The weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal had a very good obituary for Dr. Bernstein explaining how he was the first individual patient to obtain a blood sugar monitor and how he used his engineering background to develop his personal treatment plan by experimenting and seeing what worked. He was certainly the father of the concept of “Diabetes Self-Management” and even those of us who didn’t follow his particular method are deeply in his debt.
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I learned so much from his book, “Diabetes Solution.” When I was diagnosed with T2DM 35 years ago, I had a 5 star medical team, except, except for the dietitians. I saw 3 and they were all of a type - looked anorexic, appeared to see food as an enemy and pushed extremely low fat, high carb diets.
While I couldn’t sustain on Dr. Bernstein’s ultra low carb diet for long, it was a game changer and my limiting carbs combined with regular daily exercise I was drug free for 10 years.
It was on the good foundation of his book that I was able to deal effectively with the steady progression of Type 2 DM in my life.
People with T1DM talk of a honeymoon period, well I had one of 10 years before my Beta cells became overwhelmed. Currently they are mostly dead, but I was familiar with insulin therapy from his book.
I have learned much since reading the 1st edition of his book. One of my favorites is Dr Sheri Colburg’s “The Athlete’s Guide to Diabetes.” I recomend it to anyone with any type of DM. You don’t have to be an athlete to gain a good understanding of the mechanisms that drive our diseases, how drugs and hormone replacement works or doesn’t work and how physical activity can improve and be sustained.
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Thanks @JamesIgoe, hadn’t seen this. A truly foundational figure in the the DOC. Even those of us who don’t religiously follow his recommendations have absorbed a lot from his general influence in the space. His line “The less insulin you have to take, the easier it is to manage,” pretty much sums up my own self-management philosophy in a nutshell.
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This is a great picture, thanks.
That’s maybe a deck of cards, some notecards or a pack of cigarettes in his pocket, or whatever and frankly I don’t care - he had a logical approach with good information you could use or not at your choice.
The rolodex is a classic timestamp.
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I don’t really care, but as a long time ex smoker who paid for it with bladder cancer I don’t think it’s a pack of cigarettes, too short and too wide. There’s an image on it that I can’t make out. In the center is a 2 or 8. Yes I have too much time on my hands.
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I’d put 0% chance on the cig’s, and found it amusing to think he carried around a deck of cards in his pocket, sort of adds to the crazy aura of his legacy. I haven’t agreed with all of it, but his writing was, overall, very helpful to me after I was diagnosed T1 as an adult.
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My guess it was a pocket notepad with his blood sugars for the previous 30 years…80,82,81,85…
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I didn’t follow his plan, but his book probably taught me the most about diabetes and he was revolutionary for the time.
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Legend. Very good diabetic advocate. His approach really helped me dial in things.
He also had a pretty good dry sense of humor.
I remember during one of his YouTube videos in his mid to late 80’s his wife had passed a few years earlier and he said something to the effect of:
“Ladies I’m single” I cracked up - lol…
I found it amusing when he would refer to people as “Wise Guys” in jest - likely due to his growing up in NYC back in the day…
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I was diagnosted in 1982 and first found a Dr. Bernstein’s book in the local library circa 1988. It was the very first time any literature had ever described “basal and bolus” to me.
I totally reworked my insulin regime from a completely whacked-out twice a day shot regime with crazy unbalanced huge doses of R and N, to a 4-times a day regime where I used NPH for basal and Regular for bolus. My TDD dropped hugely and I had a lot less hypos!!! That was such a huge leap in quality of life for me.
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