions like diabetes, one common complaint among both doctors and patients is that the health-care system is geared toward providing care for acute medical conditions: those that arise quickly and can usually be resolved quickly. Providing adequate chronic care can be difficult for many reasons, but among them is the way doctors are paid for providing care. As we noted back in 2011, doctors tend to lose money on patients with diabetes due to the extra time these people require. Doctor practices tend not to bill a patient's insurance provider — whether that provi...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 17, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
Survey on Diabetes Alert Dogs
By Web Team
Do you have diabetes and a dog who can tell when your blood glucose level is low or high? Then researchers from the University of Connecticut Health Center want to hear from you!
The investigators are conducting an online survey to see how well dogs can warn people when they have hypo- or hyperglycemia. Whether you purchased a trained diabetes alert dog or the dog naturally took up this role, whether you currently have a dog like this or have had one in the past, whether your dog is good or poor at detecting your glucose levels, your input is welcome.
The survey takes about 25 minutes and is open only to p...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 16, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
A Tale of Two Sweeteners: Part 2 — Nectresse
By Amy Campbell
Thanks to all who submitted comments and questions on last week's posting about Splenda. What a great response! This week, I'll focus on the other sweetener made by McNeil Nutritionals called Nectresse.
Nectresse
Nectresse is the brand name of a relatively new sweetener that is sometimes called monk fruit extract or luo han guo (or kuo). Monk fruit (also known as Buddha fruit) is a melon-like gourd that is found in China and Northern Thailand. It got its name from the monks that cultivated it hundreds of years ago, and the fruit was somewhat of a folk remedy to help treat certain ailments, such as coughing...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - July 15, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs
