I am…

I am…
a daughter
a wife
a friend

I am…
a knitter
a gamer
a baker

I am…
lost
confused
alone

I am…
happy
strong
in control

I am…
a diabetic

As you probably already know, today is World Diabetes Day. Diabetes is a huge concern in the United States and all across the world. Today is the day to educate people on the different types, symptoms, complications, etc.

There is a fantastic video on TuDiabetes, chronicling the Word In Your Hand project. It is very moving.

Amy from DiabetesMine recently posted about how Richard Kahn from the ADA gave a (what seemed like) anti-diabetes technology speech. Needless to say, Amy and other diabetics are outraged. We love us our technology. I would encourage you and anyone you know with diabetes to take the following survey about diabetes technology.

Finally, I would like to show off Diabetes365, which is a project in which diabetics take a photo every single day for a year, highlighting what it’s like to live with diabetes every single day. There is a great Flickr pool, so please take some time to browse through the photos.

Happy World Diabetes Day!

Alzheimer’s could be related to diabetes

GiR pointed me to this article, which claims that Alzheimer’s could be another type of diabetes.  They are calling it “Type 3.”  From the article:

In the brain, insulin and insulin receptors are vital to learning and memory. When insulin binds to a receptor at a synapse, it turns on a mechanism necessary for nerve cells to survive and memories to form. That Alzheimer’s disease may in part be caused by insulin resistance in the brain has scientists asking how that process gets initiated.

Of course, they also mention (way at the bottom) that Alzheimer’s would be more related to Type 2 diabetes, rather than Type 1:

“With proper research and development the drug arsenal for type 2 diabetes, in which individuals become insulin resistant, may be translated to Alzheimer’s treatment,” said Klein. “I think such drugs could supercede currently available Alzheimer’s drugs.”

I love hearing about this research; it’s baby steps closer to figuring this stuff out.

PTSD can cause diabetes?

Just saw this article from Consumerist that says* the man’s posttraumatic stress disorder caused his diabetes.  Can this happen?  I would think that a person would already be pre-diabetic and possibly the PTSD aggravated the condition.  Personally, I think his/his lawyer’s claims are bogus.  What do you think?

* Technically, Consumerist is merely relaying the information from another source.  I’m not trying to imply that Consumerist is saying these things directly.

Bad test strips from China?

I just read this Consumerist article about bogus LifeScan OneTouch test strips. No word on any recalls, or even what exact strips are affected. I would suggest using an alternate meter with alternate strips if you can until there is more word as to what’s going on.

Microchip to measure blood sugar?

This Gizmodo article talks about a microchip that would be implanted in soldiers to measure their vital signs. The author mentions that he’d like to see it expanded for civilian use, especially for diabetics. Now, the technology is at least 5 years off, but wouldn’t it be kinda neat to have a little chip implanted somewhere that measures your blood sugar and you could view the results on your PDA or cell phone or something. It’s a long ways away, but it’s not impossible.

Diet soda linked to diabetes?

I just read this article about a study that links diet soft drinks to diabetes and cardiac risk. They say “…people who consumed more than one soft drink of any kind a day were 44 percent more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than those who didn’t drink a soda a day.” It didn’t matter whether it was regular or diet. However, one thing to note is this: “‘But we cannot infer causality,’ Vasan said, meaning there is no proof that soda itself is the villain. ‘We have an association. Maybe it is a causal one or maybe it is a marker of something else.‘” Correlation does NOT equal causation. More studies are definitely needed, but if they decide that diet soda is bad for diabetics, then what am I left with? Water? Ugh.

Relatedly, I do call it soda. Guess where I’m from.