Dan Hurley and Diabetes Rising

I’ve got an interview up today with Dan Hurley, author of the new book, Diabetes Rising — and wanted to write a quick blog post to mention one of my favorite parts of the book: Hurley’s ear for analogies for life with diabetes that are so spot-on that I made my husband listen as I read them out loud.

Consider this simile, courtesy of a systems engineer working on the software to control a closed-loop insulin pump, about why controlling blood sugar is so difficult — especially since, as Hurley points out, it involves only two variables: insulin and sugar level.

“The glucose you measure with a continuous glucose monitor was accurate fifteen minutes ago,” explains the engineer. “The insulin you take does not start acting for twenty minutes, ahs a peak of action around forty-five minutes, and it continues to act for up to three hours. So you are acting on out-of-date data, and you’re using a mode of action that will only kick in much later on. It’s like you’re driving a car down a winding road — but you aren’t able to see that the road turned until you are fifteen yards past it, and turning the wheel will have no effect for two hundred yards more. If you’re driving a car like that, you’d better have a good map.”

So true. Thanks again, Dan, for speaking with us about the book.

Catherine Price

Catherine Price (www.catherine-price.com) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. She has written for publications including The Best American Science Catherine Price is a professional journalist who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. Her work has been featured in publications including The Best American Science Writing, The New York Times, Popular Science, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Magazine, Salon, Slate, Men’s Journal, Health Magazine, The Oprah Magazine, and Outside, among others. A graduate of Yale and UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism

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Catherine Price

Catherine Price was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. She has written for publications including The Best American Science Catherine Price is a professional journalist who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 22 years old. Her work has been featured in publications including The Best American Science Writing, The New York Times, Popular Science, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Magazine, Salon, Slate, Men’s Journal, Health Magazine, The Oprah Magazine, and Outside, among others. A graduate of Yale and UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism