Controlling diabetes – and keeping your organs safe from the damage it can cause – takes a strong dose of diabetes education. That, and following through on what you learn!

Diabetes, whether Type 1, Type 2, or Type 1.5 (also called LADA: Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults), can eventually affect every organ and organ system in your body. It is well known for targeting the eyes, feet (circulation), and kidneys. People with uncontrolled diabetes can lose their vision completely. They can lose their toes, feet, or legs from poor circulation. They can develop full blown kidney failure leading to the need for dialysis or kidney transplant.

Also well known are its effects upon nerves and blood vessels. Herein lies the universality of diabetes’ damage: there are no organs, no areas of the body which aren’t served by nerves and blood vessels. (more…)

The surprising sound nearly knocked the breath out of Health Nut Hal. He couldn’t believe how wonderfully deep and rich it was.

“Wow, Mr. Lincoln, that’s amazing!” shouted Hal in order to be heard above the lustrous music. “I never thought you’d get all those messed up parts and pieces together…not together enough to make something that powerful.”

Alfred Lincoln’s dirty head appeared from behind the massive organ. He grinned at Hal as he played a few more chords from Bach’s famous “Organ Toccata.” It was breathtakingly beautiful as it filled the church with its robust tones. The organ’s pipes seemed to dance with their renewed life.

Alfred lingered on a final note and then let the wind from the pipes fade slowly away before he said, “Yeah, this old baby has a lot more life left in her.” He patted the front side of the organ’s keyboard, almost lovingly. His gaze upon the old organ was just as gentle.

Hal said, “It’s really awesome how you could take (more…)

Lots of people talk about having “hypoglycemia” or low blood sugar. And, lots of people think they have low blood sugar when in fact they don’t. Hypoglycemia was even quite the fad back in the 1970s. Lots of people made lots of money selling books and diet products to help “fight the disease”.

Actually, hypoglycemia isn’t a disease, but rather an indicator of some other problem. It is the other problem that causes the blood sugar to drop too low leading to all of the symptoms of hypoglycemia. The shakiness, blurry vision, nervous feeling, sweating, headache, weakness, rapid or pounding heartbeat (and more) are all symptoms of low blood sugar, but the low blood sugar is itself a symptom from some other cause.

Most often, hypoglycemia is related to diabetes. It can happen when blood sugar gets too low from using too much insulin or from not eating when you should. Lots of medicines can lead to low blood sugar, especially diabetes medications. Certain cancers, chronic diseases, and severe infections can lead to hypoglycemia. (more…)

Hal just kept working. He worked and he worked and he worked. He worked through breakfast. He worked through lunch. He worked clear through until almost dinner. He just couldn’t stop until his work was done.

He hammered the last nail to a flattened finish. Then, he stepped back to take a proud look at what he’d made. That’s when he suddenly got “low.”

As Hal took that step back from his just-finished project, he knew something was very wrong. He became sort of dizzy, feeling light-headed. His felt weak. He noticed he felt sweaty even though it was a cool 72 degrees in the garage. He felt nervous and kind of shaky.

He sat down on the sawhorse sitting next to him. He took a few deep breaths and tried to clear his head. That’s when his little brother, Sal, walked in. He noticed the look on Hal’s rather pale face (more…)

There’s a pretty good reason why type 1 diabetes isn’t referred to as “juvenile diabetes” anymore. It’s not just for kids, that’s for sure!

Here’s what I mean: 85% of of people who have type 1 diabetes are adults!

Yep, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), type 1 diabetes is growing and it grows by 3% each year. Every day, some 80 people are being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. That’s more than 15,000 children and 15,000 adults each year. Three million Americans have it…and that number gets bigger each year. (more…)

Sal was popping around like a jumping bean on a hot car hood. He shouted at Hal who was in the kitchen grabbing an apple, iPod headphones blasting away in his ears. “Hal! Come here!” Sal yelled. When no Hal reply came, Sal bounced on into the kitchen, grabbed his brother’s arm, and tugged him on into the living room.

Hal was more than a little irritated having had the ear pieces pulled from his ears right in the middle of Train’s “Drive By”. He leered at his overly excited brother and said, “Chill, bro. You popped my earphones out right as his love went viral.”

Sal ignored Hal as he pointed again and again at (more…)

Childhood diabetes has gone ballistic.

In case you missed the story in USA Today, diabetes and pre-diabetes have dramatically jumped in just the past decade. According to a study just published in the journal Pediatrics, there’s cause for alarm here. From 9% in the year 2000 to a whopping 23% just 8 years later in 2008, the number of U.S. kids with diabetes or it’s earlier version, pre-diabetes, jumped over 250%!

The study’s lead author, epidemiologist Ashleigh May, notes some caution with the exact numbers. The type of blood test they used in the study, the “fasting blood glucose test”, isn’t as accurate over the long term compared with the “A1C” test (also called the “henoglobin A1c” or “HbA1c” test). A1C looks at average blood sugar over several months while the fasting blood sugar is a more “right now” test.

Still, this and other studies show that our kids are at serious risk. Regardless of the exact numbers, childhood diabetes is rising…and rising rapidly. (more…)