Diabetes Devices

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When your doctor tells you they want you to go on the pump, or they want you to change your blood sugar meter, or they want you to get a continuous glucose monitor, or any other diabetic devices, how do you decide what to get?  Do you just get what the doctor tells you to get, or do you go out and start shopping around like you would for a new TV or a new car?  Should you get a Medtronic Minimed, an Animas Ping, or an Omnipod?  Maybe you’re looking for info about the Dexcom G4 vs. the Medtronic Guardian?  Many people ask their doctors for advice.  Some will do their own research by calling manufacturers, or looking up magazine reviews, and now in todays age, people will Google for information about the diabetic device they need.  What’s the best way to do your research though?  How will you find out the secret little things that no sales rep, doctor, or nurse will know or tell you?

Well here is my opinion about doing research for diabetic devices.  Ask people who use them.  Certainly doctors will be full of info they’ve been trained on by the manufacturer reps, and the manufacturer reps will tell you all the reasons their product is better than the competition, but the people who will tell you the honest truth about a product, are the people who it.  Doctors will skew you towards the products from the manufacturers who bring them donuts, cookies,  and coffee more often,  the manufacturer reps won’t tell you about the “known issues” with their product because they want you buy it, but the people who use it, will tell you EVERYTHING.  The good and the bad.

How do you find the people who use the products?  In local diabetes support groups, in JDRF meetings, at diabetes walks, and ONLINE.  The diabetes online community is jam packed full of people who just love to rave about their devices.  Just go to Twitter and search for the hashtags #doc, #dsma, #review, etc, and you’ll find people who can help.  You can also of course do Google searches for personal reviews written by real diabetics like me.  For instance, if you go to Google and type in “dexcom review” or “medtronic guardian review” or “dexcom vs. medtronic”, your going to find this blog in the top 10 search results.  I love to promote my Dexcom, and I’m not a fan of the Guardian!  I really should work for Dexcom I think.  Hey Dexcom, wanna hire me?!  LOL!!!

I have only 3 diabetic devices.  My Medtronic Minimed pump, my Dexcom CGM, and my One Touch meter.  My Medtronic pump I got simply because it’s the one my doctor at the time recommended, and it’s the only one they were trained on in her office.  That was in 2006.  I’ve stuck with it over the years because it’s never failed me.  Not once.  In fact, I’ve only had 2 pumps in those 7 years, and the one I have now is only a year old.  That means my pump with a 3 year warranty lasted 6 years, and it still works!  Why would I change, right?  My Dexcom I got because of the failure of the Guardian I had.  I got the Guardian because it was matched to my pump.  It was horrible.  The #doc was full of people posting about how they love Dexcom though, so I did some research, read some personal reviews, asked some people who use it about their experience, and couldn’t be happier with it.  My One Touch I use because I’ve used it for more years than I can remember.  Insurance sends me new ones every once in a while, and I just keep using them.

Well, I hope you found that bit of perspective helpful.  Happy shopping!!!

 

This post is my June entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival.  If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2013/june-dsma-blog-carnival-3/

Don’t die like I did . . . . .

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cardiac-arrestI’ve thought about this diabetes complications blog article ever since I started my blog 2 years ago.  I’ve been afraid to write it, partially because I don’t want to think about dying, but also because I didn’t think anyone would want to read about it.  However, I recently attended the Diabetes Hope Conference where the leaders of the Diabetes Hands Foundation encouraged the blogging community to write about the complications of diabetes.  Then the leaders of the blogging community that were a part of the conference discussed it too.  Now today I got an email from TuDiabetes with an article called “What Are We Afraid Of”.  I believe it’s time to write about this now.

Most type 1 diabetics have a “diaversary”, or the day they were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.  I’ve been diabetic for over 42 years, and the records of my diagnosis have been destroyed by the hospital I was taken to, and my parents don’t exactly remember when I was diagnosed except that it was the summer before my 2nd birthday.  I do however have a date of rebirth, a resurrection date, and that is 13 Aug 2003.  The day I died of an undiagnosed diabetes complication,  . . . heart disease.

I don’t know how long I ignored the symptoms that something was wrong, or made excuses for what I was experiencing.  It was at least months.  I would become exhausted after just a short walk, unable to breathe, and pressure on my chest.  I told myself I was just out of shape, and then when it got worse I told myself it was because my doctor changed my blood pressure medication.  I don’t remember the other excuses I made for myself, but there were more.  I remember being on a business trip that summer in San Francisco with co-workers, and having to walk from Brannan Street to around Chinatown, because we couldn’t find any open cabs.  I’d have to stop and breathe every block or so, and I was so embarrassed by it.  I told my co-workers to go ahead, but they wouldn’t.  They stayed with me and made sure I was ok.  Weeks passed, and it got worse.  I’d get chest pains when I just go up a flight of stairs, and I lived on the second floor of an apartment building, so this was every day.  The Sunday before my cardiac arrest, I spent a day at the renaissance faire getting drunk on Captain Morgan Private Stock, and having to rest about every few hundred feet with chest pains.  (My doctor told me that the rum kept me alive that day, and I still have that bottle to this day.)  Then one day I was at lunch with my salesperson (I was a network engineer) at Weber Grill.  I ordered the meatloaf, and it was awesome.  Anyway, after eating I got chest pains, and then forearm and wrist pain.  I knew these symptoms because I was trained as an EMT during my college years.  So I drove myself to the ER after lunch.

I had an EKG, and blood work, and they found nothing wrong.  They kept me overnight and scheduled my first stress test that next morning.  When they explained what the test would  be, I told them I wouldn’t be able to do it, and they didn’t listen.  I started the test, and after that first 3 minutes, when the incline of the treadmill raises, I can remember someone’s arms wrapping around me from behind, bear hugging me, and leaning me down towards the table, but I don’t remember making it to the table.  My heart had stopped.  I had suffered cardiac arrest.  There was no light.  I just . . . wasn’t.  Then, I was awoken to 40,000 volts on my chest, and I can still “see” myself surrounded my medical personel, equipment, lights, monitors, etc.  Seconds later they hit me with the 40,000 volts again because my heart wasn’t yet regular.  Then . . . do you know what I said to the doctor who just brought me back to life?  I screamed “WTF was that for!!!”  Then, I started to realize where I was, and what was happening, and panic began to set in.  I asked what was happening to me, and an orderly kneeled next to me and started explaining everything that was happening.  Next they inserted a camera into my heart through my femoral artery (a nurse yelling at you to sit still while your terrified was a little annoying), and the orderly pointed to the monitor that showed blood pumping and then stopping in my heart.  Next I remember rolling down the hallway on the gurney, and seeing those hospital overhead lights that you see in the movies, and thinking “is this really happening to me”.  I was taken into emergency bypass surgery, and had a quad bypass.  I have 4 scars in my left leg where they took arteries out to graft into my heart, and a big long scar down my chest.  I win every scar contest with my friends.  They don’t really let me play anymore though.  *chuckle*

I had undiagnosed heart disease, caused by my uncontrolled diabetes.  I healed quickly due to my youth, and had recovered well enough in 3 weeks to start going for walks to build up my strength.  At the encouragement of my doctor, I enrolled in cardiac rehab where I exercised under nurse supervision, with electrodes attached to my torso and a heart monitor.  That lasted 3 months.  When I “graduated” from cardiac rehab, I joined a gym for the first time in my life, and hired the fittest personal trainer I could find.  He was an amateur bodybuilder and he began to teach me about fitness and nutrition.  He got me involved in the bodybuilding and fitness community, and motivated me to stay fit.  I surrounded myself with healthy fit people, and changed my life.  In the years since, I’ve learned a great deal about nutrition, fitness, diabetes, and in the last 2 years I’ve started my diabetes advocacy, so that you don’t die like I did.

So in that email I got from TuDiabetes today, it asked “What Are You Afraid Of”?  What I’m afraid of . . . . . is dying a long slow death from something like kidney disease, or going blind, or being unable to walk from neuropathy.  My heart disease took me quickly and suddenly, and I sometimes feel cheated that I was robbed of a quick death.  Now I get to look forward to the possibility of a long slow death.  That’s what I’m afraid of.  A long slow death.  What’s different now though, is that I’m in the best control of my life, and I’m doing everything I can to stay my execution.  I can do a lot better though too, and I work very hard at improving my control now, where I didn’t when I was young.  I almost denied that I was diabetic most of my life until this happened to me.

So please, if you’ve made it this far in this blog post, take control of your diabetes, find help if you need it, reach out to the diabetes online community, find a local support group, find a certified diabetes educator, contact your local JDRF or ADA chapter, find a good doctor, change doctors if you need to, educate yourself, and don’t give up.  I was lucky and I cheated the odds.  Please, . . . don’t die like I did.

What are you afraid of . . . . . ?  Please share your blog article on this subject in the comments, or just share a comment with what you’re afraid of.

Farmers Market Rant

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farmers market rant

There’s nothing more annoying than discovering a new farmers market that’s open on my days off (I don’t have weekends off), and when I get there, discovering that most of the vendors are selling flowers, or crafts, or the latest network marketing  gimmick super health supplement or shake.  This just happened to me yet again.  I discovered a new farmers market in the parking lot of the hospital offices where my endocrinologist is located.  I was pretty stoked, until I got out of my car and walked down the isle of vendors.  It took me about 60 seconds to turn around and leave.

If “I” was running a farmers market, the only vendors allowed to join it, would have to be selling ONLY food items produced on a local farm within say 100 miles of the farmers market.  The only exceptions would be plants or seeds could be sold, if they produce food of some sort.  Oh, and honey would be allowed too.  There would be no flowers, no house plants, no crafts, no network marketing companies, nothing except food items produced by local farmers.  A farm is a tract of land used to produce either plant foods, or animal foods.  So either type of food would be allowed at “my” farmers market.

Oh! Another thing!  I understand that farmers markets are going to be more expensive, and I understand why.  I’m completely ok with supporting my local farmers and keeping money in the community, but $6 for a pint of strawberries in a market that’s has a glut of strawberries?!!!  P-L-E-A-S-E???!!!  There will be no price gouging in my farmers market either.

Ok, rant is over.  Thanks for listening.  Just so that I can put something helpful into this blog, here is a link to find local farmers markets for you:  http://www.localharvest.org/

 

Hypoglycemia + Exercise = Annoying

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Body BeastHave you ever been really looking forward to a workout, only to test your blood sugar and discover you’re about to go hypo?  Annoying right?  So you carb up, . . . . . and wait.  30 minutes later you check your blood sugar again.  Now it’s even lower?!  What the heck?!  So you carb up yet again, . . . . . and wait.  30 minutes later you check again, now you’re barely at 90 mg/dl.  You know that you need to be at least at 150 for the type of workout you’re about to do, so you carb up yet a 3rd time, with a serious case of #hyporage . . . . . and wait.  30 – 60 minutes later you check your blood sugar, and now you’re at 150ish, but now it’s either time for bed, or you’re just exhausted from the hypo and you have no energy to do your workout.  If this has ever happened to you, RAISE YOUR HAND!

Yes, this happened to me last week.  See, I’ve been doing this new Beachbody workout called Body Beast, and I really like it a lot.  It’s a home bodybuilding workout.  I actually look forward to coming home from work and going straight to my workout room and pressing play.  It reminds me of the good old days when I was a bodybuilding  photographer.  I was never a bodybuilder, but I worked out like they did.  (Check out my Flickr feed on the right.)

So I thought I’d talk about how exercise, and specifically strength training, can help with your diabetes.  Whether you’re type 1 or type 2, strength training (anaerobic exercise) improves your diabetes because it improves your insulin resistance.  Aerobic exercise doesn’t help nearly as much as anaerobic.  Anaerobic means “without oxygen”.  You don’t have to look like a bodybuilder to get improvement from strength training.  The more muscle you have, the better your insulin will work so you can use less of it.

How do you know if your muscles are deprived of oxygen?  Well, you know when your  muscles start to burn after working out for a while?  Well there’s your sign.  That burning sensation means your muscles have been without oxygen, and now they’re creating and storing lactic acid.  When you stop the exercise, the lactic acid clears, and the pain goes away almost immediately.  So if you’re not feeling that burning in your muscles, you’re not getting as much benefit as you could from your workout.  Now you certainly don’t want that burning to continue when you stop the workout.  If it continues after the workout it means you’ve probably strained a muscle.

A temporary side effect of anaerobic exercise is immediate insulin sensitivity.  That means your muscles can process glucose without, or with less insulin, for hours after your workout.  Sometimes up to 12 hours!  I have to set a “workout basal” with less basal insulin on the days I workout, so I don’t crash in the middle of the night.  My workout basal is about 8 hours long.  Do this 4 – 6 days a week, and it leads to improved insulin resistance all the time.  Now let that start turning in your head.  Then Google for more info.  Ask your diabetes educator about it.  I hope it helps!

Diabetes Control – Then and Now

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richthediabetic-churchclothesThe other day, I had a lengthy conversation with my dad, about me and my diabetes when I was a kid.  You see, I’ve become friends with some mom’s who have type 1 diabetic children, and when they post stories of the struggles both they, and their kids go through, it makes me think of my childhood.  When I look back on my own childhood, I don’t remember the kind of nightmare’s that these poor kids are going through as type 1 diabetic children.  I see their mom’s post stories all to frequently of their kid’s blood sugars being over 400 or 500 that won’t come down, resulting in lengthy hospital stays.  I also recently saw another diabetic advocate post about numerous children that had passed away from their diabetes, all in a short time.  Then I saw a video about something called “dead in bed” syndrome.  OMG!  That video was horrifying, and it’s something that they say is becoming all to frequent with diabetic children?!  What is going on?!!!  My childhood wasn’t like this!!  We didn’t live in fear of my diabetes like this?!!

So I asked my dad what he remembered with my diabetes as a kid.  I asked him specifically if he lived in fear of me dying as a child.  He said no.  Yes, there were some sleeping seizures from serious hypo’s, but they were few and far between.  2 or 3 times a year maybe.  Very few hospitalizations in all of my youth years from diabetes, and never for very long.  He said that he and my mom had to learn timing of my meals and snacks because back then we didn’t have fast acting insulin, or blood sugar testing, so they only used urine strips and NPH insulin, and NPH would leave me hypo at certain times of day, so they just knew that at certain times, I needed to eat a snack.  I talked to my mom about this a couple months ago too, and she pretty much told me the same thing.  1 shot a day, timing of meals, check urine sugar.  That was it.  That’s all there was to juvenille diabetes control back then, and I did fine as a kid.  It wasn’t until my adulthood that my diabetes got totally out of control, when I started taking multiple shots a day, using fast acting insulin, and checking my blood sugar frequently.  It was after years of doing this, that I suffered a complication of my diabetes.  That I suffered cardiac arrest at age 34. (As you can see, I survived it.)

Now I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and I have a rather radical thought.  WHAT IF . . . diabetes control is to tight in this day an age?  WHAT IF . . . blood sugar monitoring, insulin pumps, and A1C’s under 7.0, are the cause of these problems in juvenile diabetic children now days?  I know, I know.  Calm down.  Hey, . . . it’s just a thought.  How long have I lived with type 1 diabetes?  42 years?  Hmmmmm?  Of course, I’m not saying you should stop your current treatment and jump back 35 years in treatment methods.  DON’T EVEN THINK OF DOING THAT!  Follow your doctors prescribed treatment method.  I’m just saying it’s an awfully interesting set of coincidences that line up here, and it just makes me wonder.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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