Everything Is Simple
By Scott Coulter
Two weeks ago, I left one of my part-time jobs. For years, I have worked as a clinical social worker, musician, and music teacher. Today, I am a musician and music teacher. The change has been a long time coming, as I've found myself drifting further and further away from the field of social work, and finding more and more enjoyment in the role of teaching. And of course I've always enjoyed playing music.
Making this change is a major step, as I leave behind a field I have been a part of for a number of years. I'm STILL paying off my social work graduate school student loans, and will be for some time. It'...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 24, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott Coulter Source Type: blogs
Do You Know Your Insulin Level?
By David Spero
People often keep close watch on their glucose numbers. But how many of us know our insulin level? Dr. Joseph Mercola says fasting insulin is "the number that may best predict your sudden death." Sounds important. But what does it mean?
Our bodies need some circulating insulin at all times, even when we don't eat. Otherwise, our livers keep making glucose and dumping it into the blood. Livers do this to prevent blood glucose from going too low.
So a fasting insulin level should never be 0, which it might be in a person with untreated Type 1. It shouldn't go below 3. But a high insulin level is just as prob...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 23, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
The Same, But Different
This study helps confirm the notion that there are no foods or lifestyle choices that are bad for people with diabetes but good for people without it, or vice versa. But its finding that certain foods lead to a greater benefit, or greater harm, in people with diabetes raises question of whether people with diabetes should receive different dietary advice — if receiving the same recommendations, but being told they matter more for you, counts as different advice.
What do you think — should health-care professionals point out what lifestyle factors are most important for the health of people with diabetes, or sim...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 23, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
Sonja
By Jan Chait
I should have realized, when Sonja told me she’d given her dog away because she could no longer care for him, that she wasn’t at the top of her game. It didn’t seem like it was that long ago, and it probably wasn’t. I lose track of time a lot.
At any rate, I got a call Monday morning from a mutual friend (aka my traveling bud) saying that Sonja had passed. She was 75, a retired Air Force Major — and the RN, CDE who taught me about diabetes.
Sonja probably saved my life. I say that because, when I first met her, my last known HbA1c was 17.4%. Not too many months after my first sess...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 22, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jan Chait Source Type: blogs
Take 10…and Carry On!
By Amy Campbell
I'm taking a liberty this week with the ever-popular quote from a World War II British safety poster: Keep Calm and Carry On. If you're wondering what the context is here, it's exercise. Yes, I know you've heard and read numerous times that exercise is important, and that you should aim for at least 30 minutes, five times a week. The question, though, is are you doing it?
Grim statistics
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) looked at survey data from 450,000 American adults across all 50 states. Folks were asked about how much aerobic activity they got outside of work, and for how long. The ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 21, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs
Free NeedyMeds Webinars
By Web Team
If you're dealing with an unexpected medical bill, a bill that cost more than you'd expected, or a copay that was higher than you'd anticipated, then you'll want to sign up for a special Webinar being run this month by NeedyMeds.
"Assistance with Expensive Bills with Medical Bill Mediation," presented by Thad Puckett, Vice President of Technology at the Karis Group, will explain how to find help for out-of-pocket medical costs you can't afford. The Webinar will be taking place on October 22 from 2–3 PM EDT. To register for the free Webinar, click here.
NeedyMeds, a "nonprofit information resource dev...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 19, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
Sleep Duration Linked to Chronic Conditions
By Diane Fennell
We have previously written about the connection between sleep and health, including the role of sleep apnea in Type 2 diabetes, the importance of sleep for heart health, and the link between poor sleep and diabetes control. Now a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) further underscores the association, finding that too much or too little sleep is linked to a variety of chronic health conditions.
To determine how sleep duration is related to obesity, anxiety, coronary heart disease, and diabetes, researchers looked at data from 54,269 adults age 45 or older who had completed ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 18, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs
Risk Chain
By Scott Coulter
Resilience is the ability to "bounce back," to encounter a setback or a trauma, a disappointment or a failure, and carry forward. It's opposite might be helplessness, the inability to recover, to take a next step, to move past the initial trauma. Therapists are in the business of helping people find their inner resilience. A common misconception about therapy is that it "finds solutions" and "fixes problems." Well, kind of. But it's not like therapy tries to make trauma suddenly NOT traumatic, or make feelings of sadness GO AWAY. Rather, it aims to normalize those feelings, to help a person experience them...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 17, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Scott Coulter Source Type: blogs
Who Would You Be Without Diabetes?
By David Spero
Chronic illness is part of me, and I wish it wasn't so much. I wonder if the same is true for you. When you think about who you are, is "person with diabetes" near the top of the list? How has diabetes changed you? Who would you be without it?
Some people don't like to think about such questions. Our condition might improve, but it is probably not going away, so why waste time imagining the impossible? But I think considering who we would like to be can help us deal with the lives we have now.
You were someone before you had diabetes. Now that you have diabetes, is that person gone? Who was he or she, and ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 16, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: David Spero Source Type: blogs
Eat Junk! (Slam Dunk)
By Quinn Phillips
It's no secret that many, if not most, foods and beverages advertised on television are not exactly healthy. Advertisements for sugar-laden soft drinks vastly outnumber those for milk, just as ads for high-calorie snacks are seen far more than ads for fresh fruits and vegetables. Usually, food and beverage advertisements feature unknown actors who emphasize how great the product tastes, or how fun it is to consume. But when an advertisement features someone who is far from unknown — say, a famous actress or a professional athlete — viewers tend to associate that person's talent, beauty, or ath...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 16, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Quinn Phillips Source Type: blogs
Chilly With a Chance of Chili
By Jan Chait
Brrrrr! It's getting chilly here. I'm now waking up with a cat plastered to my side. It's bad enough in the mornings, but especially annoying when I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Whichever cat it is digs his claws into my jammies in an effort to keep me from dislodging him. It's like peeling off Velcro. Very vocal Velcro. That fights back.
Can't say that I blame the cat. I don't like leaving the warmth, either. Sometimes, however, putting up with a little short-term discomfort beats experiencing longer-term consequences. Like checking our blood glucose and using the information to keep...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 15, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Jan Chait Source Type: blogs
Shared Medical Appointments: Are They for You?
By Amy Campbell
A few years ago, I needed to make an appointment with one of my doctors. I was told that I could see her sooner if I attended a group appointment, otherwise known as shared medical appointment (SMA). At first, I was very hesitant. A group visit? With my doctor and other patients? How strange. I admit, I was very skeptical and I didn't go in there with a very open mind. But I went.
The group was all women and was led by the doctor and a nurse practitioner. All of our relevant medical information, such as labs and medications, was listed on the board. We went around the room and discussed our issues and conc...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 15, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs
Study on Stress in Type 2
By Web Team
If you're an adult with Type 2 diabetes between the ages of 18 and 40, then researchers want to hear from you.
Investigators at the University of Florida want to learn more about stress and coping in people with Type 2. They are seeking participants to respond to a roughly 20-minute online survey chronicling their experiences living with diabetes, including how they cope with the condition and how it has affected their lives. Survey responses are confidential and will not be linked to the participants' identities.
One out of every 25 participants who completes the survey will be randomly selected to receiv...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 12, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Web Team Source Type: blogs
Exercise May Equal Meds for Common Conditions
By Diane Fennell
The health benefits of exercise, such as helping control blood glucose and maintain weight loss, are well known. But new evidence published in the journal BMJ indicates that physical activity may be as effective as drugs at reducing the risk of death in people with stroke, heart disease, and prediabetes.
Much research has been done to evaluate the effectiveness of medicines in treating health conditions, but to date, few studies have been conducted to determine the relative effectiveness of physical activity for treating those conditions. To address this gap in knowledge, researchers analyzed results fr...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - October 11, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Diane Fennell Source Type: blogs
