Have You Taken Actos? Are You Still On Actos?

I was on Actos and after Patti my Wife read an article about the side effects we talked with my then Cardiologist who said to stay on Actos. Later when I decided to take myself off Actos, approved of course from my Internist, I immediately lost 20 pounds of water weight and the pressure around my heart went away as well as my raspy voice that seemed to prove I had lots of fluid within my lungs.

Read this and learn more.

http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/05/02/resource-center-offering-help-victims-actos-lawsuit-questions 

Diabetes and Sports

As we start this new system we will be using letter to represent the category of the article. For example R would be research, T technology, S sports and so on. Looking like this: The article below is on bicycling and obesity and diabetes.

S.
http://www.napsnet.com/articles/68000.html

Randy JAckson is the Top Dawg Once Again!

Just finished reading this article and thought you might enjoy it.

http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2012/05/01/7517/american-idol-judge-promotes-healthy-decisions-for-type-2s/

Diabetes and Surgery

We are going to be trying something new on our blog. A little hint...either it we will build an aggregator on this site of diabetic and diabetes news or?

Let us know what you think.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/portrait-health-centers-provides-psychological-and-nutritional-evaluations-for-diabetic-patients-considering-gastric-bypass-and-bariatric-surgery-2012-05-01

Social Media, Diabetes and Life!

Here's a question for you. When is there enough social media/information about diabetes? I am asking this because I see an issue of great concern at this stage.

See diabetes is all around us. Doesn't matter where you live or work or play. I bet everyone in the world at this very moment knows at least one person with diabetes. Doesn't matter what type, just that they have diabetes.

So many people including diabetics are caught up in type casting instead of realizing how far this disease has advanced. Type casting, and I mean like type 1, type 1.5 or type 2 is so important to diabetics as well as pre diabetics that everyone loses sight that the real thing here is socially we are all  "Type D", and then medically we are separated by our types. The thing is to fight this disease, to make it social and to get an interest in our fight we need to put the types behind us and realize we are all "Type D" and need to get people to join behind us.

When I think of how many pre-diabetics there are in the world and wonder why we can't reach them I look at us as a community and then it hits me. If I was pre-diabetic looking in to our diabetic community I would run from us. I would hide and never as one of us (diabetics) for any help or guidance. I mean look at us we can't even get along within our own community to fight for a cure. Even the organizations that represent us don't see eye to eye. What's next.

As someone who has written about this for 4 years, talked about this, lectured about this, it gets so frustrating to still see the separation between us. It makes me and others juts try to do our own thing in hopes of making a difference. The thing is the few that are trying, no matter how hard we try isn't enough. With the millions out there of diabetics as well as pre-diabetics, if we all stood together in one heartfelt cry we would make a difference.

Why isn't diabetes trending on G+. Why isn't diabetes trending daily on Twitter? with 4,000 people getting diagnosed daily and another untold number pre-diabetic but not diagnosed yet you would think this would be a major social media coup. Look at polio and the eradication of polio. Even though it wasn't the top of social media it still gets great coverage due to the people involved. We need that coverage. We need that on every social media site in the world.

So I am asking everyone who is reading this to repost this. To get out there and use social media tools to make diabetes and diabetics a trending topic on the like of Twitter, G+ and other social sites. Make diabetes the talk of the day, week, month and year. Let's keep it trending for as long as we can till a cure is found. Social Media needs to hear our voices and the few can't make it happen with the many. Millions speaking out will make diabetes and diabetics and pre-diabetes a trending topic.

So just repost this, write your own, but do something instead of just agreeing with me. Even if you don't agree with me write about that and post it. Sooner or later we will be trending like so many others.

Be Well
Mark

For the newly diagnosed

This article below will give you some great questions and answers to consider.  Hope it helps.

You have Diabetes, What do you do now?

from THE EMPORIA GAZETTE

What Is Diabetes?

You may have diabetes or have been recently diagnosed. There are two main types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes. where the body does not produce insulin, is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. In type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin, or the cells do not use the insulin efficiently. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches, and other food into energy needed for daily life. When you eat food, the body breaks down all of the sugars and starches into glucose, which is the basic fuel for the cells in the body. Insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells. With diabetes, there is a flaw in this process, therefore, the sugar builds up in the blood stream and leads to elevated blood sugars.

How is it diagnosed?

Below are three different tests your doctor can order and the values that will indicate whether you have diabetes:

The A1C test, greater than or equal to 6.5% (this is a 3 month average of your blood sugar)

The fasting plasma glucose test (FPG), greater than or equal to 126 mg/dl

The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), greater than or equal to 200 mg/dl

25.8 million children and adults in the United States, or 8.3% of the population, have diabetes. 1.9 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older in 2010.

Why should I check my blood sugar?

Monitoring your own blood sugar levels helps you see how food, physical activity, and medicine affect your blood sugar levels. These readings can help you manage your diabetes. Keep a record of your test results and review them with your doctor at every visit to help make appropriate adjustments or changes in controlling your diabetes.

What should my blood sugar be?

You and your doctor will decide what your target blood sugar levels should be. For people without diabetes, according to experts, blood sugar levels should be between 70 and 120 mg/dl. For people with diabetes per The American Diabetes Association:

Fasting (not eating for a period of time): up to 130 mg/dl

After meals: less than 180 mg/dl

Complications:

When blood sugars remain elevated for a long period of time, it can damage blood vessels and nerves and other areas of the body, including:

Kidneys

Eyes

Nerves

Feet

Heart

You may not want to think about these possibilities, but the good news is that you can help avoid these problems. This means keeping your blood sugar level within recommended target goals.

What affects my blood sugar?

Stress and illness may elevate your blood sugar. Incorporating stress relief techniques may help reduce your stress level. Exercise may help control your blood sugar and allow weight loss. What you eat and how much also affects your blood sugar.

Exercise and diabetes

The biggest hurdle in balancing exercise and blood glucose levels is motivation. Exercise is as important as diet and medication. Research proves that with exercise, people with diabetes are able to control their blood glucose levels and live healthier lives.

Eating and diabetes

A healthy meal plan for people with diabetes is generally the same as a healthy diet for anyone — low in fat (especially saturated and trans fat); moderate intake of salt and sugar; and with meals based on whole grain foods, vegetables, fruit, low fat dairy products, and lean protein.  Whole grain breads, cereals, pasta, rice, starchy vegetables like potatoes, yams, peas, and corn can be included in your meals and snacks.  The key is portions.  For most people with diabetes, having three to four servings of carbohydrate-containing foods (fruit, milk, and starches) per meal is about right.  Whole grain foods, vegetables, and whole fruit are also a good source of fiber, which helps keep your gut healthy.

Medications:

How do you know if and when you need insulin or other medications? The answer depends on which symptoms or complications you’re experiencing, your blood glucose levels, and other factors you should discuss with your physician.

What do I do next?

Seek education! Newman Regional Health offers a diabetes class accredited by the American Diabetes Association on a monthly basis. Speak with your doctor and have him/her refer you to our diabetes education program.

Newman Regional Health is hosting a Free Community Diabetes Health Fair April 26 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the cafeteria. Guest speakers include Dr. Michael Reynolds speaking on Retinopathy and Dr. Ever Ponciano who will speak on Neuropathy. Free blood sugar screenings, blood pressure testing, and foot screenings will be offered. Health care professionals will be available to answer questions on nutrition, exercise, complications, medications, and foot care.

New stuff coming to our blog!

Hello everyone!

We hope everyone our there had great holidays this past week? Now it's time for some news to kick off the spring feel in the air.

Starting this week we are adding two blogs to our main blog here. Recently we added the link to our Diabetic KID'Z 4 L.I.F.E. blog and we are kicking that up a notch with  more postings.

The two blogs are The Positives of Good and Delpaggio's Cucina. Now let me give you a little blurb about each.

The Positives of Good will be all about social good and the people, companies and organizations making that good happen in a positive way. That's right you read that correctly, in a positive way and only that way. There will be no negative reviews. If there is something negative going on in the social good arena let someone else cover it. I am tired of the negatives. Our focus will be all about the good people and others are doing. The who, what, when, where, why and how of their actions. Interviews, reviews, their stories in their own words or ours. Either way you will get the good on the good.

Delpaggio's Cucina is a dedication to my Grand Parent's and their instilling in me a great sense of Sicilian cooking and living while growing up in Sicily. We will be featuring recipes handed down from my Grand Parent's, Marco and Rosario who were of Sicilian descent. Their recipes have been the mainstay of my life and my families life for years and now I want to bring them to you. Of course we are going to add something to these recipes. Not only are going to give the original recipes with some videos to go along but we are also going to take these recipes and also give you healthy alternatives to make them and still get great taste. We think it will be a win/win situation for everyone. As a diabetic and heart patient I love these recipes but I have to change them to fit my health guidelines, something I haven't been doing but now I will be forced to so that we can all get healthy eating Sicilian food. So get ready for some great stuff coming out of the cucina here at the Clifford home.

We will also be bringing in guest chefs along the way to help with recipes to make this blog very entertaining in many way. So we hope you will join us and join in.

Thank everyone and be well
Mark and Patti