Clinical Director
A Guide to Navigating Diabetes Care without Insurance
One of the harsh realities of life with a chronic condition in the United States is the possibility of losing insurance coverage – or never having it in the first place. Growing up with diabetes, I felt conditioned to prepare myself to have job opportunities that would provide adequate insurance coverage. A young man with Type 1 Diabetes shares a similar sentiment on the Diabetes Link, “Any T1D knows that health insurance is arguably the most important perk when deciding whether or not to take a job.”1 This is the reality of the current systems in the U.S., for better […]
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Inhaled Insulin with Closed Loop Systems
One of the biggest challenges for people with diabetes has been finding ways to get insulin into the body that do not require injections. This has proven to be more difficult than people anticipated, but there is an option for inhaled insulin for adults with diabetes (the studies in children ages 4-18 are still ongoing). Why would I want to inhale insulin? One of the major benefits of inhaled insulin is its rapid onset, meaning it starts working very quickly. Since it is absorbed in the lungs, it gets into the bloodstream within a few minutes as opposed to 15-20 […]
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Pro Tips for Enhancing the Effects of Insulin
When you have diabetes, sometimes it feels like no matter what you do, your insulin is not working how it should. There are many very real reasons why it may not be working – the dose may have been too small, you could be injecting into scar tissue, the insulin could have denatured (gone bad), to name a few. Then there’s insulin resistance, which is happening more and more for people with type 1 diabetes, despite it being a key characteristic of type 2 diabetes. Here are some insulin hacks/tips to help make sure your insulin is working as effectively […]
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Screening for Type 1 Diabetes
Diabetes basics pertinent to screening We know that type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition, meaning that the body’s immune system starts attacking its own body. The immune system is supposed to help the body fight off things such as viruses, flus, colds, etc. But sometimes it goes rogue and we don’t fully understand why yet. What we do know is that the autoimmune process is not an instantaneous event, but a slow progressive process. What this means is that we’ve figured out type 1 diabetes has three stages:1 What are autoantibodies? Autoantibodies are proteins in the blood that tells […]
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Visiting Lilly
Since CWD team “headquarters” is in Ohio, situated only a couple of hours from Lilly headquarters in Indianapolis, three of our local employees were recently invited to Lilly for an inspiring afternoon. We were invited to present Journey Awards to a handful of Lilly employees who live with diabetes. Lilly was the first pharmacy company to make insulin in the early 1900’s. In the main building, there is a beautiful hallway featuring the original brick building facades. According to our Lilly partner, Sarah Noel, this hallway still had a residual smell from the decades of bringing in animal pancreases to […]
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Celebrating the Wins in Diabetes
When you’re living with diabetes, or loving someone with diabetes, you have to stay resilient as much as you can. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and you have to be able to make it to the end one way or another. One of the things that helps me maintain my resilience with diabetes is celebrating the wins. Acknowledge the Suck I’m not suggesting that you focus only on the positives, because, as previously stated, there will be a lot of times when diabetes will make it impossible to see the positives. So, make sure you also acknowledge the “suck” […]
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Test driving the Medtronic 780g
Each time I try a new automated insulin delivery (AID) system, I find there are things I like and dislike about the system. As with most things, you have to find something that works for you and your diabetes management goals. For me, one of my main goals for diabetes management is to reduce my burden while getting optimal Time in Range (TIR). For the last few weeks, I have been trying out the Medtronic 780G and I’d like to share my thoughts about the system. Not the Old Medtronic CGM Those of us who have been around the block […]
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Careers in Diabetes
There are a lot of opportunities to make life with diabetes meaningful. One of the ways some PWD do this is through their career. I know myself, along with many of my friends, have done this through a variety of ways. It’s definitely not for everyone – because when you work in diabetes and live with it, it can feel like too much diabetes. These lists are not all inclusive, but just some examples to give you a few ideas. Healthcare Professional Paths This one may be a little obvious, but what you may not know is that there are […]
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Preparing for International Travel with T1D
When you’re traveling overseas and you have T1D, there are a number of considerations. Make sure you have a passport or visa to allow you to travel (and it’s not expired), pack the appropriate clothing, and, of course, pack enough diabetes supplies to last the whole trip. But what exactly does that look like? It depends on what you use to manage your diabetes. Here are some tips for preparing for international travel with diabetes. Bring More Than Enough Supplies If you’re using an insulin pump, pack enough to change the pump out every day of the trip. This will […]
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Cool Tools for Diabetes
There are so many newer tools that can help you manage diabetes and it can be hard to keep up with what options are available. There are also companies that let you personalize your diabetes devices and add a little fun and whimsy into your life. Here are some that we know about – Glucose Displays There are a couple of options that allow for quick, easy visualization of the range of glucose your loved one with diabetes is currently experiencing. Glowcose – A small glowing display that changes color based on the glucose level. The thresh-olds are personalized and […]
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