Clinical Director
Working to Prevent Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune illness in which the body attacks the cells that make insulin, called beta cells. For the last few decades, scientists have been researching ways to interrupt this autoimmune process. The two main focuses for this research are preventing or delaying diagnosis and slowing the disease progression for people who are already diagnosed. TrialNet, a global research effort, has collected data on over 160,000 people with a relative with type 1 diabetes. Their work has been critical for helping researchers understand more about type 1 diabetes and autoantibodies, as well as continuing to work towards […]
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Health Care Providers Weigh in on DIY Closed Loop Systems
The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Diabetes World has been back in the news recently and more health care professionals who work in diabetes have been publishing articles sharing their experiences with these systems as well. However, since the DIY systems are diabetes care tools that were created by patients outside of the normal approval process, there is very little official guidance for health care providers (HCPs) about how to support patients who are using them. While some HCPs feel compelled to support people using these systems, some are more hesitant. Between September and November of 2020, there were four articles different published […]
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What is Double Diabetes?
You may have heard the term “double diabetes,” but what does that mean? A recent publication in the journal BMC Endocrine Disorders looks at how obesity relates to double diabetes in adults with type 1 diabetes.1 Double diabetes is defined as having type 1 diabetes in combination with insulin resistance, which is the main feature of type 2 diabetes.2 It’s unclear exactly how prevalent this issue is for people with diabetes, so researchers in Bristol, United Kingdom reviewed the data for their patients who met the following criteria: Low C-peptide Two or more positive type 1 diabetes autoantibodies One positive […]
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Psychosocial Factors in Type 1 Diabetes
When you live with type 1 diabetes, your everyday normal activities both affect your blood glucose levels and are affected by your blood glucose levels. Every time that you want to eat, exercise, drive, go for a walk around your neighborhood, go out for a drink with friends, there are extra considerations that you have to take because of diabetes. This added stress can take a toll on people with diabetes and their loved ones, adding to increased risks for mental health challenges. Recently, researchers in Slovenia published a literature review about psychosocial factors that affect the onset and management […]
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Hypoglycemia Unawareness
Diabetes experts believe that around 25% of people living with type 1 diabetes have impaired awareness of hypoglycemia, or hypoglycemia unawareness.1 Given that there are very real acute risks of having hypoglycemia, being able to recognize when your blood sugar is either low or dropping can be lifesaving. In 2021, researchers in the Netherlands conducted a study on 509 people with type 1 diabetes over a three-year period to see if C-peptide levels and other variables are related to having hypoglycemic unawareness .2 Previous studies that have shown that C-peptide was protective against severe hypoglycemia, but C-peptide had not yet […]
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Type 1 Diabetes and SGLT2 Inhibitors
Managing type 1 diabetes and keeping blood sugars within target ranges is complex and challenging. Since 2005, there have been six new medication classes brought to the market in the United States for treating diabetes.1 While many were aimed to help the rising number of people with type 2 diabetes, two classes of medications have been shown to help people with type 1 diabetes as well. The two classes of medications are GLP-1 agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors. Good thing those names make it easy to understand, right? We’ll break down the meaning of SGLT2 inhibitors in this article, and here […]
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Making Meaning of a Life with Diabetes
The expression “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade” may have merit when it comes to living with a chronic condition. This is an outlook with which my parents raised me—that diabetes was tough, but we should remain optimistic. And moreover, that we would help other people do the same, which we have been doing since CWD’s creation in 1995. Many of my friends who live with type 1 diabetes work in diabetes care, research, or industry. And this study explains the how, and perhaps the why, some of us choose to devote our lives to working with others with […]
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Screening for Celiac Disease
Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition where the body reacts to gluten, a protein that is found in foods such as wheat, barley, and rye.1 When someone with celiac disease consumes gluten, it can damage the lining of the small intestine and cause absorption issues. This can further complicate blood glucose management if the person has type 1 diabetes. Common symptoms of celiac Include:1 Bloating Abdominal Pain Chronic diarrhea or constipation Increased gas Nausea or Vomiting Loose, greasy and bad-smelling stool Slowed growth in children Headaches, joint or bone pain Fatigue, or feeling tired Skin rash called dermatitis herpetiformis Research […]
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Using Smart Insulin Pens in Kids
Having options for managing diabetes is so important because people are different and have different needs. This is also important for children who have diabetes, some of whom do not want to wear an insulin pump. What’s great is that there are more options than just pens or syringes, there are also smart pens. What exactly is a smart pen? It’s a device that allows you to track when the last injection was taken from the pen which helps people know how much active insulin is still circulating. This is HUGE because it can help prevent low blood sugars related […]
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Being a Sibling of a PWD
At CWD, we encourage families who have a child with diabetes to have honest conversations with the siblings of the child with diabetes about their experiences. We have learned through the many families who attend the Friends for Life conferences, and through our own personal experiences, that siblings have their own challenges with diabetes in the family. It was not until I was a young adult that I truly realized the impact of my own diabetes on my siblings. We joked about how they were never allowed to have juice boxes and how I would use diabetes as an excuse […]
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