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…)

Blood Sugar Testing, Food & Physical Activity Tracking, Diabetic Athletes, Children and Students

Please find part 1 of the interview here:
http://www.sugarstats.com/2008/03/10/interview-with-dr-anita-ramsetty-endocrinologist-part1/

Also Part 3: hhttp://www.sugarstats.com/2008/04/09/interview-with-dr-anita-ramsetty-endocrinologist-part3/

During the month of March SugarStats is posting segments from a series of interviews between Nedrra Lanakila, parent of a Type 1 Diabetic and partner of SugarStats, and Dr. Anita Ramsetty of EndocrineHelp.com, an online medical practice specializing in endocrinology and diabetes.

Nedrra Lanakila (N):As the endocrinologist, how often would you like the diabetic to test or put their stats into their SugarStats management and tracking service? How many times a day or a week would you like to see those stats entered?

Dr. Anita Ramsetty (A): It sort of depends on the situation that the patient finds themselves in. This [blood glucose self testing] is what I would ask them to do in person as well.

Some individuals are newly starting out. The term ‘mild diabetes’ isn’t really a term, but it’s probably the best way I can describe it. They don’t have huge fluctuations in their glucoses during the day, they still have a decent amount of their own insulin production, they’re not on a lot of medication and numbers don’t bounce around too much.

For those individuals I generally ask them to check their blood sugars maybe twice a day, ideally three times a day. If they can put it in daily I think is a great habit. Then it becomes like brushing your teeth: you’ve got your (more…)

Please find part 2 of the interview here:
http://www.sugarstats.com/2008/03/14/interview-with-dr-anita-ramsetty-endocrinologist-part2/

We’re honored and proud to have Dr. Anita Ramsetty as our first featured expert blogger (more highly talented expert bloggers to follow, so stay tuned foks!).

This is the first of that series to introduce Dr. Ramsetty’s expertise and online practice to our community.

Nedrra Lanakila (N): We’re thrilled you have this wonderful service called EndocrineHelp.com. Please take a few minutes to introduce yourself and describe this service to our community who really needs your expert guidance online.

Dr. Anita Ramsetty (A): I am so excited to be a part of this exciting community, and I thank you all for welcoming me.
This is really wonderful for me personally, but also for our practice that is trying to do something a little unusual.

My name is Anita Ramsetty. I am a mother, wife and a physician. My field of specialty is endocrinology and diabetes. (You can learn more about her medical training here: www.endocrinehelp.com/index.php/Contact-Us). www.Endocrinehelp.com is a site that we started late last year. (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

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 “Know Your A1C” campaign represents the first ever national public education campaign supported by a coalition of leading nonprofit diabetes organizations, including the ADA, JDRF, American Association of Diabetes Educators and the National Council of La Raza.

View one of the campaign videos at:
http://tudiabetes.com/video/video/show?id=583967:Video:41688

Check out the new campaign site at:
http://www.DiabetesA1C.org.

Surprised? Hardly…

“A new study released Thursday suggests sodas sweetened with high fructose corn syrup may contribute to the development of diabetes. The study from researchers at Rutgers University, shows sodas sweetened with high fructose corn syrup contain high levels of compounds that previous research suggests may play a role in the development of diabetes. Especially when consumed in large amounts.”

Make sure to digg the story:
http://digg.com/health/Study_Links_Diabetes_and_High_Fructose_Corn_Syrup_Found_in_Soda

It is not often that diabetes gets so much attention in Digg.

To discuss, visit TuDiabetes.com: http://tudiabetes.com/forum/topic/show?id=583967%3ATopic%3A34478

The New York Times has posted a very interesting 4-page article I think is worth takin a look at. It goes into the dangers of neglecting the other important factors for surviving diabetes, such as cholesterol.

They showcase a story of a man who was only concerned with his glucose levels and pretty much neglected everything else but ended up paying the price with a stroke. There is also a video up.

“Nearly 73,000 Americans die from diabetes annually, more than from any disease except heart disease, cancer, stroke and pulmonary disease.

Yet, largely because of a misunderstanding of the proper treatment, most patients are not doing even close to what they should to protect themselves. In fact, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just 7 percent are getting all the treatments they need.”

Take a look: Looking Past Blood Sugar to Survive with Diabetes