Browsing Tag

Highs And Lows

Diabetes Testing

The Glucocard 01-Mini Meter

My new blood glucose meter is perfect for travelling or hiking. It’s small, fast, has a small sample size, and features pre- and post-meal flags. It’s easy to read and has auto coding of test strips. I can even personalize it with a choice of face plates.

At the recent convention of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists in Houston I saw this meter at the Arkray USA booth. It impressed me so much that I asked the company to send me one for review.

The Arkray name may not be familiar. But the company says that Arkray USA is the fifth largest blood glucose monitoring company in the world. Arkray USA in Edina, Minnesota, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkray Inc. of Kyoto, Japan. Arkray took over Hypoguard USA in 2006 and changed its name to Arkray USA. Continue Reading

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Diabetes Complications, Diabetes Diet

Our Arteries on Corn Flakes

High glycemic foods make the major blood vessel of our upper arms swell out or expand from internal pressure, according to new research. This brachial artery is the most convenient place that scientists and doctors have to measure how elastic our arteries are.

The elasticity of our arteries anywhere in our body is a measure of our heart health. When the walls of an artery anywhere in our body expand suddenly, this can lead to heart disease or sudden death.

Those of us who have diabetes need to do what we can to keep our arteries healthy. The statistics are shocking: 68 percent of Americans 65 or older die from heart disease, and adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to die from a heart attack than other Americans. Continue Reading

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Diabetes Complications

My Neuropathy

A few days ago when I finally was able to see a neurologist for the headaches that started four months ago, the first part of his examination was of my feet. I had heard of referred pain, but this seemed extreme to me, and I told him so.

The doctor replied that he would get to my head. In the meanwhile he gave me a complete examination. He used a tuning fork, similar to what musicians use. I could feel it as he went down my legs. But when he got to each of my feet, I felt nothing.

Then he worked down my legs to my feet with the side of a pin. Again, my feet I had no sensation.

He told me that I had peripheral neuropathy. And I could see it for myself. None of my other doctors had ever told me that before. Continue Reading

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Diabetes Medication, Diabetes Testing

Why Glucose Tabs are Better

This weekend my friend Mark and I drove about 120 miles from our homes in Boulder to Leadville in Central Colorado. Mark is a member of the diabetes support group that meets monthly at my apartment, and we are both avid hikers and nature photographers.

On Friday as we set off on the Turquoise Lake trail near Leadville, Mark checked his blood glucose. It was about 75 mg/dl so he ate a chocolate bar that he had in his pack.

“I figure that as long as I have to eat something to raise my level, I may as well eat something that tastes good,” he commented.

Maybe my body language showed my disagreement. So he asked me why I didn’t like his solution. Continue Reading

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Diabetes Testing

New Way to Control Glycemic Variability

The A1C is certainly the gold standard to see how well we are controlling our diabetes. But even gold isn’t good enough for us.

The A1C doesn’t show our glycemic variability. For those of us who have our blood glucose levels under reasonably good control, our glycemic excursions are even more important than our average level.

A low A1C level can mask a lot of lows and highs. The experts call these hypos and hypers “glycemic variability” or “glycemic excursions.” Our level can be all over the place, while our A1C looks fine.
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Diabetes Testing

A1CNow at Home

Today Bayer Diabetes Care launched the A1CNow SELFCHECK that we can use to check our A1C level at home. Finally.

Many of us have been waiting for years. In September 2006 I wrote here that we would have it “soon.” Then, a year ago at last year’s convention of the American Diabetes Association in San Francisco a Bayer spokesperson told me that next year they plan to sell it over-the-counter in three-packs. Now that the SELFCHECK is finally available online, the two-pack version is even better for us.

Until now, if you wanted to use the A1CNow, you had to buy the commercial version. The problem with that version is that we don’t need to use all of its 10 cartridges within their one-year expiration date. Since the A1C test measures our average blood glucose level over the previous two to three months, our doctors generally recommend two to four A1C tests each year.
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