Nick Jonas Talks His First Decade With Diabetes, And Partnering With Dexcom

Nick Jonas Talks His First Decade with Diabetes, and Partnering with Dexcom

Nick Jonas is no longer the teenage boy band star with a squeaky clean image. Enter th
e new Nick, now in his early 20s with a grittier edge, and a lot is changing for him and his fans.
In the past year or so, Nick's branched out on his own as an artist, added more adult-oriented TV and movie appearances to his acting resume, and just recently announced he's partnering with singer friend Demi Lovato to start a new record label called Safehouse Recordings. Not to mention that the 22-year-old is of course one of us PWDs (people with diabetes), who's been living with type 1 for almost a decade now since age 13.
Our own AmyT first chatted with Nick back in 2007 and then again five years ago, delving into his then budding music career and how he hoped to use his voice to advocate and serve as a role model for the diabetes community.
Fast forward to 2015: Nick recently announced that he's become a Dexcom Warrior (a group of exemplary users of the leading continuous glucose monitoring product) and that he's collaborating with the California CGM company on a public awareness campaign about his own D-story and the advantages of using the Dexcom G4.
You have to admit that this polished video spot they created with Nick is pretty cool, right?! And those of us who use the Dexcom G4 can relate to his statement that "Having a CGM is like having a best friend that always looks out for you."
We were thrilled to have had another chance to talk with Nick late last week, to hear about all he's up to...
DM) Nick, first off, how are you feeling about being a decade into living with diabetes?
NJ Continue reading

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Ask D'Mine: Safe Sex with a Person with Diabetes?

Hey, All -- if you've got questions about life with diabetes, then you've come to the right place! That would be our weekly diabetes advice column, Ask D'Mine, hosted by veteran type 1 and diabetes author Wil Dubois.
Today, Wil is digging into a somewhat awkward question that people without diabetes sometimes ask about intimacy. The answer is pretty clear any way you look at it, but here's how Wil would respond in a style all his own...
{Got your own questions? Email us at [email protected]}
Ray, type 3 from Louisiana, asks: If you have oral sex with someone who has diabetes, can you get it also?
[email protected] D’Mine answers: Boy, am I ever glad you asked me instead of your potential partner in this sexcapade. Because had you asked her or him, I suspect that you’d be having sex by yourself tonight.
So here’s the deal: You cannot get diabetes from someone else. Period. Despite what you might have read about the “diabetes epidemic,” diabetes is not a contagious disease. You simply can’t catch diabetes. At all. It’s not possible. It doesn’t work that way. Diabetes is genetic. If you do get it, you were born with it. To be super clear about this:
You can’t get diabetes by breathing the same air we do.
You can’t get diabetes by shaking the hand of a person with diabetes.
You can’t get diabetes by sharing a fork with someone who has diabetes.
You can’t get diabetes by sitting on a toilet seat that someone with diabetes used.
You can’t get diabetes if one of us sneezes on you, although that would be rude.
You can’t get diabetes from a blood transfusio Continue reading

Diabetes Results That Can Make a Difference

Diabetes runs in my family. Three of my four grandparents had type 2 diabetes, which is where your body doesn’t use insulin properly, and your blood sugar levels get too high. I also have an uncle with type 1, where your body doesn’t make insulin at all.
I knew I had multiple risk factors for type 2 diabetes. I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with both my boys. My body mass index is high; I’ve tried to lose weight but haven’t been as successful as I’d like. In my early 40s, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
I knew a lot about the condition I had developed because at that time, my work was around diabetes control and prevention in North Carolina. In the past few years, my role has expanded to include heart disease. I have served as a staff liaison to the statewide Diabetes Advisory Council, a coalition of diabetes stakeholders, for many years. A couple of years ago, a researcher from the University of North Carolina told the council about a study on finger sticks they were planning. I joined the PCORI-funded study as a stakeholder who had a personal interest in the topic and could talk about the results of the study with our council to share the results statewide.
Avoiding Finger Sticks
The results are important. Our study found that the finger sticks people like me use to check our blood sugar levels don’t help much if we have type 2 diabetes and aren’t using insulin.
Why is this important? Testing supplies are expensive, and the process is painful—you’re sticking yourself and you’re bleeding! Now we know that people like me can manage j Continue reading

A Type 1 Diabetes Pill? Newest Sotagliflozin Trial Results

Research reveals improved A1c and weight loss benefits for people with type 1 diabetes on sotagliflozin, but a slightly increased risk of DKA
The American Diabetes Association’s (ADA) 77th Scientific Session in June convened key leaders in diabetes research to share findings on the latest drug developments. At the conference, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals presented full results from three major trials looking at the safety and effectiveness of sotagliflozin, a new kind of type 1 diabetes therapy (a pill!) currently undergoing clinical trials that is taken in addition to insulin.
Two studies Lexicon presented at ADA (called inTandem1 and inTandem2) investigated how different doses of sotagliflozin affect measures such as A1c and weight. Trial participants either got 400 mg of sotagliflozin, 200 mg of sotagliflozin, or placebo (a “nothing” pill). A third study not presented at ADA (called inTandem3) compared 400 mg of sotagliflozin to placebo.
Results from inTandem1 found a significantly greater proportion of people taking sotagliflozin benefitted from the new therapy – defined as reducing A1c to less than 7% with no instances of severe hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) or diabetic ketoacidosis (known as DKA – read more about it here). Specifically:
44% of people taking 400 mg sotagliflozin benefitted, compared to 34% of those taking 200 mg of sotagliflozin and only 22% in the placebo group.
People taking 400 mg of sotagliflozin (the highest dose) lost an average of 6 pounds over 6 months, versus 3.5 pounds lost in those taking 200 mg of sotagliflozin and 1.8 pounds gained i Continue reading

Curcumin Extract for Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract
OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of curcumin in delaying development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the prediabetic population.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This randomized, double-blinded, placebo- controlled trial included subjects (n = 240) with criteria of prediabetes. All subjects were randomly assigned to receive either curcumin or placebo capsules for 9 months. To assess the T2DM progression after curcumin treatments and to determine the number of subjects progressing to T2DM, changes in β-cell functions (homeostasis model assessment [HOMA]-β, C-peptide, and proinsulin/insulin), insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), anti-inflammatory cytokine (adiponectin), and other parameters were monitored at the baseline and at 3-, 6-, and 9-month visits during the course of intervention.
RESULTS After 9 months of treatment, 16.4% of subjects in the placebo group were diagnosed with T2DM, whereas none were diagnosed with T2DM in the curcumin-treated group. In addition, the curcumin-treated group showed a better overall function of β-cells, with higher HOMA-β (61.58 vs. 48.72; P < 0.01) and lower C-peptide (1.7 vs. 2.17; P < 0.05). The curcumin-treated group showed a lower level of HOMA-IR (3.22 vs. 4.04; P < 0.001) and higher adiponectin (22.46 vs. 18.45; P < 0.05) when compared with the placebo group.
CONCLUSIONS A 9-month curcumin intervention in a prediabetic population significantly lowered the number of prediabetic individuals who eventually developed T2DM. In addition, the curcumin treatment appeared to improve overall function of β-cells, with very minor advers Continue reading