A week away from blogging during what happened to be a super busy week in the diabetes world. Let’s play catch up!

ICYMI #1

Bigfoot Biomedical + Abbott Diabetes Care. Details here. Great commentary from diaTribe here, and Diabetes Mine here.

ICYMI #2

Did you see Adam Browne’s piece on diaTribe about the worst food advice he’s received?

When I was diagnosed I was told ‘Eat as much low GI food as you like’ and I remember at the time that not sitting well with me. It turned out to be a disaster because I wasn’t taught to count carbs, but there was this expectation that I would be eating large quantities of rice, pasta, bread and potatoes to match the insulin dose I was prescribed.

I do wonder how different things would be had I instead been given advice that helped me manage my glucose levels, rather than feel I was constantly scuffling with them!

Vaccine buzz

I’ve always been interested in the research developing vaccinations to prevent T1D. This out of Finland was doing the rounds yesterday.

I for one welcome our new robot doctors

This article from Forbes is all about how robots will be taking on an increased role in healthcare.

#LanguageMatters in the UK

After ADA, I wrote that there was some excitement from the UK about developing a language position statement. This blog post from Rosie Walker (Successful Diabetes) and Anne Cooper got the ball rolling in terms of getting some feedback from people with diabetes with a call out for people to have their say.

(And there is a tweet chat about this very topic, which for those playing at home (i.e. Australia) kicks off on Wednesday morning at 5am. I’m going to try to be there, but seriously, I suspect I’ll read up on it at a decent hour once the coffee kicks in!)

And while we’re talking language

I am interested in language beyond just the diabetes space and was interested to read this piece about US Senator John McCain’s diagnosis of brain cancer and the inevitable rhetoric that followed. Many promised that Senator McCain would survive because he is a ‘fighter’ and a ‘battler’.

I don’t like using this sort of language to discuss health conditions, because in a fight, there is always a winner and a loser. And it suggests that people who do not survive must not have fought or battled hard enough when we know that is absolutely not true.

Why I write…

There was a lot in this piece on Medivizor from Stephanie Zimmerman, where she shares why she writes about healthcare.

Type 1 and the egg

This is a beautiful and so simple metaphor by  Maureen, who tweets as @MumofType1 to explain what living with type 1 is all about for her son.

How much access do you have to your HCP notes?

This study looked into the experiences of healthcare users with reading and providing feedback on their visit notes.

#HelloMyNameIs heading to Sydney

If you are in Sydney on 26 September, you may be interested in this free event about the #HelloMyNameIs campaign which was created by Dr Kate Granger, (I wrote about the campaign here). This week marks the anniversary of Kate’s death, and her husband, Chris Pointon, will speak about the movement. 

And finally something funny…except it’s not

Gwyneth Paltrow is an acteress, so why anyone would seek medical advice from her is a little confusing. But apparently, she has armed herself with a team of healthcare hacks professionals so that she feels that she is more than qualified to sprout wellness rubbish.

In recent times she has faced the wrath of the science community on Twitter because, amongst other absurd ideas, she suggested that women should shove a jade egg up their vaginas to…actually, I’m not really sure why. I’m not going to comment on that (beyond saying: don’t do it) because superhero OB/GYN Dr Jen Gunter has already done that.

But when one of her healthcare hacks starts talking about autoimmune conditions, you bet I’m going to chime in. Especially, when one of them, Dr Steven Gundry, claims this: ‘I have yet to see an autoimmune disease that cannot be cured or put into remission by simple dietary changes and supplementation’ and then goes on to suggest which supplements will cure autoimmune diseases. Stop it!

Gwyneth – I really liked you in that movie about deadly viruses (possibly because you died in the first 15 mins), but you need to really shush now about healthcare. And stop suggesting women shove jade eggs up our vaginas, for god’s sake!