Diabetes Wisetag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-2162492009-03-16T22:18:57+00:00TypePadMoving to Diabetes Daily!tag:typepad.com,2003:post-642322792009-03-16T22:18:57+00:002009-03-16T22:18:57+00:00"Ding ding. This blog terminates here. All change please." I'm very excited to announce that I've been invited to join the featured bloggers over at Diabetes Daily. Diabetes Daily, thanks to the hard work of David and Elizabeth Edelman, has grown in to an awesome resource, and large and vibrant community of people who have at least one thing in common: an interest in diabetes. Sharing and support amongst the people who understand has always been a primary motive for me as a blogger, so I couldn't refuse the offer to join in. And I'm very honoured to be joining...CaroChanging How A1c Values Are Reportedtag:typepad.com,2003:post-633672692009-02-26T10:27:20+00:002009-02-26T10:27:20+00:00I'm the kind of person who usually embraces change. But only when that change is clearly beneficial or positive in some way., rather than just the pointless act of change for change's sake. My initial reaction to the news that A1c values in the UK will no longer be reported as percentage values is "why?", and I'm struggling to identify a positive reason for the move. The new unit of measurement will be millimoles per mole, or mmol/mol, rather than existing percentage measures. A current result of 6% will equate to 42mmol/mol, 6.5% to 48mmol/mol and 7% to 53mmol/mol. The...CaroArctic Adventuretag:typepad.com,2003:post-622687782009-02-02T19:10:41+00:002009-02-02T19:16:03+00:00Q. How do you go to the toilet in an outdoor long-drop in the arctic? A. Quickly! Q. How do you go to the toilet outdoors in the arctic when there is no toilet? A. Even more quickly! I know this, because last week I, and my diabetes, took on one of our toughest challenges yet spending a week dog sledding and cross country skiing across the arctic wilderness. I experienced both the above situations, but I had the time of my life. It was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most amazing things I've ever done....CaroHow My Pump Ended Up in the Trashtag:typepad.com,2003:post-612859702009-01-13T21:03:48+00:002009-01-13T21:03:48+00:00Wearing an insulin pump, with or without CGM, can be challenging to even the best person's patience. Between incessant alarms, strange bulges under clothing, tubing that pops out at the most inopportune moments, especially when there is a door handle in the vicinity, itchy infusion set adhesive and the pain in the morning after a night of the pump under my back, I'm no exception. Sometimes this device really gets on my nerves. But it's fairly easy to tolerate a long list of annoyances when the device in question at the same time makes life so much better. The control...CaroBritain's "Diabetes Epidemic" in the News...tag:typepad.com,2003:post-610085062009-01-07T20:53:24+00:002009-01-07T20:53:24+00:00The UK news has been full of figures released today by Diabetes UK stating that one person is diagnosed with diabetes every three minutes in Britain. Last year 150,000 people were diagnosed with the condition, up from 100,000 the year before. I may be just a little bit cynical, but I can't help but think that the 50% jump in diagnosis rates, which reports acknowledge is mainly made up of people with Type 2, has a large part to owe to performance related pay for General Practitioners. GP's pay is topped up if they meet a number of different government...CaroA Year in Review... Introducing Iantag:typepad.com,2003:post-607956882009-01-03T22:17:48+00:002009-01-03T22:17:48+00:00Finding an adjective to sum up 2008 isn't easy. The first one that came to mind was "roller coaster". But all things considered, it wasn't much of a roller coaster at all, having, as it did, only one real low point. And that was followed hotly by the biggest high of the year. They both came in February. My 16 month relationship with Rob came crashing to an abrupt end in the space of a single phone call. As with the breakup of any relationship that has ever really meant something, it was a painful time. Two days later, I...CaroDumb Diabetes Mistaketag:typepad.com,2003:post-598263362008-12-10T21:40:59+00:002008-12-10T21:40:59+00:00Sometimes I'm just a dumb diabetic. I've been feeling lousy with a really sore throat and no voice for the last couple of days. I've also had no CGM for the last 12 or so hours - new sensor is waring up as I speak. It didn't come as much surprise, then, to find my blood sugar was high when I finished work this evening. But 2 hours later, when I was still only 0.5mmol/l lower, I decided that changing my two-and-a-half day old infusion set was in order. So I did. I whacked a new Quickset in my opposite...CaroFalling Out With My Pumptag:typepad.com,2003:post-593125442008-12-01T21:08:18+00:002008-12-01T21:08:18+00:00As a dentist, I often joke that I need to get on well with my assistants since we spend more time working closely together in the same room each day than most people spend with their partners. Given that I spend virtually twenty four hours a day, give or take a shower or two, attached to my pump and CGM, it's obviously pretty important that we get on well too. Fortunately I have a great relationship with all the girls at work, which makes my working environment more fun and less stressful than it easily could be. And most of...CaroThe Day for D-Bloggingtag:typepad.com,2003:post-582632502008-11-09T21:55:32+00:002008-11-09T21:55:32+00:00Today is the fourth annual D-Blog Day. The day to blog about diabetes, and support others who blog about it too. In November 2005, the first D-Blog day, I'd discovered and begun to read many of the blogs that were around back then. But I was yet to even post a comment on one of those blogs, let alone think about starting my own D-Blog. Despite that fact that I didn't respond to the call to de-lurk on -Blog day, seeing how the community came together was certainly a factor that played a big part in drawing me in to...CaroThe Pizza Effect in Picturestag:typepad.com,2003:post-577962032008-10-30T21:59:39+00:002008-10-30T21:59:39+00:00Last Saturday I had pizza for dinner. For a reason best known to the gremlins that take over my brain on occasion (i.e. whenever I do something unquestionably dumb) I took a regular old bolus, rather than my normal dual-wave extended over 4 or 5 hours. Then the gremlins kept up their occupancy, and led me to not even realise what I'd done when I was low two hours out from the meal. I certainly realised in the middle of the night though. And they say a picture is worth a thousand words: It's a pizza mountain! Pizza isn't unbolusable....Caro