Since I missed this week's Diabetes Social Media Advocacy #dsma chat, I'm addressing this week's questions here. The topic was disclosure — who (and what institutions) do you let know you have diabetes, and who (or where) do you choose to keep in the dark.

1. To disclose or not disclose: do(es) your employer/school/friends know you have diabetes? Why or why not?

The company which employs me does not know that I have diabetes; several people at work (including my supervisors) do. There is neither place nor reason to mention diabetes (or any disability) on the job application — I believe it's actually illegal in the US to inquire before hiring — and since hiring/firing decisions are made at the store level, accommodations must be discussed and/or made at that level, rather than the corporate level.

  (READ MORE)

There have been a couple of recent threads on LinkedIn regarding the definition of a "cure" for diabetes.

As everyone here who takes insulin will agree, diabetes cannot be "cured" by diet alone. And as everyone whose diabetes is currently controlled in part, or entirely, by diet and exercise will agree, just like "insulin is not a cure", "eating the right foods" is not a cure, either.

Merriam-Webster defines "cure (noun)" in our sense as the following:

  (READ MORE)

Last night, I participated in a DiabetesSisters' PODS meetup for the first time. I've seen them online and always wanted to join, but there hasn't been anything in my area and I'm not in a position to add anything to my plate right now. I noticed it on the list last week and spoke with the woman leading the group.

So I made the trek (it's about an hour's drive for me) to the meetup and enjoyed an hour and a half of diabetes related conversation (with a little life mixed in) with three other diabetic women. Three of us were type one and the other type two. Two other women are supposed to join next time (one of them being a friend of mine who I met at JDRF).

It was nice to just sit and talk about lows and highs and doctors and all that goes on. For DiabetesSisters, there are some "guidelines" supplied for these meetings. The facilitator goes through a training to even host the meeting.

  (READ MORE)

"Did you see this?" my dad asked pointing to a picture of Paula Deen on the cover of People magazine.

"Yeah," I said. "I wish she wasn't getting so much flak."

If you haven't met Paula Deen, she's a colorful character on the Food Network. She speaks with a thick Southern accent and says "y'all" more times than you can count. Her dishes are rooted in the South and are definitely fat-laden. These are not the types of dishes you want to build your meal plan around. These are not the types of dishes you want to eat at every meal. Geez, people should get that. Everything in moderation.

This topic came up in one of the diabetes forums that I'm a member of. Someone wanted to know what we thought about the whole situation.

  (READ MORE)

Yesterday, I responded to the question about "things you wish your doctors knew about diabetes and the daily task of living [with it] by mentioning that many healthcare providers' knowledge of diabetes is incomplete and/or out of date. Rather than be a part of the problem, I've proposed a first-draft solution — some things I would put into a Continuing Medical Education (CME) syllabus to fill in some of those gaps. I'm sure I'm missing rather a chunk of stuff, but then again, this is a first draft.

If I were to develop a syllabus to fill in the gaps in professional diabetes education, as I perceive they exist today, these are some of the things I would consider:

  (READ MORE)

My averages for the last week are down to 168. I'd be thrilled by this if there wasn't so much deviation in my numbers. 107, 192, 150, 272, 80, 59. I'm bouncing in no clear pattern and for no clear reason.

There are a few out of range that I can pinpoint like a 244 after an 80 because I didn't bolus for a low carb dinner thinking the carbs would bring me into range. Apparently, I was wrong. The 59 because I then over corrected the 244 too close to bedtime. But several lows and a couple highs are unclear to me. It looks like I'm overshooting my insulin when I'm dropping low, but I'm not doing anything different as far as I know (except probably being a little more exact with my carb counts which makes me wonder if my 1:10/1:8 ratio is too high).

  (READ MORE)