January 4th, 2012 by KerriSparling in Opinion, True Stories
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High blood sugars come in three different tiers for me: No Big Deal (NBD), Tricky Little Sucker (TLS), and What The Eff (WTE).
No Big Deal (NBD) highs are the ones I see when I first hear the Dexcom BEEEEEEEP!ing. They are the 180 – 240 mg/dL highs, where I’m cruising out of range, but not so far outside that it takes hours to correct. The NBD highs are usually mild in their symptoms (kind of thirsty, sort of tired, maybe wouldn’t have noticed if the Dex hadn’t hollered) are thankfully short in their duration, so long as I’m on the ball about keeping tabs on my blood sugars.
Tricky Little Sucker (TLS) highs are obnoxious pieces of garbage that hang on for hours. These highs are the ones where you hit anything over 200 mg/dL and just ride there for hours. HOURS. Like you can undecorate the Christmas tree and pack up all the holiday nonsense back into the attic and STILL find yourself rolling outside the threshold. They’re the ones that Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
January 1st, 2012 by HarvardHealth in News
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Why would a pediatrician draw blood from your 9-, 10-, or 11-year-old at his or her next annual wellness visit? Because the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently endorsed updated guidelines that call for checking LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in all kids between the ages of 9 and 11.
The cholesterol-test recommendation created quite a stir. But wait, there’s more. The guidelines also call for annual blood pressure checks beginning at age 3, and periodic blood sugar measurements starting between ages 9 to 11. There’s also a strong recommendation for kids and adolescents to limit sedentary screen time to two hours or less per day, and to get at least an hour a day of moderate physical activity.
The biological basis for these guidelines is that atherosclerosis (the fatty gunk in arteries that causes heart attacks, strokes, and other serious problems) starts during youth. In many cases, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Harvard Health Blog*
December 22nd, 2011 by KerriSparling in Opinion
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A few years ago, I connected with Kyrra Richards, creator of Myabetic, to highlight the completely adorable “Lovebug” meter case. She and I have talked a few times since, and I had the opportunity to reconnect with her at the Diabetes Sisters conference in San Diego back in October.
It was at that conference that I was able to check out her new project, Champ, in person. And it’s totally cool, in that “hey, let’s make my glucose meter case something that doesn’t suck” sort of way. I love it.
I asked Kyrra what the inspiration for Champ was, and she had this to say: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
December 14th, 2011 by PJSkerrett in Research
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It’s hard to imagine what it was like to live with type 1 diabetes 80 years ago. Insulin was a brand new and relatively untested drug, the only way to check blood sugar levels was by testing boiled urine, syringes had to be sterilized, and needles sharpened by hand. Couple those challenges with the common complications of diabetes—heart disease, kidney failure, nerve damage, blindness, and more—and life expectancy for someone with type 1 diabetes wasn’t that long.
Spencer M. Wallace, Jr., was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1931, at age 7. He’s now an active 87-year-old who plays golf several times a week. He isn’t alone as a long-term survivor. Since 1970, almost 3,500 men and women who have lived with the disease for a half century have been recognized by the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston with bronze 50-year medals. Forty-five of them Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Harvard Health Blog*
December 1st, 2011 by KerriSparling in True Stories
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Two weeks ago, I was in the emergency room for some severe stomach pain, down on the lower right hand side of my abdomen. After consulting with Dr. Google, I realized that it could be appendicitis. Knowing I was heading to Toronto the next afternoon, I didn’t want to take any chances with this pain. So I headed off to the ER (conveniently, the one my best friend works at) to check things out.
Looooong story made Twitter-esque short, I didn’t have appendicitis. I just had some rogue stomach pain. However, while I was at the hospital, I asked to have my A1C run. I figured I was there, they were already drawing blood, so what’s one more vial?
“Can you guys grab an A1C while you’re at it?” I asked.
“Is your diabetes under control?” asked the doctor.
“Um … define control? I wear a pump, I wear a CGM, and I’m very aware of my disease. But I’ve been having a hard time juggling things lately, on just about every level, so I’m pretty sure my A1C is crap.”
The doctor shot me a very rude, very judgmental look. I shot one back at him.
“I’m asking you to run an A1C because Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
