Diabetes Organizer

Win a My Diabetes Organizer: The essential planner and record keeper for people with type 2 diabetes
Contest details below!
Over the weekend, me and my mom were out and about Christmas shopping when I stumbled upon this gem. It’s a planning book called My Diabetes Organizer. The Essential Planner and Record Keeper for People with Type II Diabetes.

As I thumbed through it, I almost immediately became excited at the prospect of owning this organizer. The following is a description from their website DiabetesOrganizer.com:

This four-color spiral bound book with hardcover is designed with pockets, dividers, checklists and forms to assist readers set goals, customize plans and keep track of their necessary information. Find the info you need quickly, keep on top of what you are supposed to do, and when to do it.

Whether you’ve had diabetes for a really long time, or you’re fairly new to managing your disease, this hand book will really help you get organized and stay on top of all the things you need to do to successfully live with Type II diabetes. If you run out of forms, you can reorder through their website.

Several features that immediately caught my eye was the cut-out card that allows you to list all medications and carry it with you, the clear pockets that lets you store all your medical receipts, test results, prescription labels and more. Also has a place to list your doctors phone numbers and a handy pocket for business cards. You can also list your medical history and it even has pages where you can list questions for your doctors. As all of your medical information will be in one handy place, you can also carry this with you when you go in for you check ups. How convenient is that? And, how impressed will your doctors be if you come steppin up in your next appointment with your diabetes planner/record keeper?

Other convenient features include:

Also Includes The Daily Tracker
with Easy-to-use Checklists and Plans
to keep track of:

• Your health goals
• Screening tests for your eyes, feet
• Testing and medications tracker
• Nutrition guide
• Too low or too high blood sugar
• Exercise
• Stress management

Contest Details
Personally, I think this is a MUST have resource for anyone with Type II diabetes. So much so, I’m giving one away for Christmas. If you’d like to enter the contest, you must be subscribed to my blog (see form in upper left corner of home page). Then just leave a comment on on this post and tell me:

1. How long you’ve been a type 2 diabetic,
2. How you manage your disease (diet, exercise, medication etc.)
3. And what your last A1C results were.

All entries must be received by Monday, December 14, 2009. I’ll enter your name into a drawing that will be held on December 16th and the winner’s name will be announced that day on my blog.

Good luck!

Mt. Nebo Diabetes Event

Mom (by the table with the headband on) and me (next to her in the brown top) attending a cooking demonstration. We're all sampling a low cal, low carb homemade oatmeal that is very, very good.

Pictures courtesy:
Patrick D. Jones, Ph.D.

 
Today, me and my mom attended Mt. Nebo Baptist Church’s Diabetes Health Fair, held in conjunction with National Diabetes Month. Although small, it seemed to be well staffed by professionals volunteering their time from the Nebraska Medical Center. Now I’ve been to tons of community health fairs and in comparison, this one was well organized and a lot of fun.

Services offered included blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesteral testing. That was our first stop and since I hadn’t eaten yet, it was an opportunity to do a fasting glucose test and shoot, save a test strip of my own. LOL. Since I have to foot the total out-of-pocket cost for all of my diabetes supplies because of my horrible insurance, I’ll take any free testing I can get.

My mom’s numbers are always great. Mine…eh, I’m currently battling Pre-dawn syndrome. That’s when your liver dumps too much glucose into your bloodstream in the wee hours of the morning. Everybody experiences this, diabetic or not, however many diabetics find their bodies can’t handle the excess blood sugar and we experience really high fasting blood sugar (FBS) spikes. This morning, their meter records my FBS as 131. I hate that because I’m shooting for tight control and that means I’d like for my BS to stay at or under 140 mg/dl. If I start the day at 131 or higher, I don’t have much of a margin to have a decent breakfast in the morning.

I don’t let that stop me though. I always eat a good balanced meal and then just try to get my numbers back down and hold them there for the rest of the day.

After the BS and BP tests, me and mom decided to attend a cooking demonstration. First up, we get to watch some tasty oatmeal being made and sample it. They also cook up some diabetic friendly french toast, punch and no bake pumpkin pie. Oh…and I also had a small whole wheat bagel and cream cheese. So, I was a little worried about what was doing to my blood sugar. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my meter with me, so I don’t know what it spiked at. But when I got home at around 1:30 p.m. my BS was around 140. Not bad. So all I can do is hope that it didn’t spike horribly after sampling such yummy, albeit, low carb creations.

From there, me and mom split up. I went over and played Health Food jeopardy, but I didn’t get many questions right. And then I chatted with a lady that let me feel up some model breasts to show me how to search for lumps when I do monthly self examines. Which, I never do…yeah, I know. From there I made my way back to a doctor who was there to answer questions on diabetes or discuss any other health concerns.

Councilman Ben Gray dropped in to speak on health care reform, with his key message being don’t be fooled by the negative ads and messages being disseminated, which are designed to thwart the best efforts at fixing a broken system and dupe us all into to doing nothing and by default supporting the status quo. He also talked about how as a community, we need to do more to take control of our own health and stop living life styles that create a total dependency on the health care system. Amen and Amen.

After listening to Gray, I wrapped up my day mingling at other health care booths and talked with a representative from the American Diabetes Association about starting my own support group. At first, I’m thinking…hmmm…I’m not sure how to go about that. But after we brain storm a little, I decide it’s definitely doable. I leave her kinda excited about the prospect, and as I make my way to another booth, I feel a tap on my arm. I turn to see my sister has shown up. We don’t really get a chance to chat though cause it’s about 11:30 and the event ends at noon. She heads off in one direction, and I finish making my rounds.

At closing, me and mom pick up some more giveaways and then head home. I’m pretty darned fired up. I’ve been looking for a way to answer President Barack Obama’s call to get more involved and make a difference in our community and in other people’s lives in a meaningful way. And the more I think about it, the more I think that a diabetes support group is just the thing to do. From there, I think I can turn that into a support network in the black community. And from that we could build a coalition that could advocate for health care and better diabetes care in our communities. Ha! I’m thinking big! But don’t big things come from small ideas sometimes? Gotta dream big and then take one step at a time.

And that’s just what I’m going to do.

Diabetes Channel

If you haven’t yet discovered this site then you’re in for a treat. It’s called eMedTV.com. It’s a total gem. Chock full of great information about a variety of conditions, you’ll definitely want to make this a go-to source for helping you learn about diabetes and managing your disease.

 

Simply go to the site, and check out the scrollable list of Health Channels in the upper left corner of your screen and click on Diabetes. From there, you’ll be taken to a wealth of information on the topic ranging from Central Diabetes Insipidus (whatever that is) and Diabetic Eye Disease to Diabetic Foot disease and Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus. Whew! That last one is a mouth full.

Included are tons of very well illustrated videos in the library including Understanding Diabetes, Diabetes and Its Effects on the Kidneys and How Does Diabetes Affect Nerves? And in addition to the videos you’ll also have access to a host of presentations that deal with general information, medications, complications, daily living, insulin therapy and more.

Trust me, once you check out this site, you’ll definitely wanna save it to your favorites.

 

All Things Food and Diet — Fat Secret

Oh my stars! I just stumbled onto this site called Fatsecret.com. I’ve been lurking and checking out all the features and it seems like a goldmine for anyone whose serious about setting goals for eating healthy, loosing or maintaining your goal weight.

The site allows you to weigh in, keep journals, food/exercise diaries, calendars. In addition, you keeps track of your weight history, as well as join various groups and challenges. It also has an online message board.

If you’re at all interested in getting to a healthy weight and staying there, and meeting others with the same goals, this may very well be the place for you!

You’ll find a brief overview below:

What is FatSecret?

FatSecret is a place for people interested in food and diet. Sign up and achieve your food, diet and exercise goals. We think our features such as easily recording your food and exercise, keeping a lifetime record of your weight, finding buddies to support you and discovering recipes that are right for you are pretty special, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You can use your FatSecret profile with many other services like Facebook, iGoogle and even on your mobile phone. FatSecret is your one-stop-shop for all things food and diet – the secret is out!  <more>

Stick Me and Poke Me and Everything is Fine

This month was major health check up month for me. On October 1, I went to get all my major blood tests done and a couple weeks later I had my second diabetic eye exam. Several days after that, I went back for a diabetic foot exam.

Good news on the A1c front.
I get the test done every three months. And over the past year, I’ve been watching it creep slowly up and up and up until I put the breaks on when I reached 6.8. That’s when I said ok…enough is enough. Time to do what’s right and this number back where it belonged.

What the heck is Charcot Foot?

Diabetic complications are a bitch aren’t they?

Symptoms of Charcot Foot include:

* Swelling in the area
* Pain or soreness
* Redness in the foot
* Warmth to the touch (the foot feels warmer than the other)

There’s this lady at work who has been diabetic for about 14 years. From what I can gather, her numbers have never been very good and only recently has she gotten her blood sugar levels below 7 percent. That’s a really long time to have out of control numbers, and it’s finally caught up to her in the form of something called Charcot Foot.