My job will be ending sometime this summer. Consequently, I am investigating our health insurance options. Since hubby is self-employed, we have always covered the family under my work policy.

Now, I know that "health care in this country is in crisis"!  I know this is a huge touchpoint for political candidates.  Yes, I know all this intellectually. 

Now it's PERSONAL.  COBRA, offered by my employer by federal mandate, is more than a house note EVERY month.  Private insurance is still pricey - more than what we paid on 2 car notes.  And it carries a $2000 deductible per person.  Some sloppy math later and it could be $15,000 a year before they pay any expenses for us.

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Did you catch the Style network's new reality show? The 9 episode series is about a 487 lb Southern belle with type 2 diabetes who's been warned she's a "metabolic time bomb". You can see the first one here, if you missed it.

The show didn't discuss her diabetes in depth, the doctor just mentioned that she wasn't able to control her blood sugars. Ruby repeated something else later that her doctor had said.  It compared high sugars with turning your blood to syrup and how that syrup damages the kidneys, the eyes, et al. That image of blood as syrup has stuck with me.

It's mentioned a couple times that Ruby has weighed over 700 lbs sometime in the past. I'll be interested to hear how she lost 200+ lbs already. She seems very motivated by the numerous threats to her health. I think the series is Tivo-worthy.  (READ MORE)

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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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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