dLifestyles of the Rich and Famous
Fame, fortune, and diabetes. It's not such an unlikely combination. In a world where image is everything, well-known entertainers are often hesitant to reveal their real lives with diabetes. But things have been changing in the world of movies, TV, and music. Celebrities are talking about their diabetes, screenwriters are working it into movie plots, and even the stunt animals are getting in on the action. Test your knowledge of celebrities and diabetes. We bet you'll learn a thing or two!
Related: dLife Fame Pages
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Blogabetes - Not a Care in the World
Diabetes is more than just managing numbers and lab tests - it's also about managing emotional health. Our Blogabetes writer, Michelle Kowalaski, touches upon some of her thoughts as she does the daily diabetes dance:
Not a Care in the WorldI read today about a woman who boluses for every jelly bean, grape and kernel of popcorn she eats. And I can’t help but think “why?”
I mean, I know why, but why don’t I have that mindset? What has happened to me that I eat a handful of mini vanilla wafers without a second thought? Ok, I do give it a second thought, but I don’t use the fast-acting insulin that I have readily available. What exactly is it with me that I can’t always bring myself to use that?
I’m a grazer, and I’ve speculated that perhaps I’m afraid. Afraid that I’ll take too much or too little for my grazing, I guess. I, frankly, don’t really know what it is. It’s not like I’m afraid of needles or anything. I…I just don’t get it. I get so frustrated at myself for seeming not to care.
I posted on my blog not long ago about being high all the time and needing something to help me with the highs that just won’t budge. I emailed and practically begged my endo for a prescription for Novolog. I got it and used it almost daily for quite some time. And now I’ve stopped. And I don’t understand what’s holding me back.
I know the complications, I know about the eye problems and kidney failure and the limb amputations. I want to see my children grow up and attend dances and graduations and marriages. I don’t want to be a burden ever to my children. So, I ask perhaps rhetorically, what exactly is keeping me from doing what I know my body deserves? If I’m not going to eat right, at least I should take medicine readily available to me to counteract the crap I’m eating. Why can’t I get that to sink in?
What do you think? Tell us about it!
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Blogabetes - Getting Ready
Blogabetes bloggers have been hard at work preparing for the upcoming launch. Today's post is from Carey Potash. Enjoy!
Up a CreekMy inaugural season coaching Charlie's soccer team – The R2s – came to an end. The soccer part went well. We scored "THIS many" goals. (Holding up sticky orange fingers) The other teams scored "THIS many goals." (Holding up slightly less sticky orange fingers)
I know soccer. That part comes easy. But managing diabetes when there's 117 various obstacles working against me? Not so much. I often found myself winging it; rolling the dice; holding my breath; crossing my fingers; thanking my lucky stars; speaking in clichés.
I did a lot of research on pumping strategies for excessive activity. The more I read, the more confusing it got.
* Reduce basal rates by 50 percent 1 to 2 hours prior to activity. OK, I can do that.
* However, watch out for high blood sugars just prior to activity due to adrenaline.
* If using insulin to treat high blood sugar, use caution as activity speeds up the effect of insulin.
* Reduce basal rates by 50 percent for 6 hours post-activity to avoid delayed reaction of low blood sugars.
* Consume 15 grams of carbs for every 30-60 minutes of activity.But then it gets a bit tricky:
In order to find your optimal basal level, multiply your estimated exertion level by your age when you lost your first tooth and divide it by your shoe size. Take that number from a well-shuffled deck of cards, put it face-down on the table and don't show anyone the card.
Elderly Armenian women wearing sun hats tend to raise blood sugars during activity. If you anticipate an Armenian spectator on the sidelines during activity, increase basal rates by 65 percent. A word of caution: Be sure she's Armenian. Women from Azerbaijan have the opposite effect on blood glucose.
If your child is playing a team with blue shirts, expect high blood sugars. The blue will remind him of the cotton candy he wasn't allowed to eat last weekend at the carnival. Thinking of this will anger him and release a stress hormone. You can only hope he sees a seagull or volcanic activity. Both have a lowering effect.
One more thing I almost forgot to mention. If an elderly Armenian woman shows up without a sun hat on her head, well that's just a horse of a different color. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. You're up a creek without a paddle. You can take that to the bank. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Blogabetes is launching soon! Get ready, and have a safe and healthy weekend.
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Managing Your Cardio Risk
Is focusing on controlling blood sugar levels enough? That's the question Gina Kolata of The New York Times asked yesterday in a feature story about heart disease risk in the diabetes population - and how high cholesterol and blood pressure remains seriously undertreated. It's also apparently misunderstood. In a recent ADA survey, only 18 percent of people with diabetes acknowledged that the disease put them at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
The big takeaway is that while keeping blood glucose levels under control is important, and may decrease damage to small blood vessels, cholesterol reduction and blood pressure control are key to preventing cardiovascular disease. This may mean adding drugs, like statins, to an already complicated diabetes regimen, but in terms of preventing long-term heart problems, it's worth it.
Read The New York Times article.
RELATED: Take the Heart Disease Risk Quiz!
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Blogabetes - Eavesdropping
Diabetes can make some of life's more complicated moments even more challenging. This morning's Blogabetes post is from Julia Zegarra, touching on some special issues that teens with diabetes may face.
EavesdroppingWhile waiting for Olivia to take her swim test at Clara Barton last week, I was eavesdropping on a couple of girls standing in front of me. They scared the crap out of me.
They were both talking about how they hated having to take insulin because insulin makes you fat. “It’s true,” one girl said, “I read it on the internet.” The other girl was amazed, but believed her readily.
Then they started discussing how they both let themselves run high – so high that their meters just say HI – in order to maintain or even lose some weight. They both said that they rarely checked themselves, maybe checked a couple of times a week, lied to their parents about the frequency of their checks and made up bg readings. At this point, my eyebrows were practically at my hairline and I was trying to unobtrusively move a little closer so I could continue to listen.
They talked about boys for a little bit (was I ever like that? Don’t answer.) and what actors they liked. Then they turned back to diabetes talk. One girl mentioned how she’d been in the hospital four times that year because of DKA. The other one said she’d managed to avoid that, although she’d been sick a lot. She thought it was because of her high blood sugars, but she convinced her parents that it was the flu. They both mentioned having A1cs over 10.
I was horrified listening to these two girls. Horrified that they had such a cavalier attitude about their health, although that was understandable, given their age. I was more horrified at the apparent lack of involvement by their parents. Weren’t their parents logging? Didn’t they go to endo appointments with them? Didn’t they get those A1c results?
I often struggle with Olivia’s blood sugars, trying to get her to eat better, eat less, exercise more frequently, but I stay on top of things. I adjust basal rates on a regular basis as her insulin needs increase or decrease. I don’t know the living situation of those two girls. Maybe the parents don’t have the tools or the know-how to do this. Maybe the girls are defiant and the parents have given up. I don’t know.
I just hope that camp got them to see that this was no way to live, that running so high in order to be thin is not going to prevent the complications that can arise from running high for so long. Skinny won’t bring back your eyesight. Thin won’t save your kidneys.
Related: Diabetes and Eating Disorders
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Counterfeit Test Strips Traced to China
FDA officials have traced counterfeit test strips for OneTouch meters found in American and Canadian pharmacies last year to a Chinese distributor. The New York Times has an update on this story.
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Blogabetes - Family Planning
Today's Blogabetes post comes from Rebecca Abma, who is a woman with type 2 diabetes experiencing her first pregnancy.
As a type 2 diabetic woman, I was shocked to discover how little information is available about pregnancy and diabetes. At first glance, it looks as if there’s a ton on the topic. Google “pregnancy and diabetes” and several million pages come up. But dig a little closer and you’ll see the majority of those pages are about diabetes of pregnancy, or gestational diabetes.Search “pregnancy and type 2 diabetes” and a million or more pages come up, but still most of them are about gestational diabetes, which is often a precursor to type 2 diabetes. Once I hit upon the magic search words “pregnancy and preexisting diabetes” the content wasn’t reassuring. Words like high-risk, complications, birth defects and macrosomia jumped off the screen.
According to the March of Dimes, “Pregnancy is considered risky for the 1.85 million U.S. women of childbearing age who have diabetes.” After detailing the numerous problems pregnant diabetic women can encounter—miscarriage, still birth, microvascular damage to the mother—and with visions of “Steel Magnolias” in my head, I found the reassuring words, “with good preconceptional care and careful monitoring of their blood sugar, most women with preexisting diabetes can look forward to healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.”
Not satisfied with my web searches, I went to the book store and bought every book I could find on pregnancy and diabetes, except for a textbook that looked rather scary. I devoured all three books that afternoon and felt gypped. There wasn’t anything in these books that I hadn’t already read on the web.
After I got over all the scary stuff—and believe me, there was a lot of scary stuff—it almost sounds like a piece of cake. Plan your pregnancy, achieve a healthy a1c, maintain tight blood sugar control throughout the pregnancy and work closely with your doctor, and you will be rewarded with a healthy baby.
Sounds easy enough, right? My a1c is well within range, and my fasting and post-meal numbers are good too. A few doctor’s appointments to go and some tweaks to my meds and meal plan, and let the baby dancing begin!
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Old Dog Does New Tricks
With all the latest advancements in type 2 oral medications, it may seem the newer the better. dLife Expert columnist Daniel Trecroci challenges that theory as he uncovers a recent study about the effectiveness of older medications. Read the latest now.
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Blogabetes: The Testing Routine
Welcome to the dog days of summer, dLifers! We have another installment of Blogabetes today, with blogger Scott Marvel'sdebut post on the routine of blood sugar monitoring:
My Blood Test RoutineI recently made a resolution. I challenged myself to up the ante on my daily blood glucose testing routine. Seeing some vast holes in my finger stick line graphs, I knew I was due for a kick-start. It started off with a flurry of finger lances and a rapidly growing discard pile of test strips. Since then, it has mellowed out ever so slightly, to a more maintainable pace.
200 test strips per month is what my health insurance allows me. That gives me seven strips a day to use as I will. Give or take a few, for you math whizzes out there.
To keep myself organized, I mentally plotted my daily testing agenda. A mental list keeps me accountable, and honestly, keeps me from forgetting.Here’s how the test strips break down:
1. First thing in the morning. Dawn phenomenon?—only one way to know. A.K.A. should I hold the OJ this morning?
2. Ninety minutes after breakfast. Needed that granola bar after all!
3. Right before lunch. Spaghetti bowl?—or mixed salad
4. Ninety minutes after lunch. Right on track…Nice!
5. Right before dinner. Any extra insulin needed, you hungry cells?
6. Ninety minutes after dinner. Dessert? Why yes, thank you.
7. Before lights out. Pat on the back for the day or… lessons learned for tomorrow.In the busy life I sometimes lead, this plan can quickly go to pieces. It mostly stands as a guideline for me to work from. And it definitely gets re-worked through the obstacles of the day.
The bottom line is that I have a number to work with. Establishing a bolus of insulin here, or a quick snack there. All serving to keep me in range and feeling my best!
What's your testing routine? Talk about it in the dLife support forum.
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Blogabetes - Scheduling Woes
As the work week winds to a close, the ever-vigilant bloggers at Blogabetes are hard at work writing about their diabetes lives. Today's post comes from Kim, about diabetes and scheduling issues.
Scheduling WoesMy schedule has been blown out of the water by the new baby and maternity leave. This has really bad implications for my diabetes. I don’t test, eat or take meds at regular times. It makes me feel so out of whack, especially when you throw some sleep deprivation into the mix.
The trickle down effects are multiple – I don’t plan meals as well, I don’t cook as much, I don’t get my walks in and I feel cruddy and unmotivated to take care of myself. I think the hormonal rollercoaster must be affecting my sugars as well. It’s hard to tell what they’re doing since I’m not eating or testing at consistent times.
I have taken a positive step – stopped buying junk food. I was getting pretty lax at the end of the pregnancy and my husband and son have both become too fond of BBQ chips, baked goods and candy. It will be a tougher transition for them I think!
I am reading “You: On a Diet” – I don’t expect to follow their plan as my nutritionist has a great plan that works well for me and is much more flexible than any “diets” I have ever seen. The book will give me good ideas and help me get back on track. That 3rd trimester was a killer – I was sick through most of it with colds, bronchitis and other respiratory stuff, and I basically ate whatever sounded good at the time. I’m amazed my HbA1c only went up to 5.8! When I return to the endo in September, I would like to see it back to 5.2 or 5.3.
I am going to resort to a written checklist or schedule of sorts. That way I can maybe at least get my meals and medications into my day. Anyone have any other ideas?
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How Many Carbs are in that Casserole?
Carb counting 'mixed' dishes like casseroles can be a big challenge for people with diabetes. Luckily, dLife's Lara Rondinelli, RD, CDE, has some great tips on how to eyeball the carbohydrate content in soups, pasta dishes, and more. Learn how.
RELATED: "Everyday Eating" with Lara Rondinelli
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Twinkie Syndrome - From Blogabetes
Welcome to another post from the Blogabetes bloggers! This edition is from blogger George Simmons. Enjoy!
Being a dad with diabetes can have some affects on your family that you may have not thought about. I always show and explain as much as I can about my type 1 diabetes to my children, but there are times that my diabetes shows its ugly face in their lives.Like this story:
I remember back to an event at our church when my son was five. It was a neighborhood fair and there were games, food, and bounce houses of every style you can think of. Each of the church members was asked to bring a dessert or casserole to share. Well, one family brought a huge box of individual wrapped Twinkies.
My son comes running over to me and asked if he can have one and of course I said okay. He grabbed a package of yellow squishy goodness and brought it over to us so we could help him get it open. As I am opening the package I can see his little eyes staring in wonderment at this very strange looking cake-like sort of thing.I ask, "Have you ever had a Twinkie?"
"No Daddy, are they good?"
"I used to like them when I was little. Try it!"
He held the cake in his hand and took a big bite. As soon as had about a third of it in his mouth I saw a face I had not seen since we tried to feed him green beans as a baby. Totally and completely grossed out. He choked down what was in his mouth and handed it over.
"I don't like it" he said out of a twisted face that looked as though he just had the most disgusting thing on the face of the earth in his mouth and ran off with the other kids.
I looked and my wife and after we stopped laughing I said, "I think I have ruined our kids." We both cracked up about it until we saw he was the only kid sitting under the tree not drinking punch. He had a Diet Pepsi.
Poor kid!
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dLife at AADE
She teaches you about testing, meds, and more; helps you understand your highs and lows; and guides you through the confusion of carb counting. She's the diabetes educator, arguably the most important member of your diabetes care team, and this week educators across America gather in St. Louis for the annual American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) conference. dLife is here to bring you all the latest news from our CDE friends. We'd also like to remind the diabetes educators out there to please stop by and see us at booth 1726.
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