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Diabetes Update #205: The Best Lancets

August 1, 2015

By David Mendosa


Reducing Pain with Better Lancets

O, the lowly lancet! It’s the least expensive part of any blood glucose meter system and is an add-on item with essentially all of them. We take the lancet for granted as if all brands were all equal. But they aren’t, and they are the only part of a blood glucose meter system that can hurt us. Now, an unbiased but interested expert shares his testing and finds some shocking results. Dr. Chris Jacobs, whose company makes by far the best lancing device, which works with all standard lancets, kindly shares his research here first. Read the full research here.


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My New Diabetes Articles for HealthCentral:

Last month I published five more of my diabetes articles about how to manage our condition:

Bydureon and Byetta Change Our Brains When We Eat
A study shows that Bydureon and Byetta reduce craving and increase satiety when we eat.

Why Diabetes Drugs Are Expensive
The typical drug now costs the pharmaceutical companies $2.6 billion before it can come to market. Diabetes drugs in particular are more expensive now because the size of the clinical trials and the length of time to get them approved has increased so much.

Eat Mindfully to Lose Weight
New studies show that meditation and mindfulness work to help us lose the weight we need to manage diabetes.

Why Insulin Costs So Much
The cost of insulin is going through the roof. What can we do about it?

Food Addicts Have Help Here
If you can’t control your eating, this 12-step program will give you the support and guidance that you need to manage it.


My Slideshows:

I have begun to regularly write slideshows about diabetes for HealthCentral.com. These are my new ones:

7 Reasons Why You Should Keep a Food Diary
Keeping a food diary can be one of the best ways to managing your diabetes. Here why, how, and how long.

Your First 9 Steps Toward Managing Your Diabetes
A doctor just broke the news that you have diabetes. What do you do now?


Dr. Bernstein's Webcast

If you have any interest in controlling your diabetes by low-carb eating, one of the best resources is Dr. Richard K. Bernstein's monthly webcast. It's an hour of excellent diabetes education available free either on the Internet or by phone. You can click here to register http://www.diabetes911.net/askdrb/index.php.

The webcast is available for ten days at www.askdrbernstein.com, and then it is moved over to www.thebernsteinconnection.com, where a membership fee provides access all of his videos, webcasts, and transcripts.

Dr. Bernstein's next live webcast will be on Wednesday, August 26, 2015, at 7PM CST, 8PM EST, 6PM MST, 5PM PST. He designed it to answer your most important questions concerning diabetes and to offer his thoughts on the latest developments in this area.


The Mendosa Store:

My new online store is now your source for professional diabetes care products. Some of these products are already available and more are coming. If you have a product that you would like me to carry, I would like to hear from you. Please email me at [email protected]

I am proud to offer a variety of products to manage diabetes, including lab tests, books by Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, wound care supplies, and more.

The featured test this month is the Cardio Screen At-Home Blood Spot Collection Kit. This at-home blood collection kit tests for the big three markers of Hs-CRP for heart, A1C for blood glucose, and a complete lipid panel. It includes a prepaid return mailing envelope to send the sample for testing at a CAP accredited and CLIA certified laboratory. Test results are available via email within 1-3 business days.


University of South Florida (USF) - FREE Stress and Mood Management Program for people with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes:



While most people experience some level of stress in their daily lives, people who are living with diabetes are more likely to have stress than people without diabetes. In addition, people with diabetes who are stressed often have higher glucose levels and trouble sticking to their diabetes management plans. Numerous research studies have demonstrated that taking steps to manage your stress can lead to you feeling better mentally and physically. Relieving stress and improving mood has been shown to help people take control of their diabetes and reduce their A1c.

As part of the Diabetes Stress Relief research study, researchers the University of South Florida (USF) are offering adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes a FREE online program that will teach ways to manage stress and improve mood. The program is conducted entirely online through an interactive website that uses graphics, animations, audio, and video to explain techniques that will help you set goals, solve problems, manage time, change the way you think, and relax. The Stress and Mood Management Program teaches you a variety of skills so that you can decide which work best for you.

Because it is an internet-based program, it is convenient and flexible so it easily fits into your hectic life and busy schedule. You can sign on and participate whenever is best for you, from wherever you are. There are 8 weekly sections that each take less than 30 minutes to complete. It provides you with real information that you can use in your life to relieve stress and manage your mood. This is the same beneficial information that is offered through expensive workshops and seminars and has and it is being provided for FREE to participants of the Diabetes Stress Relief Study.

If you are interested in learning more about the study or would like to sign up, you can visit the study’s website at www.diabetesstressrelief.com or you can email ([email protected]) or call (215.264.7571) the researchers directly. The research study is voluntary and has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at USF (Pro00002563), some eligibility criteria apply.


Fitness and Photography for Fun:

Last month I published six more of my photo essays on staying fit by getting the activity we need. Photography gets me out in nature to hike, and hiking keeps me fit:

Mount Sanitas
The new Lion’s Lair climbs Mount Sanitas where the Front Range meets North Boulder. I met the new trail and recommend it for its gentle grade, smooth surface, and forest views that seem miles from the city.

Goshawk Ridge Loop
This is one of my favorite hikes because it offers a great variety of landscape, birds, and flowers just a few minutes from my apartment in Boulder.

Ceran Saint Vrain Trail
My biggest thrill on this hike was seeing the Colorado State Amphibian for the first time. I didn’t even know that Colorado has a State Amphibian, and when I saw it, I had no idea what it was.

Moose at Brainard Lake
I went to Brainard Lake in the Rocky Mountains thinking that I might see bull moose feeding in the willows there. They were there, but an even better sighting was a young bull feeding in the lake itself.

Medicine Bow Curve
The little-known trail at the top of Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the best places to see White-tailed Ptarmigan. I saw them early in the morning there.

Above the Guanella Pass Summit
Hiking higher and higher has been the theme of this month’s outings. This time I climbed above the summit of one of Colorado’s highest mountain passes to reach 12,000 feet.


New Flickr Site

I keep added some of my favorites nature photographs on Flickr.com. In the past month I have added several more. You can find them the easiest way by clicking here


Searching for My Articles
Whenever you want to find anything that I have written about diabetes -- whether on my website or on HealthCentral Network -- the easiest way is to use the search tool on my site. You can search for all of the articles on my site or for the "Diabetes Developments" blog or the "Fitness and Photography for Fun" blog or what I have written at HealthCentral, which is now a part of Remedy Health Media.

Just go to mendosa.com/search and check which one of the four sites you want to search and enter what you want to find in the search block.


Announcements

Health Central
The Health Central Network will now notify you by email of new articles (SharePosts) by me or anyone who posts at HealthCentral.com. Just click on "Subscribe" at the top of each of my articles or on my "Profile" page.

Each month I describe and link my new Health Central articles here. But you can also use a blog reader to keep up with my articles more quickly. I use Bloglines, as I describe in my article, “Reading Health Blogs.

This Newsletter:
  1. Is and will remain free.
  2. Will never include advertising (except targeted Google ads at the bottom of the web page and not in the email newsletter).
  3. Nor will I ever sell, rent, or trade your email address to anyone.
  4. I will link sources of information.
  5. I will disclose any conflict of interest.
  6. If and when I learn of any errors of fact, I will correct them.


A
rchives: I now send out Diabetes Update once a month. Previous issues are online at Older Issues.

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