This morning, the Medtronic Diabetes Group held a conference call for a small group of diabetes writers to give an update on its new MiniMed 670G…
Living with diabetes is stressful, frustrating and exhausting, and my general response to people who encourage me to find the bright side of diabetes is to want to slap them. Nonetheless, while I’d take a successful pancreas transplant in a heartbeat, there are certain benefits that diabetes can provide.
The 670G actually uses data from the sensor to give you insulin. This is an enormous step toward a genuine closed loop/artificial pancreas system, and is a really big deal.
In its May bulletin to healthcare providers, UnitedHealthcare (@myUHC) announced that, starting July 1st 2016, Medtronic would be its “preferred” in-network provider of insulin pumps for its adult customers with Type 1 diabetes. This means that, with a few exceptions, if you’ve got Type 1 diabetes and health insurance from United, your next pump is going to be Medtronic. And since United is the nation’s largest insurance company, it’s conceivable that other insurance companies will follow suit.
Medtronic announced on June 27 that it has submitted its Hybrid Closed Loop System (otherwise known as the MMT-670G system) to the FDA for approval. While not technically an artificial pancreas, the system consists of two parts: an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor. Once the system has been calibrated, the pump uses the readings from the CGM (which are taken every five minutes) to deliver insulin, with the goal of keeping blood sugars within a target range.
Morning sickness sucks for everyone, but for women with pre-existing diabetes, it can be dangerous: if you eat food and take insulin – and then throw up the food you took the insulin to cover – you’re at risk of a serious low blood sugar. (And unfortunately, “morning sickness” can occur at any time during the day, contrary to its name.) Making things even trickier, many women with morning sickness find that easy-to-digest carbs like saltines and pretzels are the easiest thing to keep down – foods that are hardly a diabetic’s best friend.
My new book, VITAMANIA: Our Obsessive Quest for Nutritional Perfection is being published today by Penguin Press. It’s about the history of vitamins and how they’ve influenced the way we think about nutrition.
So you’ve got type 1 diabetes and you’re thinking about having a baby. We’re not going to lie: pregnancy with type 1 diabetes isn’t a walk in the park. But we’re also here to tell you that you can have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. Here’s the first of a four-part series on what to expect when you’re expecting with type 1 diabetes, starting with pre-conception: what to do and be aware of before you even try to get pregnant.
I’ve always loved to travel, and so when I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 22, one of my biggest fears was that the disease was going to keep me tethered to home. Thankfully, nearly 14 years later, I’ve learned that diabetes doesn’t have to limit my adventures, as long as I’m thoughtful and prepared – and I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to far-flung places including China, Croatia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Siberia, Mongolia and Tibet. Here are my top 15 tips for how to take your broken pancreas on the road, whether you’re headed someplace exotic, or just relaxing on a beach.
Summer with diabetes can be tough. It’s the season of beer and sangria, juicy watermelon, sweet corn, and, at least if you’re in my neighborhood, a full hour of the Mr. Softee truck’s siren song every single afternoon. So this summer, I decided to search for diabetes-friendly kitchen gadgets that would enable me to enjoy summer and keep my diabetes under control.