The Friends & Family Guide To Type 1 Diabetes

The Friends & Family Guide to Type 1 Diabetes

Maybe it’s the friend’s child next door or a member in the family who has Type 1 diabetes. Perhaps you’ll be in charge of care at some point or are simply interested in learning more about T1. Consider this guide to help you navigate Type 1 as a friend or family member.
What is Type 1?
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that affects a person’s pancreas. The pancreas is responsible for producing insulin, a hormone people need to get energy from food. Our pancreas, for reasons that have not been identified, does not produce any insulin. As a result, we need to inject or continually infuse insulin through a pump and carefully balance our insulin doses with eating and daily activities. We must also regularly monitor our blood-sugar levels. Type 1 is a non-stop and 24/7 balancing act that we must maneuver every day. There is no way to prevent Type 1 and there is no cure (currently!).
How do you manage it?
We get by with a little help from our friends! These include our glucose meter, insulin, needles, and monitors. The glucose meter is a device that measures blood sugar. We use a device that pricks our finger and we put the blood sample onto a test strip. From there, the test strip is read by the meter and gives us a number on the meter screen.
We can get insulin into our bodies through multiple daily injections or an insulin pump.
Injections are delivered to our bodies through insulin pens and needles. There are two types of insulin that we use. Fast-acting insulin gives our bodies insulin right away and is taken with meals or to correct a high blood sugar. Fast-a Continue reading

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Parenting a Child With Type 1 Diabetes

I can picture him now — his eyes were bloodshot from chronic sleep deprivation, his hands shaky from anxiety; he talked like someone stuck in a losing battle from which there was no escape; he was angry, scared, and unsettled and had no idea what to do next. He was a parent of a young child with Type 1 diabetes. I met with him (and his daughter) years ago because I was a therapist who also happened to have Type 1 diabetes. We weren’t meeting in any official capacity — it was arranged through a family friend who knew this man and his daughter were going through an incredibly tough transition and figured I would be the person to talk to, given my combination of personal and professional experience.
I have seen that combination of fear, helplessness, and exhaustion in parents several times since, and every time I see it, my heart goes out to them. Being a parent of a child with Type 1 diabetes is not easy! I say this as someone who hasn’t had the experience of being a parent, but as someone who has lived with Type 1 diabetes for over 23 years. So I don’t presume to know what it must feel like to parent a child with this disease, but I hope that my combination of experiences might mean I have some meaningful advice to give to those of you who are in this most stressful situation.
You have diabetes, too
A friend of mine raising a five-year-old with Type 1 once said that she and her husband felt like they had “Type 3” diabetes. I thought that was a great description. She explained that in many ways, it really felt like she might as well have diabetes, since the mana Continue reading

November 14 is World Diabetes Day

Millions of people around the world unite and celebrate on November 14 in honour of World Diabetes Day (WDD). WDD is a day created to draw awareness to the growing concerns surrounding diabetes and the escalating health threat it poses. Over 300,000 Canadians currently live with type 1 diabetes (T1D), the most devastating form of the disease, as T1D is not caused by diet or lifestyle and is not preventable.
We are counting on you this November 14, to help raise awareness by showing the T1D community that you are standing behind them in the fight for a cure. Help raise awareness by drawing a circle on your index finger and send us a picture showing you stick it to diabetes! The first 50 people who email their picture to [email protected] will receive a pair of JDRF branded, UV ray protection sunglasses in WDD and JDRF blue! We will also be featuring your pictures in a Facebook album showing there’s strength in numbers as we all join in the fight against diabetes.
Don’t forget, raising funds is even more crucial during this special month and every dollar counts! We are counting on you this month to help bring us closer to a cure. Show your support for WDD by making a donation to JDRF here: jdrf.ca/countingonu. Each donor will receive a JDRF Fling Ring, pictured below. There is strength in numbers, and we’re all counting on you to help us conquer T1D. Continue reading

Diabetes: Taking steps to prevent amputation

The Preservation Amputation Care and Treatment (PACT) program in Nashville decreased amputation rates by 40% in patients with diabetes. Here’s how they did it.
Clinicians who treat the lower extremity know that of all the pathology that can affect it, few medical problems present more challenge, are more complex, cause more damage and result in wounds more difficult to heal than those caused by the co-morbidities of diabetes. Chronically elevated blood glucose levels are responsible for the processes that impair the neurological, vascular, and immune systems, which can result in a variety of medical problems to the lower extremity of the patient with diabetes.
When it comes to the foot and leg, we know with almost 100% certainty how they will be affected by diabetes. Diabetic neuropathy and its three subcategories — autonomic neuropathy, sensory neuropathy and motor neuropathy — can leave the lower extremity vulnerable to silent or painless trauma. That is the triggering event that can ultimately lead to lower extremity amputation. A compromised circulatory system fails to bring enough fresh oxygenated blood, nutrients, and antibiotics to a traumatic wound, and the immune system cannot resolve an infection by fighting bacteria and cleansing the wound site on a cellular level.
The results are tragic. In the United States, infected foot ulcers are the most frequent admitting diagnosis for hospitalization of patients with diabetes. In 2003, there were about 111,000 hospital discharges for lower extremity ulcers.1 There are more than 90,000 lower extremity amputation proc Continue reading

Diabetes-Related Amputations Up Significantly In California — And San Diego

Clinicians are amputating more toes, legs, ankles and feet of patients with diabetes in California — and San Diego County in particular — in a “shocking” trend that has mystified diabetes experts here and across the country.
Clinicians are amputating more toes, legs, ankles and feet of patients with diabetes in California — and San Diego County in particular — in a “shocking” trend that has mystified diabetes experts here and across the country.
Statewide, lower-limb amputations increased by more than 31 percent from 2010 to 2016 when adjusted for population change. In San Diego County, the increase was more than twice that: 66.4 percent.
Losing a foot, ankle or especially a leg robs patients of their independence, hampers their ability to walk and makes them more vulnerable to infection. It also can shorten their lives.
This trend, which inewsource documented with state hospital data, is one physicians, surgeons and public health officials are at a loss to explain, though many have theories.
RELATED: Inewsource Research Methodology
Edward Gregg of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the California numbers are worrisome.
Public health officials consider amputations to be an important indicator of a region’s diabetes care because diabetes and its complications can be prevented, said Gregg, chief of epidemiology and statistics for the CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation.
“If we see it going down, then it’s a good sign, because so many aspects of good diabetes care are in theory affected. And when you see it going up, that’s a conce Continue reading