Hi All,

One of the most interesting(frustrating, saddening etc) aspects of diabetes is the number of misconceptions in the general public, and sometimes within the medical community also.  I know many of you have heard some questions or comments that made you cringe—I certainly have myself. Right now the one that tops my list was  question online from a husband asking whether or not he could “catch diabetes” from “relations” with his wife. THAT took me a few seconds to recover, let me tell you! But it made me realize that I am quite biased by what I see in my Endocrine clinic. Many people I see are quite knowledgeable about diabetes and know at least some basics about how it happens and how it is treated.  But that is not necessarily the case in general. 

So with that intro, I will plan on starting a short series of myths about diabetes. Some of this will be so basic that many of you will just look at it and say , “Uh huh, that’s not news!” But there may be a few out there who need info from the foundation upwards, so stay tuned next week…

Have a great one, stay safe and healthy.

Cheers!

Dear SugarStats family,

 Thank you for welcoming me into your community! When I was first asked to contribute as a blogger on SugarStats.com I initially thought, “what could I possibly contribute to this community? “  Sure, I see patients with diabetes in my clinic and I specialize in diabetes care. But I do not have diabetes myself, aside from mild gestational diabetes years ago that I controlled with diet changes. I endured finger sticks eight times a day for a few months but then went back to normal life. It definitely wasn’t the same as having diabetes for the long haul, so I initially felt as though my perspective would be from so far outside…

But then I realized I was going about this the wrong way. Blogs are not one-directional, and this is the beauty of it all. It should be a conversation! So I will share what I know from my training, my patients and personal experience, and hopefully you will share what you know from your own education, your interactions with others with diabetes, and your own life experiences. Between all of that, we should have some wickedly good dialogue going!  Sharing stories, advice, agreements, arguments—it’s all good.

Until next time, stay safe and healthy everyone…

Cheers,

Anita Ramsetty

We’d like to welcome Bob Hawkinson of JoyofDiabetes.com as the newest writer for the SugarStats.com Blog. Bob has had to deal with and manage diabetes on a daily basis for 45 years and takes a pro-active approach to his diabetes management.

Bob takes a positive outlook on it all and it reflects refreshingly in his writing style. We welcome him to the blog and look forward to his future contributions to educate, inspire and help inform diabetics and non-diabetics alike world-wide.

Be sure to check out his book: “The Joy of Diabetes”.

Here is a little bit more about Bob:

“Bob’s account of his life with diabetes is a testimony to the truth that people with this chronic illness can lead very joyful, fulfilling lives. He focuses primarily on his accomplishments in a way that is uplifting to the reader.

At the same time he acknowledges that he must constantly prepare himself to manage his diabetes in whatever direction his life’s journey takes him. Bob demonstrates that people with diabetes can pursue whatever they want as long as preparation is made to handle the special needs of their blood sugar in that circumstance. By taking a pro-active approach to the management of his diabetes, he is a positive example for diabetics and all the people who love them. He stays one step ahead of his blood sugar through constant trial and error. At times it is a struggle but a fight well worth fighting. In his own words, “the management of diabetes is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Join the SugarStats Community Blog

Do you also have a passion for better diabetes management, educating/informing people and would also like to contribute to the SugarStats community blog?

Feel free to contact us at info@sugarstats.com and send us some examples of your writing, we’d love to talk to you.

Happy Friday everyone. Here are some cool thinking happening in the Diabetes world as well as some interesting resources:

The New OneTouch UltraLink Wireless Meter

For those who don’t already have one or haven’t heard of it yet:

“The NEW OneTouch UltraLink Meter wirelessly sends your test results to your MiniMed Paradigm® insulin pump, making bolus dosing easier and more accurate.

Some advantages of the UltraLink:

• Wireless communication of test (more…)

Gestational Diabetes, Pre-Diabetes and Endocrinologists versus General Practitioners for addressing diabetes.

Interview with Dr. Anita Ramsetty, Endocrinologist Part 1
Interview with Dr. Anita Ramsetty, Endocrinologist Part 2

SugarStats’ host interviewer, Nedrra Lanakila, continues her talk with Endocrinologist Dr. Anita Ramsetty of EndocrineHelp.com. In this third and final post from their first interview, Dr. Ramsetty talks about Gestational Diabetes, signs of pre-diabetes and some of the factors to consider when determining your physician of choice to provide medical diabetes care.

N (Nedrra Lanakila): You mentioned about gestational diabetes. How do you treat your patients diagnosed as gestational diabetics?

A (Anita Ramsetty): We always end up in a somewhat odd situation because these women are split between the endocrinologist and their obstetrics teams. It can be a little bit dicey at times, trying to get all the communication loops closed but it gets done and quickly.

As an example, my case of gestational diabetes was fairly mild. I was pregnant with twins at the time so I sort of saw it coming. Between having the twins, gaining lots of weight and then having a strong family history I had seen it coming from afar and wasn’t too surprised.

In my case, I ended up checking my blood sugars very (more…)

Wow.

So the new figures are in and they’ve concluded the annual cost for diabetes in the U.S. for 2007 hit *$174 Billion dollars*, up 32% since 2002. That is 1 in every 5 health care dollars going to diabetes care. These figures are only for the U.S., worldwide the estimates go over $300 billion.

This number shadows the $150 Billion in damages from Hurricane Katrina and some say it is about as much as the cost of the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts (though who knows the real numbers on that).

This is really getting out of control, they say last year the diabetes related death toll in the U.S. was over 284,000. There are 1 million new cases each year.

These figures also did not take into account the undiagnosed diabetes population in the U.S. which is estimated at over (more…)

The new year is approaching and for many that means a whole slew of goal setting and resolutions.

I had the great pleasure to be able to physically join Charlie Cherry and the gang in the studio for an episode of the DiabetesPowerShow a few weeks ago and now that has just been released.

The topic of the show was goal setting and diabetic resolutions for this upcoming year. It was also great as we had Manny from TuDiabetes.com join us on the phone and we all went over the various tools out there, especially online, which we can utilize to make those goals a reality.

It is a great episode with of course lots of motivation and enthusiasm so definitely check it out.

You can download it directly here: http://www.diabetespowershow.com/

I know my main goal has been to get my A1c into the 5-6.0 range. Though I am quite happy over the last 6 months I’ve got it down over 3%!! Almost there What are your diabetes goals for 2008? Share them over at TuDiabetes.com

I had the great opportunity a few weeks ago to talk with and be interviewed by Charlie Cherry of the DiabetesPowerShow.com Podcast, in my opinion one of the best online diabetes podcast out there.

Today they released the interview in their latest show, episode 34, in which they discuss some of the latest and best online resources for diabetes and diabetes management.

Chris, Chris and Theresa do an excellent job also of showcasing some other amazing resources, tools and websites out there that every diabetic can benefit from. They also chat about our favorite diabetes social networking site TuDiabetes.com

You can find and subscribe to the show here:
http://diabetespowershow.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=271503

Or download it directly here:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/diabetespowershow/34_34_On-Line_Resources.mp3

What a great bunch, I have to thank Charlie for having me on and Chris, Chris and Theresa for producing such a great show all the time. I can’t wait to be on the show and meet them all when I’m in Vegas.

Diabetic? Have an iPod? If you aren’t already subscribed then run, not walk, and subscribe to the biggest, best and most informative Diabetes podcast online. www.diabetespowershow.com