Thank you all for making this ASweetLife’s best year yet.<\/p>\n
Happy New Year!<\/p>\n
Comparing Dexcom G4 Platinum and Medtronic Minimed<\/a> by Karmel Allison<\/h2>\n![\"\"](\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" "\\"Dexcom")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhen I originally chose the Minimed, one of the biggest deciding factors was that I was already wearing a pump, and didn\u2019t want to carry around an extra receiver (which, at the time, was the fugly, egg-shaped Dexcom one). Switching over to the Dexcom, I worried about the extra burden of yet another device, but two months in, it hasn\u2019t been that bad. The receiver was designed to look Apple-y, and it\u2019s fun to show off the color plot of my blood glucose values to all my (admittedly geeky) friends. My first thought\u2013 and several friends have echoed this\u2013 was that it looks like an old, knock-off iPod. Beyond style, though, this means that the device is small and light, and I can carry it in my pocket. (As a point of comparison, I can\u2019t carry my iPhone comfortably in my pocket, so smaller-than-my-pocket is an important measure.) \u00a0Read more<\/a><\/p>\nAn Attempt to Cure Type 1 Diabetes<\/a> by Alex O’Meara<\/h2>\n<\/a><\/p>\nI got diabetes twice. Once when I was 11, and the second time when I was 42. It took the second time to show me all that I\u2019d learned from it the first time around.<\/p>\n
When I was 40 years old I had a unique opportunity to take part in a clinical trial to cure type 1 diabetes by receiving an islet cell transplant. Islet cells are the actual engines of insulin production in a pancreas. By transplanting islet cells into my liver it was hoped they would function like islet cells do in a person without diabetes, and I would be cured of the condition that had defined a great deal of my life for almost 30 years. \u00a0Read more<\/a><\/p>\nIn the Waiting Room, A Dance<\/a> by Jane Kokernak<\/h2>\n<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cClean your hands here.\u201d\u00a0 The sign, next to a pump bottle filled with clear gel, welcomes me to the hematology\/oncology suite at this Boston hospital. Everywhere I go \u2014 grocery store, gym, elementary school \u2014 I am exhorted to do my part in the war against germs. Sanitized, I take the clipboard from the receptionist and fill out forms before moving among clusters of chairs, looking for a magazine other than\u00a0Golf<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Prevention<\/em>. I study a hospital pamphlet that hyperbolizes hope. It irritates me. But I am often irritated by cheerful messages conveyed in institutional publications. It\u2019s not hope I dislike. It\u2019s the prescription of hope. These hospital pamphlets remind me of the churchy magazines for children that were stacked on the end tables in the waiting room of my childhood dentist. They often featured fictional stories of dying children who were promised a future with God, and they terrified me.<\/p>\nAs a person with a chronic illness \u2013 I was diagnosed as an adult with Type 1 diabetes more than 20 years ago \u2013 I have spent a lot of time in medical waiting rooms. I have come to know their rhythms and reading material well. Read more<\/a><\/p>\nWhy is Everyone Talking About Glucagon<\/a>\u00a0by Karmel Allison<\/h2>\n<\/a><\/p>\nThe problem is that glucagon is a finicky peptide, even more so than insulin. The glucagon in rescue kits is a powder, because glucagon does not stay dissolved in saline. In order to have glucagon to use in daily treatment or pump systems, we need it in liquid form. Up until now, no one has been able to create a stable, soluble glucagon \u2014 arguably because there is no reason for pharmaceutical companies or academics to invest so much time and effort into solubilizing a hormone that is only used in rescue kits.<\/p>\n
Several companies, including\u00a0Enject<\/a>\u00a0and, more recently,\u00a0Biodel<\/a>, are trying to create devices that make it easy to mix the powder and saline on-demand. This solves the problem of the hard-to-use rescue kits, but does not solve the glucagon problem for pumps or frequently used, glucose-tab-sized micro-doses of glucagon. However, all the excitement around glucagon in the artificial pancreas has led the\u00a0JDRF to enter into partnerships<\/a>\u00a0with two new companies trying to make soluble glucagon. Read More<\/a><\/p>\nAccepting Diabetes: A Man\u2019s Journey<\/a> by Marlin Barton<\/h2>\n<\/a><\/p>\nI\u2019d known the symptoms since I was ten years old. My maternal grandmother was a Type 1 diabetic with highly fluctuating blood sugar, what was called a \u201cbrittle\u201d diabetic then, and I remember watching her give herself shots of insulin while sitting at a desk in her kitchen early in the morning beneath a small light. Like all kids, I hated shots. I told her I could never do that. \u201cYes you could,\u201d she said most gently, \u201cif you had to.\u201d<\/p>\n
At age thirty-seven, I began to notice a constant thirst, and of course an almost constant need to urinate. What I didn\u2019t really notice was the weight loss, not until people I knew began to comment on how thin I looked. One symptom I didn\u2019t know about was the fatigue. I just knew every afternoon I needed a nap, and in an attempt to keep my energy level up, I\u2019d eat a candy bar, which now strikes me as downright funny. Read More<\/a><\/p>\nWhy You Should Worry About the Accuracy of Your Glucose Test Strips<\/a>\u00a0by Catherine Price<\/h2>\n<\/a><\/p>\nthere is currently no system in place in the United States to ensure that test strips and meters continue to achieve this level of accuracy once the FDA has cleared the meter for market. (What\u2019s more, the FDA\u2019s initial approval is based on data supplied by the manufacturers themselves; not from random meters bought off store shelves.) This means that if a meter got cleared for sale ten years ago, the FDA has likely never evaluated the meter again. Suppliers change; manufacturing practices change; production line managers change; production sites change. All of these factors can affect quality and accuracy (and, if those studies are to be believed, definitely are affecting quality and accuracy) \u2014 and yet there is no requirement or system in the United States for any sort of post-market quality assurance. Read More<\/a><\/p>\nSticking it to Diabetes<\/a> by Kerri Sparling<\/h2>\n<\/a><\/p>\nI\u2019m not anti-cupcake.\u00a0 Quite the contrary \u2013 I think they\u2019re delicious, I love baking them, and I love making them as decadent as possible.\u00a0 They are a treat, and an excellently indulgent one, at that.<\/p>\n
But man, they are an absolute disaster for my blood sugars.\u00a0 Rarely do I have a cupcake (or similarly sweet treat) without seeing either a high blood sugar as a result of under-bolusing, or a low blood sugar due to overcompensating for the mountain of frosting.\u00a0 I can\u2019t lie and pretend I have the whole cupcake-to-chaos avoidance ratio figured out.\u00a0 My diabetes simply doesn\u2019t respond well to overly-indulgent treats.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople with diabetes can eat anything,\u201d \u00a0\u201dthey\u201d say.<\/p>\n
Yes, yes they can.\u00a0 They can physically bring a food item to their mouth and consume it.\u00a0 This is true.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a matter of \u201ccan\u2019t,\u201d but \u201cshould.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople with diabetes shouldn\u2019t ever eat cupcakes,\u201d the \u201cother they\u201d says.<\/p>\n
I have a hard time accepting absolutes.\u00a0 The absolutes are what make me feel frustrated.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople with diabetes shouldn\u2019t ever eat cupcakes, or have babies, or eat gluten, or lick wallpaper, or ride unicycles, or shimmy their shoulders sassily on airplanes.\u201d\u00a0 Or, \u201cPeople with diabetes should always prick the side of their fingers \u2013 never the pad! \u2013 and CGM sensors can only be worn on the abdomen and if you\u2019re not on an insulin pump, you aren\u2019t trying hard enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
People with diabetes aren\u2019t all the same. There isn\u2019t a one-size fits all model to management, and what works for one person may not work entirely for another.\u00a0 (Actually, what works for one person on one day might not work entirely for her on another day.) Read More<\/a><\/p>\n<\/h2>\nWho Cares About Type 1 Diabetes Anyway?<\/a>\u00a0by \u00a0Karmel Allison<\/h2>\n<\/a><\/p>\nPlus, in America, most type 1 diabetics are not \u2018charity cases.\u2019 We proudly proclaim that we can do anything. That anything comes with big caveats \u2014 almost anything, assuming I allocate 50% of brain power to blood sugar management, and at least for the first few decades until complications catch up to me \u2014 but, still, we\u2019re trying to figure out how to make daily care less burdensome, not trying to figure out how to live past the age of twelve.<\/p>\n
No, I\u2019m not angry or surprised that payers aren\u2019t meeting our needs, that no one makes an\u00a0amylin\/insulin<\/a>\u00a0mix yet, or that strangers think my\u00a0pump is a pager<\/a>. Frankly, I appreciate that anyone gives us the time of day at all.<\/p>\nBut they do. Lots of people do. The payers showed up for this conference, there are a number of successful companies serving primarily type 1 diabetics, and there is an entire research community around type 1 diabetes. Heck, we even appear in our fair share of movies.<\/p>\n
Instead of getting offended when people don\u2019t care enough, perhaps we should consider what does make people care about type 1 diabetes. Then we can meet people where they are, and help them help us. So why do people care about type 1 diabetes? In my ill-researched, off-the-cuff opinion, here\u2019s what matters: Read More<\/a><\/p>\nDiabetes Cure Research: Turning Duct Cells into Beta Cells<\/a>\u00a0by Katie Bacon<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Dexcom-G4-Platinum.jpg\" "\\"Dexcom")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhen I originally chose the Minimed, one of the biggest deciding factors was that I was already wearing a pump, and didn\u2019t want to carry around an extra receiver (which, at the time, was the fugly, egg-shaped Dexcom one). Switching over to the Dexcom, I worried about the extra burden of yet another device, but two months in, it hasn\u2019t been that bad. The receiver was designed to look Apple-y, and it\u2019s fun to show off the color plot of my blood glucose values to all my (admittedly geeky) friends. My first thought\u2013 and several friends have echoed this\u2013 was that it looks like an old, knock-off iPod. Beyond style, though, this means that the device is small and light, and I can carry it in my pocket. (As a point of comparison, I can\u2019t carry my iPhone comfortably in my pocket, so smaller-than-my-pocket is an important measure.) \u00a0Read more<\/a><\/p>\n I got diabetes twice. Once when I was 11, and the second time when I was 42. It took the second time to show me all that I\u2019d learned from it the first time around.<\/p>\n When I was 40 years old I had a unique opportunity to take part in a clinical trial to cure type 1 diabetes by receiving an islet cell transplant. Islet cells are the actual engines of insulin production in a pancreas. By transplanting islet cells into my liver it was hoped they would function like islet cells do in a person without diabetes, and I would be cured of the condition that had defined a great deal of my life for almost 30 years. \u00a0Read more<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cClean your hands here.\u201d\u00a0 The sign, next to a pump bottle filled with clear gel, welcomes me to the hematology\/oncology suite at this Boston hospital. Everywhere I go \u2014 grocery store, gym, elementary school \u2014 I am exhorted to do my part in the war against germs. Sanitized, I take the clipboard from the receptionist and fill out forms before moving among clusters of chairs, looking for a magazine other than\u00a0Golf<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Prevention<\/em>. I study a hospital pamphlet that hyperbolizes hope. It irritates me. But I am often irritated by cheerful messages conveyed in institutional publications. It\u2019s not hope I dislike. It\u2019s the prescription of hope. These hospital pamphlets remind me of the churchy magazines for children that were stacked on the end tables in the waiting room of my childhood dentist. They often featured fictional stories of dying children who were promised a future with God, and they terrified me.<\/p>\n As a person with a chronic illness \u2013 I was diagnosed as an adult with Type 1 diabetes more than 20 years ago \u2013 I have spent a lot of time in medical waiting rooms. I have come to know their rhythms and reading material well. Read more<\/a><\/p>\n The problem is that glucagon is a finicky peptide, even more so than insulin. The glucagon in rescue kits is a powder, because glucagon does not stay dissolved in saline. In order to have glucagon to use in daily treatment or pump systems, we need it in liquid form. Up until now, no one has been able to create a stable, soluble glucagon \u2014 arguably because there is no reason for pharmaceutical companies or academics to invest so much time and effort into solubilizing a hormone that is only used in rescue kits.<\/p>\n Several companies, including\u00a0Enject<\/a>\u00a0and, more recently,\u00a0Biodel<\/a>, are trying to create devices that make it easy to mix the powder and saline on-demand. This solves the problem of the hard-to-use rescue kits, but does not solve the glucagon problem for pumps or frequently used, glucose-tab-sized micro-doses of glucagon. However, all the excitement around glucagon in the artificial pancreas has led the\u00a0JDRF to enter into partnerships<\/a>\u00a0with two new companies trying to make soluble glucagon. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019d known the symptoms since I was ten years old. My maternal grandmother was a Type 1 diabetic with highly fluctuating blood sugar, what was called a \u201cbrittle\u201d diabetic then, and I remember watching her give herself shots of insulin while sitting at a desk in her kitchen early in the morning beneath a small light. Like all kids, I hated shots. I told her I could never do that. \u201cYes you could,\u201d she said most gently, \u201cif you had to.\u201d<\/p>\n At age thirty-seven, I began to notice a constant thirst, and of course an almost constant need to urinate. What I didn\u2019t really notice was the weight loss, not until people I knew began to comment on how thin I looked. One symptom I didn\u2019t know about was the fatigue. I just knew every afternoon I needed a nap, and in an attempt to keep my energy level up, I\u2019d eat a candy bar, which now strikes me as downright funny. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n there is currently no system in place in the United States to ensure that test strips and meters continue to achieve this level of accuracy once the FDA has cleared the meter for market. (What\u2019s more, the FDA\u2019s initial approval is based on data supplied by the manufacturers themselves; not from random meters bought off store shelves.) This means that if a meter got cleared for sale ten years ago, the FDA has likely never evaluated the meter again. Suppliers change; manufacturing practices change; production line managers change; production sites change. All of these factors can affect quality and accuracy (and, if those studies are to be believed, definitely are affecting quality and accuracy) \u2014 and yet there is no requirement or system in the United States for any sort of post-market quality assurance. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n I\u2019m not anti-cupcake.\u00a0 Quite the contrary \u2013 I think they\u2019re delicious, I love baking them, and I love making them as decadent as possible.\u00a0 They are a treat, and an excellently indulgent one, at that.<\/p>\n But man, they are an absolute disaster for my blood sugars.\u00a0 Rarely do I have a cupcake (or similarly sweet treat) without seeing either a high blood sugar as a result of under-bolusing, or a low blood sugar due to overcompensating for the mountain of frosting.\u00a0 I can\u2019t lie and pretend I have the whole cupcake-to-chaos avoidance ratio figured out.\u00a0 My diabetes simply doesn\u2019t respond well to overly-indulgent treats.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople with diabetes can eat anything,\u201d \u00a0\u201dthey\u201d say.<\/p>\n Yes, yes they can.\u00a0 They can physically bring a food item to their mouth and consume it.\u00a0 This is true.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a matter of \u201ccan\u2019t,\u201d but \u201cshould.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople with diabetes shouldn\u2019t ever eat cupcakes,\u201d the \u201cother they\u201d says.<\/p>\n I have a hard time accepting absolutes.\u00a0 The absolutes are what make me feel frustrated.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople with diabetes shouldn\u2019t ever eat cupcakes, or have babies, or eat gluten, or lick wallpaper, or ride unicycles, or shimmy their shoulders sassily on airplanes.\u201d\u00a0 Or, \u201cPeople with diabetes should always prick the side of their fingers \u2013 never the pad! \u2013 and CGM sensors can only be worn on the abdomen and if you\u2019re not on an insulin pump, you aren\u2019t trying hard enough.\u201d<\/p>\n People with diabetes aren\u2019t all the same. There isn\u2019t a one-size fits all model to management, and what works for one person may not work entirely for another.\u00a0 (Actually, what works for one person on one day might not work entirely for her on another day.) Read More<\/a><\/p>\n Plus, in America, most type 1 diabetics are not \u2018charity cases.\u2019 We proudly proclaim that we can do anything. That anything comes with big caveats \u2014 almost anything, assuming I allocate 50% of brain power to blood sugar management, and at least for the first few decades until complications catch up to me \u2014 but, still, we\u2019re trying to figure out how to make daily care less burdensome, not trying to figure out how to live past the age of twelve.<\/p>\n No, I\u2019m not angry or surprised that payers aren\u2019t meeting our needs, that no one makes an\u00a0amylin\/insulin<\/a>\u00a0mix yet, or that strangers think my\u00a0pump is a pager<\/a>. Frankly, I appreciate that anyone gives us the time of day at all.<\/p>\n But they do. Lots of people do. The payers showed up for this conference, there are a number of successful companies serving primarily type 1 diabetics, and there is an entire research community around type 1 diabetes. Heck, we even appear in our fair share of movies.<\/p>\n Instead of getting offended when people don\u2019t care enough, perhaps we should consider what does make people care about type 1 diabetes. Then we can meet people where they are, and help them help us. So why do people care about type 1 diabetes? In my ill-researched, off-the-cuff opinion, here\u2019s what matters: Read More<\/a><\/p>\nAn Attempt to Cure Type 1 Diabetes<\/a> by Alex O’Meara<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Insulin.jpg\" "\\"A")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn the Waiting Room, A Dance<\/a> by Jane Kokernak<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Dancing.jpeg\" "\\"Dancing\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhy is Everyone Talking About Glucagon<\/a>\u00a0by Karmel Allison<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Glucagon_rednblue.png\" "\\"Glucagon_rednblue\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nAccepting Diabetes: A Man\u2019s Journey<\/a> by Marlin Barton<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/IAmADiabetic.jpg\" "\\"IAmADiabetic\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhy You Should Worry About the Accuracy of Your Glucose Test Strips<\/a>\u00a0by Catherine Price<\/h2>\n
![\"Diabetes](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Test-Strips.jpg\" "\\"Diabetes")
<\/a><\/p>\nSticking it to Diabetes<\/a> by Kerri Sparling<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Cupcake-Holder.jpg\" "\\"Cupcake")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/h2>\n
Who Cares About Type 1 Diabetes Anyway?<\/a>\u00a0by \u00a0Karmel Allison<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/One-in-a-Million.jpeg\" "\\"One-in-a-Million\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nDiabetes Cure Research: Turning Duct Cells into Beta Cells<\/a>\u00a0by Katie Bacon<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Pancreas11.jpg\" "\\"Pancreas1\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n