Healthcare is at a crossroads. We stand between what we’ve always done and what we know is possible. The future will not be built by institutions alone. It will not be shaped by policymakers, clinicians, researchers, or innovators alone. And it certainly will not be defined for patients without them (#nothingaboutuswithoutus , am I right?!) […]
The Side of Diabetes We Don’t Talk About Enough When we think of diabetes management, we often think of tasks: Check. Count carbs. Correct. Dose insulin. (Log?) Repeat. But behind those tasks lies something much heavier, which is the emotional labor of a chronic condition that never takes a day off. We all know the […]
From “Subjects” to Stakeholders Not long ago, people living with diabetes were seen primarily as recipients of care, (royal?) subjects of studies. We were “just” individuals to educate, treat, and monitor. Decisions about technology, policies, and priorities were made for us, not with us. #nothingaboutuswithoutus ! But something is shifting, even if ever so slowly. […]
The A1c Trap: When Numbers Take Center Stage For decades, HbA1c, which is a measure of average blood glucose over the past three-or-so months, has been the ultimate marker of “good” diabetes management. It’s printed on lab reports, discussed in every appointment, and often used as a measure of success or failure. Add to this, […]
Imagine this… You walk into your diabetes appointment. The nurse doesn’t start by asking about your blood sugar levels. Instead, they begin with: “How are you coping lately?”“What’s been hardest for you?”“What would make life with diabetes easier right now?” It sounds simple. But it’s still far too rare. For decades, diabetes care has been […]
Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash For the past few years, I’ve had the incredible honor of being asked to mentor and collaborate with different Diabetes companies on their person centricity – both large and smaller ones. Providing Diabetes companies with the person with diabetes (PWD) insights, experience and expertise is (or should be?) very […]
What are the STRANGE things that make your blood sugar go either up or down, high or low? 🤔 In this week’s Type 1 Thursday 💙 we discuss our personal experiences, based on Adam Brown’s graphic “42 Factors that Affect Blood Glucose”🩸 While some of these factors may be strange ones to impact blood sugars, […]
What are your thoughts on the recent insulin pricing changes in the USA? Let’s discuss and see what else needs to be done to safeguard the new insulin pricing. BUT – this is not about me sharing my opinion on this (that’s just effing ridiculous because I have no clue!) I want to hear from […]
Advanced Treatments and Technologies for Diabetes (ATTD) is one of the world’s biggest diabetes conferences. It takes place yearly in a European city, and ATTD2023 this year it was held in Berlin, Germany (where I used to live, so I was very happy to go back!). In short, it is a fantastic roller coaster circus […]