Author Archives: StephenS

Hello… I’m Stephen. I live in Baltimore, Maryland, USA with The Great Spousal Unit, Maureen. I’ve been living with Type 1 Diabetes since January 1991. I’ve been a pump user since April 2010, and I’m currently wearing the Animas Vibe pump. Also wearing the Dexcom G5 continuous glucose monitor.

I found the Diabetes Online Community in the summer/fall of 2011, and that discovery has changed my life. I started this blog in April 2012, and since then, my diabetes advocacy has continued to grow. Among other achievements, I’ve attended and spoken up at FDA workshops and participated in clinical trials.

I’ve been thrilled to serve as a facilitator for the Diabetes UnConference. And I’ve been honored to volunteer for Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition. You should Google both of those.

I’m currently serving as a member of the State of Maryland’s Advisory Council on Health and Wellness, where I am co-chair of the Diabetes committee. In addition, I’m part of the 2018 Reader Panel at Diabetes Forecast magazine.

I’m always searching for the perfect balance between the highs and lows of my blood glucose level and my life… always searching for the Happy Medium.

Anything you’d like to share? Please let me know… I’d love to hear from you.

Like these December Links.

December 17, 2014 – 10:52 am

Lots and lots of interesting things to read about in the diabetes blogosphere this week… So let’s get to it:
 
 
Christopher Snider, who writes at A Consequence of Hypoglycemia, has started a new gig at Symplur. In his words,
“This means I get to look at all kinds of data collected by Symplur’s extensive tools and figure out ways to bring the patient communities into these data-based conversations.”

His first post about it features a very interesting look at the World Diabetes Day Twitter chat hosted by Diabetes Community Advocacy Foundation. Lots to digest, but if you’re an analytical nut like me, it’s kinda cool.
 
 
“All things are temporary.”
If you need something inspirational one week before Christmas, here it is.
Take this with you all through the next year.
 
 
This made me laugh… and then cry.
 
 
Diabetes Mine has announced a new partnership with Healthline. Healthline, among other things, is famous for its list of “Influential [insert condition here] Bloggers of The Year”. The partnership goes live in January, and in addition to lots of collaboration, it promises to bring a new look to the website.
 
 
Finally… I am in love with this blog I just found.
I’ll leave it to you to click over and discover what I’m talking about.
 
 
I hope your December days are full of fun and magic. Don’t forget to join me for the #DSMA Twitter chat tonight at 9:00 eastern time here in the USA. Follow @DiabetesSocMed and the #DSMA hashtag to join the conversation. In the meantime…

Happy Reading!
 
 
 

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Making the most of your holiday season.

December 15, 2014 – 11:56 am

This is not advice… but if you’re interested in my opinion, here are the three things I feel I need to be able to navigate the holidays with diabetes as part of my life:

Holidays

Get plenty of rest. I’m not someone who needs a lot of sleep. Usually, about five or six hours and I’m good to go for the next day. Only the holidays, with their mix of special events, crazy hours (New Year’s Eve, weeknight parties), and lots of delicious food and drink that isn’t consumed at any other time of year, make getting enough rest a priority for me. If I’m properly rested, especially if I get seven or eight hours of sleep, I’m ready to go when The Great Spousal Unit calls me at work and says “Let’s drive around and look at Christmas lights tonight”. I don’t want to miss out on the holiday fun because I didn’t get enough shuteye the night before.

Get as much exercise as possible. With all of the things mentioned above, it’s no wonder our exercise routines get thrown out of whack for the month of December. I get that. I’m the same way. What I have noticed, however, especially in the past few years, is that the more exercise I can get in, the better I feel, no matter what I’m up to. Like diabetes, the holidays are a marathon, not a sprint. Speaking from experience, let me tell you… when you stress your body every day due to lack of sleep and eating and drinking too much, by the time you reach mid-December, you’re soooo ready for the holidays to be over. Any exercise you can squeeze in this month can help mitigate that feeling, partly because you’ll burn off some of those calories you’re consuming, and partly due to the endorphins that are released during exercise.

That said…

Enjoy the holidays as much as you can with the ones you love and care about. Even if you can’t get as much rest as you’d like or you aren’t able to exercise, let’s remember: We only have so many special people in our lives, and we only have so many holiday seasons in our lives. Don’t be afraid to be spontaneous and do things you don’t normally do. Remember to spend time with the people who want to be with you, and tell them how glad you are that they are a part of your life. Find the joy and happiness that this season is supposed to be about. It’s okay to be a walking Hallmark card. Finding your happiness is even supposed to be good for your diabetes. So… if you celebrate with loved ones this December, you’re kinda doing something that will pay dividends down the road.

Okay, maybe I’m reaching a bit on that last point. But as someone who’s missed out on a lot because I was too bummed out or jaded or whatever to participate, I can tell you that happiness is everything it’s cracked up to be. And you deserve to be happy.

I’ll be moderating Wednesday night’s DSMA Twitter chat beginning at 9:00 eastern time here in the USA. With the beginning of Hanukkah Tuesday night, and Christmas just a week away, and New Year’s a week after that, I suspect we’ll be talking a bit about the holidays and diabetes. Follow @DiabetesSocMed and the #DSMA hashtag to join the conversation.

And while I’m at it, Thank You for reading and being such an important part of my life this year. Happy Holidays!
 
 
 

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Your Friday Holiday Moment.

December 12, 2014 – 6:11 am

I’m posting early today because I’m on my way to New York for the day. I’ve had a difficult couple of weeks, and I’m just trying to keep my spirits up during the holiday season.

With that thought in mind, here are a couple of photos of our local Christmas tree. It’s in a small common area along the main street through the neighborhood. The community association collects donations to trim the tree prior to December, and light the tree during the holiday season.

With apologies to my non-gentile friends who couldn’t care less about this, here are a couple of photos of the tree. Enjoy your weekend!

DSC01846

DSC01847
 
 
 

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Got two minutes?

December 10, 2014 – 1:51 pm

Hi… I just have a couple of minutes during a very busy day, but I need to ask your help once again.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is asking us for our take on insulin bolus calculators. This goes back to the public workshop that I attended back in November.

Specifically, they’re looking to us for feedback on bolus calculators. As we know, they’re helpful for people to perform (or double-check) their insulin boluses prior to delivery. During the workshop’s panel discussion, Adam Brown of diaTribe did a fantastic job describing how someone using a bolus calculator, even an imperfect one, was better off than someone using no calculator at all.

Fortunately, Bennet Dunlap has prepared a super-helpful post over at Strip Safely that will help you get everything you need to comment simply and effectively on this docket. Go there, and you can perform your Wednesday dose of diabetes advocacy in a couple of minutes.

The FDA would like you to consider these questions with regard to bolus calculators:

1. How can patients and providers be confident that the insulin bolus values obtained from the calculators are accurate and appropriate for their use?

2. What information do patients and providers need about how a particular calculator works so that they may appropriately use the calculator for diabetes management?

3. How can FDA foster both innovation and safety of insulin dose calculators intended for use by healthcare practitioners?

4. How can FDA foster both innovation and safety of insulin dose calculators intended for use by patients?

Okay… I don’t have a lot of time, so I encourage you to visit Strip Safely and view Bennet’s post. The docket is only open for a little while longer, so time is of the essence.

Don’t forget to tell your story! It’s important to convey your role as a patient or a caregiver of a patient, since no one understands our diabetes the way we do. To get links and additional talking points, go to Bennet’s post. For the record,

Here is the link to the request for comments

Here is the link to comment
 
 
Thanks again for your help, your continued help, in getting the important facts and the right message to the FDA. Happy Wednesday!
 
 
 

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What would you do with your Wild Card?

December 8, 2014 – 9:17 am

Here’s an interesting question… I thought of this over the weekend and came up with a number of possible answers:

What would you do if you had a “diabetes wild card”?

What I mean by that is, what if, for one moment in time, let’s say one day maximum, you could play a sort of wild card and be relieved of a diabetes burden?
 
 
– Would you like to eat something remarkably good and not have to bolus for it? Play the wild card.

– How about shutting your pump off, or ignoring your multiple daily injection routine for a day. Is that worth a wild card?
Note: Don’t ever do this, even though the idea of it is very appealing.

– Would you like to work out all day and not have to worry about hypoglycemia? Play the wild card.

– Would you really like to get through to that person who doesn’t understand the intricacies of diabetes, but is convinced it’s as simple as “eat less, exercise, take insulin, you’ll always be between 80 mg/dL and 120 mg/dL”? Time for the wild card.

– Would you like to refrain from having to test your blood glucose for an entire day? Wild card time!
Note: Don’t ever do this, even though the idea of it is very appealing.

– What about all of the diabetes math– (Current BG over 100 mg/dL divided by correction factor) + (Carbs gram count divided by insulin units based on specified insulin to carb ratio)? That might be worth a wild card, yes?
 
 
Me? If I had a diabetes wild card, the impulse would be to impulsively eat a glazed doughnut and one of those Entenmann’s pumpkin donuts too (is it doughnut or donut?). Or I might go to an amusement park and ride all the crazy thrill rides all day, and finish with a good swim in any number of venues. I might go to a ball game somewhere, or play a ball game somewhere, without fear of going low.

Or maybe I would use my diabetes wild card to influence the government to pass a bill allowing for Medicare to cover continuous glucose monitors. Maybe I’d use it to bring manufacturers to the table in a meaningful way to discuss and solve ways to free up my data for my own use. I would give serious consideration to passing my diabetes wild card on to someone who has no access to the drugs or supplies or insurance coverage that I do. When one of us suffers, we all suffer.

Well, like I said at the beginning, I came up with a number of answers. Now it’s your turn…

What would you do if you had a “diabetes wild card”?

If you need a little inspiration, try this:

 
 
 

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