Apropos to Halloween last week, a doctor I know — who happens to be an endocrinologist — recently offered me a piece of hard candy. Casually. Without hesitation. When I smiled and noted that my “condition” keeps me off that stuff, he insisted I was being “obsessive.”
Surely one piece of hard candy won’t do much to your blood sugar, right?
Ummm, that’s what I take when I’m low. For me it’s a treatment, you know…?
The…
If you’re anything like me, you may need at least two hands to count the number of healthcare professionals you work with: general practitioner, endocrinologist, diabetes educator, nutritionist, psychologist, ophthalmologist, optometrist, gynecologist… Whew! I can barely keep up with them all and you can bet they don’t keep up with each other.
This lack of structured communication is one of the issues the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) hopes to address. We’ve written about this disruptive…
As if entering adulthood wasn’t tough enough, teens with diabetes face an extra challenge just about the time they’re graduating from high school and reaching adulthood: they’re forced to transition from close, intimate pediatric care settings to the hard, “get ‘em in, get ‘em out” world of adult healthcare, where so much depends on jobs, health insurance and self-motivation.
Historically pretty much ignored by the medical establishment, “emerging adults” with diabetes, ranging from 18 to…
A new regulatory debate about whether certain medications should require prescriptions makes me reflect on how good things used to be when it comes to obtaining my own diabetes meds over-the-counter.
Insulin, in particular.
Two decades ago when I was on second-generation insulin like Regular and Lente, I could walk into a pharmacy and pick up a bottle of insulin without needing a prescription. That was helpful during those times when I forgot my insulin…
Oftentimes the Diabetes Online Community does feel like a real, organic community — filled with all sorts of wonderful people who share your interests, and are just waiting to become closer friends with you. But it’s hardly a club that any of us elected to join. In fact, it’s scary as all get-out when you’re first diagnosed, with doctors and nurses telling you about all the horrible things you’re going to have to do (take…
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