diaTribe Petition: Please help

from the diaTribe petition at change.org

At a recent meeting of Oregon’s Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC), the state panel recommended reducing access to test strips for people with type 2 diabetes on the Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan (OHP). A new plan would severely restrict access to strips for type 2 patients unless they are newly diagnosed, take insulin, or meet a few other special requirements. For people not taking insulin – which covers the vast majority, about 70% of all type 2 patients – those with an A1c above 8.0% would be entitled to one test strip per week, while those with an A1c below 8.0% would not be provided with any test strips at all. 

This recommendation would severly limit test strips and set a dangerous precedent for other states looking to cut overall health care costs. It's difficult to understand how the HERC imagines people with an A1c below 8.0% will manage their diabetes without test strips, and a test strip every week is hardly meaningful for patients or providers. Furthermore, any cost reductions will likely be more than canceled out in the long-term due to increased complications, hospital visits, and operations that inevitably folow poor control. The decision is currently scheduled for December 5. If you are a person with diabetes or a caregiver, we encourage you to sign this petition and write to Oregon Health Authority’s Director Dr. Bruce Goldberg and the members of the HERC about the importance of having access to test strips and self-monitoring blood glucose.

Read more about the issue and what you can do at diaTribe.org 

Add your name to the petition

Update on Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 9:40AM by Scott Benner

Your participation made a difference! Read the update from diaTribe.

Oh Canada... It's DexCom time!

The DexCom G4 continuous glucose monitor is now available in the true north! I'm not exactly sure how DexCom got their device ready for sale in Canada. Perhaps the transmitter will be wearing a tiny little hockey sweater? Who knows...

Getting started looks pretty straightforward. Go to dexcom.com/en-ca and then click "Contact Distributor". The link takes you to www.animas.ca, the company that is handling the distribution for Canada. The Animas page doesn't have any DexCom specific links. I would use the "Contact Us" tab at the top right of the Animas page and ask how to get started.

I found this contact information for Animas Canada at the bottom of the Canadian DexCom page linked above.

Local Dexcom Distributor

Animas Canada

200 Whitehall Drive

Markham, Ontario

L3R0T5

General inquiries: 1-855-293-5083 or 

CustomerCare@Animas.ca

Product support: 1-866-406-4844

I'm so excited for my Canadian friends, you are going to love having a CGM!

Recall: FreeStyle and FreeStyle Lite Test Strips

From Abbott Diabetes Website:

November 20, 2013

Dear Valued Customer,

Recently, it has come to our attention that certain lots of FreeStyle® and FreeStyle Lite® Blood Glucose Test Strips produce erroneously low blood glucose results when using FreeStyle® Blood Glucose Meters, FreeStyle Flash® Blood Glucose Meters and the FreeStyle® blood glucose meter built into the OmniPod® system. Erroneously low results that are not recognized may pose significant risks to your health.

If you do not use the meters in the photographs below, your blood glucose test results are not affected and you do not need to read any further.

FreeStyle Flash® 
Blood Glucose Meter
 FreeStyle®
Blood Glucose Meter
OmniPod®

Please click here for Abbott's complete announcement that lists affected lot numbers and information about what to do next if you have strips that are part of the recall.

What do you want from Diabetes Awareness Month?

So November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Okay. Now what?

Aside from building awareness, which is a goal that I hold in high regard, what do you want to happen this month? What change, lesson or tidal shift would you like to see occur after the diabetes online community shines their bright light onto the life of people living with diabetes?

"Something tangible", is always my less than complete answer. But is it reasonable to expect that people who don't live with diabetes have the time or space in their busy lives to commit to understanding a complicated disease? 

Using myself as an example. I am a person who understands how difficult living with a chronic illness can be, I know how important it is to the people who are effected to get their story into the world. Yet, when I see a pink ribbon or a football player trying to kill another man while wearing pink shoes... I just think, "Breast cancer awareness", but I don't really know the first thing about breast cancer. I've never made a donation to a breast cancer charity, except to honor the passing of a friend, and I don't proselytizing about breast cancer awareness.

I'm as aware as I can be, and I can't tell you one thing that my awareness brings to the people whose lives have been forever changed by breast cancer. But maybe that's enough?

Maybe that's all the breast cancer awareness people can hope for, that I know they are out there and that their lives have been impacted in a way that makes them want to teach others about their plight. Perhaps their efforts are more about adding compassion to the world and empathy that is rooted in honest concern. 

Now, if you handed me a magic wand and put me in charge of diabetes awareness, I'd cast a spell on the world so that everyone would know what to do when Arden gets dizzy in the middle of her practice. I'd make it so that each person could feel the insane mix of pressure, stress and fear that I felt last night when I looked down at Arden's glucose meter and saw, "32". I would selfishly turn the entire world into care givers for Arden and each of you. I think that, if I'm being honest, that's what I want from Diabetes Awareness Month - full and complete understanding for my little girl and all of you.

What I expect however, is no more than my reaction to seeing a pink ribbon and maybe that's enough. I hope that it is.

Since I don't have a magic wand, in honor of Diabetes Awareness Month I'm going to dig even deeper and share our life with type I this month in as raw and honest of a manner as my soul can stand. 

It's diabetes awareness month. I'm diabetes blogger. That's my magic wand.

Big Blue JDRF Walk

2013 JDRF Walk

On Sunday we participated in our eighth consecutive JDRF Walk. The walk provides something different for everyone. Community, support and hope are but a few of the good things that emanate from the gathering. I always think back to our first walk, it was just two months after Arden's diagnosis in 2006 and we were still reeling from the shock. The people that walked that day were each and every one, a stranger - but they helped me immeasurably just by being there. The stress that I felt was lightened when I saw so many living well with diabetes. Their presence made everything feel possible and the smiles on thier faces seemed to promise me that we were going to be okay. Today, eight walks later, I hope that our smiles have made someone else feel the same way.

And speaking of exercise and doing something good... When we got home from the walk each member of our family logged their information at Big Blue Test dot org.

from BigBlueTest.org

Since 2010, over 40,000 people helped themselves while helping more than 10,000 others. Most participants in the Big Blue Test experience an average blood sugar drop of 20% and by every Big Blue Test result a donation is made by the program sponsor to help others around the world with diabetes in need.The Big Blue Test is a program of the Diabetes Hands Foundation that encourages people with diabetes to test their blood sugar, exercise for 14-20 minutes, test again and share their experience on BigBlueTest.org. For every test, people with diabetes in need receive life-saving supplies through Big Blue Test grants that are awarded to humanitarian diabetes charities in the US and around the world, made possible thanks to the program sponsor. In 2013, the Big Blue Test grants will benefit two US-based initiatives (each will receive US$2,500) and an additional US$5,000 will support projects in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This year, we’re seeking to reach 20,000 Big Blue Test entries, which will translate into a donation that will help save lives.

I want to encourage each of you to find out more about how you can support The Big Blue Test with just a few moments of effort.