Diabetes Self Management

Blood glucose monitors tend to be conspicuous and burdensome.  Diabetics often need to perform their tests in public, and this can be an embarrassing or stressful experience.  Because people have to take time out of their daily schedules to test, the need for frequent testing disrupts busy lives.

One solution is an implantable microchip that will detect blood glucose levels. The microchip will transmit test results to a wireless device which the patient can read without doing any self-testing.  MicroCHIPS, Inc., is one company developing this technology.  The chips are made to be implanted just under the skin and provide highly accurate readings for a full year. 

This device is a promising new product for diabetes management.

We all know that exercise is healthy, but for diabetic seniors, it can be life-changing.  Walking is the most accessible form of exercise.  No gym membership is required.  Physical activity such as walking helps to reduce stress, increase self-esteem, and maintain a healthy weight. 

And don't forget that exercise also lowers blood glucose levels.  Glucose levels are lowered when the muscles burn glucose for energy.  The muscles also absorb glucose from the blood during and after exercise in order to replenish their stores.  Exercise can also improve the body's ability to use insulin. 

There's no downside to exercising.  But before you start any regular exercise program, it is important to discuss it with your doctor. 

Take some time to get outside and walk around the neighborhood.  If the weather is a problem, you can walk around a shopping mall.  The simple act of walking can be a great start to a healthy routine.  You can walk with friends and family - or your favorite dog.  Diabetic seniors can manage their diabetes and and walk their way to better health. 

According to MayoClinic.com, when used correctly, you can count on your blood sugar monitor to provide accurate readings. As part of diabetes self management, if you think something's not right, start with the basics:
    * Check the test strips. Throw out damaged or outdated diabetes testing strips.
    * Check the monitor. Make sure the monitor is at room temperature, and the strip guide and the test window are clean. Replace the batteries in the monitor, if needed.
    * Check the code number on the test strips. Some monitors must be coded to each container of test strips. Be sure the code number in the monitor matches the code number on the container of test strips.
    * Check your technique. Wash your hands with soap and water before pricking your finger. Apply a generous drop of blood to the test strip. Don't add more blood to the test strip after the first drop was applied.

If you're still not sure what's wrong, do a quality control test according to the manufacturer's instructions and check the owner's manual for other troubleshooting issues. You can bring the monitor to your next doctor appointment as well.

This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (diabetescareclub.com), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

When used correctly, you can count on your blood sugar monitor to provide accurate readings. As part of good diabetes self-management, when you think something's not right, start with the basics:

    * Check the test strips. Throw out damaged or outdated strips.
    * Check the monitor. Make sure the monitor is at room temperature, and the strip guide and the test window are clean. Replace the batteries in the monitor, if needed.
    * Check the code number on the test strips. Some monitors must be coded to each container of test strips. Be sure the code number in the monitor matches the code number on the container of test strips.
    * Check your technique. Wash your hands with soap and water before pricking your finger. Apply a generous drop of blood to the test strip. Don't add more blood to the test strip after the first drop was applied.

If you're still not sure what's wrong with your diabetes testing supplies, do a quality control test according to the manufacturer's instructions and check the owner's manual for other troubleshooting issues. You can bring the monitor to your next doctor appointment as well.


This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (diabetescareclub.com), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

Important Notice: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

I came across a great older, but evergreen, article in Diabetes Health Magazine with tips for choosing the right lancing device.

"A common practice in selecting a lancing system is to rely on the device that comes with a particular blood glucose meter. This is like using an inferior razor simply because it came with your favorite shaving cream." (Do you love this analogy ... and it's so right.)

"Instead, review lancing devices independently of meters to select the one best suited to your specific needs." And in doing so, consider this important criteria: safety.

"People with diabetes are often advised to check their blood glucose several times per day,” says Jeff Hitchcock, president of the organization Children With Diabetes.

"Based on our most recent poll data, kids with diabetes are testing on average more than six times per day,” says Hitchcock. “Therefore, it is important that lancing systems be as simple and easy to use as possible.”

"To this end, the devices should require the fewest possible number of steps for lancing in order to provide the best user experience. For example, the priming and firing of the lancing device should be simple. Some devices require two-handed operation to pull back the cocking mechanism, while others simplify the process to one-handed operation with the press of a button—just like a ballpoint pen.

"The next generation of devices will offer the added convenience of multiple self-contained lancets in a cartridge, thus eliminating the need for loading and unloading a new or used lancet. "

UPDATE: The future is now. The next generation Accu-Chek Multiclix lancing device (which you may get from the Diabetes Care Club if you order your diabetic supplies online) is a world first in diabetes self management. Safety and convenience are combined, since no handling of lancets is necessary.

Here's how the Multiclix works:

Six lancets are preloaded in a drum making it easy to change.
The drum can simply be discarded in the household waste.
This unique lancing device also minimizes tissue tearing and pain, allowing you to test as frequently as your healthcare team recommends.

An electronic lancing device has been available since 2008, but it is not in wide distribution.


This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (diabetescareclub.com), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

Please note: Information provided is for general background purposes and is not intended as a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment by a trained professional. You should always consult your physician about any health care questions you may have, especially before trying a new medication, diet, fitness program, or approach to health care issues.

Do you ever wonder how people in the diabetes community lived before they had self management tools like Ascensia Contour monitors, Optium strips, modified diabetes recipes and the like?

Translated from ancient Greek, diabetes mellitus means 'honey sweet flow,' and stems from a time when tasting a patient's urine was still part of the physician's diagnostic repertoire. By the sweet taste of the urine, diabetes mellitus could be distinguished from diabetes insipidus, another disease with increased urinary output.

Diabetes mellitus appears to have been a death sentence in the ancient era. Hippocrates makes no mention of it, which may indicate that he felt the disease was incurable. The Greek physician Aretaeus did attempt to treat it, but could not give a good prognosis; he commented that "life (with diabetes) is short, disgusting and painful." The Indian Sushruta (written around 100 AD) identified diabetes and further identified it with obesity and sedentary lifestyle, advising exercises to help "cure" it.

The 20th Century was a time of scientific enlightenment in diabetes research, including a number of Nobel Prizes in medicine. The turning point came in 1921, when Sir Frederick Grant Banting and Charles Herbert Best demonstrated that they could reverse induced diabetes in dogs by giving them an extract (insulin) from the pancreatic islets of Langerhans of healthy dogs.

Banting, Best and colleagues went on to purify the hormone insulin from bovine pancreases at the University of Toronto, leading to the availability of an effective treatment -- insulin injections. The first patient was treated in 1922. For this achievement, Banting and laboratory director MacLeod received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923 and shared their prize money with others on the team.

In an unprecedented gesture of generosity to humankind, Banting and Best made the patent available without charge and did not attempt to control commercial production. Insulin production and therapy rapidly spread around the world, largely as a result of this decision. Banting is honored by World Diabetes Day, which is held on his birthday, November 14.

In 1980, U.S. biotech company Genentech developed human insulin. The insulin is isolated from genetically altered bacteria (the bacteria contain the human gene for synthesizing human insulin), which produce large quantities of insulin. Scientists then purify the insulin and distribute it to pharmacies for use by diabetes patients. (The illustration above shows the scientific structure of insulin.)

And each year, our knowledge and diabetes self management knowledge and capabilities grow through further discoveries and vastly improved testing technologies.


This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (diabetescareclub.com), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

It is astounding, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every 24 hours more than 4,000 adults are diagnosed with diabetes.

Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke and a leading cause of leg and foot amputations unrelated to injury, kidney failure, and new cases of blindness in adults. However, people can lower their risk of complications by following important diabetes self management steps to control the disease.

Here's what the CDC says:

    * Talk to your healthcare provider about how to manage your blood glucose (A1C), blood pressure, and cholesterol.

    * Get both the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines as soon as they are available. For those with diabetes, it is important to ask for the "shot" version of both vaccines. In addition, talk to your health care provider about a pneumonia (pneumococcal) shot. People with diabetes are more likely to die from pneumonia or influenza than people who do not have diabetes.

    * Stay at a healthy weight and engage in moderate physical activity for 2 hours and 30 minutes each week or vigorous physical activity for 1 hour and 15 minutes each week. Be sure to add muscle strengthening activities on 2 or more days each week. Physical activity can help you control your weight, blood glucose, and blood pressure, as well as raise your "good" cholesterol and lower your "bad" cholesterol.


This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (http://www.diabetescareclub.com/), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

I recently visited the Medicare.gov website and while I was there, I did a quick check on what is covered for diabetes self management ... usually that occurs when a patient is recently diagnosed.

According to medicare.gov, "diabetes outpatient self-management training is a covered program to teach you to manage your diabetes. It includes education about self-monitoring of blood glucose, diet, exercise and insulin.

If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, Medicare may cover up to ten hours of initial diabetes self-management training. You may also qualify for up to two hours of follow-up training each year if

    * it is provided in a group of 2 to 20 people*,
    * it lasts for at least 30 minutes,
    * it takes place in a calendar year following the year you got your initial training, and
    * your doctor or a qualified non-physician practitioner ordered it as part of your plan of care.

*Some exceptions apply if no group session is available or if your doctors or qualified non-physician practitioner says you have special needs that prevent you from participating in group training."

You can check out diabetes self management training coverage in your area at: http://www.medicare.gov/Coverage/Home.asp. Just indicate the state where you live in the drop-down menu and search on "diabetic services."

This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (http://www.diabetescareclub.com/), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

Taking delivery on your diabetes products is as easy as pie.


Stay at home, leave the car in the garage, eliminate those annoying lines at the pharmacy -- and ditch the paperwork. All you need to do is open your door every few months to receive your FREE home delivery of the exact diabetes self-management supplies you need - from meters and batteries to control solution, test strips, lancets and lancing devices. You'll know your mail carrier better than your pharmacist!

(Photo courtesy USPS.)

This blog is associated with Simplex MD (simplexmd.com) and the Diabetes Care Club (http://www.diabetescareclub.com/), sponsored by Simplex Healthcare.

Thanksgiving dinner low-fat diabetic dessert recipe: Cranberry-Apple Crisp

Thanksgiving dinner should be a wonderful celebration and family get-together. What it doesn't need to be successful is an overwhelming variety of food. That goes for desserts, too -- especially for those in the diabetes community. 

This year, why not try different instead of more. I promised I would post more recipes adjusted for those who take diabetes self management to heart. Here is a nice twist on a traditional crisp. Fresh fruit forms the base of the crisp, and to dress things up, you could add low-fat custard, fat-free topping or fat-free frozen yogurt à la mode.


Cranberry-Apple Crisp for Thanksgiving
(4 to 6 Servings)

INGREDIENTS:

2 large apples, Granny Smith variety (or Pippin, if not available)
8 ounces fresh, washed, cleaned cranberries
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice or apple cider
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp butter, cut into tiny pieces

MIX:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel, core and chop apples into one-inch pieces. Place apple pieces and cranberries in an 8 x 8 glass baking dish and drizzle with the lemon juice. Pour the apple juice or cider (reserving 2 tablespoons) over the fruit mixture. Mix together the brown sugar, oats and flour. Smear the butter pieces into the oat mixture and sprinkle it on top of the apples. Over that, drizzle the remaining two tablespoons of apple juice or cider. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the crisp is golden and bubbling. Remove from the oven and let cool before serving.

Can Thanksgiving dinner fit into your low-fat diet and program of diabetes self management?  What about pumpkin pie? Gravy? Mashed potatoes?

The answer -- in a word -- is yes.

Here's what many of us have discovered -- much of the work in maintaining a low-fat diet can come through portion control and small adaptations to our usual habits. For a small family (say four people), here are two Thanksgiving ideas that might help.

    * You may not want or need a whole turkey -- how about buying just a turkey breast? It is leaner and may be all you need for dinner and a modest supply of leftovers for sandwiches.

    * Second, control your side dishes. Side dishes, at least in many families, get out of control over Thanksgiving dinner. Think about it. Can you name all the side dishes you had last year? They can be overwhelming and have you seeking out a larger plate.

Let's propose a little rearrangement of foods and see what happens.

    * Pumpkin is actually one of the most flavorful squashes, yet we rarely prepare it as a side dish as we would with squash. Try it; it is wonderful. Let's put pumpkin on the plate next to the turkey as a side dish. Prepare it as you would cook any other squash.

    * A sweet potato casserole is a great Thanksgiving food. However, if just one person is going to eat it, save it for another time. If you make it because everyone likes it, then mashed potatoes become redundant. Make one or the other.

    * The same is true for other vegetables. Pick one. It is not necessary to have peas, bean casserole, corn and two kinds of fruit salad for one meal. One way to achieve portion control is by controlling variety.

I am posting several low-fat dessert diabetic recipes for you -- carrot cakes, pumpkin pies, low-fat cookies, brownies and others. Use a little bit of creativity this year and you can provide a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and be a model for getting the fat out of it.

Diabetic Pecan Pie

People often think diabetes recipes are pretty bland and boring, but I guarantee they are not. I'm from the South where we call this a pe-CAHN pie, and it is so full of sugar it makes your cheeks glow. However, it is a favorite around holiday time and many people prefer it to the even more traditional pumpkin pie.

For those in the diabetes community and those interested in diabetes self management, this recipe for pecan pie has been adjusted for you. But anyone trying to cut down on sugar intake -- and particularly the sugar rush of pecan pie -- will enjoy and benefit from this recipe.

P.S. For more great dessert options, visit the Diabetes Care Club (www.diabetescareclub.com). You'll find a lot of great recipes -- some are mine and some have been contributed by others. Enjoy y'all. 

Diabetic Pecan Pie

INGREDIENTS:

1 unbaked 9" pie shell
2 large eggs
1/2 tablespoon milk

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup light syrup (NOT corn syrup!)
1/2 cup sugar substitute (Splenda or other)
1 tablespoon flour
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pecan halves

MIX:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter first and set it aside to cool. Add indgredients to a large mixing bowl in this order: eggs, light syrup, salt, sugar substitute, flour, vanilla extract, melted butter. Using a mixer on slow speed, blend mixture until it is smooth. Add the pecans and mix, making sure all pecans have been coated in the liquid. Pour mixture into pie shell and brush the rim of the crust with milk to provide a glaze. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until done. Baking times vary with ovens and altitudes.