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

Dear friends at SugarStats..I am honored to be included in your list of authors. I will do my best to assist the readers to claim their diabetes and to “Help you take this thing by the horns and wrestle it to the ground”.

I have always tried to substitute the word “and” for ”or”. It allows me to do two things or more and not just one. I can do this “or” that becomes  I can do this “and” that.

No limits, No worries…....do them both  I can be diabetic “or” Healthy, becomes I can be diabetic “and” Healthy.    

Keep Going…..Peace,   Bob

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

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.

Recently diagnosed? A veteran? Type 1’s and type 2’s of the world:

Share with other diabetics: How many years have you had diabetes?