Well, it's that time of year again. The Web Warren Cookie Labs are setting up for the current season's research experi production run. In addition to the usual questions of which general types of cookies to bake, the specific sub-varieties start screaming out for attention.

That we will be "open for business" is without question. That we will be performing a certain degree of "quality control" goes without saying. The sizes of most of the cookies (small to miniature) have been predetermined by previous feedback. The questions include how many varieties to make, and whether to use wheat flour or another flour, sugar or Splenda, butter or yogurt-based blends, how many versions of a particular variety to make, and which ones to decorate.

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Time and distance have also served to blunt not just periods of psychological distress, but also some of the everyday things I used to savor before.

As in, before I was diagnosed with diabetes.

Before I had diabetes, I didn't have to worry about eating a hamburger, pizza, Fettuccini Alfredo, or my favorite restaurant "cajun pasta" dishes. Now, any version I make at home is significantly modified to eliminate refined flours, reduce fats, and raise the vegetable count. You can hardly find the pasta in any of my "pasta" dishes.

Before I had diabetes, breakfast was a pint of orange juice and a bagel with cream cheese. Now, bagels are eaten in parts, and orange juice is a special-occasion item: a quarter bagel is one carbohydrate exchange, and a cup of orange juice is a huge portion of the daily calorie count.

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I've been somewhat ambivalent about today's rally surrounding the United Nations Summit on Non-Communicable Diseases. The libertarian "party line" is that the United Nations does little more than abrogate nation-states' sovereignty and forcibly redistribute income from the wealthier nations to the less-wealthy, dampening incentives for innovation and destroying private charity efforts which would otherwise improve the lives of those in need. On the other hand, the prospect of spending time with friends I seldom see in-person is an opportunity not to be missed.

It's a dilemma I'd been wrestling with for a couple of months, and friendship was winning over politics. However, neither friendship nor politics had the choice to decide.

The deciding factor was money.

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You may be at risk for diabetes if...

Anyone else here bristle when you are presented with these statements?

I mean, no $4!†, Sherlock. I have diabetes. I am no longer at risk for the condition, it exists in me.

So why does my lab's A1c, if it exceeds 5.8, say "You are at risk for diabetes" rather than "You are within guidelines for someone with diabetes"? Did my diabetes suddenly go away just because I don't need to take pills or shots to control it?

Now, I know I'd be really peeved if I didn't have diabetes and a 5.8 A1c read, "You have excellent control of your diabetes" -- but come on, some contextual information, please -- or better yet, placing 5.8 in the "higher than reference normal" category and letting my doctor do the talking.

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Last month, a friend of mine had to build a website for a class project, and the site focused on people with diabetes who had multiple health problems.  I was really struck by the title and slogan that she came up with for the project; it was "Diabetes Plus: because it's rarely just diabetes."

Those words rang true for me, as I know they do for many people, because I'm a person with type 2 diabetes, and I have several other health problems, too.

On top of diabetes, I live with congestive heart failure and related issues, obstructive sleep apnea, asthma, acid reflux, a hiatal hernia and other gastrointestinal issues, migraines, and sinus/allergy problems.  There may be something I'm forgetting, but you get the idea.

And there's an equally crazy list of medications that accompanies that list of health problems.  They are as follows: (READ MORE)

My road to diagnosis began with an infection; a yeast infection to be exact. That’s right, I, a male, had a yeast infection.

Now, I’m like most guys when it comes to the plumbing, and was rather embarrassed by the fact that something was wrong downstairs. And, like an idiot, I delayed going to the doctor by trying “home remedies” first, in hopes that I might be able to avoid having to go the doctor. After reaching the end of my rope with the problem, I broke down and went to the doctor December 5, 2008.
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