Supporting Student-Athletes With Type 1 Diabetes

Supporting Student-Athletes with Type 1 Diabetes

Anyone working with collegiate athletes knows how much work it takes to be both a dedicated student and a competitive athlete. It’s challenging to balance practice and games with classes and exams, not to mention trying to have a social life and maybe sleep somewhere in between. Then add trying to balance your blood sugar for optimal performance and it can seem like an astronomical task.
The science behind our understanding of diabetes and the treatment of diabetes has come a very long way. From faster acting insulin to insulin pump therapy, advances in technology have helped tremendously with diabetes management. However, this still doesn’t remove all of the challenges that come with diabetes. Dr. Matt Corcoran knows all about these challenges. Dr. Corcoran is an endocrinologist and founder of Diabetes Training Camp, a multisport and exercise camp that specializes in comprehensive educational camps and programs to help people living with diabetes achieve their health and fitness goals. Dr. Corcoran says:
"There are several great challenges facing the competitive athlete with type 1 diabetes, few of them greater than the requirement of regulating their own fuel metabolism through manipulation of their insulin and fuel supplies. In normal physiology, the body regulates insulin and glucose production in the moment to accommodate for the needs of the working muscle, accounting for the level of stress that body finds itself in. In type 1 diabetes, by definition the body does not produce insulin, and as a result has lost the capacity to self-regulate fuel metabolism at rest Continue reading

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Diabetes patients test insulin-releasing implants

A pilot study underway at the University of Alberta is using small implants filled with stem cells to regulate insulin in a handful of diabetic patients -- a technology that, if proven effective, could replace injections.
Five Edmonton patients are among 17 others involved in the trial, which is the world’s first experiment of the innovative new treatment.
And while the research is in its initial stages, one doctor involved in the research calls the early indicators “terribly exciting.”
“So far it’s been very safe and it looks like it’s working the way we hoped it would,” Dr. James Shapiro told CTV News.
Type 1 diabetes results when a person’s immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Patients with diabetes must regularly test their blood sugar levels and manually inject insulin to balance out their systems.
The testing and injection routine -- alongside dietary restrictions -- can be complicated and worrisome, which is why many patients are excited about the prospect of a self-releasing insulin implant.
The innovative new treatment involves implanting small plastic pouches filled with millions of insulin-producing cells under a patient’s skin. Blood vessels then grow around the implants, allowing the stem cells inside the pouch to release the necessary dose of insulin based on the patient’s blood sugar levels.
The technology has already proved effective on lab mice. Doctors are now testing whether the method is safe for humans.
For one Edmonton man involved in the study, the method offers hope. Chris Townsend, 38, says he watc Continue reading

Eating Disorders in Type 1 Diabetes

Jacqueline Allan, PhD candidate and Associate Lecturer in Psychology, at Birkbeck discusses the little known but extremely dangerous prevalence of eating disorders in Type 1 Diabetics, and her charity Diabetics with Eating Disorders.
In 2014 I was lucky enough to be granted a Bloomsbury scholarship to undertake a PhD focussing on Eating Disorders in Type 1 Diabetes, including one known as ‘Diabulimia’, at Birkbeck. I’ve worked in this area since 2009 when I founded the registered charity Diabetics with Eating Disorders.
First, let me explain what Type 1 Diabetes is.
Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder where the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas are mistakenly destroyed, making sugar in the body impossible to process. Insulin is one of the most vital hormones in the body – it ferries energy we consume in the form of carbohydrates to our muscles, organs and brain, so it is essential for every bodily function. For this reason, those with Type 1 must check their blood sugar every few hours and administer synthetic insulin to keep themselves safe. There are two main ways for administering insulin – Multiple Daily Injections using both long acting and short acting insulin, or Subcutaneous Infusion using an insulin pump.
Most of us utilise a carbohydrate-counting approach, whereby we know how many insulin units we need for every 10 grams of carbohydrate consumed and what our general background levels should be. If it sounds like a simple equation, it’s not. Everything affects blood sugar – not just the obvious stuff like sports, illness or alcohol bu Continue reading

FDA approves 'artificial pancreas' to manage diabetes

(Medtronic)
Federal regulators have approved a first-of-a-kind "artificial pancreas," a device that can help some diabetes patients manage their disease by constantly monitoring their blood sugar and delivering insulin as needed.
The device from Medtronic was approved Wednesday for patients with Type 1 diabetes, the kind usually diagnosed during childhood. About 5 percent of the nation's 29 million Americans with diabetes have this type.
Doctors said they have long awaited a device that could help patients around the clock.
"I can't wait to get my hands on it because I can think of a lot of our patients who need this," said the Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Betul Hatipoglu. "Now I have a helper who is going to help me to help them."
Type 1 diabetes patients now have to manage their insulin through multiple injections throughout the day or a drug pump that delivers it through a tube. Their own pancreas doesn't make insulin, a hormone needed to turn food into energy. They face increased risks of dangerously high blood-sugar levels, heart disease and many other health problems.
The new MiniMed 670G consists of a drug pump, a sensor that measures blood sugar and a tube that delivers the insulin. The sensor measures sugar levels every 5 minutes, infusing or withholding insulin as needed. Patients still have to manually increase insulin before meals.
Medtronic said the device will cost between $6,000 and $9,000, similar to its other insulin pumps.
Older insulin pumps simply deliver a baseline level of insulin, and patients must monitor their sugar levels and give themselves more insulin Continue reading

Soon your car will know when you are having a heart attack — and know how to react

Car manufacturers constantly upgrade safety technology. In 1958, Saab was the first to make seat belts standard. In the early 1970s the Oldsmobile Toronado could be purchased with high-mounted brake lights and airbags. Now with rapid advances in wearables and autonomous driving systems, a new wave of safety technology is on the way — allowing cars to react to medical emergencies.
Toyota and Ford are each independently researching how to pair health sensors with autonomous driving technology so that vehicles will be able to pull off the road and call for help if they determine a passenger is having either cardiac trouble or a diabetic event.
Chuck Gulash, a senior executive engineer at Toyota and director of its Collaborative Safety Research Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said heart rate and blood glucose levels can be effectively monitored, as they are associated with a relatively high number of vehicle crashes.
He referenced a 2009 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study, which found that diabetic events were behind 20 percent of crashes precipitated by driver-reported medical emergencies, and heart attacks accounted for an additional 11 percent. As people are not always aware they're having medical trouble, the actual figure could be higher.
"We've spent 30 years scientifically measuring crash criteria, but there wasn't a lot of research into physiological metrics," Gulash said.
Heart-related medical issues behind the wheel are extremely dangerous because the sufferer can lose consciousness, said Dr. Nitish Badhwar, professor of clinical medicine and direct Continue reading