A message from American Diabetes Association:
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My Diabetes issues/concerns;
-Lack of proper education on up-to-date treatment/diagnoses paradigms for both medical personnel and for PWD in this country(USA):_All types It is absolutely astounding and dismal how little is known about diabetes by those who should know. The dire effects of miseducation are horrendous. They include Complications, extended weeks/months/years of poor quality of life, costly medical expenses for insurance,government health care systems/agencies,and the PWD themselves.times. Such outcomes can often be avoided with proper education as well as with the provision of the resources listed below:
-Provision of both long-term basal insulins (basal,) and short-term ( bolus) analog insulins to all insulin-dependent persons with diabetes at a radically lower cost than exists now.
-Provision of Blood Glucose monitoring systems ( Adequate test strips; CGMS) to all PWD .Adequate training for PWD to know how to use the information gleaned from blood glucose monitoring. All of this should be provided at a radically lower cost than what exists currently.
I realize that am asking for a lot. But in my honest opinion, This is just common sense.
Brunetta R.Garrard
Type One diabetes 46 years
All PWDs should have access to technology - cgm's, pumps, etc. I feel like I falling further and further behind because I cannot afford either.
All PWDs should have access to technology - cgm's, pumps, etc.
And unimpeded access to accurate glucose test strips.
I agree!
I second what Brunetta, Kathy and Terry said and I think that none of what we need should require rx. We should consult with doctors but they shouldn't have control, nor should ins companies over what we can have access to. Also on my list is a cure and better treatments right after this.
Most up-to-date technology and test strip availability---YES.
But I am "just" a T2 still managing after 7+ years to have a "safe-zone" A1c on diet and exercise only, even as I daily encounter trying to process aging issues like chronic pain and liver problems and newly diagnosed hypothyroidism.
I wouldn't recognize an "app" if it bit me in the pancreas. I'm not afraid of progressing to insulin when it is necessary, I just like where I am at for awhile yet because life is complicated enough for right now!
I see that the ADA is trying to allow for lo-carb now and that is good, considering that several years ago when I very mildly mentioned that lo-carb worked for me, I got painfully flamed and never went back. I do remember BSC mentioning in a post that they passed that all off to somebody else, so they aren't off the hook yet in my world.
Whoa---there was a rant waiting in the wings to be vented---sorry about that!
So besides all that technology that I know will keep my dearest DOC friends alive longer, I would say---where's the support for folks who actually manage without all the Tech? (that is NOT about here at TuD!). Do folks newly diagnosed actually get the option , Sincerely offered, of trying to manage with diet and exercise only---do they get supported while they learn? Do they get enough test strips to test every time they eat something so they can figure out what to eat? I did---the newly Dx at Kaiser don't now.
Enough--Sorry I went a ways off the rails...Blessings!
Done, and thanks for providing the opportunity to "strongly agree" :)
Yes yes yes, dear Judith! I feel there is little support for those of us who try to manage without pumps and cgms.
Judith, Kathy, I'm a Type 1 and I also manage on MDI without any tech. The one thing I rely upon for any kind of control is all the strips I need; without them I'd be lost. I'm not having any trouble getting them right now, but the thought is enough to give me nightmares.
I don't know what I would do without my test strips! I am testing out a new cgm sensor now though because even with everything I do I still fluctuate too much.
I agree with all of you here
To get what we need & how much we need to take care of ourselves
T1 for over 77 years
We’ve come a long way…let’s not stop now
Frankly I don't think that there's any help for this problem, but it bothers me greatly that insurance companies insist on telling us which kind of insulin we can take. I need, NEED, Levemir and Apidra and every January my doctor has to write a letter of need for me. This year my insurance company wanted me to take Novolog and Lantus--they don't work for me. Happily they respond to my doctor's letters, but the insurance companies should not be "prescribing" the type of insulin patients can have.
Trudy i agree 100% with you about insulin & also which meter & test strips & which pump , etc... we can use as PWD whose LIFE DEPENDS ON THESE.
HOW ABOUT CGM FOR SENIORS? THAT TOO.Meter accuracy is a problem. Should be improved for the 5 second meters if this is impossible then the 10 year old meters using more blood and 60 second measuring time should be made available
It is most important that we share our views re: ADA's federal and state legislative/regulatory priorities using this link:
http://www.adafeedback.com/se.ashx?s=705E3EF2643ACBF4
so that they will have a structured list of feedback. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete.
I took the survey some time ago. I have numerous issues with the ADA and have not generally felt they represented the priorities of me as a patient. At least we are asked for our input. I used the text at the end to give them an earful about the fumbling and then dropping the ball on nutrition public policy and the Diabetes Prevention Program travesty.
Good that you are voicing your opinion on the survey, Brian!
Big hug, bro.
Brunetta:
As one who has been type 2 diabetes for last 30 years plus; I couldn't agree more.
I have had fortune to learn better knowledge and tools like cgms in the last 6 years of my life that have been key to my surviving and rescuing my butt after a stroke and running blood glucose numbers too high.
Diabetes is not a religion with bunch of high priests running around with incomplete and wrong information like their leading a church congregation.
As you so eloquently point out far too much updated knowledge and cure possibilities sit locked in wood cases in the Indiana Jones Government warehouse going nowhere and collecting dust while type 2's rot out.
I had my stroke in 2007 and spent much time researching work done by Salk institute, University Upon Tyne - Dr Roy Taylor and his MRI spectography tools watching real time as pancreas and livers recovered from being on tight diets as is done with those on Bariatric surgery.
The Salk Institute in 2007 and earlier had done extensive work on metformin indicating they felt is shutting down excessive liver glucose secretion. I actually watched its effect on a cgms I was dam lucky to have that seemed to show that metformin acted this way.
It was not till 6 years later in January 2013 that a american and french group proved conclusively thru lab work, metformin did in fact work on the liver and bypassed the ampk chain to directly stop excessive liver glucose release.
6 damn years after Salk had done its work. What kind of crap is this?
Today the most popular diabetes pill medicine out there is metformin - no kidding;
and there is no such thing as a liver leak. I put up with crap and rude comments from websites and self appointed experts mouthing off theories as if they were solid facts and findings and I was an idiot!
The other insane joke is there is only one organ - the pancreas and its islets. Yes a very important one. Yet the human body chemical plant is a very complex multi-organ multi hormone system all running with multiple first in first out Fifos and intermediate storage of glucose to make possible that a human would have a fighting chance in a heart beat to escape the saber tooth tiger looking for a fast lunch/meal. That means that pancreas, liver, kidneys, intestines, skeletal muscles as well as diet and exercise all play key roles in keeping blood glucose under control. To suggest otherwise and maintain a view - just add insulin and more if necessary is an inadequate view of the human body!
So best wishes adn comments from the heart and wish you best of health.
I would love for the ADA to take a more active role in educating the general public and the media on what causes a diabetes diagnosis. For type 1, information on the fact that it is an auto-immune disease that can strike at any age, that insulin, immediately, is the treatment. I wouldn't go into the sub categories like LADA and type 1.5, For type 2 that it is hereditary, that current thoughts are that the type 2 causes the weight issues, urging the general public to shake their family tree, and if any type 2 apples fall out, get checked. All too often type 2 can sneak up, and it isn't until complications raise their head that a Dx is made. It is amazing and frustrating the number of news reports on diabetes that don't mention type at all. And they are very different diseases.
This kind of public awareness will go a long way in getting people promptly and corrected Dx'd and can so a lot to stop the blame game.
There is ONLY one issue that matters...getting rid of this curse...as in gone, eradicated, as if it never existed. All the geewhiz techie stuff pales in comparison