Mydiabetes.com is about providing support to patients, family members, friends, and health care professionals who travel on the diabetes journey.  In this weeks newsletter  we have brought together for you interesting articles about diabetes.

Please do add to these articles of get in touch via our site www.mydiabetes.com to share your stories and learning.

Diagnosing Diabetes

 

Diabetes may be…

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One of the challenges of living with diabetes is often the change that needs to be made with the food and drink that we consume . Your medical advisors will, no doubt, have given you some very specific advice about what kind of foods to eat and what kind of foods to avoid.

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Diabetic neuropathic pain is a serious and painful condition. The disorder affects the nerves and can affect any organ in the body. Symptoms can include numbness of extremities, vision changes, difficulty swallowing, muscle contractions and many more. In diabetic patients usually display neuropathic pain in a leg or foot. Doctors may diagnose by examining the appendage for ulcers but often uses a tuning fork to measure pressure sensation. Physicians may treat this condition by prescribing an… Continue

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Kris Freeman is the best cross country skier in America, and an Olympic medal contender for a country that has not won a medal in this discipline in 34 years.

His blood sugar dropped, and he fell to the ground during the 30K cross country race on day 9 of the Olympic games. With the help of a German coach and some sustenance he got back on his skis and finished the race.

Kris Freeman is an inspirational character who demonstrates the importance…

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Pharmaceuticals and FDA notified healthcare professionals of a nationwide recall of Accusure Insulin Syringes. All syringes, regardless of lot number, are subject to this recall. These syringes were distributed between January 2002 and October 2009 to wholesale and retail pharmacies nationwide (including Puerto Rico). The syringes in these lots may have needles which detach from the syringe. If the needle becomes detached from the syringe during use, it can become stuck in the insulin vial,… Continue

Leisure centre 'junk food' alert



Vending machines stocked with unhealthy snacks in leisure centres run the risk of fuelling childhood obesity, warn experts.



Crisps and chocolate are on sale where children exercise despite being banned from schools and children's TV, the British Heart Foundation found.



And children's meals on offer at the 35 venues spot-checked were dominated by chips, nuggets, sausages and burgers.



The charity wants stricter… Continue

An Indonesian woman has given birth to an 8.7-kilogramme (19.2-pound) baby boy, the heaviest newborn ever recorded in the country, a doctor said Wednesday. Skip related content



The baby, who is still unnamed and is 62 centimetres (24.4 inches) long, was born by caesarean section Monday at a public hospital in North Sumatra province, a gynaecologist who took part in the operation told AFP.



"This heavy baby made the surgery really tough, especially the process of taking him… Continue

Type II or age onset diabetes is often associated with the lifestyle we lead, what we eat and how much physical activity we do.



Often the health care professionals who we visit give help and advice on how we can change our lifestyles, how we can change our behaviour.



What are your experiences? Did you manage to achieve the change? Are you still working on it? Can you share with the rest of our community the help and support and ideas given to you by your healthcare support… Continue

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/health/policy/19monitor.html



This article from the New York Times today raises concerns over accuracy of blood glucose monitors used by patients. (This means most of our members!)



July 19, 2009

Standards Might Rise on Monitors for Diabetics



By GARDINER HARRIS

Federal officials may soon require improvements for the glucose… Continue

According to researchers from the UCLA Meditation may be the key to a bigger brain and a better life.









Push-ups, crunches, gyms, personal trainers — people have many strategies for building bigger muscles and stronger bones. But what can one do to build a bigger brain?



Meditate.



That's the finding from a group of researchers at UCLA who used high-resolution magnetic resonance… Continue

By Helen Briggs

Health reporter, BBC News





"Diabetes has to live with me, not me live with it"



"I'm just an ordinary guy who went quite quick in a boat, really."

Astonishing words for a five-time Olympic gold-medal winner.

Sir Steve Redgrave is also surprisingly modest about the struggle with diabetes that almost cost him his fifth gold.

"I don't really want to jump on the bandwagon and say, 'Oh look at me, I'm a diabetic, what a terrible condition… Continue

Gazpacho



A low calorie soup that makes a great summer starter or light summer lunch served with bread.



Serves 4





Ingredients

• 750g/1lb 10oz ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped and deseeded

• 300ml/1/2 pint passatta or tomato juice

• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

• 1 tablespoon olive oilpinch sugara few drops Tabasco (optional)

• 1 red onion, chopped

• 1/2 cucumber, chopped

• 1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped

• large… Continue

Sunday the 10th May



It takes a village! And the village is growing!



As we know mydiabetes.com was established as a community to provide support to patients, family members, friends and healthcare professionals travelling along the diabetes highway.



We knew, that like diabetes, there would be no quick and easy ways to build the community. We never realised however how quickly we would grow and from how far a field our members would come from. This morning members… Continue

Keeping with the advice of the health care professionals who look after us is not always easy. Following diets and exercise programmes, checking of blood sugar levels, attending appointments can be tough.



I often wonder how difficult it must be for parents whose children have diabetes. It’s tough enough bringing up children but to add the necessity to keep track of your child’s blood sugar levels and to administer insulin injections must at times become very… Continue

Sunday 29 March

Manchester.



Good Morning!



www.mydiabetes.com is for patients, family members, friends and healthcare professionals and is about providing support and encouragement to each other along the diabetes journey. It’s also about sharing our good and sometimes not so good news with each other.



The clocks have sprung forward and it’s a beautiful sunny day here in Manchester. The daffodils are in bloom and the… Continue

Today the BBC reported



A common virus may be the trigger for the development of many cases of diabetes, particularly in children, UK researchers have reported.



Signs of enteroviruses were found in pancreatic tissue from 60% of children with type 1 diabetes, but in hardly any children without the disease.



They also found that 40% of adults with type 2 diabetes had signs of the infection in insulin-producing cells.



The study published in Diabetologia… Continue

My friend was telling me that he saw a newspaper article this week that tried to make the point that patients living with diabetes, especially type II diabetes were solely responsible for bringing the disease upon themselves. He was very angry and so was I when he told me about the article.



Nobody really knows how diabetes starts and once diagnosed we know that for some people it can be liberating, for others it can be very, very worrying and the cause of much anguish and torment.… Continue

My friend told me the story that explains that it takes a village to raise a child. In other words to make things happen and to succeed requires not just the work of one individual parent but the work, commitment and support of the whole of society.



Maybe it’s a bit like living with diabetes. We need the expertise of the medical professionals, the support of our family members, help and encouragement from friends and associates and a generous dash of self belief that we can face and… Continue