Category Archives: about diabetes

Know your diabetes medications

Posted on July 27, 2018 by janekdickinson

People with diabetes very often need medications to manage and keep blood glucose levels in a safe range. We do this in order to protect our blood vessels and reduce the risk for long-term complications. In order to take medications … Continue reading →

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Focusing on success in diabetes

Posted on July 16, 2018 by janekdickinson

Uncontrolled, poor control, poorly controlled, bad control, and even their counterparts good control, well controlled, and so on. These words, along with compliance and adherence, comprise the language of judgment, shame, blame, and guilt in diabetes. They focus on failure. … Continue reading →

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Adapting failure in a success-oriented approach

Posted on July 9, 2018 by janekdickinson

I am still thinking about what I heard about health care being a “failure-based system,” and I can’t helping insisting that it’s possible to adapt that failure mindset into a success mindset. What would a success-oriented approach or system look like? … Continue reading →

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Surgery and Diabetes

Posted on July 6, 2018 by janekdickinson

I am avoiding surgery as long as I can; hopefully I never have to have it (again). Sometimes, however, surgery is unavoidable and that’s OK! I had two c-sections and I don’t regret them at all. If you can safely … Continue reading →

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Diabetes in a failure-based system

Posted on July 2, 2018 by janekdickinson

“Health care is a failure-based system,” is what an MD said to me recently. I can think of many ways we are working with/in a failure-based system. The language is just one. The judgment, shame, blame, and guilt that run … Continue reading →

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Analog insulin

Posted on June 26, 2018 by janekdickinson

I read a tweet the other day that had me pretty confused about analog (analogue in countries other than the US) insulin. Here’s the scoop on analogs, just in case anyone else is confused. Once upon a time some awesome … Continue reading →

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Trying something new

Posted on June 21, 2018 by janekdickinson

Well, I finally did it. I started using CGM (continuous glucose monitoring). While this technology became an option in 1999, I have been known to say “Call me when it’s perfect” for the last couple decades. I just wasn’t interested … Continue reading →

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The insulin pricing concern

Posted on May 23, 2018 by janekdickinson

A few months back a reporter from our local newspaper interviewed me about the insulin pricing situation. I will admit I felt foolish because I didn’t know a lot about it. I mean, I know that insulin costs too much. … Continue reading →

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diabetis vs. diabeteez

Posted on April 19, 2018 by janekdickinson

From time to time I hear complaints about the way some people pronounce diabetes. They seem to really hate hearing “diabetis” instead of “diabeteez.” For me, hearing “diabetis” actually takes me back to my childhood. When I was first diagnosed … Continue reading →

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Diabetes is boring

Posted on April 13, 2018 by janekdickinson

Except when it’s not! There is new information almost every day. New technology, new medications, new combinations of medications, new ways to take medications, new gadgets and gizmos, new research findings. And yet it’s the same old, same old. Numbers, … Continue reading →

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