Photo-a-Day: Relationship

Posted on November 6, 2013 by kalimared

While I often think of my diabetes as having a life of it’s own and requiring as much work as a third child or a second job, it’s not the relationship I would chose to highlight when talking about diabetes. Instead, that would be my husband, Ben, who has to put up with my high-sugar frustrations and low-sugar grumpiness, never complains when it’s time to help me with a hard-to-reach site change, and still finds time to comment on my blog posts with offers to craft me a bat-utility belt for all my diabetes devices. ♥

This post is one in a series for the National Diabetes Month of November. Kerri from sixuntilme.com initiated the Photo-a-Day idea and prompts and lots of other diabetes bloggers have chosen to follow suite.

Photo-a-Day: Proud

Posted on November 4, 2013 by kalimared

I’m a little late, but hoping it’s ok to still join in on Kerri’s Diabetes Month Photo-a-Day. I love the idea and have really enjoyed reading everyone’s posts and seeing all the great photos. I suppose mine will be Most of a Diabetes Month Photo-a-Day ;)

Proud. This is an easy one. I could try to think of something different but the truth is this is one of those words where the obvious and simple choice that comes to mind is the right choice. My babies. I’d probably be the most proud of them even if I didn’t have diabetes but having gone through those pregnancies successfully with T1 makes me especially proud.

Just a Little Girl and her Mommy…and Mommy’s Diabetes Accessories

Posted on October 8, 2013 by kalimared

Little girls do love their accessories and mine has an eagle eye for detail. Here, my daughter Ruby has on her cool Reef flip-flops, a white snap bracelet with cherries, blue mirror shades, a pink and green striped raccoon tail, and a multicolored hair wrap with hot pink feathers on the end.

Needless to say, when I changed up my diabetes supply cases this weekend, she was quick to notice. “Mommy I like your new gold case with the white case better than the old silver case with the green case. And I like the pink case too.” Hmmm, that’s a lot of cases. She’s grown up knowing it’s “Mommy’s diabetes stuff” but we haven’t ever talked about which case is for what.

My husband and I explained that the white case was a “skin” case for Mommy’s OmniPod, the gold case was Mommy’s diabetes kit and the pink case was for Mommy’s CGM, which stands for Continuous Glucose Monitor. “Rubes, do you know what continuous means?”

“No.”

“It means all the time and Glucose means sugar. Do you know what monitor means?”

“No.”

“Monitor means watcher. So, the pink case is Mommy’s all the time sugar watcher.”

Ruby grinned and chimed in with “And your bracelet is your sleep watcher!”

Oh, yeah, that’s right…there’s also the Fitbit Flex I wear, which tracks activity and sleep. Little girls…they don’t miss an “accessory” beat!

Is Type 1 Diabetes Different for Women than it is for Men?

Posted on September 27, 2013 by kalimared

I read this article that’s been circulating the Internet over the past few days entitled “Men With Type 1 Diabetes Are Better at Blood Sugar Control Than Women” and I found myself thinking that maybe this isn’t such a surprise. Although the media’s inflammatory word choice for the article title seems to imply “men do it better”, the actual study title, “Sex differences in glycaemic control among people with type 1 diabetes” and study content lean towards biological differences.

Why am I so interested in this study? As a woman I truly believe that hormone balance is a key issue in my BG control. In fact I’m sure of it because I’ve tested my theories in my own private lab (i.e. my body). When my hormones are balanced, I’m proactive with my BG control, fine-tuning my basal rates and having reasonably good predictability of bolus outcomes. Whereas, when my hormones are not balanced, suddenly my fine-tuned basal rates and boluses don’t work as well as they used to, my insulin resistance goes up, and I’m constantly chasing highs and treating lows. Even PWDs who don’t have extra complications beyond a normal monthly cycle often mention having higher BGs the week prior to their periods. Are there type 1 diabetes issues related specifically to women that we should be aware of?

I decided to look further into it. First, I wanted to actually see the real study this media story was based on. It took some digging but I found the Abstract and Poster submitted by Dr. Wild to the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD). The study divided individuals into 3 age groups, under 15, 15-24, and over 24. The final conclusion states: “In this cross-sectional analysis of international data, there was a small difference in glycaemic control in males and females in the youngest age group, however control of type 1 diabetes was poorer in women than men in the two older strata. This association did not appear to be confounded by age or duration of diabetes.” Seems reasonable to me that the youngest strata is the least different from males, in that most of that age group hasn’t started a monthly cycle yet. (Yes, I’m sure there are also many other biological reasons to consider.)

Secondly, I looked up information about Dr. Wild and found an interesting recent article she authored related to female cycles, diabetes, and diabetes-disease correlations, entitled “Diabetes in women − A life-course approach”. I’m hoping this means more future studies will be conducted related to PWDs and hormones. The lack of information on this has been frustrating for me, to say the least. A few specific women’s health correlations to diabetes from the article are below. While most of the correlations are negative, I’m certainly not trying to be Ms. Diabetes Doomsday. But I do feel that as PWDs, these are women’s health correlations that we should be aware of. If for no other reason, than that our local OBGYN, Endo, or Primary Physician may not be (mine weren’t aware of quite a few).

And after all, let’s call a spade a spade; women do tend to be more complicated ^_^

T1 diabetes appears to be associated with a delay in menarche and with menstrual irregularities.
Diabetes is associated with less frequent ovulation and the ability to conceive was about 75% of that of a non-diabetic.
There is evidence to suggest that women with diabetes undergo earlier menopause than women without diabetes.
Effect of pregnancy on pre-existing diabetes: Pregnancy leads to increased insulin resistance and is associated with a higher frequency of hypoglycaemic episodes (and reduced hypoglycaemia awareness) in women with type 1 diabetes.
If you have gestational diabetes, you are at increased risk for developing subsequent T2 diabetes.
Odds of developing T2 diabetes were 4-fold higher for women with PCOS than those without.
Post Menopausal Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in PWDs: Given the risks of both diabetes and the menopause, each case needs to be evaluated on its individual merits. Do the vasomotor and osteoporosis beneﬁts outweigh the risks of endometrial or breast cancer? A large meta-analysis found that women with diabetes taking HRT had signiﬁcantly reduced insulin resistance (12.9%, 95%CI 19.8–51.7%), reduced fasting glucose (11.5%, 95%CI 5.1–18.0%) and reduced fasting insulin (20.2%, 95%CI 4.2–36.3%), compared to those taking placebo or no treatment.
HRT in PWOD’s: A meta-analysis of 107 randomized controlled trials found a 30% reduction in the incidence of diabetes in women taking HRT vs no treatment or placebo. They also found non-diabetic users had signiﬁcantly lower abdominal adiposity and waist circumference and more positive lipid proﬁles than non-users. Again individual women need to weigh the risks and beneﬁts of HRT.
A number of studies have repeatedly conﬁrmed osteoporosis as a complication of T1 diabetes.
Women with T1 diabetes were 12.25 times more likely to report an incident hip fracture than women without diabetes.
A number of researchers have looked at the relationship between diabetes and endometrial cancer and consistently found an increased risk of endometrial cancer amongst women with T2 diabetes. No association has been shown for T1 diabetes.