Cost of diabetes care in the UK
A new 12-page report published by
Diabetes UK calls diabetes (all types) one of the biggest health challenges for the UK.
This report,
Diabetes: beware the silent assassin (PDF) shows that diabetes costs the NHS (National Health Service) in the UK £1 million ($1.72 million) per
hour, and causes more deaths that prostate and breast cancer combined.
If this is true for the UK (population 60 million, and 2.3 million with diabetes), you can image the impact in the US, which has five times as many people and about
ten times more people with diabetes.
Diabetes is a serious disease with no simple solutions, there may not be all that much we can do in the short term to reduce the impact. Although page seven of the report does have some suggestions for reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
In my mind one of the
key factors for success in diabetes management is having a good support organization. These days I can't recommend a better place for support than
TuDiabetes.com. It's an amazing resource for sharing information and getting help with all types of diabetes-related issues and I wish many more folks with diabetes were benefiting from the site.
Drop by and try it out.
Labels: community, costs, diabetes, risk
I'm a Mainiac
Last Saturday dawned as a beautiful if
chilly day in Portland Maine. I was up around 6:15 AM (45 degrees C) to put my triathlon gear into the car and by 8 AM I was on the road to beautiful Biddeford for the first ever
Mainiac triathlon.
I put all my stuff at the transition area and talked with some other folks before the race started. As I wanted to keep my blood sugar under control, I'd decided not to eat any carbs for breakfast and I reduced my basal to 50% for 2 hours about 2 hours before race time. Thanks to my Dexcom, I was able to watch my BG creep up until it was around 215 before the swim started. So I ended up taking a small bolus before removing the pump and zipping into my wetsuit.
Then off to the beach with other triathletes to wait for the pep talk before race time.
After a recap of the rules and a lovely rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, we all walked down the beach to the official starting point.
There were four swim waves separated by 3 minutes. I was in the third wave, for the over-40 men. So we got to see the first wave rush towards to the water while we waited nervously. As someone said, it was a beautiful photo moment.
After a few minutes of smalltalk it was our turn to rush towards the cool blue Atlantic water.
Let me just say that the swim was a lot harder than I'd expected. Although I'd done several miles of swim training overall, the combination of the colder water and the slight current made this part a lot more difficult than I expected. So I made slow progress in completing the 1/4 mile, and I was fairly worn out when I did make it back to the beach. (Note to self, I need to learn to do front crawl!)
Then it was a 100 yard dash up the beach to the transition point. I dried quickly and got my pump back on as I changed into my bike gear. My blood sugar had gone up slightly, so another minor correction and a quick drink of some electrolyte mixture before getting on the bike.
The bike ride was 14.7 miles and it was really flat with nice scenery all along the way. Much of it hugged the coast and the breeze was gentle enough that it neither helped nor hindered. But I did notice my legs cramping up during the last few miles. I stopped twice to get a look at the Dexcom and drink some extra fluids, and my blood sugar was finally getting closer to a normal range.
Getting back to the transition area, my blood sugar was around 150. A relatively quick change into running shoes and top and I was off on the last 3.2 miles. Now the weather was a good deal warmer, so no long sleeves were needed.
One of the things that the run (really an extended jog/walk) taught me was just how hard it is to do even a short triathlon like this one. I appreciate much more how hard an Ironman event must be, especially with diabetes. By the time I got to the first water stop, my blood sugar was dropping faster so I drank some energy drink and walked on. At some stage I passed the 1-mile marker and was very disappointed that it didn't have a
big 3 on it!
But I made it all the way home to the big timer and a "Bernard Farrell is now a Mainiac" announcement from the DJ.
The organizers did a great job. There were several folks from a local college who were training as masseurs, so I managed to get some relief for my brick-like calf muscles. That helped a lot.
Total time was a big disappointment, a little over 2:07. But looking at the biking time, I realize that it was the tiring swim that really messed me up. During the entire triathlon my blood sugars ranged from 230 to 130, which is a little high but a great range overall.
The good news was that I finished the triathlon and was still able to walk/get around for the rest of the weekend. Along the way, thanks to many friends, I managed to
raise over $4,700 to support Dr. Faustman
's research into a type 1 cure. (And I'm happy to take more donations if you're feeling generous.
By a strange coincidence I met Dr. Faustman on Monday, when I was giving another blood sample for her research. The news there is all
great. In August her team
published a paper showing that their approach kills the
bad T-cells that destroy our
insulin-producing beta cells. They also showed that this approach did not kill any important cells in the healthy blood samples. To my mind, that's important proof that this is unlikely to produce unwanted side effects.
Dr. Faustman also told me that she was interviewed recently and asked which venture capitalist was funding her research. She told the interviewer that it was being funded by lemonade stands and bike rides. He was amazed that this level of research could be funded in that way.
Those of us in the D-community understand the importance of this research for ourselves or our children. And we're doing whatever we can to keep it going, though it seems like an impossible task at times.
Thank you all for your support in my triathlon attempt. Next year (hah!) I plan to get to the finish line much more quickly and in better shape.
Attribution: The great photos were taken by my sister-in-law, Marie Mersereau.
Labels: community, faustman, fundraising, success, triathlon
The importance of community
Yesterday I was able to experience the D-blogging community uniting around D-Blog day. When you have a chance, take a moment to look at what
people posted about the day. It's inspirational and moving, sharing and supportive. For me it's a great example of an online community in action.
And this morning I was blessed that I could attend a pumpers group meeting that happens on the 2nd Saturday of each month in Woburn, MA. This is a strong group of caring folks that get together so they can learn about some aspect of diabetes care. That's the months when there's an organized presenter.
But some months we get together to see how everyone is doing and share experiences and anecdotes about life with diabetes.
If you've never had a chance to be with a group of folks who all have Type 1 diabetes it's hard to explain the instant connection that you have with each other. There's also a freedom that comes with no having to explain why you're fiddling with a pump on your belt, or sticking your finger to take a blood glucose test.
This is community in action in the best sense of the word.
Maybe you'd like to get a group like this going in your area. Sounds impossible? Well why not join one of the local groups in TuDiabetes and see whether you can't find other folks nearby and just start with a few of you.
You might be surprised at the benefit and support you can get and give from time with good friends sharing a common diabetes connection.
Labels: community, nablopomo
Lea is a new blogger and I really
love her blog name,
Candy at Midnight. Please go say hello to her.
We're so fortunate to have the blogosphere as a resource to help us learn about diabetes.
Between the
OC Diabetes community and newer sites like
TuDiabetes, there are just lots of places to connect with folks who have diabetes.
If you have diabetes and you've
never been able to meet up with another person with diabetes jump into one of these places and start commenting.
On TuDiabetes, we now have a
US Northeast group. If you live in one of those nine states,
please do join up. I'd like to see if we can maybe have a bloggers get together later in the year.
Labels: community, diabetes, tudiabetes
