Today is my 22nd Diabetes anniversary. Though this isn’t how I would normally spend my Diaversary, I’m grateful for it. I was diagnosed at 8 years old on the island of Kauai, HI. We didn’t have much in the way of endocrinologists at the time, so my parents and I had to work hard to make sure I had the best tools to care for myself. It was a lot of trial and error. No one knew how to take care of a type 1 kid. I remember my mom fighting with doctors to get the best therapy, mo

Insulin Pumps What are they, how do they work, and what are the advantages? The number of pumpers in the diabetes world has been growing rapidly! Although this is partially due to the more recent advances in pump therapy, it can also be attributed to passionate pumpers (like myself) sharing their experiences. Deciding to switch from multiple daily injections (MDI) to pump therapy is a pivotal point in a diabetic’s life. For those of you who have already chosen this, I congrat

Halloween my fellow DM warriors! Halloween can be scary, especially for us diabetics… I’ll start out by saying, if you can resist all candy today, you are my hero and you deserve a metal. Diabetes is hard all the time, but especially during Halloween (well, and the rest of the holidays). This does not mean that we cannot be successful in our glucose control while still participating in this holiday! It is especially important for parents who have kids with DM to plan ahead so

What is the first step in controlling our blood sugar? Knowing our blood sugar! Most of us who take insulin test at least 4x a day (fasting, before meals, and before bed). If that is the case, each of those self-monitoring glucose (SMBG) readings are used to manage ~6hrs worth of glucose levels and treatment. But how many fluctuations are happening within those 6hrs that we don’t know about? And how is that affecting us long term (complications?)? Studies have shown that freq

Now that we have gone over how to keep glucose levels steady with basal insulin, let’s talk about the use of rapid acting insulin for carb coverage and correction bolues. A bolus is the term used for the administration of a medication to raise its content in the blood. In the case of diabetes, we give a bolus of rapid-acting insulin to cover the carbs in a snack/meal, or to bring down a high blood sugar level. Current rapid insulins available include Humalog, Novolog, Fiasp,

I grew up on the small island of Kauai, Hawai’i. I loved it there and I still do, but it is not a good place to be sick. Or at least it wasn’t when I was first diagnosed. Things there are a little slower. We call it “island time”. When I was diagnosed (1998), there wasn’t even an endocrinologist available on the island. It was a struggle for my parents. I think they suffered more than I did to be honest (I’m sure all of you parents can understand that). I remember my mom and

Diabetes is classified as elevated blood glucose levels stemming from the body’s resistance to insulin action, insufficient insulin secretion, or both. The most common classifications of diabetes are type 1 and type 2. First, let's review type 1. Type 1 diabetes is described as the complete absence of insulin secretion. But, what does that mean? Type 1 diabetes can be idiopathic (unknown cause), however usually it is autoimmune. This is due to the immune destruction of beta c