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A Worrisome Malady & It’s Not Diabetes.
The sunlight dapples the autumn leaves outside the window and whale song gently drifts around me. I am lying on a massage table, and a track-suit clad man is kneading the soles of my feet, part of my five day “Pamper Package” at a health retreat. Unfortunately as I should be lapsing into a calm…
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Answering Loaded Questions: How are your sugars?
One of the most irritating things about type 1 diabetes is that it sentences you to a lifetime of stupid questions. It’s not the uninformed questions from colleagues and acquaintances that bother me, in fact these are usually asked with genuine interest and concern and I’m happy to advocate for diabetes by sharing my diabetes…
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Diabetes, Blame, Complications & Truth
They set you up for the blame game from the very start of diabetes. Mostly with the best of intentions health professionals tell diabetics that they can live a perfectly normal life if they control their diabetes. Do the right thing and complications won’t happen to you. In and of itself this is a…
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D Photo Album: Steampunk Diabetes
Some pictures of diabetes equipment from earlier decades, all looks a bit scary now!
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Diabetes: The Impossible Truth?
Browsing in a second-hand book store the other day I stumbled upon a little book about diabetes . It was old and yellowing, yet “The Allen Treatment of Diabetes” looked promising. The dust jacket touted significant improvements in diabetes outcomes with this method and it acknowledged the crucial role of self-management. The endorsements from esteemed…
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Vital Distinction or Type Shaming? T1 vs T2 Diabetes
I have witnessed some heated discussions lately on social media about the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Unkind comments from unempathetic type 1 diabetics about type 2 diabetes being avoidable are unnecessary and often inaccurate. These comments have been around for some time and are, in my opinion misguided because they attack…
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Cheating & Lies Health Professionals Tell
One often comes across health professionals talking about diabetics “cheating” either on their “diet” or with their blood sugar results. I’ve always found the word “cheating” an interesting one and wonder exactly what it says about HP’s attitude towards “managing’ diabetes. They must view it as a test or a competition Recently I read a…
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Defeating the Merchants of D Doom on World Sight Day
If you get that uncomfortable feeling or even a full blown panic attack coming on when you hear “eyesight “and “diabetes” in the same sentence then perhaps you should just pull the covers over your head and stay in bed tomorrow. Thursday 10th of October is World Sight Day and the merchants of doom and fear…
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Why is Diagnosing T1 Diabetes so hard for GPs?
Diabetes Dad is launching a campaign to improve the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in primary care in the US. This is much needed, not only in the US, but also Australia. Despite being one of the most common diseases of childhood(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2009), too often children are diagnosed with flu and…
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Coming Out of the Wilderness
I am a veteran of resharpened needles and glass syringes that you had to boil up before use (well my Mum did this), of urine testing and one shot of long-acting pork insulin per day and no ability to treat a really high blood sugar level-you just had to wait for it to go down.…