Welcome to the Diabetes Stories website

Whether you know who Stephen Colbert is or not - by the way he's the comedian who hosts his own late night TV show, "The Colbert Report," I recently read an article in the New York Sunday Times magazine about him where one line made my skin tingle.

Comedian Stephen Colbert 

The author says, "The role he (Colbert) was born for...hadn't yet come his way." It references the fact that Colbert wasn't very successful when he began his comedic career because he looked too bland, too sane and too conventionally good-looking. That the role he was born to play, the character he currently plays on his nightime parody show, is the one he unknowingly was waiting for. And by virtue of not giving up, for years, but persisting, he eventually got to play his role.

The take-away for me is if we haven't known great success in the past, and/or are trying to find our way now, perhaps the role we were born to play - whether that's in our work, love life, family etc, just hasn't yet come our way. It may still be waiting for us if we just persist.

Summer program, apply now

Here's an opportunity I wish I could take advantage of, but unfortunately I am too old, oh yes, and I don't speak Spanish. But if you are a young person, at least sixteen years old, do speak Spanish and would love to have a life-changing experience empowering young people with diabetes, AYUDA (American Youth Understanding Diabetes Abroad) is for you.

AYUDA is looking for volunteers to help children with diabetes in Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. You don't have to be in medicine and you don't have to have or know about diabetes, you will be trained. 

The Dominican Republic program runs mid-June to early July. The Ecuador program runs mid-July to early August. Applications are being accepted now until February 1 and here's everything you need to know. 

Have a safe and wonderful journey.

Support and idea space

The social media space isn't just support space for patients - which is incredible enough - but also "idea" space for medical device manufacturers if they'd only look. 

That's what writer Amy Munice, blogger Amy Tenderich of DiabetesMine's Design Challenge, her inspired device designers and I think. 

According to Amy Munice, "The foolproof way to get the right mix in social media messaging and pave the path for future patented technology, above all, is to focus on listening...all new product developers tapping into the likes of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and disease-specific niches in the blogosphere at every stage of medical device development, could well be the harbingers of engineering and design school curricula in the not-so-distant future."

To read the full article click here.

Here's a great way to get the new year off to a happy and healthy start - if you have a child with type 2 diabetes: Your Healthy Home Series (YHHS). 

YHHS is a 4-week series of video coaching sessions from Helaine Ciporen. Helaine is a licensed clinical social worker who counsels children and families at NYC's Mount Sinai Hospital, Center for Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes. 

Even better news - the first 50 people who sign up get it for free! 

Your Healthy Home Series consists of 8 interactive emails, each with a short video followed by a questionnaire designed to help families better understand their needs, so that they can make the small changes that will lead to big changes in their health. One of the advantages of this online program is families are right in the environment where they need to make changes - their home - and now they can have the ongoing support and guidance they need.

Although increasing numbers of children are getting type 2 diabetes, due to escalating childhood obesity, there are few educational resources for parents and families. Helaine's coaching program, as well as the educational web site she developed after years in the field, DiabetesFamilies.com, is one of those resources. 

Learn for free in January

CDE/pump trainer and author, Gary Scheiner, is offering free online diabetes classes throughout the month of January. 

Don't miss this opportunity to relearn carb counting, lose weight on insulin, make better use of your pump or CGM and more. Gary offers 10 different classes to help you brush up on your management.

T1 University's online one hour classes are available to anyone who uses insulin and parents and caregivers. 

Pre-registration is required, so take a look, check out this 10 minute sample class and then sign up today. 

You'll be glad you did.

It's out the door from Brooklyn to Newark airport to Zurich to Dubai where the International Diabetes Federation is holding its every-other-year Congress. 12,000 plus of the top minds in diabetes will be converging in the part of the world where 1 in 4 people have diabetes.

I'll be there scooping up stories and posting photos at my twitter account. Follow me via http://www.twitter.com/diabetesmyths

At Friends for Life in Orlando

What's your next step?

As Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and I'll be off eating turkey, I've been reflecting the past few days how thankful I am and how fortunate I've been this year in both my personal and professional life. One of my professional joys and accolades has been the many presentations I've given this year at health events and conferences, and I've loved them all. For a girl who grew up quiet and shy, I love educating and inspiring a group. 

I spoke in April at Diabetes Sisters' 'Weekend for Women' conference to 100 women, and helped them see their unique strengths to manage diabetes. In July, at Children with Diabetes' 'Friends for Life' conference, I invited patients to explore and share their healthy habits, discover their personal reason for doing the work diabetes demands, and look for 1 positive thing diabetes has given them. Not one turned away scoffing.

Early in the year I spoke at an American Diabetes Association conference in Madison, Wisconsin to diabetes educators, and I closed the year with the third of my 'Take the Next Step: Get Motivated' programs that I do with fitness trainer Kim Lyons, (sponsored by Pfizer) at TCOYD. 

Slimmer, color touch screen

Well it appears someone is listening to diabetes patients' cry for devices that work-cool and look-cool. 

Today Tandem Diabetes Care announces it has approval from the FDA to market t:slim™, the smallest insulin pump with a color touch screen that works and looks more like your iphone.

Kim Blickenstaff, President and CEO of Tandem said, "In creating t:slim we spoke with more than 4,000 healthcare professionals and people with diabetes, and the clear message we heard was, "make it cool and make it uncomplicated to use." 

While a traditional tubed pump, the t:slim is slimmer and has a rechargeable battery and USB connectivity to management software. 

t:slim launches the first half of 2012. The company is now putting customer support, sales and clinical and business operations in place in preparation.

For more product description, Amy Tenderich over at DiabetesMine breaks it all down - beautifully ;-).

Have you ever directly seen the impact of activity on your blood sugar? You've heard it a million times: exercise helps manage blood sugar and prevent and delay diabetic complications. Now see it for yourself, and be part of the movement that's saving thousands of lives. And one of those lives may be your own!

Between now and November 14th at midnight test your blood sugar, participate in an activity of your choice -  walking, gardening, vacuuming, chasing the cat - for 14 minutes, test your blood sugar again and share your results at the Big Blue Test. This is Diabetes Hands Foundations' yearly initiative to show people with diabetes the impact of exercise on blood sugar.

When you do the Test and share your results, Roche Diabetes Care will fund life-saving diabetes supplies to someone in need in the U.S. or Latin America. The goal is 8,000 Big Blue Testers = 8,000 lives saved. If you want to save more lives, you can do the test as many times as you want as long as you record the results. 

Kicking off Diabetes Month, the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI), a leading organization in diabetes research, unveils their new heartfelt campaign about their commitment to never stop searching for a cure.

The campaign, Reason to Believe, is a series of videos that will be rolling out all month featuring parents, patients and researchers expressing their hopes and beliefs that a cure will come. 

The campaign aims to raise funding so DRI can find that cure more quickly. While we know intellectually how difficult it must be to have a child with diabetes, I dare you to watch this video about 3 year old Jace, diagnosed at two, and his parents and not feel immediately how heart-wrenching and difficult it is for every parent who endures the fears for their child when out of sight for just a few minutes, and the hardship parents and children share of daily finger pricks, injections, countless carb and insulin calculations, and the nighttime dread over a disastrous low and uncertain future.

Last year I interviewed DRI’s Scientific Director, Dr. Camillo Ricordi, “Curing Diabetes: How Close Are We?”. His life-long commitment inspires me to believe that yes one day there will be a cure. 

Coaching patients to change behavior

So, can I say I'm a Harvard graduate when I come back from this weekend in Boston? 

I'm going to the Institute of Coaching, a Harvard Medical School affiliate for the fourth annual Coaching in Leadership and Healthcare conference. 

It promises to be both educational and interesting with some of the leaders in the coaching field leading discussions and facilitating workshops. Many also come from the field of positive psychology. People like Margaret Moore, Carol Kaufman, Bob Kegan and Richard Kogan. 

This is an annual conference designed for those in psychiatry, psychology, behavioral medicine, mental health clinicians, physical medicine & rehabilitation and coaches.And healthcare providers who want to add coaching to their repertoire of skills. Here's a detailed itinerary.

While we know patients with diabetes are still failing, in droves, to adapt healthier lifestyle habits, coaching patients is beginning to be recognized as a key instrument and support to help patients improve their diabetes self-management. 

All natural glucose tablets

Ten days ago, while presenting at the TCOYD event in Tampa, I wandered around the Exhibition Hall looking to see what’s new - and I actually found something, and someone.

I found Chris Angell, a young man with type 1 diabetes standing behind a table with his product, GlucoLift. 

GlucoLift is, unlike other glucose tablets, all-natural. It contains no artificial color, flavoring or dextrose from genetically modified corn.

GlucoLift contain the same 4 grams of glucose/per tablet as the glucose tablets you’re familiar with and come in three flavors: Orange Cream, which Chris likened to those creamsicles of yore, with which I agree, Cherry and Wildberry. While taste is personal, and I didn’t find they taste that different than regular glucose tablets, I do like the idea of no artificial ingredients. 

GlucoLift also have the advantage of a flip-cap top on their sleeve of tablets. It's a one hand operation, easier to open when working with a muddled brain, heart palpatations and shaky hands from a low. These tabs also carry the banner of being the 1st "TCOYD approved" product.