The Corner Booth

Originally published on DiabetesMine in July 2012 Just a few short years ago, no one could have envisioned the Diabetes Online Community would become what it is today. And be moving in the collaborative direction it's going... Seriously, some likely would have laughed at the idea while shaking their heads in disbelief! It used to be "Us versus Them," in terms of the relationship between Pharma and people with diabetes (PWDs). There was little interaction; we didn't know them and they didn't know us. But that's changed dramatically, and continues to evolve. We've come a long way as a community, sharing our stories and advocacy more broadly than we ever would have thought possible. But there's a long way to go still, and we seem to be at an interesting crossroads just now. In what might be dubbed "the beginning" — a decade or so after the Internet yielded some initial forums, list-servs and message boards — a handful of PWDs took th...

There's been a longstanding discussion among patient advocates over the need for new, more descriptive names that would better differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Every so often, the debate hits a fever pitch. New online petitions pop up, calling for change that supporters believe would eliminate confusion and better distinguish the actual realities of each health condition. Most recently the issue came up in response to WNYC Public Radio's Sugarland show , a pretty darn amazing investigative series highlighting the diabetes epidemic, that's covered the skyrocketing price of insulin. WNYC's illustrative journalism got it right in distinguishing between T1 and T2, but it also sparked comments about the need to revise the names. Our podcasting D-Mom friend Stacey Simms picked up on this in her Diabetes Connections podcast, and it’s led to a wave of fresh debate over the diabetes moniker. Clearly, this isn’t the first and won’t be the last time t...

My dog has fleas. And so do I. Thanks to my diabetes. Yes, the official word from our Riley dog's vet is that People with Diabetes (PWDs) are more susceptible to bug bites, from mosquitoes to fleas. Even my endo backs that up as true statement. If you still don't believe it, come on over to my house. I have the itchy bites to prove it. Actually, no. Strike that. We had fleas, but we've since remedied the situation and are now telling the story - my dog and I - in order to help spread the word to fellow PWDs who might be at risk. We began suspecting that fleas had invaded our home turf back in the early summer, when our beloved black lab Riley began scratching incessantly. We'd moved into a new house a few months before and she was itching from the start, but I chalked it up to poor air flow thanks to this being an older house built in the '50s. Dust mites, maybe. And yes, I did have some bug bites back in mid-February, which as you may remember w...