diabetestalk.net

Diabetes An Expensive Disease For Many Canadians, Costing On Average $2.5K Annually

Diabetes an expensive disease for many Canadians, costing on average $2.5K annually

Diabetes an expensive disease for many Canadians, costing on average $2.5K annually

More
Days after his Grade 8 graduation, Julie Vanderschot’s 13-year-old son began to have blurry vision and stomach pains. He was rapidly losing weight, had difficulty chewing, was insatiably thirsty and frequently needed to use the bathroom.
At the same time, he was taking medication to treat an infected tendon in his foot, which he’d hurt in a bicycle accident. “We initially mistook some of the symptoms as side effects of the antibiotics,” said Vanderschot, a policy analyst in Ottawa.
Her son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the pancreas can’t produce insulin because the immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce it. Insulin is a crucial hormone that helps shuttle glucose from the blood into the body’s cells where it’s used as an energy source.
In the weeks and months that followed, the family attended training and education sessions at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), learning how to test blood-glucose levels, administer insulin and adjust dosages, count carbohydrates and manage diet. Vanderschot’s son now sees an endocrinologist every three months.
A report from the Canadian Institute of Health released earlier in November, which is National Diabetes Month, noted that Canada has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world. More than nine million people are living with diabetes or pre-diabetes in this country. It’s a chronic condition that takes a physical toll and has expensive recurring drug fees.For those who are living with the condition, it’s an expensive situation.
Under Th Continue reading

Rate this article
Total 1 ratings
A Patient With Diabetes No Longer Needs Insulin After Receiving A Bioengineered “Pancreas”

A Patient With Diabetes No Longer Needs Insulin After Receiving A Bioengineered “Pancreas”

A year after receiving a new type of islet cell transplant to treat her severe diabetes, a patient continues to do well and no longer needs insulin injections to manage her disease.
A Happy Anniversary
Even the most exciting breakthrough medical treatment can be rendered obsolete by a particularly insurmountable obstacle: time. If a treatment only works temporarily, it has little chance of making a significant difference in the lives of patients, which is why the latest news from the University of Miami’s Diabetes Research Institute is so exciting.
A year after transplanting insulin-producing islet cells into the omentum of a woman with a particularly unwieldy form of type 1 diabetes, the cells continue to operate as hoped. She no longer needs to receive insulin via injections or an insulin pump and is in good health.
By using the omentum, a fatty membrane in the belly, as the transplant site, the researchers were able to avoid complications associated with the traditionally used site, the liver. The longterm goal of the research is to identify a suitable location for a pancreas-mimicking mini-organ called the BioHub. Based on this patient’s response, the omentum is looking like it just may be the ideal spot.
A Better Life
Prior to this transplant, the patient’s entire life revolved around her diabetes. “Her quality of life was severely impacted. She had to move in with her parents. And, if she traveled, she had to travel with her father,” the study’s lead author, Dr. David Baidal, told HealthDay.
Unfortunately, she’s not alone in having diabetes control her l Continue reading

Rising insulin prices forcing Hoosiers with diabetes to make tough choices

Rising insulin prices forcing Hoosiers with diabetes to make tough choices

INDIANAPOLIS (Statehouse File) – For six years, Erin Roberts worked two jobs in order to afford the life-saving medication her son depends on.
“It was really hard,” she said. “I feel like I missed a lot of family life because I was working as a registered nurse, and so I would work five 12-hour shifts a week.”
When he was 2 years old, Roberts’ son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, a disease that occurs when the body does not properly process the food it needs for energy.
The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin, which is needed to transform the sugar from foods into energy. Without it, the body’s glucose levels can rise dangerously, resulting in potentially life-threatening situations.
But while necessary for survival, families across the country are finding it increasingly difficult to afford their diabetes medication.
Roberts, who requested her name be changed for the purpose of this article, said she didn’t want her son to feel like his diabetes was a burden on their family.
“I try not to let our son know how his disease affects our family financially,” she said. “I know he’s somewhat aware, but I don’t want that to be something he feels bad about.”
As a nurse practitioner, Roberts works with disadvantaged diabetic Hoosiers, many of whom are at a loss for how they way pay for their insulin.
The price of an order of insulin per patient increased from roughly $230 in 2002 to more than $700 in 2013, according to an analysis published in 2016 for the Journal of the American Medical Association. An order c Continue reading

12 Benefits Of Turmeric In Diabetes [UPDATED]

12 Benefits Of Turmeric In Diabetes [UPDATED]

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic condition wherein blood sugar levels in the body remain high as the body fails to regulate it. Insulin is the hormone that plays a vital role in this disease.
It is produced by the pancreas and it controls the blood sugar. Blood sugar or glucose acts as a fuel for various cellular activities. Insulin moves glucose from blood to muscles, fat and liver cells where it is stored or used as fuel.
In diabetes either little insulin or insulin resistance hampers this transformation of glucose and in turn tends to affect the body negatively. There are three main types of diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes: It is caused due to lack of insulin production.
Type 2 diabetes: It is caused due to failure of cells to respond to insulin appropriately.
Gestational diabetes: It occurs during pregnancy due to high blood glucose levels.
Type 1 diabetes is not treatable while Type 2 can be cured by use of medications with or without insulin and lifestyle changes. Turmeric is a perennial herb that is cultivated mainly in Asia as a spice.
Numerous research studies have proven the use of turmeric in treating diabetes and its complications. This article goes over various studies and developments made in utilizing the medicinal properties of turmeric to cure or prevent pathological conditions associated with diabetes.
Composition of Turmeric
The bioactive properties of turmeric are attributed to various components isolated from its rhizome. The important components are curcuminoids and the volatile oil.
Curcuminoids comprise of curcumin, monodemethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycur Continue reading

Alpha Lipoic Acid: Improve Insulin Sensitivity & Fight Diabetes!

Alpha Lipoic Acid: Improve Insulin Sensitivity & Fight Diabetes!

What is it about foods like broccoli and spinach that make them so healthy? There’s the fiber, vitamins and minerals, of course, but then there’s other important chemical compounds we call “antioxidants” too — like alpha lipoic acid (ALA).
Chances are you’ve heard a lot about the many benefits of various antioxidants and high-antioxidant foods — fighting inflammation, helping beat cancer or heart disease, warding off depression and cognitive decline, and so much more — but have you ever wondered what exactly antioxidants are and how they work in the body?
Alpha lipoic acid — one kind of antioxidant — is a type of compound found in plant foods we commonly eat that scavenges free radicals, fights inflammation and slows the aging process. But perhaps its most famous use is in treating diabetes naturally.
Humans also make a small amount of ALA on their own, although the concentration in our bloodstreams goes up substantially when we eat a healthy diet. Naturally abundant in foods like green veggies, potatoes and certain types of yeast, lipoic acid is similar to a vitamin in that it can also be man-made in a lab so it can be taken as an anti-inflammatory supplement (which is then called alpha lipoic acid).
How Alpha Lipoic Acid Works
Lipoic acid is found in the body and also synthesized by plants and animals. It’s present in every cell inside the body and helps turn glucose into “fuel” for the body to run off of. Is it “essential” that you consume a certain doseage of alpha lipoic acid every day? Not exactly.
Even though we can make some of it on ou Continue reading

No more pages to load

Popular Articles

  • Many adults with diabetes delay insulin therapy

    (Reuters Health) - Three in ten adults with type 2 diabetes who need to start taking insulin to lower their blood sugar don’t begin treatment when their doctors tell them to, a recent study suggests. On average, these patients delay insulin for about two years, researchers report in Diabetic Medicine. “This matters to patients because insulin therapy is typically offered to patients with high ...

  • Half of Americans have diabetes or a high risk for it — and many of them are unaware

    That’s right. The metabolic condition is about as American as you can get, according to a new national report card on diabetes released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report shows that nearly half of Americans have diabetes or prediabetes, which puts them at high risk for the condition. A good number of these folks haven’t been diagnosed and don’t even realize ...

  • Why Are So Many Kids Dying From Undiagnosed Type 1 Diabetes?

    An Open Letter To The Non-Diabetes Medical Community At Large and All Parents With Kids of Every Age, Everywhere! Dear pediatricians, nurses, medical staff, medical office personnel, hospitals, hospital staff, school nurses, physicians, ER medical staff, urgent care facilities, and any other medical office/facility that treats sick kids: I have a question for you. Why are so many kids dying from u ...

  • Why the Glycemic Index Fails for Many People with Diabetes

    As simple as it seems, most doctors and dietitians still don't tell people with diabetes that the carbohydrate content of the food they eat is what raises their blood sugar and that lowering their carbohydrate intake will lower their blood sugar. Instead, they recommend the so called "good carbs" which are those which are low on the "Glycemic Index," chief of which are what they call "Healthy whol ...

  • How many carbs should people with diabetes eat?

    Recently here on Diabetes- What To Know, I have seen readers asking: “How many carbohydrates should I eat?” I remember nine years ago when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, my doctor handed me a few pamphlets and set up an appointment for me at the diabetes clinic attached to a local hospital. The pamphlets showed pictures of how to “guess” at the size for portions and gave me a sugges ...

  • This Ancient Medicine Cures HIV, AIDS, Diabetes, Cancer, Arthritis & Many More…

    There has often been controversy when it comes to the medical field about medications that could prove to be life-changing. This is because history has shown that whenever a large positive in the direction of medicine takes place, there tend to be controversies of whether government and big medicine companies like Big Pharma are intentionally paying people out to bury their ideas of advanced medic ...

  • The Powerful Combination Of Garlic, Apple Cider Vinegar And Honey Can Fight Diabetes, Obesity, Indigestion And Many More!

    The power of garlic, apple cider vinegar and honey, combined together is undeniable. Each of these ingredients possesses strong qualities and even the medical industry agrees with this claim. Honey is an ultra-healthy product, rich in enzymes, vitamins and minerals that serve as a great antiseptic. On the other hand, garlic contains plenty of allicin, which is an anti-inflammatory compound that be ...

  • Type 1 diabetes as common in adults as children, but many adults misdiagnosed

    Type 1 diabetes is not predominantly a 'disease of childhood' as previously believed, but is similarly prevalent in adults, new research published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology shows. Research by the University of Exeter Medical School using UK Biobank found that adults are as likely to develop type 1 diabetes as children, with more than 40 per cent of type 1 diabetes cases occurring afte ...

  • How to Cope With the Many Stresses of Diabetes

    With diabetes, 2 + 2 don’t always equal 4, says John Zrebiec, chief of behavioral health at the Joslin Diabetes Center. “People who don’t have diabetes think that if you do everything right, it should turn out right. But with diabetes, you have to realize that the results you get aren’t always equal to the effort you put in.” Zrebiec notes that a typical person with diabetes has to make ...

Related Articles