From FatCatAnna

I don't watch daytime TV that often as I'm a working stiff, but yesterday I recorded the Oprah show - which was all about diabetes.  I had read during the week from other PWD bloggers that they were abit disgruntled that probably the show would dwell on Type 2 diabetes.  That doesn't bother me, as I still clump all the different versions of diabetes as being one, we all are having to deal with living with diabetes whether it be with just pills/diet/exercise/insulin.  Below is a comment that I posted at one of the many diabetic forums I belong to which I find seemed to be highly critical of how Oprah / Dr. Oz brought it to the public viewers ...

I found it pretty good.  You have to remember, it's aimed at the average viewer, who may not have much knowledge of diabetes, and what they have is usually based on incorrect info (e.g. you get it if you're fat, yadda, yadda, yadda). Because of it only being an hour show (with LOTS of ads - not used to day time telly) - they could only really cover the basics, but I personally felt the info put forth was well done.  I think it helped my husband understand about what sugar in our systems does to us with the video that Dr. Oz showed on how the food breaks down in our bodies. Seeing how the "shards of glass" aka "sugar" go thru' our blood vessels if it's not been converted correctly due to our pancreas not squelching out the juice made me cringe (I will never look a broken glass in the same way again).  It didn't help that I was sitting down nibbiling on cookies and an espresso (with sugar) for my evening snack.  Yes, I had taken insulin to cover the carbs aka sugar - so hopefully less "shards of glass" will enter into my blood stream, but still I felt abit uneasy.

What got me crying, and I'm started to well up here as I type thinking about it, was Laureen, a 44 year old Type 1 diabetic who agreed to be on the show (bless her heart) telling us what bad management of diabetes can do to you (and she is a nurse).  It was when Dr. Oz started to remove the bandages from her legs that I really started to sob uncontrollably, and I'm not one to cry that often (I think diabetes makes some of us tough to emotions).  Besides that ordeal, she is also on kidney dialysis, which is something that all diabetics hope to never have to face.   It was so hard to watch, and of course, because of of a PWD friend of mine, Lois, having her leg amputated a few days ago due to mismangement of her diabetes (and she admits she f##ed up), it hit me hard.

So, yes, some of you Type 1's maybe disappointed that not more info was done on " our " type of diabetes, but as we've always known, we are a small majority. In the 60's/70's when I was diagnosed Type 1 was only about 1% of the diabetic population - now it's 10% - crikey.

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Just a footnote - the video link above of Laureen may not be for the faint of heart.  I know I found it very difficult to watch as Dr. Oz removed her bandages ... BUT ... it might  jolt you into realising how serious diabetes is and how if left uncontrolled can lead to life threatening conclusions.  

From sing18

Finding and treating diabetes early can prevent health problems later on. Many people with type 2 diabetes have no symptoms and do not know they have diabetes. Some people are at higher risk for diabetes than others. People at high risk include those who:

• are older than 45
• are overweight
• have a close family member such as a parent, a brother, or a sister who has or had diabetes
• had diabetes during pregnancy
• had a baby that weight more than 9 pounds
• are African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian American or Pacific Islander, or Native American
• have high blood pressure
• have high cholesterol or other abnormal blood fats
• are inactive

From FatCatAnna

Well, I'm finally getting my life back to order.  Don't think Mike, my husband appreciated my being away at the IDF Diabetes World Congress for 5 days (I averaged 12 hour days there), as my Domestic Engineering duties sort of went the way of the dodo bird.  I am back on track, almost, just don't pay me a surprise visit right now, as it still looks like a bomb went off in my house (I need a housekeeper as one of my friends says - treat yourself).

So, below you will find a rather amusing picture of me.  It was a way to let off some steam I think for all the delegates that were there, as attending seminars, learning new ideas of coping with diabetes can sometimes make for a tired brain.  It was fun seeing people from all over the world, putting on the RCMP uniform and standing with the Canadian Rockies behind them!  Of course, I had to do something different didn't I? Being the animal lover, I had to go and pet the moose.  He was very bristly, incase you are wondering! The staff had no problem the next day remembering my picture, no number required - just had to tell them - "I'm the moose lover!"

I went to the Novo Nordisk booth because I was interested in learning about Victoza, which Type 2 diabetics can inject once a day.  They can either use it alone, or combine it with their Metformin or sulphonylurea treatment.  The big thing with this insulin that they are thumping their chests about is that it helps patients gain better blood glucose control WITHOUT the weight gain, which often happens when going on insulin therapy.  According to one of the documents I have on hand, visceral fat (this is fat that surrounds our internal organs) was reduced by 13% to 16% in patients treated with Victoza + Metformin.  I know for a few diabetics diagnosed with Type 2, weight can be an issue, and of course, the sooner we shed it, eat sensible and exercise, the better our diabetes is controlled!

So in a nutshell it'll be able to do the following -

• Reductions in A1C of up to 2.74%
• Reductions in weight by up to 2.8 kg
• Reduction in blood pressure readings
• Improvement is beta-cell function (makes me wonder with time, if you start early enough - you might reverse diabetes as your pancreas start to produce insulin).

Not sure when it will be coming to the market in North America as all the information I am finding  is based in Europe - therefore I'm unable to post the Novo Nordisk link for you to check it out for yourself unless you register there yourself.  I've done abit of research on Victoza and there seems to be some problems with bringing it to the market due to labeling of the product believe it or not in the United States!  We'll just have to wait and see and be patient with FDA, but the forecast is for sometime in 2010. 

Also, if there are any of my friends from abroad reading my scribbles, and you've got some insight into Victoza, please feel free to share with us!

From FatCatAnna

Well, this past weekend was a blast from the past.  I haven't stayed up until the wee hours of the morning in a very long time.  I had jokingly said to my friends, after we met up in a bar to watch a band - "let's go and continue the party at your place until 3:00 a.m.".  They looked at me abit odd and went along with it. 

One of my friends, Richard and his finance Suzanne were visiting Montreal from Vancouver, B.C.  Richard just before going on holidays was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.  He had alot of questions for me - which I hopefully answered as best as I could.  The main thing I told him was, get his weight down, eat healthy, exercise, check his blood sugars daily and hopefully he'll avoid the type of diabetes I have - where he'll be hooked on insulin for the remainder of his life. 

So, of course, we got the munchies later. Out came the chips, etc.  and I started to show them the carb count on the package of the "healthy" corn chips full of "fibre".  A ploy I told them just to make you feel less guilty of what you are ramming into your bodies.   We then decided, all of us, to test our blood sugars.  Never in my life have I done this with a bunch of friends.  It was such a blast!  Of course, they were all in good ranges for non diabetics - phew.  I was actually getting low at the time - due to giving a wee bit too much insulin earlier (hate snacking - it throws me off).  So, they all panicked with getting cake out, and other foods for me.  Once again, teacher mode took over in me, despite my low blood sugar while I explained the difference between how certain foods entered your body to control your low blood sugar faster.  Of course, I had my Dex4's with me - and took a few of those to bring my BG's up.

All I can say is, luckily no one had sore fingers after that night/morning - as we tested quite a few times - the vampire Edward was out that night (yes - Twilight along with Blood Ties came into the conversation - vampires are the "in thing" at the moment). 

Anyway, the party continued onto the next day, and if I could only have video recorded my friend Sylvie with her impersonation of Edward (see prevous blog - you'll understand why I mentioned his name) - as he wonders how my blood sugars are doing - she just cracked me up!!!  It was a wonderful way to end a great weekend with friends that can laugh along with me and my life as a legal drug user! 

NB: We didn't get to noddy nod land until 4:00 a.m.  We were Born To Be Wild!!!!

From Chris8269

Earlier this summer I had the good fortune to be a presenter at a conference on the use of Social Media in medical marketing and education.    Two of the most interesting folks presenting there were bloggers from the diabetes community, Kerri Morrone Sparling of sixuntilme.com and Manny Hernandez of tudiabetes.com .  What really struck me was how they both took a challenging chronic condition, Type1 Diabetes, and turned it into a platform for health advocacy.   

As a result both have become leaders for progress in this field, challenging both technological progress and social sterotypes.    They're not only well-spoken, they're funny and fun.    They have a rich social life as a result.    While I went to my hotel room to answer e-mail and Skype my family, they went out to a hip restaurant with a group of online friends from Philadelphia.    They were all meeting face to face for the first time but had bonded based on mutual support and advocacy.

Since studies have shown that people dealing with a chronic condition like diabetes can become isolated, I think there's a lot to learn from Kerri and Manny. Anyone with a diabetes (or any chronic condition) can enrich their network, although it can take some work at first.

Here are a few of their insights:

The Big Picture: http://www.diabetes1.org/Multimedia/Vlog_Kerri_Sparling_Just_because_you_cant_see_it

On Advocacy:   http://www.diabetes1.org/Multimedia/Vlog_Kerri_Sparling_on_Advocacy_for_Diabetes

On Why People with Type1 and Type 2 Diabetes share common goals: http://www.diabetes1.org/Multimedia/Vlog_Manny_Hernandez_on_Type_I_and_II_Diabetes

Next Post - Great insights from an emerging blog voice (Kerri & Manny, here comes GK...!)