Thats right, its Nov 14th and that means its world diabetes day. A day that we all unite, across the world, to bring attention and awareness to diabetes.

Last year we wrote about it too, there were some great events they had lined up. This year they got some even cooler things going on.

And though there are many out there struggling with diabetes daily and hate it, I think today is also a day to be grateful that we’re still alive. That we still have the gift of life and the opportunity to manage it the best we can. The opportunity to live deliberately and with joy.

Diabetes in Children

This is the 2nd annual WDD campaign and it is themed around Diabetes in Children and Adolescents. From worlddiabetesday.org:

“The theme of this year’s World Diabetes Day campaign is Diabetes in Children and Adolescents.Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. It can strike children at any age, including pre-school children and even toddlers. Yet diabetes in children is often diagnosed late, when the child has diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), or it is misdiagnosed completely.”

Find a Blue Monument near you!

Another cool thing is that over 200 monuments around the world are lighting up in the world diabetes day color (Pantone 279). See them all on a map

If you have a blue monument near you, take a video and upload it to the WDD site
Learn more about World Diabetes Day at http://www.worlddiabetesday.org

If you do then please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey about why you think, as a person with diabetes, technology is important and should be better supported in the diabetes world.

As Amy from DiabetesMine.com writes:

“The information gathered will be compiled and sent to insurance companies and government bodies in the form of an ad hoc research report.”

And as Kelly from CloseConcerns.com notes:

“Our hope is that a groundswell of support for diabetes technology will just be one more sign to the policymakers in Washington, DC, that they shouldn’t try to be cheap with patients with diabetes. We have all seen the warning signals.””

Even though the survey is primarily about hardware devices such as pumps, glucose meters and CGMS’s we feel this will also extend to all the great projects and services which also aim to improve diabetes management.

Using SugarStats ourselves and receiving dozens of great feedback weekly on how much it has helped people become conscious and better control this disease gives me great hope for the future.

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

SafeSittings.com is an interesting site that aims to make the search for diabetes babysitters easier nationwide.  On the site teens with diabetes can find matches in their area for parents with diabetic children.

The service was founded by Kimberly Ross and since being covered in the Wall Street Journal has grown to get major interest nationwide for people in this niche, both families and sitters alike.

The site acts as a bulletin board system where families and sitters can pair up to make a match. Sitters can post their profiles and skills/experience while families and parents can put out ads to find an available babysitter in their area.

From the website:

“SAFESITTINGS is a nationwide website that makes available teens with Type 1 diabetes as babysitters for children with diabetes. These teens have been managing their own care for many years. They understand the dangerous highs ands lows inherent in the disease and have the skills to test blood sugars, give insulin injections, adjust insulin pumps and treat hypoglycemia.”

If this is something you’re interested in then check them out at www.safesittings.com.
You can also find their FAQ at: http://www.safesittings.com/faq.php

Tags: DiabetesBabysitters, Diabetic Babysitting, SafeSittings.com, Diabetes Babysitting Service

Bernard of BernardFarrell.com was able to produce a very nice and informative video demo of a Animas 2020 Insulin Pump he was able to get a hold of.

He goes through various settings and hows how the pump even comes with its own food and carb database built in to help with Bolus calculations before meals.

For all you deciding on which pump to get or to get a pump at all take a look:

Here you can find his full review of the Animas 2020 Insulin Pump

Tags: Animas2020, Animas 2020 Insulin Pump, Animas 2020 Review, Insulin Pump Review, Basal, Carb Counting

Not surprisingly, “rates of obesity and diabetes are rising across England, although people are living longer than ever,” according to a recent study issued by the English government.

England follows the same trend as most developed countries around the world these days, making diabetes research, education and treatment a global priority.

Read more about the study in the BBC web site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7056293.stm

If you have diabetes and live in the UK, make sure to join TuDiabetes.com, a social network for people touched by diabetes. There is a growing number of diabetics from the UK among the members.

A cool little project has popped up called Diabetes365. Originally started by Beth of insearchofbalance.wordpress.com, other diabetes bloggers like Bernard of www.bernardfarrell.com have joined in too.

What is Diabetes365? In Bernards words:

“Diabetes365 is an idea that I got from Beth of insearchofbalance. She started her Diabetes365 photo project a few days ago and I couldn’t think of a better way to inform people of what it’s like to live with diabetes 365 days a year.

The idea behind this Diabetes365 project is that I’ll take one picture every day of the year. I’ll post it to the flickr Diabetes365 pool and blog about it briefly.

Would you like to take part in Diabetes365? You can join the flickr pool provided that you post a picture there each day (or wait a few days and post several pictures, one per day). Each picture must be tagged with diabetes365 and titled with the date taken and which day of your year of photos it is. If you’d like to blog your photos, feel free to do that also.”

Are you part of flickr and want to find out more? Go to the Diabetes365 Project Flickr Group or check out his first post.

The best diabetes social networking site out there, TuDiabetes.com, is now over 1000 strong!

They also released numerous updates to the software to add better features and user collaboration/tracking.

On TuDiabetes you can find and be friends with diabetics from all over the world, interact in groups and message forums, add video’s/photos, take part in the integrated chat room and a ton more!

If you haven’t been there yet, head on over to http://tudiabetes.com/ now and check it out. You’ll be meeting amazing people in no time

It is really an excellent way to get additional diabetic support, increase your own diabetes awareness and get answers to diabetes related questions. Congratulations Manny!