CWD News
Coping with Bullying and T1D
Living with diabetes means that everyday life looks a little different than without diabetes. We need to count the carbohydrates in our meals, check our blood sugar, take insulin. Some of us wear devices that help with diabetes management, and we often have to take care of ourselves a bit more than other folks. Diabetes and Bullying When you’re young, with or without diabetes, there are many pressures to “fit in” and be like everyone else. People with diabetes often feel badly about being different. Furthermore, some people are bullied about their diabetes, which can be really disheartening. According to […]
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“Sleigh” your Blood Sugar this Holiday Season
It’s that time of year again! Families will be gathering to share meals, drinks, and laughs for the winter holidays. When you have T1D, you’re likely preparing yourself for the added difficulties of managing blood sugars (and stress levels). Here are our curated tips for sleighing your blood sugar management this holiday season! Go to Gatherings with all your Diabetes Goodies Being prepared is a cornerstone of diabetes management, and when you’re going to be out for long hours with family, ensuring you have all the insulin, test strips, and anything else you may need will allow you to have […]
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Tzield: Delaying Diabetes
There have been some truly groundbreaking advances in diabetes over the past decade. With more accurate continuous glucose monitors, automated insulin delivery systems continue to get closer to the dream of a fully “closed-loop” system. New medications are also available for people with diabetes that help protect kidney and heart health, as well as improve time in range. And now, we have access to a drug that can help delay the onset of type 1 diabetes. How does it work? Teplizumab, or Tzield, is what’s called an immunomodulatory drug. This means that it disrupts the autoimmune process in the body, […]
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Feelings of Guilt among Parents of Children Living with Diabetes: Unshackling the Chains
Type 1 diabetes is a life-changing diagnosis for both children and their parents. Many parents experience feelings of guilt around the time of diagnosis as well as thereafter. Although this feeling is common, understanding guilt and how it influences parenting can allow you to decide if and how you might want guilt to play a role in your life. Guilt versus Other Emotions Many parents experience a lot of challenging emotions related to their children’s diabetes like grief, frustration, anger, and sadness. When any negative parent emotions linger and fester over time, they don’t only cause discomfort for the parent, […]
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Together We Can Reduce Diabetes Stigma
There are many common misconceptions about diabetes, which can lead to people feeling stigmatized, or treated in a way that makes them feel “less than” others. As discussed in, Yes, I can eat that: Answering Diabetes Questions, it seems that we as PWD (People with Diabetes) are subjected to more questions about our choices than people without diabetes. Part of the reason that people feel they can ask us these questions is due to the cultural stigmas around diabetes. Diabetes Stigma Defined It’s a popular belief that diabetes is caused by lifestyle behaviors such as lack of exercise or eating […]
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CWD-JENIOUS Award: Supporting Diabetes Research
Children with Diabetes has collaborated with the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) for over 20 years. This collaboration has recently led to developing a partnership to help foster the relationship between diabetes researchers and people living with diabetes and their families. As a part of this partnership, the CWD-JENIOUS Award was created to allow one young researcher from ISPAD to attend CWD’s Friends for Life (FFL) conference in Orlando. The ISPAD JENIOUS group is the “Juniors in Educational Networking and International Research Opportunities: United States,” designed for young researchers who are starting to embark on their careers. […]
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COVID Viruses, Vaccines, and T1D
Although we do not know the cause of type 1 diabetes, scientists believe that there is an environmental trigger that kick-starts the autoimmune process. When the body has the added stress of something like a virus, for example, it may cause the body to start attacking itself. For type 1 diabetes, the islet cells are the target of the body’s autoimmune attack. Viruses and Auto Immunity Recent data was presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in September 2022 that showed people who had recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes were more likely to have […]
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CWD Attends the European Association for the Study of Diabetes Conference in Stockholm
The European Association for the Study of Diabetes gathered in Stockholm, Sweden September 19-23 and Children with Diabetes’s founder and president, Jeff Hitchcock, and Clinical Director Marissa Town, attended and participated in a variety of events. Here’s a quick peek at what CWD did throughout the EASD meeting. Tuesday As part of the #DeDoc° symposium, Jeff Hitchcock shared with EASD attendees how CWD pivoted during Covid to keep families and people with diabetes connected virtually during Covid. From the first virtual Friends for Life to Screenside Chats, more educational content, and opportunities to connect virtually helped bridge the gap throughout […]
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Why We Rotate Insulin Injections
Insulin is life for those of us living with T1D and many of those with other types of diabetes. There are many nuances to taking insulin, including the importance of rotating where insulin is injected into the body. When insulin is injected repeatedly in the same part of the body, it can cause changes in the skin that make insulin absorb erratically. Here’s some more information to help you avoid unnecessary challenges with managing blood sugars. Lipodystrophy Anyone who took Latin or medical terminology classes, this will be a little easier for you! For the rest of us, we’ll break […]
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Looking at Hybrid Closed Loop Systems
Diabetes technologies are changing quickly, so we at CWD want to make sure you have the up-to-date information on what’s available to you in the U.S. For your reference and to help with any decisions you may need to make, we put together this chart of the current hybrid closed-loop systems for people with diabetes, as well as some helpful information about closed-loop systems. Some Quick Definitions: Basal – Background insulin Bolus – insulin taken for food or correcting a higher than target blood glucose CGM – Continuous Glucose Monitor Open Loop – when the pump is operating independently of […]
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