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May 12, 2021 By e-Patient Dave 9 Comments

Question for the diabetes community: should Freestyle readings match finger sticks?

Screen capture from Peer To Peer Health Advice video

This is an exercise in “peer to peer health advice.” I’m asking for advice, from “the DOC” (diabetes online community) – more on that below.

Here’s a message I received from someone who’s really peeved about a technology for managing his Type 2 diabetes. Does your experience match his? Should his digital device match the results from finger sticks? If not, for heaven’s sake why?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: diabetes, e-patient requests, Patient-centered tech Tagged With: cgm, diabetes, e-patients, freestyle libre, type 2 diabetes 9 Comments

May 18, 2016 By e-Patient Dave 5 Comments

“The Patient’s Perspective – medicine’s new true north” – essay in PLAID diabetes journal

PLAID Journal coverFor the past year I’ve mentioned this in speeches, but I’ve never written about it here:

In November 2014, a routine blood test revealed that my hemoglobin A1C was slightly elevated, making me what they call “pre-diabetic.” (See lab results below.)

Well, that got my attention.

Why? Because, through social media, I know a lot of really smart, articulate, passionate members of “the DOC” – the diabetes online
community – and I’ve learned all kinds of things about the reality of diabetes that you don’t see in the TV commercials.A1c screen capture

I’ve learned that it’s not rare for a basically “healthy” person with diabetes (PWD) to die in their sleep when their blood sugar crashes; I’ve learned about unfixable nerve pain and amputations; I’ve learned about all kinds of things that can go wrong when diabetes gets out of control. I don’t even know enough to make a properly prioritized list, but I know enough to say you do not want to have diabetes if you can avoid it.

(Footnote: it drives many of us nuts when a TV commercial or news story talks about “diabetes” as if it were one thing. It’s not. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is medically different from type 2 diabetes (T2D), which I am at risk for; it typically arises in middle age, but has been seen as young as age 3. “Diabetes prevention” is an ignorant thing to say: Type 1 can’t be prevented, Type 2 sometimes can. But that’s a rant for another day.)

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Culture change, diabetes, Leadership, Participatory Medicine, patient engagement, Science of Pt Engmt Tagged With: diabetes, patient empowerment, pre-diabetes, thomas kuhn 5 Comments

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