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Interweb jumble #13

February 16, 2016 in Awareness, Health, Research, Social media | 4 comments

It’s gloomy in Melbourne today. I have tights on for the first time in months and my hair is now frizzing thanks to the rain I was caught in as I ran next door for a coffee. (The silver lining in all of this is that there is fabulous coffee right next door to my new office. Also, extra silver lining is that I can see the weather out of my beautiful window. The not-so-silver-lining is that I am reminded that I am fool, because window = seeing rainy weather and yet I still forgot to take an umbrella…)

So here are some things that are keeping me either amused, happy, annoyed, interested, fascinated and heaps of other things too!

Roses spared and children saved

Today, the Spare A Rose Facebook page announced that 376 children would be benefitting from people’s generous donations this Valentine’s Day.

It’s not too late to make a donation, or even consider making a monthly donation throughout the year. AUD$6 each month equals a month of insulin for a kid who would otherwise not be able to afford it.

While this was the focus of our Valentine’s Day, there was still a lot of baking. Because I love a heart shaped cookie. Or giant brownie. And sprinkles.

Still the wrong name for this week

I said it last year and I maintain that the Dietitians Association of Australia have got it wrong naming this week ‘Healthy Weight Week’.

I think that the name misses the mark because it focuses on weight and not health. The overall aim of the week is to encourage people to cook more at home to achieve a healthy weight. Here’s just a little of the conversation with the DAA (after they read my post last year) on Twitter:

I think that this really does a disservice to the role of dietitians in healthcare. I am of a healthy weight, but have benefitted from the expertise of dietitians in the past.

The name of this week turns me off actually wanting to participate in any way, even though there are some terrific initiatives. What are your thoughts on this one?

In the genes

Why do some people develop diabetes-related complications and others don’t? We’re told that ‘control’ is the reason, but we also know that some people develop complications, despite years of what is considered ‘good control’ while others who struggle to reach targets don’t.

This study’s findings suggests that particular genetic variations are involved in the development of retinopathy and nephropathy.

Things I wish I knew

I learn new things about diabetes each and every day. But how much easier it would have been while navigating this annoying bloody path to have known stuff earlier on. Diabetes UK has released a new book, 100 THINGS I WISH I’D KNOWN ABOUT LIVING WITH DIABETES, which includes information collected from over 1,000 people with diabetes with input from clinicians. The final 100 were selected by people with diabetes, (nice engagement there!), who chose the tips they thought most useful.

Oh – and while talking about Diabetes UK: Happy Birthday! They turn 82 years old this week.

New (to Australia) Tech

Looks like Australia is about to catch up to our friends in the EU who have had access to Freestyle Libre Flash Monitoring. The Flash website went live this week. More details – such as cost and release date – are yet to come, but you can register your interest. Have a look and register your interest.

And while we’re talking new tech in Australia, a couple of weeks ago, the Aussie launch details of the Dexcom G5 were announced. You can download the app (iOS only) which is already available from the App Store, although you won’t be able to use it until you are hooked up to a G5. The App has the ‘Share’ capability which means that you can (just as it says!) share your data with others.

Rock on

Last week, I was sitting at the front of our house, enjoying the sunshine and my day off, and listening to Live Fast, Diabetes, the new song from Adelaide punk/rock band, Grenadiers.

A very crotchety woman walked by, stopped as she heard the music, and scolded me with this nugget of wisdom: ‘You’re too old to be listening to that noise.’

Yeah, we know

Science: ‘Apparently BGLs are lower in warm weather.’

PWD: ‘Ah, yeah. We know. We’ve known for ages….’

Love it when evidence catches up!

And finally….

It’s Tuesday. Do the #OzDOC tweet chat! Tonight at 8.30pm AEDT.

Guest post – The Party

October 27, 2015 in Diabetes, Guest post, Peer support, Real life, Social media | 2 comments

Over the weekend, my Facebook friend, Brad Slaight, shared a story that got me thinking. He summed up perfectly the power of connections and the value of speaking with others sharing our experiences.

I’ve not met Brad. We know each other only through social media. He is a funny guy – in fact pretty much all of his posts make me laugh out loud. You can read all about him, and the ‘Diabetes Hero Squad’ here.

I have read this piece several times and each time I am struck by just how the family in is story would have walked away from their encounter with Brad feeling relief, support, less isolated and less alone. It is how I feel whenever I connect with others living with diabetes.

Brad has kindly given me permission to publish his post here. Thanks, Brad!

I’m always interested in meeting another person with diabetes and after the secret handshake I enjoy listening to their story, their struggles, and their methods of control. Even with strangers it is always an immediate bonding because we are conjoined by a common life threatening, daily maintaining condition that cuts through the awkward veil of trust.

But tonight it was different. I went to a party at a beautiful home in the Pacific Palisades. An upscale community near the ocean with homes that in the Midwest would be expensive, but here in Los Angeles you have to be in the top 1% to own. This party was catered, valeted, and lavish.

I never feel out of place at these kinds of things even though my socio-economic status is not quite on the same level with the majority of the other guests. But since I am in the entertainment business I usually fit right in and can charm my way past any portfolio flaws. Money and power does not always mean personality. I’m pretty gregarious and make friends easily and tonight was no different. Flitting around from one group to another I came upon a stunning couple who looked like they just stepped from the pages of Forbes Magazine. Young Republicans I thought. Well groomed. Fashionable. Rich.
I planned on walking right past them because I saw nothing in common. And then, the woman grabbed my arm.

“You’re Brad, right?” She asked. A wave of paranoia came over me. What had I done? How did she know me? What did she want? I made some lame joke about not being Brad Pitt and she forced a laugh but I could see some unexpected pain in her eyes.

“I don’t mean to be forward,” she continued. (Forward? Who fucking talks like that, I thought to myself) “Shannon told me you have diabetes.”

Oh my God, I’ve been outed. As if I really care. But why was she asking me this? I would have preferred that she said something like, “You’re a comedian, right?” or “I recognize you from TV” or anything else that would be complimentary. I don’t mind people knowing I have diabetes, but it’s not really what I want to be known for?

The next thing that happened completely took me by surprise. She told me that their 7 year old son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes two weeks ago. This was the first time they had been out of the house at night since then. And they had to force themselves to come to the party even though they wanted to stay home and hover. Immediately they were one of us. Diabetes – the great unifier! They were in the club. I understood their pain and at that moment I also felt it because it hit me in the gut. Seven? Fuck. I was fortunate enough to get it when I was already an adult. Seven!

We talked for the next hour and a half. The rest of the party became an oblivious blur. They listened to me as if I were Yoda as I told them my story and stories of others who I have known from the D.O.C. They hungered for knowledge about diabetes. Where do they go? What do they do? Why did it happen to their precious boy? When will it be cured? How will he deal with this horrible disease? The same questions we all have had, and many that we still do.

I told them about the usual links and sites they should explore. The JDRF, the ADA, TuDiabetes, and others. But what they wanted to hear most was how I’ve survived for 30 years with diabetes. What do I do? How do I manage? Have I gotten any of the terrible complications they’ve been told about? And it was then that I realized how important all of the diabetes online community has been for me. How important it is to not feel so alone. So isolated. And how terrifying this disease is for those who are newly diagnosed and the people who love them, because it changes their life as well. I told them what I could but made sure to remind them that, even though we all share the same disease, we are all different and finding a good endo is key.

Most of all I told them how important it is that they were scared because that means their boy has great parents who will make sure he gets the best care possible. The fear will lead to knowledge, which will lead to the best kind of advocacy of all. And I told them that they need to seek out other parents who have CWD because they too need to understand they do not have to face this all by themselves.

Next week I am going to have dinner at their house and meet their little boy. I won’t tell him about all the technical stuff. In time, he will learn all that for himself, because he will have to. No, what I will talk to him about is that there are many of us. He is not alone. And I will give him an autographed picture of The Diabetes Hero Squad. I will tell him that he is a diabetes superhero. And I will make sure I don’t cry until after I leave.

I went to a party. I found out about another one of us. He’s seven.

We need to find a cure!

Knock knock

October 15, 2015 in Peer support, Social media | 3 comments

‘Hey love, it’s me…Renz…I’m just out grabbing a coffee, but when I get back, I’m popping in for some insulin. I’m out…long story. See you soon.’

These are the benefits to having a dear friend who just happens to have type 1 diabetes living two doors down. And that is the message I left on her phone the other night (although, because I speak so quickly, she misheard and thought I said I was out of tomato sauce and would be coming to get some – same/same.)

Why was I out of insulin? I thought I still had two bottles. I know I still had two bottles from my last prescription. Except I didn’t, because I left them in the fridge of our AirBnB apartment in Paris. Which I had realised over the weekend and I did order some from the pharmacy. I’ve just not quite made it to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription.

Sometimes having friends with diabetes is great for the practical ‘shit-I-just-ran-out-of-stuff’ reasons. But mostly it’s because of the ‘thanks-for-getting-it-and-not-judging-me’ reasons. Not once did my darling neighbour raise an eyebrow or shake her head or tsk tsk at my disorganisation. She didn’t tell me off or ask me why I wasn’t better prepared. She just went to her fridge, pulled out a vial and said ‘Is one enough?’

My friend Alanna (read her blog, ‘cause it’s fabulous and she is fabulous and I love her!) posted this on Facebook yesterday and it really resonated.

Changing the word ‘internet’ to ‘diabetes’ makes it so true. Most of my diabetes friends live so far away. I’m lucky that I get to see some of them at diabetes conferences, or when travelling for fun, but many I actually haven’t ever met IRL. They may as well be in Narnia or the Enchanted Wood or at Hogwarts! Thank goodness for every social media platform I use to keep in touch with them!

Which is why it’s so wonderful to be able to walk two doors down, knock on the door and have someone there, with matching pump tubing hanging out of our clothes, to save the day. Thanks, Jo.

Interweb jumble #10

October 6, 2015 in Awareness, Conferences, Real life, Social media | 2 comments

Clearly, jet lag, daylight saving and time zone confusions have meant that any creativity left in my pea-sized brain has been zapped to non-existence. As has the ability to order the million things that I have read in the last couple of days.

So, with a slight inability to organise my thoughts clearly, here are some things on my mind today.

Stephanie Rice is not a medical professional (that piece of information is more for her than anyone else)

Yes, another C grade celebrity has been at it again: providing medical advice and pretending to be an expert of everything. Aussie Olympic swimmer, Stephanie Rice, has come under fire for starting a Q&A style section on her Facebook page, where readers could seek medical advice.

Now, part of me wants to say that if you think that asking an Olympic swimmer for anything other than advice about, I don’t know, swimming, you get what you get and you don’t get upset. But this isn’t really about Rice’s readers. This is about the arrogance that she is demonstrating in thinking that she actually has anything to offer here.

I was talking about this yesterday with someone and she looked a little surprised at how annoyed I sounded. ‘But isn’t that kind of what you do on your blog,’ I she asked.

I would like credit here for the incredible restraint I demonstrated in not stabbing her with a (blunt) lancet. I would also like credit for speaking to her with respect as I pointed out that no, this is no what I do here.

What I do here is talk about my experiences (such as my experience of getting annoyed at swimmers who think that you shouldn’t have a medically-prescribed MRI because ‘there is so much radiation’), but never, ever telling people what they should do (such as suggesting that you shouldn’t have a medically-prescribed MRO because ‘there is so much radiation).

Of course, Rice responded with an ‘I’m hurt – I’m only trying to share what I have learnt and how much I now know’ post that is defensive and naïve.

Also, it is where she has it wrong. And it’s where Sarah Wilson and her ‘I-live-with-autoimmune-disease-(as if it is a singular thing)-and-therefore-can-give-medical-advice’ also gets it wrong.

Your advice is worthless. You have no qualifications in medicine, so stop giving medical counsel.

What does have some worth, however, is sharing your story. People connect with that. They hear what you are going through and feel supported. It makes them feel less alone. It is not your job – any more than it is my job – to provide medical information to people.

So stop it. Just stop it.

Live longer

Yesterday, MJA (The Medical Journal of Australia) published an article – Recent advances in type 1 diabetes – authored by some of Australia’s leading clinical experts in type 1 diabetes.

There were some really interesting points mentioned including that, in Australia, the incidence of type 1 diabetes has doubled over the past 20 years.

But for me, the most interesting and hopeful point (which was also the focus of the media release) was the following statement:

Although T1D is still associated with considerable premature mortality, recent findings show that a significant improvement in life expectancy has occurred.

I have always had in the back of my head that my life expectancy will be shortened by fifteen years due to my diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. It’s not all roses and I am not in denial that there will be challenges as my diabetes – and I – get older. But there is some good news in here. And for that, I do have some hope.

Do this survey

Abbott Australia has a series of surveys live at the moment for adults with type 1 and insulin-using type 2 diabetes.

YourSAY (Self-management And You) asks what it is like to live with diabetes each day, specifically looking at the behaviours and attitudes to diabetes self-management and glucose monitoring.

The survey takes about twenty minutes to complete and is open to anyone who meets the following criteria:

Live in Australia
Be aged 18-70 years.
Have been diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes
Be currently using insulin injections or an insulin pump
Not currently be using a continuous glucose monitor (CGM)

Sound like you? Then hop to it by clicking here.

New look

Go check out The Parents’ Voice. Here, you’ll find the new name and new look of The Parents’ Jury. And while you’re there, considering signing up and becoming a member. The Parents’ Voice is all about improving the food and activity environments of Australian children.

#DOCtober

Grab your phone – or, if you’re old school, a camera – and join this month’s #DOCtober photo challenge. Kerri Sparling is documenting the month in photos on Instagram and on her blog and is asking you to join in. The idea is to find something diabetes-related and post it in social media land for all to see.

I’ve been pretty lax…as in have not posted a single thing…but here is my contribution for today. This is my desk at work with all the found objects from EASD.

Things I’m missing about Scandinavia

Cinnamon buns. Recipe found; baking planned. As soon as the weather cools down and I can consider turning on the oven!

Tick tock

As I’ve mentioned before, I often use the stat that we spend approximately six hours a year with HCPs working on managing our diabetes. It works out to about 0.07% of the year.

On his blog, Manny Hernadez has broken it down and wrote this great piece. He reckons that it is even less, with his calculations coming in at 0.007% of the year.

Whichever what you look at it, it’s not much time at all! And, it serves as a reminder of just how much little time we have professional assistance when dealing with diabetes.

So, remind me again who the expert is?

That’s cruel

I wore a green dress yesterday.

So have been listening to the Bare Naked Ladies ever since.

So many messages

September 10, 2015 in Awareness, Health, Mental health, Real life, Social media | Leave a comment

There are only 52 weeks a year. There are only 365 days a year.

There are so many important and worthwhile health messages that need awareness and funding and attention. And this week, there is a lot going on.

As I wrote yesterday, it’s Women’s Health Week. (#womenshealthweek)

It is also Body Image and Eating Disorders Awareness Week where the aim is to raise awareness of eating disorders while also promoting positive body confidence. (#BIEDAW) Tying in with this, the Butterfly Foundation has also named the week Love Your Body Week. (#loveyourbodyweek)

And today is R U OK? Day – a day where we are encouraged to check in with our friends and family and ask the questions ‘Are you okay?’ The idea is about finding ways to communicate effectively and comfortably and check how people are. Have a look at the national awareness campaign, ‘Thanks for Asking’. (#RUOK)

But wait; there’s more.

It is also World Suicide Prevention Day. The theme for this year is ‘Preventing Suicide: Reaching Out and Saving Lives’. More here. (#WSPD)

All of these initiatives are important. Each one needs attention. Mental illness and mental health run through all of these health weeks, and we know that talking about mental illness helps reduce stigma and, hopefully, have more people knowing where to seek help.

Keeping up with what is going on with all the different awareness weeks and days is almost a full time job! It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the barrage of health messaging and the calls to action.

I would receive dozens of emails each week from different health organisations highlighting why their week is important, why their condition or their messaging needs attention. I rarely disagree. Reputable health organisations spend a great deal of time and effort development their messaging. There is considerable attention given to campaign materials and promotional activities. Each and every ‘cause’ is worthwhile and I want to be involved in all of them.

But it’s just not possible to do it all.

Today, however, I am watching this from NCD Free which has been released just in time for World Suicide Prevention Day, which looks at the link between chronic kidney disease, alcohol use and suicide in rural Sri Lanka.

Plus, I am checking in with people and asking how they are doing – with the very conscious understanding that R U OK? day is not a tick box event that once it’s over means I don’t need to check in on people on other days.

And I am reading the Thursday messaging from Jean Hailes for Women’s Health which today focuses on way to manage our health – who and what to ask.

I am also considering body image – my body image – and how I’ve recently been feeling about myself and how I look.

And on top of all that, I am keeping up with everything on social media and hashtagging (not a word!) the hell out of it all.

Next week, it will start again – with something else. Something equally important; something equally needing attention. And it happens all alongside the health condition that I manage each and every day. Because even if it isn’t on the calendar, every day to me is diabetes day and each week is diabetes week.

Call me Doctor

September 4, 2015 in Diabetes, Social media | 1 comment

Actually, no don’t.

In a weird, weird situation a couple of weeks ago, I found myself at the end of the phone – my phone – and on the other end was someone who had called to make an appointment with me. They had diabetes. And apparently, I was going to help them ‘fix’ their diabetes and be their new doctor.

Now, there were a few flaws in this premise. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, I am not a doctor. I am not a health professional of any kind. I do not feel this to be a deficiency in any way, because I am not employed as such. Secondly, I cannot help anyone fix their diabetes because, well, a) diabetes can’t be ‘fixed’ and b) if it could, I’d be starting with my own.

It took me five minutes to convince the person on the other end of the line that I was not who or what they were looking for (seriously, the ‘Huh? You want me to do what?’ which was pretty much the first sentence I uttered should have given away that I was not the sharpest tool in the shed and definitely not the person to be looking towards for diabetes expertise).

When the person didn’t believe that I couldn’t help them ‘fix’ their diabetes, I took a different tact and offered my services in things I could help them with. I offered cupcake recipes, book recommendations, ways to get out of exercising (expert level here!), my opinion on the best film of all time, dinner suggestions.

Once I had convinced the person that I really was not a doctor (but may be able to help them connect with one) I asked why they thought I was.

‘I see you on Twitter. You seem to know what you are talking about.’

I was reminded again of just how easy it is for people to take on the moniker of ‘expert’ or ‘guru’.

My Twitter feed is, admittedly, predominantly diabetes-related. I link to my blog or live tweet conferences. There are links to journal articles and diabetes events. But none of these suggest that I have anything offer other than the ability to include a link and a brief description of what is at the other end if you click.

But there are also photos of food and recipes and Harry Potter references and links to gigs and movies and other random things. Things that under no circumstances do not give the illusion of me being a diabetes expert.

My new friend and I chatted for a while longer and I mentioned a few things they might want to look into – support groups in the area, online groups and some upcoming events. I let them know they could call me again (for a chat, cupcake recipes, book recommendations etc…anything as long as not medical advice).

I finished the call and opened Twitter, skimming through things I had posted recently. Diabetes expert? Nope. Not at all.

OUTRAGE and burnout

September 1, 2015 in DOC, Social media | 5 comments

My interactions with the DOC have been nothing other than supportive*. I am not sure if it is because I am particularly fortunate or if it is that my opinions and thoughts are so vanilla that no one has ever thought to take objection to them.

I have enjoyed some robust discussion following topics I’ve written about, but I have always found respect directed towards me and hope that I have always displayed respect and kindness in spades. When I have opened up and exposed some pretty raw sentiments, I have felt enveloped in a blanket of love and support.

But having said all of that, there are times that interacting with the diabetes online community is exhausting and I simply feel the need to step away. I get burnt out and tired and need a break. I’d like to point out that it is never personal – my fatigue is never because of a single person.

I also find there to be some symmetry in my need to shrink away online with wanting to go to ground in real life. Sometimes, I don’t want to be ‘out there’. And that is okay.

What I find most draining when it comes to social media is the OUTRAGE (all caps; has to be all caps!). It happens frequently and certainly not exclusively in the diabetes sphere.

OUTRAGE is a modern-day ailment. At the end of last year, online magazine, Slate, compiled this amusing/terrifying/telling/ridiculous (choose your own adjective) piece which told us what we were OUTRAGED about EVERY.SINGLE.DAY of 2014. (August 28 was a watershed day – it was the day that there was OUTRAGE when it was announced that Hello Kitty is not, in fact, a cat.)

In the diabetes world, there is OUTRAGE a lot. In fact, in the first week of January, I wrote this post because we had already kicked off the year with some diabetes outrage thanks to Jamie Oliver and an inflatable Coke can.

I have admit, I am not immune to it. I wrote a post about the whole Crossfit palaver, but it actually was more a commentary on the stupid way that Crossfit dealt with it rather than taking offense to what was said.

The outrage is constant and tiring and often unfortunately results in sad and sorry diabetes-type in-fighting. It gets ugly and instead of building each other up – which is something that the DOC often does so well – we diminish each other and take each other down.

After each of these episodes, the fury and frenzied rage and anger and hate (because there is hate in there and it is terrible), I want to curl up under the doona and step right away from the noise. I reconsider if I really want to be part of a community that turns on each other so quickly at times, adding to the stigma that usually comes from outside our circle.

So when that happens, I spend a couple of days being a little less ‘out there’ and a little more time offline. I give myself space and air and before long, I remember what I get from the community. Support.

And I need that support. I need it for the days that diabetes is too big and scary. I need it for the days that I want to celebrate something about diabetes. I need it for the humour and the sustenance. But mostly, I need it because it makes me feel like I am something bigger than my little diabetes life.

*(There is only one incident where someone took objection to my post about diabetes burnout following a miscarriage, but as that person has made it policy to systematically work through the DOC, insulting as many people as possible, I am completely ignoring and discounting her rude, abusive, disrespectful attack in my DOC experiences. Block, ignore, delete in whichever order you choose, are powerful tools. I have learnt to use them!)

Interweb jumble #9

August 31, 2015 in Conferences, Diabetes, Social media | 3 comments

After pounding the corridors of the Adelaide Convention Centre, it was nice to have a quiet weekend of recovery, coffee and sleep.

And I caught up on lots of World Wide Web happenings. Here are some highlights.

LET’S TALK ABOUT COMPLICATIONS.

I am always saying how lucky I feel to have friends with diabetes both online and IRL. I always get a kick out of meeting people in person who I have connected with on social media. Kim Hislop is one of those people. I met Kim for the first time at the ADA conference in Boston this year and then again at Friends for Life in Orlando.

Last week, Kim guest-blogged for Kerri at Six Until Me about living with complications and her post is required reading for anyone affected by diabetes.

Complications are spoken about as an ‘end point’: if you do this/don’t do this, you will get this. Full stop. Threat, threat; blame, blame; guilt, guilt.

Where is the discussion about what happens next? Actually, what DOES happen next?

Kim’s piece starts to answer those questions and open the dialogue. Thank you for writing it, Kim!

NERD ALERT

THERE IS A PERIOD TABLE OF DIABETES!!!! I am too excited to write anything more. (And busy memorising it….)

(Click on pic for source.)

STICK TO THE FACTS TO COUNTER THE ANTI-VAXX

My heart broke a little last week when one of my favourite artists, cartoonist and poet Michael Leunig, had a cartoon published in The Age newspaper that could only be considered as anti-vaccination propaganda.

I adore Leunig and pretty much all he does – we have a Leunig drawing on our wall and I have barely been able to look at it since I saw the cartoon in the paper.

An article I read today in MJA says that perhaps we need to reframe the way we try to deal with those sprouting anti-vaxx rubbish. The message from this study proposes that instead of shouting about the irrefutable scientific evidence which demonstrates that vaccines are safe we should show parents what vaccine-preventable diseases actually do.

This makes sense. Most people have not seen what diseases such polio or measles actually look like. Thanks to the success of vaccines, most of these infectious diseases are uncommon. Instead of sprouting stats, show pictures

ARTY

I’ve written before about how we love the artwork of Josh ‘SHAG’ Agle and Derek Yaniger. Last week, I was introduced to Cliff Roberts an artist who illustrated the gorgeous (and unfortunately out of print) The First Book of Jazz.

My new project is to find a copy of the book and also some of his prints to adorn our walls.

Artwork by the wonderful Cliff Roberts

ICYMI

Last week was the ADS-ADEA annual scientific meeting. Click back through last week’s posts to see what went on. And read Ashley’s take aways from the conference over at Bittersweet Diagnosis.

COUNTDOWN TO WDD

Somehow, tomorrow is September. Which means that we are a mere two and a half months away from World Diabetes Day 2015. The IDF has launched its campaign for WDD this year and you can read all about it here.

The theme this year is all about healthy eating and its importance in diabetes management. Which it is. Even type 1 diabetes. I can already hear the ‘food has nothing to do with type 1 diabetes’ protests, but how about instead we consider how healthy eating is important to healthy living. And that includes those of us with an under-performing pancreas.

Healthy eating is a right – one that is not afforded to everyone. And this is a campaign that is worth supporting.

PRETTY THINGS

Prikkedief is an originations from The Netherlands making some pretty gorgeous diabetes fashion. You’ll find beautiful buttery leather awareness bracelets, pouches to hold diabetes supplies, cheeky t-shirts and fun wall art. Find them on Facebook here. (Their website seemed to be down at the time of writing this.)

Pretty pastels from Prikkedief.

ONE FOR THE WOMEN AND ONE FOR THE MEN

Diabetes Victoria is holding its annual Women’s Weekend in October. Details are here.

If you are thinking about possibly attending, but are just not sure, I would absolutely urge you to book. The previous two events have been hugely successful with attendees being overwhelmingly going home inspired and armed with new strategies to live well with diabetes.

And men are not forgotten. There is also an event exclusively for men living with type 1 diabetes coming up in information session coming up in October. Details here.

FUN FACT

The plural of pancreas is pancreata. You are welcome.

Conference kick off

August 25, 2015 in Conferences, Social media | 4 comments

Adelaide is sunny and fine and lovely. I am here for the ADS-ADEA conference which officially kicks off tomorrow.

Today, the Roche Educators Day – is a program of practical sessions which, according to the program notes, ‘aims to determine and understand unmet needs in diabetes from the clinician’s perspective.’ The program also promises ‘Experts in the field of diabetes will share to you their clinical experience and knowledge on various topics in relation to diabetes management.’

It is a great program with some incredible experts. And me pretending to know what I am talking about and trying to not be a trouble maker.

The day kicked off with Professor Jane Speight’s plenary session – ‘Adherence and Motivation: Dealing with the elephants in the diabetes consultation’. Jane’s talk was, as expected, full of practical tips. She challenged the people in the room to think about what their expectations are and if they meet the expectations of people with diabetes.

I presented next, delivering an hour long session on ‘Diabetes in a digital world’, where I put a spotlight on how social media can be – and is being – used by people with diabetes and healthcare professionals to connect, support and enhance care. Plus, I used cartoons and cat pictures. Because I was talking about the internet. I will be doing the same talk later this afternoon and I hope the audience is as receptive as this morning’s audience.

I’ve also had a look around the Exhibition Hall and while I will tell anyone who asks that it is because I am interested in the latest and greatest in diabetes management, the real aim for today was to find where the best coffee can be found. Head to the Novo stand, people. The English barista from Sydney has shattered all of my Melbourne-coffee-snob-bias and bangs out a bloody good latte!

Other important priorities for the day included avoiding conference hypo syndrome (failed miserably AFTER mentioning it in my talk), tweeting the bejeezus out of all the sessions (except my own, because although I can multi task like a boss, I’ve not yet learnt how to tweet while giving a talk), and trying to remember that I can’t take photos of…well…pretty much anything.

Looks like it is shaping up to be a great conference. Follow along at home on Twitter: #ADSADEA2015 (and for today’s Roche Educators Day: #RED2015)

Oops. Broke the ‘no photographing in sessions’ rule.

DISCLAIMER

I am here as an invited speaker. Roche has covered my travel, accommodation and conference fee costs. There was no arrangement for me to write about the day – I’m just doing it because it’s been very interesting! I am very grateful to Roche for putting a consumer on their speaker panel today. It is terrific to see industry engaging in such a meaningful way.