As usual, I think it makes sense to look at things from many angles, and then make up your own mind…........................

Aggressive measures to treat diabetics make many of them worse, studies show

Rigorous treatment to bring down blood pressure and cholesterol is not beneficial and increases side effects, researchers say.

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The results are disappointing, researchers say, because they suggest that clinicians may have reached the limit of what they can do for diabetic patients without developing new therapeutic approaches.

But the good news is, the findings “reduce the cost and potential side effects of drug therapy” and mean that patients will not have to work as hard at reducing blood sugars, lipids and blood pressure, said Dr. Denise Simons-Morton of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the trial.

“The take-home message is that the standard care approaches are pretty good. If we try to go beyond them, it doesn’t provide additional benefit,” she said.

Diabetes has become a tremendous problem in the United States, with at least 21 million people afflicted with Type 2 diabetes—in which cells do not respond properly to insulin produced by the pancreas—and millions more at risk because of obesity. Most diabetics also have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, factors that raise their risk of heart attack and stroke to the same level as that of people who already have suffered a heart attack.

Many doctors have reasoned that aggressively lowering blood pressure and lipids below nationally recommended levels might decrease the risk of heart disease, and ACCORD, or Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes, was created to study the possibility.

In one arm of the study, Dr. William C. Cushman of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis, Tenn., and his colleagues at 77 medical centers enrolled 4,733 Type 2 diabetics with high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease or a high risk of developing it. They were randomly assigned to treatment regimens to lower their systolic blood pressure—the top number in a blood pressure measurement—below 140 mm Hg, the standard treatment goal for diabetics, or below 120 mm Hg, the target goal.

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The FDA says:

This is to alert you to the possibility of falsely elevated blood glucose results when using GDH-PQQ glucose test strips on patients who are receiving therapeutic products containing certain non-glucose sugars. These sugars can falsely elevate glucose results, which may mask significant hypoglycemia or prompt excessive insulin administration, leading to serious injury or death. The following provides background information on this problem, a summary of fatality reports FDA has received, and recommendations to reduce the risk. This problem can occur wherever these products are used including in-patient and out-patient healthcare facilities, and at home.

Here is a full list of to known affected Meters/Strips:

List of GDH-PQQ Glucose Test Strips
The following test strips (with associated meters) use GDH-PQQ methodology as of August 2009:
Roche Diagnostics:

• ACCU-CHEK Comfort Curve test strips, for use with:


• ACCU-CHEK Inform meters [model 2001201]


• ACCU-CHEK Complete meters [models 200 and 250]


• ACCU-CHEK Advantage meters [models 888, 831, 850, and 768]


• ACCU-CHEK Voicemate meters [model 0009221]


• ACCU-CHEK Aviva test strips, for use with:


• ACCU-CHEK Aviva meters [models 525, 535, and 555]


• ACCU-CHEK Compact test strips, for use with:


• ACCU-CHEK Compact meters [model GF]


• ACCU-CHEK Compact Plus meters [models GP and GT]


• ACCU-CHEK Go test strips


• ACCU-CHEK Go meters [model GJ]


• ACCU-CHEK Active test strips


• ACCU-CHEK Active meters [models GG and GN]

• Freestyle test strips, for use with:


• FreeStyle meters


• FreeStyle Flash meters


• FreeStyle Freedom meters


• Freestyle Lite test strips, for use with:


• FreeStyle Lite meters


• FreeStyle Freedom Lite meters

TRUEtest test strips
TRUEresult meters
TRUE2go meters

Smiths Medical:

Abbott Diabetes Care Freestyle test strips, for use with:
CoZmonitor blood glucose module (for use with the Deltec Cozmo Insulin Pump)
Insulet:
Abbott Diabetes Care Freestyle test strips, for use with:
OmniPod Insulin Management System

FDA study: Insulin pumps linked to injuries, deaths in teens

According to investigations by the FDA they might be. But really it is more about the use/convenience of pumps have resulted in circumstances stemming from mis-education and carelessness that bring about such events.

“Parents should be vigilant in (more…)

Diabetes Hand Foundation and TuDiabetes/OneTouch Partnership

Big announcement from our friend Manny Hernandez from TuDiabetes.com on exciting new developments, projects and partnerships. Mainly the creation of the Diabetes Hand Foundation and partnership with OneTouch:

“The Diabetes Hand Foundation is (more…)

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…)

Yep! I just learned about the Glucoboy today.

From their web site:

The Glucoboy is the first blood glucose meter that has been designed specially for kids, adolescents and the young at heart.
...
In addition to a stand-alone blood glucose meter, the Glucoboy contains 2 full length video games and a mini-arcade. To access the video games, the Glucoboy must be inserted into the cartridge slot on a Nintendo Game Boy® Advance System, or into the Game Boy® cartridge slot on a Nintendo DS.
...

Seems like an interesting incentive, if you ask me… However, it would be amazing if it gave you credits too for running or other physical activity, since playing games will not precisely help with your blood sugars.

If you want to chat with others about Glucoboy and other diabetes-related matters, join TuDiabetes.com – a community for people touched by diabetes.

For those of you out there still wishing for an better inhaled insulin solution there just might be hope yet. Or at least as long as Alfred E. Mann can help it. He believes in it so much he is going to invest $966 Million of his own money.

“I believe this is one of the most valuable products in history in the drug industry, and I’m willing to back it up with my estate,”

NYT has a great article/interview in whch they talk to Mr. Mann about it, discuss Pfizer’s 2.8 billion dollar Exubera inhaled insulin failure and what things are to come.

The product, called Technosphere Insulin (They made the inhaler slightly larger than a cell phone), holds promise they say:

“The distinguishing feature of Technosphere Insulin is that it goes to work faster than any other insulin on the market, even so-called fast-acting injected insulins. That could be better at helping control the spike in blood sugar levels that occurs after a meal.

Technosphere Insulin also finishes its work of helping the body use glucose in two or three hours, faster than other products. That might reduce the risk of dangerously low glucose levels several hours after a meal – a big concern for diabetics.”

It certainly sounds interesting, something I might even use if they put it in a portable, easy to use device that doesn’t look like a gigantic bong. But I think Mann has identified that as one of the huge mistakes that Pfizer made and has learned from it He says Pfizer’s Exubera was:

“an expensive way to fairly inconveniently deliver insulin in a manner which has no clinical advantage.”

Like many of the other drugs there still has to be a ton of testing done before its available. But it might be something to look out for in the future.

Read the full article at the New York Times: Betting an Estate on Inhaled Insulin

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.