For years, I have enjoyed performing Improv comedy with some very talented and funny people who have become friends. I have found it to be very like the life of a diabetic…(it probably helps that I are one).  Keeping the scene going to an obvious and unexpected conclusion is your goal…all while having a lot of fun along the way.

Some of the rules of improv are

No Blocking...if your improv partner says you are under an underpass with a tightrope walker….by goodness, thats where you are. If you say ..No, we are in a blender full of strawberries, then you just stopped the scene and it has nowhere to go. It is much harder for your partner to recover from that.

Everything is a gift…. That underpass or that tight rope walker can be expanded into some funny stuff. If you dont use it, you missed a great opportunity.

“Yes and”.... Whatever they hand you,  and I truly mean, whatever they hand you,......go with it. Accept it and add to it…”Why yes, we are under an overpass with at tightrope walker.   I hadnt noticed this new overpass over grandmas house before…..I see now why she’s joined the circus”

You are the expert…... No matter what, you are the expert on whatever they hand you. You take charge of what you have been handed, and your next move is on purpose.  If they say your are SpongeBob Muscle Pants,....then that is who you are, and whatever you say is right.  You must accept the premise, and take control….No Blocking…

So you can see, there are a lot of parallels in Diabetes management. Accept your situation, change what you can, become the expert, and maximize your outcome…...

If I had to call it, diabetes complications would be similar to a heckling, unruly, audience….Not a good thing.

Keep Going…........................Peace,    Bob

I recently tried Apidra for about 2 weeks as my endo thought it might be helpful. I really looked forward to what i hoped would be faster absorption rates that I had heard about.   Sadly to say, after 2 weeks, I am back on Humalog as I didn’t respond well to Apidra.   My wife finally convinced me to go back on the Humalog after about the third or fourth extreme low that she had to resurrect me from. As one who is hypoglycemic unaware most of the times, I dialed back my basal rates and I took less insulin, but the lows hit me really hard and without any warning….rather reminescent of NPH.

I also definitely found myself to be moody and morose and felt my overall mindset was suffering. I dont know if it was from all the lows or what, but it was not a good experience for me.  I am sure others have had positive results with Apidra, and I recommend they continue with what works for them .  For me however, it was not an improvement in my control…..more of a liability.   Sadly, I had hoped it would be an improvement regarding absorption rates….ie improved control, but it didn’t work out for me….

Keep Going,..................................Peace,    Bob

I received this video from a friend ..Tom Barcel ..on Twitter recently. It is very interesting and relevant to diabetes. The low calorie benefits are also seen…although I am pretty sure I am not up for the baby food and low calorie bread snacks.  ....but the lowering of calories in our diet seems to continue to show up as a benefit in life and diabetes management.  As always….not for everyone….

Its a 12 minute plus video, but I think it is worth watching…...

Keep going …......................Peace,   60 Minutes video on Resveratrol…..worth the 12 minutes or so to watch Bob

We’ve recently pushed a few small tweaks: Now you can manage your tags as well as your food and activity lists if you’re a premium user.

These are some small additions to make your daily management easier. You can rename tags or delete tags you no longer use, same goes for foods and activities.

You can find links in the entry input forms as well as in the settings sidebar. We’re continuing to working on smaller yet quicker iterations as well as some larger projects. There will be some cool things to come in 2009.

Ok, so yesterday after 20 plus units of insulin, I was reminded why I don’t and havent eaten a Big Mac and fries for probably over 5 years. I think I figured out this 57 million people with Pre-diabetes thing…Wow

One of those, I’m low I better eat big kinda brain sequences..A brain starving for sugar deciding what I should eat….whoops. At least I am consistent, I usually get the same wrong result under those circumstances.   Holy cow, will ya look at that glucose meter…lt looks like a straight line…...UP!

If only my investments followed the same trajectory…

Yesterday I was able to kick back and relax a little and lo and behold….I fell asleep on the couch. After about a 2 hour deep sleep nap, I awoke with some unexplained high numbers. Am I the only one who sometimes seems to get a liver dump after a long nap?  This is not the first time it has happened, and it is always hard to manage as you have no idea it is coming, and no idea how much insulin to take to offset it…..Ahhh, the Diabetic Birdstrike…...The Liver dump.  My cgms alarm was working overtime…..

Listen to an Interview I gave on the Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show With Jimmy Moore http://cli.gs/LivinLowCarbInterview

You might have heard, but if not please go over to http://www.healthefda.com to get more info and sign this petition.

The FDA has its place for many things and I’m sure they have the best of intentions at heart. But they could be doing a whole lot better in regards to diabetes and new diabetic treatments. While safeguards and rules are important, they have such stringent restrictions it severely limits new and innovative options for diabetic patients.

We need to let the FDA to hear us and try and get some of the restrictions removed or changed, this petition in part tries to do that and more. We need 20,000 petitions by February, so PLEASE sign it in case you haven’t already and forward it to anyone you think would support the cause.

From the Website:

“We, the undersigned, appeal to the leadership of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce barriers to innovation in diabetes treatment development, in the interest of public health.

The FDA’s job is to protect the safety of patients in its use of drugs and medical devices and to advance public health by speeding innovations that make medicines and technology more effective, safer and more affordable. That is its mission.

But we believe the FDA has adopted a stance of excessive caution in its regulation of diabetes drugs and technology that is counter to its duty to serve patient needs.

Specifically, it has established new rules that will impair research and innovation into diabetes therapy. (A copy of the letter sent to manufacturers in November 2008 can be found at www.diatribe.us/fdaletter.)

This worries us. For example, new requirements for additional multi-year long-term outcome studies prior to approval for drugs with no cardiovascular signals will assuredly discourage research and innovation to the detriment of public health.”

Around the Net

Here’s a message from our good friend Manny at TuDiabetes:

Read what others are saying about this:

• http://tudiabetes.com/forum/topics/help-promote-the-fda-petition
• http://www.bernardfarrell.com/blog/2009/01/ask-fda-to-better-serve-diabetes.htm


• http://www.diabetesmine.com/2009/01/the-diabetes-community-appeal-to-the-fda-dont-slam-the-door-on-progress.html

Petition Sponsors

Kelly Close: Editor, diaTribe
Manny Hernandez: President, Diabetes Hands Foundation; Founder, TuDiabetes
Amy Tenderich: Creator and Author, DiabetesMine
Nadia Al-Samarrie: Publisher, Diabetes Health magazine
Marston Alfred: Founder, SugarStats.com
Allison Blass: Author, Lemonade Life
Jennifer Block, CDE: Stanford Medical Center, Stanford University
Nancy Bohannon, MD: Director of Clinical Research, CVD Risk Reduction Program, St. Luke’s Hospital, San Francisco
Bruce Buckingham, MD: Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology, Stanford University
Stead Burwell: CEO, Alliance Health Networks, Inc.
Priscilla Call Essert: Author, My Life As A Pancreas
Gina Capone: Co-Founder, the Diabetes Talkfest Blog
Fran Carpentier: Author, Diabetes, Day-By-Day on Parade.com
Kitty Castellini: Founder, CEO, Producer and Host, Diabetes Living Today – Talk Radio
David Edelman: Co-Founder, Diabetes Daily
Steve Edelman, MD: Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Diego; Founder, Taking Control of Your Diabetes
Bernard Farrell: Author, the Diabetes Technology Blog
Bob Hawkinson: Author, Joy of Diabetes
James S. Hirsch: Author, Cheating Destiny
Irl B. Hirsch, MD: Professor of Medicine, University of Washington
Lois Jovanovic, MD: CEO and Chief Scientific Officer, Sansum Diabetes Research Institute
Francine R. Kaufman, MD: Professor of Pediatrics, Keck School of Medicine, USC; Head, Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles; former ADA President
Tom Karlya: Author, Diabetes Dad
Rebecca Killion: Diabetes advocate
David Mendosa: Diabetes Journalist
Kerri Morrone Sparling: Author, Six Until Me
Jenny Ruhl: Author, Blood Sugar 101
Lisa Shenson: Diabetes Parent & AdvocateScott Strumello: Author, Scott’s Web Log
Howard Steinberg: CEO and Founder, dLife
Virginia Valentine: CNS, BC-ADM, CDE, CEO, Diabetes Network, Inc. Albuquerque, New Mexico

Sign it Now

You can even sign it now via the widget below: