Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms Type 1 Diabetes

The T1D news show you've been waiting for! Long-time broadcaster, blogger and diabetes mom Stacey Simms interviews prominent advocates, authors and speakers. Stacey asks hard questions of healthcare companies and tech developers and brings on "everyday' people living with type 1. Great for parents of T1D kids, adults with type 1 and anyone who loves a person with diabetes.

Halloween Advice from D-Moms Who've Been There (Classic Episode) 10/19/2021

In the News.. Dexcom and Garmin partner, faster insulin tested, once a week basal and more... 10/15/2021

In the News.. Dexcom and Garmin partner, faster insulin tested, once a week basal and more... Top stories this week include: a new adjunct therapy is being tested for type 1, Dexcom and Garmin will officially work together (no more DIY needed), once weekly basal insulin study, can psychedelic drugs prevent type 2?! and Australia bets on Rugby for diabetes education ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcription below: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and I am on location this week. I’m at the She Podcasts LIVE conference.. but the news doesn’t wait. So.. these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, on your own schedule. XX In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Find their breakfast line and all of their great products in your local grocery store, Target or Costco. XX Our top story.. There’s a lot of buzz these days around adjunct therapy for diabetes.. basically another treatment along with insulin. Earlier this year, a drug so far just named TTP-399 got FDA breakthrough therapy approval. A new study shows it works well to keep people with type 1 out of DKA. This was small study, 23 people. They found that TTP-399 can help lower blood glucose without increasing the risk of DKA. It’s important because other adjunct therapy.. such as S-G-L-T-2 inhibitors do help lower blood glucose, but the FDA has said they cause too much of a risk of DKA in people with type 1. Those are brand names like Invokana and Jardiance. Pivotal trials of TTP-399 begin later this year. https://www.biospace.com/article/vtv-therapeutics-type-1-diabetes-drug-shows-promise/ XX New partnership announced today - Dexcom and Garmin. You will still need your phone.. I knew you were going to ask.. but with the new Dexcom Connect IQ apps you can now see your Dexcom G6 info on your compatible Garmin smartwatch or cycling computer. Jake Leach, chief technology officer at Dexcom says.. Garmin is the first partner to connect through the real-time API, which we told you about a few months back. Basically, you’ll be seeing more connectivity without having to use a third party, community sourced work around which a lot of people do now. The name here is interesting, right? Connect IQ, very similar to Tandem’s Control IQ. But since Dexcom owns a bit of Tandem, maybe that’s no coincidence. I’ve requested an interview with Dexcom so maybe we’ll find out. garmin.com/newsroom, email [email protected], or follow us at facebook.com/garmin, twitter.com/garminnews, instagram.com/garmin, youtube.com/garmin or linkedin.com/company/garmin. XX New study about time in range, hybrid closed loop systems and faster insulins. The headline here is that using Fiasp with the Medtronic 670g system resulted in greater time in range. How much? The Fiasp group spend 82 point 3 percent time in range.. the Novolog group spent 79.6 percent time in range. This was over 17 weeks and the participants mostly bolused AT meal times, not before, no prebolusing. The researchers echo what I was going to say here, quote – “While the primary outcome demonstrated statistical significance, the clinical impact may be small, given an overall difference in time in range of 1.9%.” So just a heads up if you see headlines screaming about how much faster Fiasp is because of this study. https://www.endocrinologyadvisor.com/home/topics/diabetes/type-1-diabetes/fast-acting-insulin-aspart-versus-insulin-aspart-closed-loop-type-1-diabetes/ XX People who have tried a psychedelic drug at least once in their lifetime have lower odds of heart disease and diabetes. This is a University of Oxford study published in Scientific Reports. These researchers examined data from more than 375-thousand Americans who had taken part in an annual survey sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Participants reported whether they had ever used the classic psychedelic substances including LSD, mescaline, peyote or psilocybin. They also reported whether they had been diagnosed with heart disease or diabetes in the past year. The researchers found that the prevalence of both conditions was lower among psychedelic users. While no one is recommending you start taking mushrooms to avoid diabetes.. there’s a growing push to start serious research to investigate the link between psychedelics and cardio-metabolic health. https://www.psypost.org/2021/10/psychedelic-use-associated-with-lower-odds-of-heart-disease-and-diabetes-study-finds-61958 XX Update on the once a week basal insulin I’ve been reporting on for a while.. both Lilly and Novo Nordisk are testing their own version of this.. this most recent study looks at the Lilly version called Tirzepatide. These researchers found it to be safe and effective with lower rates of hypoglycemia and slightly lower A1Cs than daily basals like Lantus or Tresiba. Lots of studies ongoing here, for both brands of potential once a week dosing, including a large phase 2 program that includes people with type 1. https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20211012/novel-onceweekly-basal-insulin-safe-effective-in-type-2-diabetes XX More to come, including how rugby and diabetes education may go together.. But first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good They make nutritious foods— grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients—we really like their breakfast line.. although Benny rarely eats the waffles or breakfast sandwiches for breakfast.. it’s usually after school or late night. Ugh.. do your teens eat breakfast? You can buy Real Good Foods online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com. Back to the news… -- Getting out of the doctor’s office and into something that people can actually relate to.. Diabetes Australia is using rugby to teach men about the risks of type 2 diabetes. League Fans in Training (League-FIT) is based on a Scottish initiative that used football teams to deliver exercise and nutritional advice to overweight and obese men. The program includes education and goal setting and a rugby league-based exercise session, delivered by coaches and some of the club’s players. What I really like about this is that -from what I can tell - they’re focusing on small changes and not telling these guys to give up everything they like to eat and drink or that they have to become professional players to get a little bit more fit. Imagine if NFL players had a clinic for fans to come and learn a little bit about fitness and nutrition? Again, not to be pros.. just to live a little better and lower risks of type 2. https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/news -- On Diabetes Connections this week, we’re talking to a mom with type 1 who has had two children during the pandemic. One last summer and the other just a few days before our interview! That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20823554

A new mom (twice!) during COVID, Vanessa Messenger shares her story and her new book about T1D 10/12/2021

In the News... Medtronic recall, Inhaled insulin for kids, T1D adults called "forgotten population" and more! 10/08/2021

In the News... Medtronic recall, Inhaled insulin for kids, T1D adults called "forgotten population" and more! It's "In the News..." the only LIVE diabetes newscast! Top stories this week: Medtronic expands its insulin pump recall, Afrezza inhaled insulin pediatric studies to begin, new report says adults w/T1D are a "Forgotten population," new research into type 2 diabetes and statins and more! Join us each Wednesday at 4:30pm EDT live at https://www.facebook.com/diabetesconnections ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcript below: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, on your own schedule. XX In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Find their Entrée Bowls and all of their great products in your local grocery store, Target or Costco. XX Our top story this week.. Medtronic has expanded a recall of its MiniMed 600 series insulin pumps to include nearly half a million devices. This is an FDA Class One recall – the most serious type – because the pumps may deliver incorrect insulin doses. The recall was first announced in 2019 for just two models. Medtronic now says it will replace any MiniMed 600 series insulin pump that has a clear retainer ring with one that has the updated black retainer ring at no charge. That’s even if there is no damaged and regardless of the warranty status of the pump. There’s more to this – including directions on how to check if your pump may be affected and who to call. I’ll put all of that here in the FB comments and in the show notes. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-10-05/medtronic-expands-recall-to-include-more-than-463-000-insulin-pumps XX Enrollment is under way for the first pediatric trials for Afrezza inhalable insulin. This will involve children ages 4 to 17 living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. It’s called the INHALE-1 phase three trial. They’re going to look at changes in A1C after 26 weeks.. and then changes in fasting glucose after another 26 weeks. If you’re interested, we’ve got the link for more info to this study and to learn about enrollment. Afrezza was approved for adults back in 2014. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04974528. https://investors.mannkindcorp.com/news-releases/news-release-details/mannkind-announces-first-patient-enrolled-inhale-1-study XX Last week we told you about the Glucagon emergency kit recall from Lilly. Reuters is reporting that the kits were made in a factory previously cited for quality-control violations, including several involving the glucagon product. Lilly had received a report of a patient who experienced seizures even after being injected with the drug, a sign that glucagon was not potent enough to work. The company said the product failure might be related to its manufacturing process, without elaborating. A spokesperson declined to say whether Lilly has received other reports of adverse events related to the Glucagon kits. Separately, Lilly is facing a federal criminal investigation into alleged manufacturing irregularities involving another of its U.S. factories in New Jersey. Reuters is following both stories and of course, we will too. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/exclusive-eli-lillys-recalled-emergency-diabetes-drug-came-plant-cited-by-fda-2021-10-04/ XX Big new report on adults with type 1.. called a forgotten population in this write up. The consensus statement covers diagnosis, goals and targets, schedule of care, self-management education and lifestyle, glucose monitoring, insulin therapy, hypoglycemia, psychosocial care and much more. This is a joint statement from the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes Their last consensus report on type 2 diabetes has been "highly influential," these researchers say.. so they recognize the need to develop a comparable report specifically addressing type 1 diabetes in adults. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/960158 XX Adults with Type 2 diabetes on statin therapy may see worsening diabetes symptoms. Important caution: the researchers are quick to say that association does not prove causation, no patient should just stop taking their statins based on this study. These are cholesterol lowering medications with brand names like Lipitor and Crestor.. Statin users had a 37% higher risk for diabetes progression, including extremely high blood sugar levels and elevated rates of disease complications. Nearly half of adults with Type 2 diabetes also have high cholesterol and many of them stop taking statins due to this kind of thing. But that may increase the risk for heart attack or stroke. So definitely talk to your doctor before making any changes. https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/10/04/statins-diabetes-progression-risk-study/7261633358483/ XX More to come, But first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good They make nutritious foods— grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients—the new Entrée bowls are great. They have a chicken burrito, a cauliflower mash and braised beef bowl.. the lemon chicken I’ve told you about and more! They keep adding to the menu line! You can buy online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com. Back to the news… -- DreaMed Diabetes gets FDA approval to expand their platform to people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Called Advisor Pro, it’s the first decision support system that has been cleared to assist healthcare providers in the management of diabetes patients who use insulin as well as CGMs and meters. We spoke to these folks on the podcast last year. They say Advisor Pro aims to solve the massive worldwide shortage of endocrinologists by empowering primary care clinicians, to be able to provide expert level endocrinological care to diabetes patients. The company’s founder says the next step is to develop and extend the technology to cover all injectable or oral medications for diabetes. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211006005640/en/ https://diabetes-connections.com/we-treat-the-data-lifting-the-burden-of-diabetes-with-dreamed/ -- Really interesting look at who’s adopting newer diabetes technology. This is from an article over at Dia Tribe where they feature a research study showing that roughly 55% of people with diabetes had positive, open attitudes toward technology. However, another 20% had negative attitudes and did not trust technology, while the remaining 25% either did not want additional data, did not want to wear a device on their body or had a very high level of diabetes distress related to using devices. When they focused on people with type 2.. it turns out the uptake of technology was actually lowest among people aged 18 to 25. This group also had the highest levels of diabetes distress and the highest A1C levels, and many reported that they did not like having a device on their body as their main reason for refusing the devices. Others reported the frequency of alerts and alarms, feeling physically uncomfortable, and cost as reasons for rejecting devices. These researchers say providers need to find ways to avoid making patients feel guilty about their choice of technology as well as watching out for negative judgements for those who use devices but don’t achieve near perfect glucose control. https://diatribe.org/new-tech-and-psychological-toll-diabetes-management Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode - The episode out right now is all about the film Pay or Die an upcoming documentary about insulin access and affordability. – That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20743412

Pay or Die: A new documentary about the price of insulin 10/05/2021

Pay or Die: A new documentary about the price of insulin There's a new documentary in the works, all about the struggle of insulin access and affordability. Rachael Dyer and Scott Ruderman, who lives with type 1, join Stacey to talk about their experience making this film and why they think it could make a difference. provides an inside look at how the soaring price of insulin in America is threatening—and even taking—the lives of people with type 1 diabetes. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcription coming soon! Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. Announcer 0:22 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 0:27 This week, a new documentary in the works to show people outside the diabetes community the struggle of insulin access and affordability. Rachael Dyer and Scott Ruderman had an experience in Canada that made them say, we got to do this, Rachael Dyer 0:42 where he was paying at home in America up to $450 a vial out of pocket then to have the same vial same manufacturer same everything brought to him for $21 in Canada and to watch Scott just break down and start crying there in the pharmacy and for myself as well. I was left in shock and disbelief, and we just looked at each other as we walked out and said it's time now to make this documentary. Stacey Simms 1:11 We'll talk to Rachael and Scott who lives with type one about their experience making this film and why they think it could make a difference. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show always so glad to have you here. You know we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin and insulin access and affordability as you heard is what this week's episode is all about. I'm your host Stacey Simms. My son Benny was diagnosed with type one right before he turned to almost 15 years ago. My husband lives with type two diabetes. I don't have diabetes. I have a background in broadcasting. And that is how you get the podcast In our most recent in the news episode. And that's the previous podcast episode two this one, I explained Lily's new move to drop the price of insulin lispro. Between that and Walmart's deal with Novo Nordisk, which lets Walmart price Novolog, same exact Insulet Novolog. a lot lower. We're seeing some interesting action on the cash price of insulin at the pharmacy. As I've said for years, though, I think it's going to take state and federal legislation to see real systemic change, you still need to jump through a lot of hoops, you still need to know that this is out there, you still need to find coupons in many cases, or you need to, you know, have really good insurance. There's a lot going on, and my guests this week are hoping that their documentary film will help educate people and make a difference. That film is currently in production. It is called Pay or Die. Here's a clip from the teaser, Trailer here: https://payordiefilm.com/film-teaser Stacey Simms 3:17 If that last bit sounds familiar, that's Nicole Holt Smith, who I've had on the show her son Alec died after rationing insulin, and that audio is from her arrest at a protest at Eli Lilly headquarters in 2019. Today, you're going to hear from the filmmaker Scott Ruderman and Rachael Dyer. Scott was diagnosed with type one in 2009. He is an award-winning filmmaker. He's worked on documentaries for Netflix and Hulu in the BBC and HBO, his documentary short piano craftman won Best Director at the Madrid art film festival. He has a long list of credits, as does my other guest Rachael Dyer. She is an award winning journalist and producer who won a Southern California journalist Award for Best International feature, as well as a Clio entertainment grand winning entry for her work on the greatest showmen live the world's first live commercial for theatrical release the story behind Pay or Die in just a moment but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health bottom line you need a plan of action with diabetes. We've been really lucky that Benny’s endo has helped us with that and that he understands the plan has to change as Benny gets older you want that kind of support. So take your diabetes management to the next level with Dario health. They're published Studies demonstrate high impact results for active users like improved in range percentage within three months reduction of a one c within three months and a 58% decrease in occurrences of severe hypoglycemic events. Try Dario’s diabetes success plan and make a difference in your diabetes management. Go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections for more proven results and free information about the plan. Scott and Rachael, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate you spending some time with me and my listeners today. Rachael Dyer 5:14 Thank you so much for having us. Stacey. We're really great, great time and looking forward to being here. Stacey Simms 5:19 Let me start if I could with you, Scott, could you live with type one? Just briefly, could you tell us your diagnosis story, you were diagnosed as and as an adult? That's correct. Scott Ruderman 5:29 I was in college, and it was around 2009. And it was my first semester in college I was I was going to Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. And for about two weeks, I really wasn't feeling good. had all the symptoms, I say got very blurry, drinking a lot of fluids. I woke up one morning, and I just couldn't feel my legs from my waist down. It felt like they were being bags, I went to the school infirmary. And they they told me it sounds like type 1 diabetes are just diabetes. But they weren't. You know, they said it's probably not. But when they actually took a glucose reading, they left the room, the nurse came back in and she said, Look, I thought the meter was broken. But I checked my blood sugar and it's fine. Your blood sugar is not, it's not reading on the meter. So it's definitely going to be high, we want to send you an emergency room. So I went to Mass General, and I checked in and I was there for about a week. And then I resumed classes the week after it was it was a really hard week. But it was just one of those things. And I think a lot of type ones could relate that you just have to accept it. And the learning curve is it took a few years to really get on top of it. And then as the newer technology came in, it just got easier to manage. Stacey Simms 6:42 So what led you all to this documentary? I assume it didn't happen as soon as you were diagnosed, Scott, but can you tell us a little bit about kind of what led you down this path, of course. Rachael Dyer 6:53 So this has been a passion project for Scott for some time. And Scott and I actually met working together in the field. So obviously, we're both in the documentary business. And we just finished up working on a documentary together. And then I have a journalistic background. And I had done quite a few stories where I was looking at a lot of Americans traveling to Canada to get alternative medicine up there and their prescription medicine out there because it was a lot cheaper. I hadn't ever focused on insulin, but I had done other stories. So when Scott and I had met in the field and started speaking, Scott had told me that he was a type one diabetic, which I knew nothing about at the time, I knew very, very little about diabetes in general, let alone type one. And I was traveling to Canada because I'm Australian and half Canadian, and I was visiting my family. And I asked God to come with me. And I told him that I done some of these stories about, you know, Americans traveling up there. And Scott didn't believe me at first. And I thought that it was crazy what I was talking about. But we went, we went to Vancouver and we said, Look, I said why don't we just try. Let's see how we go. So he went to a few pharmacies and there and then the pharmacists were great. And we explained our situation, you know, Scott had shown brought in the insulin that he was on. And they, you know, were so generous and welcoming and kind and said to him, Look, what insulin Do you need right now for this trip? What can I help you with? And as Scott likes to explain it, he says it was like he was a kid in a candy shop, just to have that overwhelming experience with insulin that was so inaccessible, and so expensive in America to come forward and have it brought to him where he was paying at home in America up to $450 a vial out of pocket than to have the same same vial, same manufacturer, same everything brought to him for $21 in Canada, and to watch scotches break down and start crying there in the pharmacy. And for myself as well was I was left in shock and disbelief. And we just looked at each other as we walked out and said, It's time now to make this documentary. We have to do something about it. So that led us on our journey. Scott Ruderman 9:19 I have to stay Stacy, to Rachel's point, it was a very emotional experience. It was one of those experiences where you feel joy but kind of frustration and at the same time I think I say this all the time. I really looked at my hands and for the first time I said Well, I'm feeling a little bit more accepted and cared for and thought out for then my experiences going to a pharmacy in the United States where I need more insulin and my prescription. You know, it's not it's not fully made out for the month yet and they're kind of like no, you have to come back next Tuesday and I can walk out of there and they know I could potentially die without my Insulet So it was just quite an experience. And to Rachel's point again, yes, we both said we're making a film about this. Stacey Simms 10:07 So it seems to me that just from what you've said, it looks like it changed a bit though from Why can't we get more affordable insulin in the US? Why can't you like you can in so many other countries walk in and buy what you need to people are dying? And I'm curious, did you realize that as you started this project, or was that always part of the story all along? Scott Ruderman 10:27 For me, when I was doing the initial research, you know, when I realized, the first thing I said, in my head, I wonder what people are doing that can't afford it, and where they're going, and upon my initial research, you know, obviously, people that can't afford to go on Facebook, you know, the clinical black market and media. But then I started reading all these stories about people rationing their insulin, and going into decay and dying just to make ends meet. And that's where things got a little bit more serious. And like, Whoa, this is not just being able to afford it, people are actually losing their life because they can't afford it. And that's kind of where the film kind of took it. It's kind of approach was that this is an issue and people are dying. Stacey Simms 11:09 Rachel, what do you think the film is for? You know, it's very difficult, as you probably know, and as you live with type one, Scott, it's difficult to explain any of this to people who don't live with it day in and day out. I'm curious who you're producing this for, of course, and Rachael Dyer 11:26 I think, you know, with anything, that is a huge challenge with trying to firstly explain an illness, which a lot of people do not live with. And also to, to differentiate between type one and type two, that is obviously a challenge in the beginning. But you know, there are huge differences. And there are huge differences, which we do point out in the film. Obviously, as you know, with your son living with type one as well, it is a life threatening illness, and you are insulin dependent. So you know, we explore that, but also to exploring the medical system in America, which, as anyone who lives here can understand that it is very complicated, which they love for it to be to make everyone think that this is something that we just have to live with. But for me, being an Australian and Canadian, I think, the shock factor from an international audience and not having to not only live with a debilitating illness, but also to then navigate this healthcare system is what we're trying to present throughout the film as well and show the microcosm of this healthcare system in the United States. So I would say that this film is being produced not only for the type one community or the diabetes community, but for not only also to a domestic and international audience to show what is going on in the states and how unjust it is, and how unfair it is for people just to not be able to access life saving medication and medication that in a lot of other countries around the world is affordable and accessible, and you shouldn't be dying because of it. So it's for everyone. Stacey Simms 13:11 I'm curious, too. It's so hard to get this message to be clear, because our healthcare system is so complicated to the point where you can go on social media any day and see people within the diabetes community arguing about whether or not people can afford insulin. In other words, you know, if you start any kind of Twitter chain or Facebook conversation, you'll have everything from you know, mine's covered. 100%. I don't understand what your problem is to why don't we just get a coupon to the president lowered the price of insulin? No, the president raised the price of insulin. It's so confusing at Scott, did you focus on any of that conversation? Or is this more focusing on individual stories? Right back to Scott answering that question, but first, Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen and you know, low blood sugar feels horrible. You can get shaky and sweaty or even feel like you're going to pass out. There are a lot of symptoms that can be different for everybody. I am so glad we have a different option to treat very low blood sugar Gvoke Hypopen is the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar Gvoke Hypopen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle before gvoke. People needed to go through a lot of steps to get glucagon treatments ready to be used. This made emergency situations even more challenging and stressful. This is so much better. I'm grateful we have it on hand to find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit g vo glucagon.com slash risk. Now back to Scott answering my question about whether the film looks at the bigger system or focuses on individual stories. Scott Ruderman 14:56 That's a great question. This is a question that's brought up a lot as well. Let's just within our team, you know, this film is really, through, you know, the stories of people that are struggling. And we're capturing those human stories and seeing kind of the lengths, they are going to try to get access to the medication they need financially. And through their stories, we will kind of go into a little bit about the complex system, as well as politically what's happening. But the idea of the film is, this is a very character driven film. And we want people to be able to familiarize themselves with these characters and be able to, you know, say, well, that could be me, or that could be my friend's daughter who has type one or, you know, not even just type 1 diabetes. I mean, there's other medications that are so expensive, that anyone can kind of put themselves in those shoes and be like, what do I do if I can't afford medication. And that's really the shock factor we want to bring through in the film and urgency, because we can go on and on and on and talking about the complexities. But the problem is, it's never going to be solved, unless you're faced with the realities of it yourself. So bringing that to the viewer of making them feel like they are in the position of what our characters are going through is the goal to show the reality of the struggle Rachael Dyer 16:16 to Scott's point that is very much the focus of the film, but we do have experts that we are speaking with that, breaking down the complexities behind it and showing how the system works. And with the experts that we have, they do actually show that the complicated system is being put there for a reason to make people feel like it is more complicated than what it actually is to make it so confusing that people just throw up their hands and say, I can't be bothered, this is just the way it is, which is certainly not the case. And it doesn't need to be the case. So you know, we do have the experts that have come in to break down that process and make it as simple as possible so people can understand this is not the way that it needs to be. Yeah, Stacey Simms 17:03 that's great. Scott, what conclusion do you come from after this? I mean, I agree with Rachel, it's complicated, because it's designed that way. I do think the government will eventually get involved. We're seeing states now start making some changes. I'm not sure the federal government will ever take action. But you know, is it going to be a change in list price? Are we going to need to get rid of pbms? You know, did you draw any conclusions from this? Scott Ruderman 17:28 You know, I think one of the the challenging things is the barriers of entry for just anyone trying to make a change with what's happening. And part of making this film is to kind of shine light on how complicated this system is. And no, this is this film gonna be the ultimate change? No, but it's trying to make the world a better place and down the road, do I think Insulet will be free? No. But I think just recently in the media over the last few years, this issue has been hot. And I think people are catching on and people are realizing that there needs to be more, you know, regulation on this. And prices need to be more affordable. I mean, think about when insulin, the discovery of insulin and Frederick Banting. I mean, the whole reason he sold it for $1 was so no one can make a profit of this. And I think looking at where we are today, I mean, discovery, insulin was a breakthrough discovery for the United States of America. And it's been celebrated. But if people can't afford it, and they're dying, because of it, that's going against the whole idea of making it affordable with bandings purpose to selling it. Hopefully, this is just a wake up call to say, hey, insulin was to to help people not to make profit off. Stacey Simms 18:46 And I before Rachel jumps in, because I know she's half Canadian. Dr. Banting was Canadian, so we have to give the props. I know, I know, you meant you know, the manufacturer in the United States, and really purchasing getting all of that. But tell us a little bit if you could Scott about maybe some of the you said characters tell us a little bit about the people in this piece, Scott Ruderman 19:05 of course. So you know, we have some principal characters, we've been following Nicole Holt Smith, who lost her son Alec, he was rushing his insulin, he couldn't afford, you know, the monthly cost. And he, he went into decay and died. And she's been fighting on the Minnesota State level... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20695703

In the News... Insulin price drop, COVID T1D study, a through-the-skin CGM and more! 10/01/2021

In the News... Insulin price drop, COVID T1D study, a through-the-skin CGM and more! In the News.. this week: Lilly drops the price of some insulins, this T1D group most likely to be hospitalized if infected with COVID, insulin pumps reduce risk of retinopathy, Novo Nordisk pays investors to settle earnings claims, another through-the-skin glucose monitor and more! Join us Live on Facebook each Wednesday at 4:30pm EDT! ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcription below Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, on your own schedule. XX In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Find their Entrée Bowls and all of their great products in your local grocery store, Target or Costco. XX Our top story – Lilly announces a big price change on some insulins. Starting this January, the cash price of Insulin Lispro goes down 40%. Lispro is identical to Humalog – the price on that one isn’t changing. Lilly says one in three prescriptions for their mealtime insulin is for Insulin Lispro. I asked Lilly why now and what about Humalog? I’ll put my Q&A in the show notes – you’ll be able to read them at diabetes dash connections dot com and in the Facebook group.. their answers were vague – although one interesting point.. they claim these programs have lowered the monthly out of pocket cost of a prescription for Lilly insulin to 28 dollars.. a decrease of 27% over the past four years. The bottom line here is that you still have to do the work… your pharmacist can substitute lispro for humalog – or the other way around – however the prescription is written.. make sure you ask them to check which is cheaper either with your insurance, with a coupon or with the cash price. It’s a lot of work, but with all of these options, you want to figure out what’s best for you. https://beyondtype1.org/lower-list-price-lilly-insulin-lispro/ XX Adults over 40 with type 1 are 4 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID 19 than younger people. New study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. This study looked at thousands of people with type 1 from April 2020 to March of 2021 – so it’s worth noting that the recent Delta wave isn’t included here. Hospitalized here means inpatient or ICU not emergency room. This is where it gets really interesting – they adjusted for sex, A1C, race and ethnicity, insurance type and comorbidities – it was being over 40 that still increased the odds. That’s not to say A1C didn’t matter.. The likelihood for hospitalization was higher for all ages with a higher A1C. Also interesting.. there was no significant difference for adverse outcomes between the age groups. They grouped together , severe hypoglycemia and death as the adverse outcomes here.. https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20210928/older-adults-with-type-1-diabetes-more-likely-to-be-hospitalized-for-covid19-than-youths XX Using an insulin pump may decrease the risk of diabetic retinopathy in younger people with type 1. These researchers looked at almost 2000 patients under the age of 21 and found - after adjusting for race and ethnicity, insurance status, diabetes duration, and A1C - patients with pumps had a 57% decreased risk for retinopathy. The thinking here is that it’s about less variability in blood glucose. However, there were disparities in access to pumps, with pump users more likely to be white and have private or commercial insurance. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/959758 XX Very early on but potentially big news out of China… this is the DREAM study a phase three clinical trial of a medication called dorzagliatin (DOOR-zuh-GLY-uh-tin)– this is for people with type 2. While it was a small study it has big results.. after a year, 65% of the 69 patients were in remission – that generally means A1Cs under 6.5 with no glucose lowering medication – although the exact definition of remission was not given here. These findings were presented at a recent BioMed Conference in China. https://www.biospace.com/article/hua-medicine-may-be-sending-type-2-diabetes-into-remission-/ XX XX Novo Nordisk shareholders say pants on fire to the insulin maker and get a $100 million dollar settlement. What happened here? Novo allegedly told investors not to worry about insulin pricing pressures from lawmakers and patient groups - that they’d still make plenty of money. But the investors disagreed – saying other insulin makers were warning their investors that profits could fall. This lawsuit has nothing to do with any benefit to patients – it was all about investors who were actually asking for 1.7 billion dollars. Novo agreed to the smaller deal saying they just wanted to avoid the burden of litigation, no admission of wrong doing. XX This is from last week but want to make sure you’ve seen a voluntary glucagon recall. Lilly is recalling a specific lot from their red box emergency kit. It’s lot D239382D so please check. The problem here is that someone reported the vial of glucagon was in liquid form instead of powder – which can mean the glucagon isn’t going to work well in an emergency. If you got this lot – bring it back to the pharmacy or call Lilly. Info in the link and show notes. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/eli-lilly-and-company-issues-voluntary-nationwide-recall-one-lot-glucagonr-emergency-kit-due-loss XX You might have seen the headline on this one: if you can’t fit into the jeans you wore at age 21 you’re at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. I dug a little deeper on this.. very small study. First. These people weren’t even overweight. They did have type 2 and as part of the study managed to lose fat and the researchers said their diabetes was put into remission. They all followed a weight loss program of a low calorie liquid diet for two weeks – 800 calories a day! They did this three times until they lost 10 to 15 percent of their body fat. The researchers say this “demonstrate very clearly that diabetes is not caused by obesity but by being too heavy for your own body”. What does that mean?! What does it have to do with the headline about jeans at age 21? And what happens to these poor people who were slurping 800 calories a day and are now just back to their normal lives? I’m hoping I missed something big on this one.. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/27/people-who-cant-fit-into-jeans-they-wore-aged-21-risk-developing-diabetes XX More to come, But first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good They make nutritious foods— grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients—the new Entrée bowls are great. They have a chicken burrito, a cauliflower mash and braised beef bowl.. the lemon chicken I’ve told you about and more! They keep adding to the menu line! You can buy online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com. Back to the news… -- We’ve got another through the skin glucose monitor in the news. Know Labs debuted it’s Know-U device which is very small, fits in your pocket and is powered by what they call Bio R-Fid technology. It emits radio waves to measure specific molecular signatures in the blood through the skin. They’ve also got UBand.. which is a bracelet that does the same thing. Do they work? According to a 2018 97% of the UBand’s readings were within 15% of the values calculated by the Abbot Libre. But that wasn’t a clinical trial – those are starting this year. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/know-labs-unveils-pocket-sized-glucose-monitor-swaps-fingersticks-for-radiofrequency -- And finally, maybe the most glamorous photo featuring an insulin pump.. model Lila Moss – daughter of supermodel Kate Moss – walked the Fendi Versace runway at Milan’s fashion week with her Omnipod very visible. Lila Moss has type 1 and while they family has never really mentioned it, she’s been photographed with her pod on before. Lots of write ups about this – great to see the representation -- Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode - The episode out right now is with Marjorie’s Fund – helping people survive diabetes in countries with few resources.. and next week we’re featuring the folks behind the upcoming Pay or Die film about insulin access.. That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20660843

Access, Education, and Economic Empowerment - The Worldwide Mission of Marjorie's Fund 09/28/2021

Access, Education, and Economic Empowerment - The Worldwide Mission of Marjorie's Fund We have some big problems in the United States in terms of access to and affordability of insulin. But when you look around the world, there are still many other countries with bigger barriers for people with diabetes. This week, we're talking to a group trying to make a difference in some of the places that need it most. As you'll hear, was started to honor the memory of a woman in Uganda who died from type 1 diabetes at the age of 29. Dr. Jason Baker is an endocrinologist who lives with T1D. He explains why he was in Uganda and what happened to make him take the leap to start Marjorie's Fund. You'll also hear from Sandy Narayanan, co-founder who lives with type 2. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcription Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. Announcer 0:21 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 0:27 This week what happens in countries where the most basic diabetes technology - syringes insulin test strips - is incredibly scarce. Dr. Jason Baker, who lives with type one found out when he spent part of his endocrinology studies in Uganda, Dr. Jason Baker 0:43 and I thought to myself, man, if I would have been diagnosed somewhere else than where I was diagnosed, would I be able to be where I am free of complications, having my life not hindered, but actually enhanced by diabetes? Stacey Simms 0:58 Dr. Baker shares how that experience led him to start Marjorie's Fund, now called M Fund. He and his colleague Sandy Narayanan explained the goals of the group and how we can help. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. I am always so glad to have you here. Hi, I'm your host, Stacey Simms. And you know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. Well, for the last few years. I've had a lot of people tell me you have to talk to Dr. Jason Baker. I feel like it's just one of those names here over and over in the diabetes community. Dr. Baker is Assistant Professor of clinical medicine and attending endocrinologist at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell medicine in New York, New York. He is the co founder of M Fund, the medical director and the board chair. Marjorie's fund, as you'll hear is named after a woman Dr. Baker met in Uganda. She was diagnosed as an adult and she only lived to age 29. During her short life, she was able to advocate and educate her death, it could have been prevented with better resources and she did inspire doctors and patients and many others to carry on this cause. Dr. Baker is joined in this interview by Sandy Ryan on their board Treasurer program committee chair and she lives with type two diabetes. They have a big event coming up and I will link all of the information up at Diabetes connections.com so you can learn more if you would like to help and you've already heard me use interchangeably Marjorie's fund and M Fund. They are in the process of renaming to M Fund. Of course, the legacy of Marjorie is at the core of this organization. So all of that coming up but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen, I mean you have diabetes and use insulin, low blood sugar can happen when you don't expect it. That's why most of us carry fast acting sugar and in the case of very low blood sugar, why we carry emergency glucagon, there's a new option called Gvoke Hypopen the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar Gvoke Hypopen is premix and ready to go with no visible needle. In usability studies. 99% of people were able to give Gvoke correctly find out more go to Diabetes- Connections comm and click on the Gvoke logo Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit gvoke glucagon.com slash risk. Jason and Sandy, thank you so much for joining me. I'm really interested to learn more about M Fund and everything that you all are doing. Thanks for being here. Dr. Jason Baker 3:33 Thanks for having us. We're excited to be part of the conversation. Stacey Simms 3:36 Let me start with you, Jason, if I could just tell me a little bit about how M Fund came to be it's quite a story. Dr. Jason Baker 3:43 Yeah, I absolutely love to because it really is a story. I think of all too many people who live with diabetes in this world of ours. And just as an anecdote, you know, I myself have type 1 diabetes and I was diagnosed as an adult I was 24 years young medical student actually, and it changed my life. But when I was diagnosed, I had everything I needed to do a good job with managing and never got any complications don't intend to knocking wood knocking side of my head here. It is a very difficult condition as we know that takes a lot of resources and and as soon after I was diagnosed I started to do some international work and had the opportunity to travel to Africa when I was actually a fellow in endocrinology, so a young trainee in endocrinology. While I was in Uganda, I met some people living with type 1 diabetes and was struck at all of the struggles that they had. And in subsequent travels, I met other people with diabetes and I thought to myself, man, if I would have been diagnosed somewhere else than where I was diagnosed, would I be able to be where I am free of applications, having my life not hindered, but actually enhanced by diabetes, really thriving with diabetes. So it really struck me What a discrepancy there was in access to care for people living with diabetes. And I really felt this huge drive and obligation to help change the narrative. For a lot of other folks who may not have been born in geographic areas or into areas with economic opportunity to get the resources they needed to thrive. On top of this, I was meeting a ton of folks who are doing work in the field of type 1 diabetes and helping kids. So there were a lot of organizations focusing on children living with diabetes, but I realized that you know, there was this rule about how old kids could be and still be part of those programs. And it entered in to my mind at the time like, well, what happens when adults are diagnosed with Type One Diabetes, or diabetes? in general? What happens when they grow up? Where do they get their resources? So these two main themes kind of emerged in my mind about what happens to adults living with diabetes, and what happens to them living in these resource poor areas, and what can I do, and a team that was built around this concept do to improve upon those lives. So the organization was born out of those ideas, basically, giving people of all ages an equal chance working to give them an equal chance to not just survive living with diabetes, but to thrive, to empower them to be able to have the tools they need to thrive? long winded way of answering questions. Stacey Simms 6:44 I'm gonna ask you one more thing to make it even longer. Excellent. I like to talk me to what does it do? What does the fund do? Do you send money to other organizations? Do you go back to the countries you mentioned? Dr. Jason Baker 6:57 Yeah, well, we do both. So we we have three main folks I are focuses of interest, if you will. So we've got an educational component where we focus on diabetes education for healthcare providers, and for patients, we have another component where we focus on access to health care. So we'll do things like running a clinic, helping people to be plugged into their local healthcare system to access care and the like. And then the third thing we do is we have economic empowerment projects, because we really have realized that the folks that were working to help oftentimes don't have an education to literally earn the money, they need to buy the resources locally for managing their diabetes. So we're really into economic empowerment work to give people the economic health, they need to thrive as well. You know, as part of this, we travel back and forth to country to site, do site visits, meet with partners. And unfortunately, COVID interrupted that a little bit this past year, but we're eager to get back boots on the ground. Stacey Simms 8:02 Sandy, let me bring you on, and ask you, why are you part of eM Fund? What's your What's your story? Sandy Narayanan 8:09 That's a good story. Good question. Actually, the story is, I grew up with a father who had diabetes, and was on intensive insulin therapy for pretty much most of the time that he had diagnosed, what had been diagnosed with diabetes. So he passed away when he was just 65. We think it was type two on insulin, it could have been type one, it could have been any other kind of diabetes. And this was an India where I grew up, and we noticed that he was able to access insulin, but there was no monitors, he would basically be on a stick once a week, or once in two weeks to find out how he was doing and to titrate insulin. And there were people you know, who were around us, there's obviously you know, as we know, there's a lot of poverty and, and there's a lot of diabetes in India. And even as I was growing up, I noticed that there were many other than my father, who had diabetes who didn't have the quote unquote, luxury, if you will, of even having insulin or even going out and getting tested once a week to see how they were doing with their glucose management. So I was always kind of interested in diabetes. And then I got diagnosed myself with type two diabetes about now almost 1314 years ago. And there I was checking my glucose at 10 times a day and I was able to do that and I was initially on insulin and initially thought that I myself might have the same type of diabetes that my dad did and that I would need to be on insulin forever. But I really was able to come off insulin within about 10 weeks or so and really within Monitoring and changing my diet and just my lifestyle habits. And so I really thought, oh my goodness, you know, how things have changed since my father's time. And what is happening in countries like India and anywhere else where the resources are not available that I have here when, you know, in America to be able to even manage type two diabetes with 10 strips a day, yeah, I could afford it. I had insurance. I actually, when Jason who was at the time, Dr. Baker to me, and who actually was the one who diagnosed me, he brought up the idea that he was going to do some create a nonprofit for people with type 1 diabetes, I immediately jumped out at I've been toying with the idea of doing something myself truly wanted to give back especially to communities in need, in underserved areas, population, women, I'm very, very interested in ensuring that women have parity in treatment, and in access to care and supplies, and especially with type 1 diabetes, the need for intensive insulin therapy, and the need for monitoring just was my became my passion. And I joined forces with Jason up until then, actually, at the time that I that Jason was starting March respond, I was in corporate human resources, and it created my own business and had been working on what zation effectiveness, etc. So it became sort of a natural complement to Jason's medical and healthcare vision. Stacey Simms 11:33 Jason, the last couple of years, as I've done this podcast now since 2015. And you know, price access all that has been an issue, even in the United States, right, where we, some people have very, very good private health insurance. Some people have public health insurance that covers things. But I feel like the conversation of last couple of years has really shown issues here in the United States where one of the four people are rationing, insulin and that sort of thing. Absolutely. I I know it's difficult, but I have to ask you, how are you all doing? This is not a new effort for you. All right. You've been doing this for almost 10 years? Have you seen things kind of change in the conversation around this? Because so much more of the conversation in this country is about affordability and access? Right back to Jason answering that question. But first, Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario. Health. And over the years, I find we manage diabetes better when we're thinking less, but all the stuff of diabetes tasks. That's why I love partnering with people who take the load off on things like ordering supplies, so I can really focus on Benny, the Dario diabetes success plan is all about you. All the test strips and lancets you need delivered to your door, one on one coaching so you can meet your milestones weekly insights into your trends, with suggestions on how to succeed, get the diabetes management plan that works with you and for you, Darrius published Studies demonstrate high impact clinical results, find out more go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections. Now back to Jason answering my question about access to insulin and high pricing here in the US. Dr. Jason Baker 13:17 Absolutely, I mean, I think you know, it's interesting because it's, it is different, right? So like, if you're thinking about what's happening in some of the countries who don't have national healthcare systems, for example, or who really have a truly disrupted continuous supply chain of insulin, and sometimes not reliably good quality insulin, certainly that don't have test strips, or any of the technologies we have here, you're dealing with kind of almost a warzone situation where you are bringing in opportunity, and in many cases in which there's very limited as certainly for the people who are living in poverty, it has certainly been a conversation with us and all of our partners, as we have done our work largely overseas to help to fill in these gaps of care, to say, Well, what the heck are we doing in our own backyard? And why is it not working? Well here in the United States to you know, what are the problems here in the US? And it's very interesting, Stacey, you asked this because internally, we've been asking ourselves, what more can we do in the US? Well, and we're working on some, yeah, we're working on some projects on that end, but in my opinion, right now, in the US on the US side, we have challenges with number one, using resources that actually we might have access to correctly. And in many cases, those resources may not be used as well because of perhaps underlying depression, anxiety, diabetes, burnout. All of those things that plague all of us living with diabetes at some point or another, unfortunately, it really hinders the ability to do good self care and self management. But then on the opposite end, or not on the opposite, but but complimentary, you definitely have people who don't have access, their co pays are too high, they're in this gray zone in between not having Medicaid seeking care through the emergency room, maybe they're undocumented, lots of reasons that might lead to either rationing or simply not having the supplies. I've had seniors, for example, living with Type One Diabetes, coming into my office crying to me about being in the doughnut hole and not being able to afford their insulin, and being completely overwhelmed by the complexity of some of the insulin assistance programs here that might be intermittently available to people. So there is definitely an issue, definitely an issue in the US with resources being inadequate, or sometimes resources also not being used correctly. But again, you kind of take that particular situation that absolutely exists here, and you pour some kerosene on it, and then you find the situation that we oftentimes deal with that our sites overseas. Does. Does that make sense? Stacey Simms 16:26 Yeah, and I don't want you to misunderstand that. I don't think you did. But you know, I'm certainly not saying that we have to put Americans first and full of solve this before we can help anybody else. I mean, the problems are vast, and they are different. As you've said, Can you give us a little bit of insight into how M Fund has helped? Dr. Jason Baker 16:45 Absolutely. And I can take a first stab at this. And Sandy would love to hear you chime in too. But one of the things that we are extremely proud about is the center that we have opened and have been running for the past five years in a remote region of Uganda kasay, which is bordering the Congo a very, very remote region, which we had become a partner of a few years ago and have subsequently helped to renovate a physical building, which is now housing a diabetes organization in which we are now running a twice weekly medical clinic, along with an Eye Clinic, none of which existed before and which is really serving about 350. folks living in the region with diabetes, who otherwise were unable to get care, due to transportation issues due to monetary issues are due to, again, hospitals being too far from where they live. So we are so proud of this center. And we're also so proud because it's created a system of peer education by which it is our partners are a group of diabetes patients on the ground who, who came together to survive, partner with us and are really helping their compatriots to learn how to better manage their diabetes with pushing educational components, helping with access to healthcare and taking the lead in various economic empowerment projects through this centers. So you know, we have folks who are making art and selling it abroad and locally in the monies come back and help them to have the resources to buy their there and take care of their diabetes and buy their supplies, we have a piece of land that we grow cash crops on there, and the resources go back to the group to help care for themselves with diabetes related costs. Lots of layers of this. And we are very proud of this center that we want to replicate in other locations. So that is kind of where our biggest champion work is right now. I'm helping this group in a remote area of Uganda. And by the way, they're all adults, they're all older, and unable to access other existing programs of aid. So we really feel that this is serving an acute need in that area. And we're we're just really, really proud of it. And again, it always breaks my heart a little bit though, Stacey because when we're asked this question, I think, well, it's great. We're doing these things and other locations doing similar work, but it always strikes me that we need to be doing more in to do so we have to continue to grow as an organization and we have to continue to get more person power to the table in order to do greater outreach to other folks because the more we dig on this in, the more we people we help the more it's uncovered, that there are more people to help and in other ways than we are currently doing. So that's the tricky thing. I think about foreign aid work when it comes to diabetes. It's such a complex and unruly beast, that the more work you do in helping folks, the more you realize you need to do to kind of take it to the next level, you can't go in and just cure something, right? It's like a socio economic project of unknown duration. Right? And we are really excited about the progress we've made so far and helping this group mean, because as a fan, did Stacey Simms 20:29 you want to jump in? Sandy... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20620151

In the News... Implantable insulin pump, Doctors (not parents) miss T1D symptoms, Dexcom shelf-life extension and more! 09/24/2021

In the News... Implantable insulin pump, Doctors (not parents) miss T1D symptoms, Dexcom shelf-life extension and more! It's "In the News..." the only diabetes newscast! Top stories this week: Medtronic moves on implantable insulin pump, study: doctors - but not parents - are missing symptoms of T1D in kids, Dexcom "shelf-life extension" explained, news about whether COVID is causing a surge of diabetes in children and what happened with the Apple watch BG monitoring news? -- Join us each Wednesday at 4:30pm EDT! ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Transcription Below: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, on your own schedule. XX In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Find their Entrée Bowls and all of their great products in your local grocery store, Target or Costco. XX Our top story.. What helps people with diabetes gain better glucose control? Expansion of Medicaid. As part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, U.S. states were given the option of expanding Medicaid coverage to more people as a means of reducing the number of people without health insurance. As of today, only 12 states have not taken advantage. A new study finds that blood pressure and glucose control measures have improved in states that have. The researchers behind the study say it may take a while to show up but that, over the longer run, expanding Medicaid eligibility may improve key chronic disease health outcomes for low-income, marginalized populations. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/medicaid-expansion-improves-hypertension-and-diabetes-control XX Medtronic takes over the intellectual property rights to an implanted infusion pump. This is technology developed by the Alfred E Mann foundation. 25 years ago, there was a lot of buzz about implantable insulin pumps, but it hasn’t panned out. The tech is just what it sounds like – a small insulin pump that goes under the skin and holds enough insulin for a few months. Medtronic had one on the market but pulled it almost 15 years ago. One of the drawbacks is that you have to go to the doctor every time you need to fil the pump and there’s other upkeep – but the upside is said to be better control and a lot less thinking about diabetes. Interesting to follow this one. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/medtronic-buys-implanted-infusion-pump-tech-to-develop-new-type-1-diabetes-treatment XX A story familiar to way too many parents.. symptoms of type 1 diabetes are not always immediately recognized by primary care providers. This was a study of about 240 kids under 18.. published in Pediatric Diabetes These researchers found that 39% of parents had suspicions of new-onset diabetes before they brought their child in for care. Of those, the majority of parents first brought their child to the doctor with symptoms.. and then ended up bringing the same child to the emergency room within the next four weeks. This was a Swedish study, but research shows especially during COVID, diagnosis during DKA is increasing in children in many countries, showing the greater need for better education all around. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-09-21/doctors-often-miss-signs-of-type-1-diabetes-in-kids XX We’ve heard a lot during this pandemic about an increase in new diabetes diagnoses. A new report from Mississippi, where providers are reporting a -quote – massive increase. One pediatric endocrinologist is says they’ve seen up to a 40% increase this year, compared to 2019. That’s both type 1 and type 2. So what’s going on? Lots of theories including indirect effects of quarantines, closures, and unemployment. It might sound odd to some, but severe emotional stress is thought to be a trigger for diabetes, especially in type 1. Additional studies show that COVID targets the insulin making pancreatic beta cells. A full understanding may be some time away, but these endos say the surge is real. XX Interesting listener question about Dexom sensors.. thanks for sending in this photo – seems that some customers are getting these G6 inserters – brand new in the original packaging – with a label that says “this product meets shelf life extension requirements.” I reached out to Dexcom and they told me: the stickers are legit and there are updated expirations dates. I’ve asked for a bit more information as to why they’d do something like this and if it means that all G6 sensors could have extended shelf life. They responded that they aren’t going through all the sensors, so only the ones labeled can be considered extended.. no answer as to why now or to which part of the sensor or inserter actually expires. I’ll follow up next time we talk for the podcast, but if you get one of these labeled sensors – the company says it’s legit and safe. XX More to come, But first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good They make nutritious foods— grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients—the new Entrée bowls are great. They have a chicken burrito, a cauliflower mash and braised beef bowl.. the lemon chicken I’ve told you about and more! They keep adding to the menu line! You can buy online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com. Back to the news… Big news for a great children’s book. JDRF has put Shia Learns About Insulin into the Bag of Hope. We had the author on the show last year... I’ll link that episode up so you can hear the whole story. Shaina (SHAY-ahn-uh) Hatchell is a Registered Nurse, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, and Nurse Manager at the Howard University Diabetes Treatment Center. The story was inspired by her brother, who lives with T1D. The JDRF Bag of Hope is given to newly diagnosed children age 11 and under. Frankly, it’s pretty hard to get new products in there – it’s nice to see some more diverse representation. https://www.jdrf.org/press-releases/jdrf-announces-the-addition-of-shia-learns-about-insulin-book-into-the-bag-of-hope/ -- Last bit of news is note worthy for what didn’t happen. Big apple news conference this month with absolutely no mention of blood glucose monitoring. You’ll recall there was a ton of speculation about this all year long.. with many tech websites breathlessly reporting this was going to be happen. Look – I do think it will.. but there is really no hard evidence that anyone has come close to cracking this. Non invasive remotely accurate glucose monitoring is really hard. And, as I’ve said all along, we’ll know it’s for real when we see some clinical trials. -- Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode - The episode out right now is with American Idol contestant turned actor Kevin Covais – he’s in a new Netflix show out this month and he spent some time this summer mentoring teens. Fun guy with great behind the scenes Idol stories, too. That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20580320

From American Idol to Actor and Advocate: Meet Kevin Covais 09/21/2021

From American Idol to Actor and Advocate: Meet Kevin Covais Kevin Covais was one of the youngest contestants on American Idol; he was just 16 when he made his debut during season 5. He’ll share some behind the scenes stories including managing low blood sugar during a live performance. Diagnosed with T1D at age 11, Kevin has been working steadily as an actor. We’ll talk about working in Hollywood with diabetes – and what that's been like during COVID, more about American Idol, and how Kevin found himself mentoring other kids with type 1. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcription below Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health. Manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. Announcer 0:20 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 0:26 This week, actor Kevin Covais was one of the youngest contestants on American Idol back in season five, he'll share some behind the scenes stories, including managing low blood sugar during a live performance. Kevin Covais 0:38 And I'm singing and I just like, I can't wait for this thing to be over. I can't wait to stop singing and get the critiques from the judges that I'm not even gonna really listen to you because I got to get off the stage and I got to get some juice or I gotta get some tablets. I gotta take care of this. Stacey Simms 0:49 He was fine. And since Idol , Kevin has been working steadily as an actor. We'll talk about working in Hollywood with diabetes and during COVID more about American Idol, and how Kevin found himself mentoring other kids with type one. He has advice for parents too. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show, always is so glad to have you here. Hi, I'm your host Stacey Simms. We aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. And my guest this week is Kevin Covais, diagnosed with type one just as he turned 11. Kevin is best known for American Idol as you heard in the tease there and the Disney Channel show Good Luck Charlie, where he played the character Victor. He is a steadily working actor with roles in Transformers and this is us, the rookie, NCIS Los Angeles and more. I put some pictures of Kevin in the Diabetes Connections Facebook groups, you can kind of see him on set. And he is appearing in the new Netflix series on the verge, which is out this month. I thought it would be fun to just play a little clip of Season Five of American Idol where Kevin appeared and this was back in 2006. As I said he was one of the very youngest contestants. So here's a little bit of him from back then. (Kevin sings) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc5ec3te75I Stacey Simms 2:44 used to watch idol all the time. And as I confessed to Kevin, it has been a while. But what a big show, right? And you'll hear Kevin during the interview mentioned Elliott Yamin who was also on season five and also lives with type one. I got to meet Elliot a couple of years ago at a touched by type one conference he is still performing writing music. He's now a dad, I'll put a link to Elliot stuff in the show notes as well. That of course will have tons of information about Kevin, but I just thought that was really interesting because to me, I don't know it seems like yesterday but of course 2006 was the year that my son was diagnosed, Benny was diagnosed right before he turned two. He is now almost 17 which is I mean, we've lived with diabetes. Now I've been part of this community for 15 years in just a couple of weeks. So 2006 kind of was a long time ago and kind of seems like yesterday to me. Alright, Kevin's interview coming up in just a moment. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen and our endo always told us that if you use insulin you need to have emergency glucagon on hand as well. Low blood sugars are one thing we're usually able to treat those with fast acting glucose tabs or juice but a very low blood sugar can be very frightening which is why I'm so glad there's a different option for emergency glucagon it is Gvoke Hypopen. Gvoke Hypopen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle. You pull off the red cap push the yellow end onto bare skin and hold it for five seconds. That's it. Find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit Gvoke glucagon.com slash risk. Kevin, welcome to the show. I'm really glad to talk to you. Thanks for making some time for me. Kevin Covais 4:26 Stacey. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to find we've been talking about this for a while I'm so I'm so happy to finally join the program. It's great. Stacey Simms 4:33 Awesome. Yeah, it's great that we finally connected Gosh, so much to talk about. We connected everyone We see each other every year add friends for life. Yeah. And I was so happy we were able to do that this year. We'll kind of see what happens going ahead. But before we get into all of that, do you mind if we just kind of take a step back and look back? I mean you haven't been on the show before and I'd love to kind of revisit the early days of Kevin Kevin Covais 4:59 Spacey. I would be disappointed if we didn't do that. So let's, let's dive in. Let's do it. Yes, please. Stacey Simms 5:04 As I was asking that I was thinking about American Idol but I should probably go back further. You were diagnosed when you were you were a kid. You were not even 11 years old yet, right? Yeah, it Kevin Covais 5:13 was just prior to my 11th birthday symptoms leading up. Yeah, my birthday is at the end of May. And I just remember that entire month of May so vividly. You know, obviously, you think back to childhood and, you know, memories here memories there. But that month just stands out in my mind so vividly. Symptoms throughout the month, parents wandering out what's going on with Kev? what's what's happening, you know, maybe an infection this that bring me into the doctor, several days prior to my 11th birthday to get the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Yeah. Stacey Simms 5:41 Did you spend your birthday in the hospital? Kevin Covais 5:43 I think it was. So it was it was several days after my birthday. So yeah, it was the entire month leading up to the birthday. And then it was, yeah, right. At the start of June, I was putting so this was several days after my 11th birthday that I was in the hospital. And just you know, you hear the doctor tell you and your kid and I, you know, I immediately I broke down and cried. I didn't know, I didn't know what I was dealing with. I you know, you hear the word diabetes and you know, your mind escapes, you starts running around all these different things. And then he you know, the doctor, you know, kindly explained to me, now this is something you're going to be able to manage your life. It's obviously going to be a great deal of work. But this is something you live with and something you manage. And then from there, I learned everything over the course of the next week and being in the hospital and getting treated. Yeah, it was. It was a month like no other though. Yeah, that's for sure. Yeah. Stacey Simms 6:27 So your kid, you're diagnosed at a time when frankly, it's the as I recall that time that early 2000s. It's the time right before everything really started changing. Absolutely. As I look at I mean, Ben, he was diagnosed in 2006. They were like, we've got this amazing thing called Lantus. That's just been approved for kids. Yeah, you know, and now everything seems so different with the technology. What was the first kind of technology or routine that you were on? Gosh, you Kevin Covais 6:54 got me thinking back to the pre Lantus days of time? Yeah, it's it's wild. For me. Taking the injections, taking the daily injections, I will go ahead and say I'm not currently on the pump, that I am one of these those rare rare people that uh, that takes daily injections. I have a CGM. But that's, that's my preferred way of doing it have been doing it that way for years. But yeah, starting out being diagnosed taking human and human log each and every day. Yeah. And those pre Lantus days. And, you know, they think back to those syringes before you have the pens and the newer technology and the things that make it so easy now, so, so accessible, and thinking back to a time before, you know, we had some of those advancements, it was definitely interesting at the start for those first couple of years. Stacey Simms 7:35 Well, is that the kind of and I say technology to encompass whatever you're using shots? Oh, of course. Yeah. So when you're talking humulin, you have a log, did you have to kind of eat on a set schedule? Or were you okay to kind of inject when you want it to eat, Kevin Covais 7:51 you know, that really came with adulthood, that sort of injecting when I wanted to eat and the accessibility I remember, as a kid, it was, it was the preference of my doctors to have that set routine. I remember going in and you have a regimented schedule of three meals, several snacks, a snack at an after school snack at roughly 3pm. And, and one prior to bed 9pm at night. And yeah, that was for a while. It's obviously insulin matching. Exactly what you're what you're ingesting exactly what you're eating and set times. It was all very regimented. For me those first couple years of my life. Yeah. Something. I bet. I bet it's a trip to think back on it really is. Yeah, Stacey Simms 8:30 it must be I mean, I just think, you know, it's there's no easy age to be diagnosed with diabetes. But 11 you're just starting out that like, tiptoeing into independence. Yes. Middle School. Do you remember? Did your parents kind of give you a long rope? Were they very protective? I don't want to be too personal. Kevin Covais 8:48 Please, please. They were unbelievable. I'm so blessed to have the mother and the father that I do. And the support system that I do, I think they handled it differently. I think, with my mother, I think not that there was more trust, I think, was maybe a little longer rope and trusting me to do the things I think my father was, you know, very concerned at times, but you know, rightfully concerned about, you know, what I was taking and this and that. So there were I think there were several different schools of parenting going on. But together, they complemented each other so well. And it was I just knew that they were always there for me during those frustrating moments, those highs, those lows, quite literally, obviously, where it's just they were there All the while, but just like an amazing support system site. I think they went about it slightly differently. But we're, you know, managed to still be on the same page because, you know, nobody handles You know, one set situation quite the same. So, I was just incredibly fortunate. We just got informed, it's like we figured out what it was and there was a moment of kind of bowing our heads and being frustrated being sad. And then we were like, Alright, what do we do about this and got in the hospital and took care of and met up with all the doctors and got assigned the endocrinologist and and took it from there. Yeah, Stacey Simms 9:53 your parents must have given you a long rope because five years later, you auditioned for American Idol right when you're 16 Kevin Covais 9:59 I was a baby I mean, I'm still a baby. I'm just an older baby. I'm still probably just as immature. But now I'm in my 30s so I don't really get away with as much. I I was 16 years old SJC when I did the show, I can't believe I did it at all. And I can't believe I did it when I was when I didn't know any more. I was just a child. Yeah. It's so Stacey Simms 10:17 funny. So okay, so you're my son's age. Kevin Covais 10:23 And your son's a child. I'm sure he's way more mature than I was. Stacey Simms 10:28 But, you know, you did let him just go. You know, he took an international trip for a month but he was with you. But he was with a bunch of people who, you know, we're we felt very safe with of course, what was the deal with American Idol because you didn't just go to one city, right? I mean, audition different cities take us kind of through what happened. Kevin Covais 10:45 It was just the journey of a lifetime at 16. I audition in New York. I'm from from Levittown, New York, Long Island, New York, and I audition up in Boston, I turned 16. And as I tell the story, my mom and I would watch idol from the Kelly Clarkson days. I ultimately was on season five. But you know, Kelly Clarkson wins the show, season one, my mom and I, it's must see TV. We tune in every week to watch the show. And my father was never a big fan. And I was a singer, around the same time that I was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 11. That's kind of when I joined the chorus and developed a love for singing and acting in the school plays and whatnot. And he'd walked through the room and we'd be watching idol. And I would tell him, I said, you know, one day I'm going to do this show. And he's like, yeah, okay, we'll see. And I turned 16. And again, just to echo how incredibly supportive my parents have always been, they've always been by my side, I turned 16. I go up to Boston to audition for the show. When there were no tri state area auditions in the Greater New York area. They take me up to Boston, they take me up to Gillette Stadium where the New England Patriots play, they're having massive auditions. 15 tents set up on a field, a judge at each tent and forward a time that bringing us down and they say Sing, sing, sing, sing, you sing a little bit of a song, they cut you off whenever they feel like you either make it or they send you to the exits, we see a herd of people go into the exits. And I was one of the lucky few that day who they said you know what, we're gonna give you another audition, we'll come back and see the executive producers, so on and so forth all the way up to the main judges in the city of Boston, I see the original three of Simon cow, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson. And eventually I make my way out to Hollywood. I get past that round, and made it to Hollywood. It was my first time ever on the west coast. I get to go and I'm one of maybe 180 people auditioning out in Hollywood to try to get on those live shows where ultimately I landed and Gosh, got to somehow got to the top 12 my seats I don't even know I don't even it was honestly Stacy, it was all blur. I don't even know how I did it. I don't know. I mean, I remember it. But it was just such a roller coaster and such an emotional ride in such an exciting ride my lights? Yeah. Stacey Simms 12:39 When I'm researching to talk to you, you know, going through the American Idol season five and kind of looking at what was written around that time. There's no mention of you having diabetes? Kevin Covais 12:50 No, no, you hiding it. Stacey Simms 12:57 Right back to Kevin finishing that thought. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health. And one of the things that makes diabetes management difficult for us that really annoys me and Benny isn't actually the big picture stuff. It's all the little tasks adding up. Are you sick of running out of strips, do you need some direction or encouragement going forward with your diabetes management, with visibility into your trends help you on your wellness journey? The Dario diabetes success plan offers all of that and more. No more waiting in line at the pharmacy no more searching online for answers. No more wondering about how you're doing with your blood sugar levels, find out more go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections. Now back to Kevin talking about why he didn't share his type one with the American Idol audience. Kevin Covais 13:46 Absolutely not hiding it. This is how little I just knew about I just wasn't aware of anything. I was so green to the experience that like now as an actor of 10 plus years as a mainly transition to acting at this point, which I'm sure we'll get to a bit in a little bit. I didn't think about it from a perspective of Oh, wow, what a stage to raise awareness for this thing. I was on the show. I made it to the top 12. And one of my best friends from the show is Elliot Yamin, fellow type one, and you know, great guy, great personality and just just a heck of a voice. Oh my god, the guy can sing the doors off the place. He's unbelievable. And we auditioned in Boston together. I was so nervous until my final few weeks performing live on the show. I just think I went in and I would do the interviews and I would do this and I would do that. And it wouldn't even occur to me like man, you should really bring this up. I wasn't hiding it. I wasn't ashamed. I think for me, it was just such a normal part of my life that I'd been accustomed to for five years. And I was like, Oh, yeah, well, I'm you know, I'm no different than anyone else. I'm just dealing with my type 1 diabetes, you know, all the while. And it's it's a regret not from a sense because again, I wasn't hiding it. It's a regret because I realized how big that platform was and Oh man, I should have said something. And it was and it wasn't until after the fact that I was like oh wow, there's like a lot of opportunity here and when I you know start to do very As events for the jdrf are really dive into work with the Diabetes Research Institute several years thereafter. It wasn't until that point, when I kind of got older. I was like, Man, this is an incredible opportunity to raise awareness. And, you know, use your platform. And I wish I could go back and tell 16 year old Kevin that I really wish I could. Stacey Simms 15:16 Well, I wasn't even thinking of it in terms of advocacy, which is a terrific point that you make, but I was thinking about it as your 16. And, you know, to say, Well, I need extra help, or I need you to know that. Although you weren't beeping at the time, you probably didn't have a CGM. No, not yet. Right. You might not just you know, and I think and I can totally understand that, because that's how my son is, you know, he'll tell people to be safe, you know, spending the night and we're not there. And he'll say, Here's to this and that, but he's not gonna say, hey, by the way, just as dropping into the conversation, yeah. I don't think a lot of 16 year olds who are let's just say it like that, I think. And you've already kind of mentioned it, it just seems like it was such a normal part of who you were. I think that's very commendable. I think that's great. Kevin Covais 16:01 Thanks. Yeah, I'd like to think so as well. I'll tell you, every staff member on idol, the producer, the up to the producers, up to the big time people behind the show, they knew I had type one. I always made it a point to you know, school teachers, obviously, you're telling them okay, hey, look, if I need to go to the nurse, this is why I'm not. I'm not trying to get out of taking this exam. It's because I have a legitimate low right now. So the people in my life I was telling, it never occurred to me when the cameras started rolling to bring it up, because it just didn't occur to me. I was like, Oh, yeah, no, I'm telling the people that are directly affected in my life about this. It didn't, it didn't even dawn on me to inform the audience about Stacey Simms 16:36 it. Did you have any issues on Idol with diabetes? And I did, Kevin Covais 16:40 yeah. There's a story that stands out. I don't... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20522657

In the News.. BG trends during COVID lockdowns, diabetes sales fraud, A Dexcom G5 message, and more! 09/17/2021

In the News.. BG trends during COVID lockdowns, diabetes sales fraud, A Dexcom G5 message, and more! It's In the News... the top diabetes stories of the past seven days! This week, what did lockdown mean for BG trends, Provention Bio keeps fighting for Teplizumab, the FTC shuts down diabetes schlockmeisters and if you're still using the Dexcom G5 - you need to hear this... Join Stacey live on Facebook each Wednesday at 4:30pm EDT to watch live. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcription and links below Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, on your own schedule. XX In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Find their Entrée Bowls and all of their great products in your local grocery store, Target or Costco. XX Our top story.. What did COVID lockdown mean for blood sugar trends? A new study says when they had to stay at home, people with type 1 significantly improved while the opposite happened for those with type 2. You should know these studies all come from European countries with pretty strict lockdowns and they’re an aggregate – a look at a bunch of previously conducted studies. With type 1, time in range improved significantly in 83% of the studies looked at here.. with type 2, almost half of the studies showed a clear decrease in blood sugar control, with higher A1Cs. So what happened? There’s a lot of speculation but these researchers suggest less exercise and more snacking and more stress is to blame for the type 2 numbers.. although in my opinion the same could be said for all people with diabetes. They also suppose that the lockdown gave parents more time to look after kids with type 1 and gave young adults a more predictable routine. I hope another study is done on this in the US where, frankly – access to insulin & health care providers may have become more of an issue during the pandemic https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210913/COVID-19-lockdown-linked-to-improved-glycemic-control-in-type-1-diabetes.aspx XX Bit of an update - Provention Bio moving forward to answer the FDA’s questions and hopefully resubmit. This is for Teplizumab the first drug shown to prevent type 1 diabetes for – so far- up to three years.. although the FDA turned it down in July. Provention says they continue to collect data and are moving to set up what’s called a Formal Type A meeting to submit that new information. The company’s CEO says they believe they’re making significant progress to address the observations cited by the FDA and continue to work with urgency. XX Bunch of schlock-meisters got called out last week by the US FDA and FTC – that’s the Federal Trade Commission. 10 companies got warning letters alleging they were selling illegal dietary supplements to cure or prevent diabetes. Regulators wrote the products cited in the warning letters are considered unapproved new drugs – they include things like turmeric, bitter melon, ginkgo biloba and more.. The report cites the increasing cost of insulin and other diabetes medications as a reason why people are turning to alternatives, even if they aren’t proven.. Please.. be careful out there. Quick additional FTC note – they held a virtual open meeting today. Two people from the diabetes community spoke about rising insulin prices. If you’d like to learn more I’ll link up the information. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/09/ftc-announces-tentative-agenda-september-15-open-commission XX We don’t talk a lot about shots – multiple daily injections – but here’s some good news about the basics. New study shows rotating sites and using smaller needles really do help. You’ve likely heard of LY-po-hy-PER-tro-fee.. it’s when lumps of fat or scar tissue form under your skin. These Belgian researchers did a six month study where they provided smaller pen needles and did a lot of education, including an online platform where they taught proper injection techniques, including not re-using needles. They reduced what they called unexplained high blood glucose significantly and glucose variability decreased as well. A1Cs stayed about the same. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dme.14672 XX No surprise but still disappointing – insurance is what’s dictating whether young children are more likely to use a CGM regularly. This was published in Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics. Those on public or government insurance often face more obstacles. This was a study of children ages 1-6 years, within two months of diagnosis. 82-percent used a CGM at least once during the study period.. but they divided everyone into 4 groups – always used CGM, stable use, inconsistent use or never used. Families with private insurance were more likely to be in the always group or the stable group than those with public insurance. And.. The “always” group had an A1C that was 1.3% lower than the “never” group https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20210907/private-insurance-determines-cgm-use-by-young-children-with-type-1-diabetes XX More to come, including a Dexcom G5 update! But first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good They make nutritious foods— grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients—the new Entrée bowls are great. They have a chicken burrito, a cauliflower mash and braised beef bowl.. the lemon chicken I’ve told you about and more! They keep adding to the menu line! You can buy online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com. Back to the news… Heads up if you’re still – somehow – using the Dexcom G5. More than a year ago, Dexcom stopped selling the G5 and G4.. but – and thanks to the listeners who brought this to my attention – the G5 app is now sending out a notification.. On October 4th the Dexcom G5 app will no longer be available. As they’ve shared with us on the podcast many times, they’ve been transitioning everyone over to the G6 and will soon move on to the G7. No timeline on that btw I know you’re going to ask. But as far as we know, it hasn’t been submitted to the FDA and Dexcom has said it will go for European approval first. -- And finally don’t forget to send me your Dear Dr. Banting audio! What would you say to the man credited with the discovery of insulin? All the details and how to send it to me is in the show notes. -- Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode - The episode out right now is all about the new Walmart Insulin.. will it save you money? That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20513333

The New Walmart Insulin: Everything You Need to Know 09/14/2021

The New Walmart Insulin: Everything You Need to Know The term “Walmart Insulin” has always referred to cheap, older formulations. But now an agreement with Novo Nordisk means Walmart is selling own branded version of Novolog. It's the very same insulin, with a much lower cash price. What does this mean for us as customers and for insulin pricing overall? Stacey speaks to Michael Burke, Walmart's Director of Brand Pharmacy Merchandising. They talk about who can get Relion Novolog, how much it costs, what your endo needs to know and how insurers are reacting. www.getinsulin.org Stacey mentions (we need your voice!) This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcription below Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health. Manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premix auto injector for very low blood sugar and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week, the term Walmart insulin has always referred to cheap, older formulations until this summer, a new agreement with Novo Nordisk means Walmart is selling its own branded version of Novolog. Michael Burke 0:38 real sense of pride for us at Walmart to hear the great feedback. Our pharmacists and pharmacy teams are very excited about the product and how they can help support patients. Stacey Simms 0:50 That's Michael Burke, Director of brand pharmacy merchandising for Walmart. We'll talk about who couldn't get this, how much it costs. Why now and what's next. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. I am your host, Stacey Simms, and we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. My son was diagnosed right before he turned two back in 2006. And my husband lives with type two diabetes. I don't have diabetes, but I spent my career in broadcasting and that is how you get the podcast earlier this summer. As many of you probably remember, Walmart announced its new agreement with Novo Nordisk it is selling the same insulin that they make under the Walmart brand. So it's called ReliOn Novolog. And it's sold at Walmart and at Sam's clubs. This is not the older $25 so called Walmart insulin that includes older versions such as regular and NPH, which can be used safely if you know what you're doing very rarely used in pumps, and very rarely prescribed as a matter of routine. They're not the standard of care for modern day diabetes. But people do certainly use what many of you refer to as Walmart insulin, they still do use regular and NPH. But the vast majority of people who probably listen to this podcast and are regularly seeing an endocrinologist and have been diagnosed, let's say within the last 30 years are probably using novolog, humalog, And the the newer, you know, faster acting insulins. So because Walmart is selling novolog, we might have to change what we mean when we say Walmart, insulin. And now that the dust has settled a bit, I thought it would be a good idea to find out how it's going and what it really means for people who use insulin. Unfortunately, I don't think it's changed the marketplace a lot. What it did prove, at least to me is that the retail price of insulin with or without insurance is as arbitrary, as most of us suspected. I mean, pardon my cynicism here. I do appreciate the folks from Walmart coming on to talk about this. And I appreciate that they're doing something I'm sure this new pricing will help some it is $73 though for a vial when the estimated cost of producing that vial is maybe four to $6. So it is still quite high. And that is the cash price. By the way with insurance as you'll hear it is likely a lot lower. So going in, please know and most of you already know this bottom line, ask your doctor, Ask your pharmacist, make sure you are getting the insulin that costs the least for you according to whatever plan you have. There are so many hoops to jump through to ensure this if you don't have great insurance, you may want to go to get insulin.org that's a clearinghouse put on by beyond type one. And all it really does is bring all the coupon programs together. So it's one place where you can find out what you can get get insulin.org I will link that up in the show notes. We used it because as you'll hear in the interview, and I've shared this before, our current insurance does not cover the insulin that my son uses and wants to keep using and we needed to use coupons for that it did help us if you're struggling if you can't find these resources post in the Diabetes Connections Facebook group, you're more than welcome. We have a lot of great people who can help you figure this out. But you know, do what you need to do. as frustrating as it may be. Don't ration your insulin if you if you can possibly help it. I know that sounds ridiculous to even say that. But look, one in four people in this country do ration their insulin. So maybe there's something that we can do to kind of help you. As I said, jump through those hoops. Alright, Michael Burke, Director of brand pharmacy merchandising in just a moment, but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health and we first noticed Dario a couple of years ago at a conference, Benny thought being able to turn your smartphone into a meter was pretty amazing. And I'm excited to tell you that Dario offers even more now. The Dario diabetes success plan gives you all the supplies and support you need to succeed. You'll get a glucometer that fits in your pocket unlimited test strips and lancets delivered to your door and a mobile app with a complete view of your data. The plan is tailored for you With coaching when and how you need it and personalized reports based on your activity, find out more, go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections. Michael, thanks for joining me a lot of information to get through and I appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much for having me. Let's just start with kind of an explanation, if you wouldn't mind, take us through what Walmart is doing here, what's the new version of insulin that Walmart is selling, Michael Burke 5:28 we have recently launched analog insulins we can get into here in a second, the difference there, but it's an extension of our current line of insulin. So the insulin that we've had at Walmart for some time now is the human insulin, or the novolin products, our extension and new launch now is an analogue insulin, which are the newest version of fast acting insulin, and can help better regulate someone's blood glucose levels, very excited that we were able to get into this. It's been a large topic in the industry for a while on why we were just at human insulin as a private brand offering, and what more we could do so very excited that we got into the analog insulin, as it is the insulin to be used for a type one diabetic, and preferred in most cases and type twos. Stacey Simms 6:19 Can you share a little bit about what happened here? Because this isn't something that Walmart could just do, right? This is a version of Novolog. I mean, this is an agreement with Novo Nordisk, can you kind of take us through what the process? Michael Burke 6:30 Yeah, so we have had a long standing relationship with novo, they are the manufacturer of our human insulin, the Novolin ReliOn products that we've had on the market. And so with the changes of recent in the industry and a real focus, I'd say from across the board, from legislation to patient advocacy to patients, manufacturers, to pharmacies, to prescribers. There's been a large focus over the last two years on what more can be done in the space and so it allowed us an opportunity to work with novo and expand what we already had on the market is a private brand offering and bring a new private brand and new ReliOn offering in the Nova log in Nova log mix, both in a flex 10 and vile and offer a lower cost option for patients who had struggled with affordability to this point. Stacey Simms 7:24 This is a branded insulin so you get ReliOn a brand novolog only at Walmart, am I Is that right? Is that how it works? Michael Burke 7:32 Yes. So like everything healthcare, it's got to be confusing, right. So novolog is the branded name. That is the FDA filed and and trademarked products from Novo Nordisk. What we have done is partnered with Novo Nordisk to launch a ReliOn novolog and to ReliOn novolog MCs, same product manufactured by Novo Nordisk manufactured here actually in the US and comes off the same production lines is the same insulin, the difference being that it is branded with Walmart's private brand of ReliOn which enables us to bring that in house to self distribute to our stores help support our customers. So it offers us the opportunity to cut out some of the middlemen lower the cost, but still the same great product manufactured by Novo Nordisk still the same as their branded Nova log and Nova log mixes, just with a private brand twist from Walmart. Stacey Simms 8:33 So this was announced in late June, as I remember, how has it been? Is it out now are people able to purchase it? What what's the roll up in like Michael Burke 8:42 it is. So we started with the novolog vials and the Nova logs mix in our ReliOn brand, or sorry, the Nova log vials and the Nova log flex pins in our private brand of ReliOn. And then this last month, we were able to launch the mix in ReliOn flex pins and vials. So the regular novolog has been out a little bit longer. We're seeing really good traction, cut wonderful feedback from from patients, prescribers, various members of the industry, and has been really good reaction to this point, have a real sense of pride for us at Walmart to hear the great feedback. Our pharmacists and pharmacy teams are very excited about the product and how they can help support patients. We've heard lots of testimonials on where we've been able to save patients money and where patients were able to come to us and afford their insulin and not make different choices. And so it's for us been it's been wonderful since launch. Now. We're gonna keep that momentum going and make sure that we're reaching as many patients as we can and providing as much value and access as we possibly can in the insulin space. Stacey Simms 9:50 It's some interesting questions for my listeners, if I could bring them to you. And the first one was, is there a limit to the amount that you can purchase per person per A month, Michael Burke 10:00 there is not so these products, the newest launch the lion novolog and ReliOn Nova log MCs are prescription required. So as long as there's a valid prescription, there is no minimum or maximum that a patient can get dispensed at a time, a little bit different than our human insulin, which did have some limits on how much you could purchase at a time without a prescription, just due to some varying risks in an inability to keep in stock. Stacey Simms 10:29 You've mentioned the mix a couple times what is the mix Michael Burke 10:32 of it's a 7030 mix of analog insulin. So it's a fast and intermediate acting. And so for some patients, it is a better way to manage some of their peaks and valleys is to use an analog mixed insulin rather than just a single type of analog insulin and fast acting. Stacey Simms 10:52 Is there is that again, pardon my ignorance is there isn't there a 7030 human insulin This is different or this is Michael Burke 10:57 there is Yes, okay, insulin is a bit of a rabbit hole in the various types of insulin There are also mixes within them. So there are also long acting insulins. And there's some mixes in long acting or the parental insulin, their seeming insulin, which were the original insulins on the market that have mixes as well, and the analog insulin had mixes. And it's really just helped provide variety for patients and prescribers, that may not be seeing the right results with a single insulin, sometimes mix. Depending on what type of mix it is, is more beneficial and in lowering blood glucose, maintain the proper levels. Sometimes it's helpful in some patients without peaks and valleys. And I struggle with that Stacey Simms 11:41 I just didn't realize it's my ignorance, I didn't realize that there was a 7030 analog. Alright, another question from the group. And another question, are they going to encourage providers to prescribe? Or is this solely an option for people with high deductible plans slash no insurance. Michael Burke 11:57 So wherever there was a prescription, we will process whatever type of insurance where our goal is to have the lowest cost for a patient we possibly can. So may that be on our private brand insulin Navy on a brand or a different branded insulin? Every time a prescription comes to the pharmacy, we we do our best to make sure that we're going to give the lowest price. So our branded insulin continue to have some coverage today, our private brand does as well. So best opportunities is for patients to work with our pharmacy teams and make sure that they're getting the right Insulet at the lowest cost possible for them. Stacey Simms 12:30 So I'm going to ask you a question you may not be able to answer and that's fine. But for clarification, so my son, our insurance currently covers novolog and doesn't like he doesn't prefer it. So if I were to get a prescription and go to Walmart, would my doctor have to write it for novolog? Would they have to write it for ReliOn novolog? Would I have to know could I possibly be saving more money if my doctor knew about ReliOn or does the pharmacist look at this at Walmart and say oh you want Nova log but it's gonna cost less if you use the ReliOn version right back to Michael answering my question but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by g Vogue hypo pen and you know low blood sugar feels horrible. You can get shaky and sweaty or even feel like you're gonna pass out there are lots of symptoms and they can be different for everyone. I'm so glad we have a different option to treat very low blood sugar Jeeva hypo pen, it's the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar tchibo kaipa pen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle before Jeeva people needed to go through a lot of steps to get glucagon treatments ready to be used. This made emergency situations even more challenging and stressful. This is so much better. I'm grateful we have it on hand, find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the G book logo chivo shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma. Visit chivo glucagon.com slash risk. Now back to Michael Burke answering my question about how much the pharmacist can do for you if you bring a regular old Nova log prescription to Walmart. Michael Burke 14:10 Yes, for a no blog prescription or ReliOn Nova log private brand is interchangeable by the pharmacy or by the pharmacist. So a patient who has a current Nova log prescription or pharmacist can check to see if our private brands through insurance or other means would be a lower cost for that patient and can do that interchange themselves for those products so just know belong to our private brand over log. If a patient has a prescription for a another type of analog insulin that is not interchangeable with our private brand insulin. The pharmacist can verify insurance coverage for the patient and work with the prescriber on if it's appropriate to switch to private branded Nova log or to remain on the inside there. On today, so we can interchange with the novolog branded products themselves. But for other products, there would be a conversation between the pharmacist patients and prescriber to make sure they're getting the right insulin at the best cost for them. Stacey Simms 15:15 Mike, you're going to have to forgive me as we move forward, we're going to start moving into more of a cynical part of the questions here, because as you've already alluded to problems is the rabbit hole. And we know I mentioned Nova log and human log, I mentioned that our insurance doesn't like human log to the point where and I've shared this story in the show, my son has done really well with it for many years. So when we changed insurance, I did not want to change insulins. So we took a it took a long time and some fighting, but I was able to use the coupons for human log, and we get human log for about $35 a month for all of the insulin that my son needs, which would be less, I believe, then if I were to use my insurance coverage, and get novolog or ReliOn at Walmart, I still feel like even though this will save some people some money, it just kind of feels like we're moving pieces around on the board. I guess my question would be for Walmart is how did you arrive at this price? Did you have to do you know? Did you have to set it a certain way to get the deal with novolog? This is gonna sound terrible. Do you throw darts at a board? I mean, who does for some people, it's going to be more expensive than what they're paying now. And I get some people will save money. But how did you come up with the price. Michael Burke 16:29 So for us, we are one piece of the equation. As we've mentioned, healthcare is very complicated, especially the financial flows of healthcare. And so Walmart is one part of the financial equation as the dispensing pharmacy. We also have a distribution network and other assets that we utilize within Walmart. And so what we have done is taken all of our assets, tried to remove as many of the middlemen as possible. And put all of that back into the customer savings, customer pocket. We can't control all the levers there are in healthcare, but where we can we put it right back into the customers price, we truly mean it and Walmart and especially Walmart, health and wellness of the lives better and save money, right? Save money live betters Walmart from from the core, that's the only way that we could do so was was to take where we could remove some of the excess costs, and put it into that cash price, very complicated on the back end of who's making what decisions on formulary, and additional savings and eligibility for manufacturer discounts and coupons and on down the line. We can't control all of those. But what we can do is continue to take whatever we can out of that cost that inflation cost in the insulin and put it right back in to the cash price. And in that effort, hope to continue to drive down the overall cost of insulin to the marketplace. Stacey Simms 18:06 Can you share? Is this an exclusive contract with Walmart? This was another question from one of my listeners, do you In other words, could other providers like Express Scripts? Or even Amazon You know, one of these folks that's getting into the pharmaceutical, you know, medication supply side? Could this be a first step toward other people doing something similar or is this exclusive, Michael Burke 18:27 so the ReliOn private brand and exclusive for Walmart, that is our our trademark brand at Walmart for insulin and diabetic supplies products. So others couldn't utilize our ReliOn but we hope that this is part of other stepping up and and also looking to see how they can impact the space, how they can drive down costs. For us, it would be a great win if there was... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20455223

In the News... new info on COVID and diabetes, bioartificial pancreas research, a T1D superhero movie and more! 09/10/2021

In the News... new info on COVID and diabetes, bioartificial pancreas research, a T1D superhero movie and more! It's "In the News..." the top diabetes headlines of the past seven days. This week: Why is COVID more dangerous with diabetes? A new study says technology (like pumps and CGMs) doesn't help "Diabetes Distress," more screening recommended for "social risk" of type 2, bioartificial pancreas research and there's a T1D Superhero movie in the works! -- Links and transcript below ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, on your own schedule. XX In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Find their Entrée Bowls and all of their great products in your local grocery store, Target or Costco. XX Our top story this week.. type 2 diabetes has been identified for a while now as one of the main risk factors for severe COVID-19. New research from the University of Michigan says the culprit appears to be an enzyme called SETDB2, which is part of the reason why wounds don’t heal well in some people with diabetes. Put very simply, as levels of this enzyme went down, inflammation during COVID went up. There is already a protein – Interferon – that is known to increase levels of this enzyme.. These researchers hope their findings will help in clinical trials of interferon or other treatments. They also say it’s important to go through a patient’s medical history to better target treatment for COVID. XX Interesting study about young adults and what these researchers call Diabetes Distress. The study shows Distress – which they don’t really define, but what sounds like depression or burnout or other mental health struggles – is associated with higher A1Cs. Not too much of a surprise, but they also found it doesn’t matter if these young adults using insulin pumps or CGMs or just multiple daily injections. This Yale study was done by looking at past surveys of more than 400 people aged 18-29 in NY. They found that while users of insulin pumps and CGMs have overall lower A1Cs, the benefit of device use diminishes when high diabetes distress is present. https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20210908/diabetes-distress-associated-with-higher-hba1c-for-young-adults-regardless-of-device-use XX Certain racial and ethnic minorities develop type 2 diabetes at a younger age than white Americans. That means , current diabetes screening and prevention practices for them may be inadequate and inequitable This Northwestern Medicine study says American adults are diagnosed with type 2 at an average age of 50, but for Black and Mexican American adults it’s 4 to 7 years earlier. And more than 25% of that group report a diagnosis before turning 40. Recommended screening time is important not just for better health but because screenings are almost always only covered by insurance when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends them. If that sounds familiar, that’s the group that recently announced new guidelines that lowered the recommended age from 40 to 35 to start screening adults who are overweight or obese for type 2 diabetes. Future research should consider whether even earlier screening is indicated among individuals with exposure to social risks, the study authors said. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-black-mexican-american-adults-diabetes.html XX Very early on but promising results for what’s being called a bio- artificial pancreas. This is a tiny implantable device that holds insulin-secreting cells in a compartment protecting them from the body's autoimmune response. The micro-encapsulation device has the potential to be an autonomous system that would not require constant refilling and replacement of insulin cartridges, according to these researchers. The prototype has two separate chambers — one that collects nutrients from the device's surroundings, and one that houses the protected cells. Lots of work before this one’s ready for clinical trials https://interestingengineering.com/a-bioartificial-pancreas-could-substantially-enhance-type-1-diabetes-treatment XX More to come, including news about a T1D superhero movie, but first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good They make nutritious foods— grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients— I was in Target this week and I saw the new Entrée bowls, I bought the Lemon Chicken and the Lasagna. The Lemon chicken was great! It uses hearts of palm pasta instead of regular noodles which I thought sounded odd but really tasted good. They keep adding to the menu line! You can buy online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com. Back to the news… And a Big boost for diabetes camps. Lilly Diabetes will commit nearly $1 million over the next three years in a joint effort with the Helmsley Charitable Trust to the Type 1 Diabetes Camps Initiative. The money is going specifically to non-profit diabetes camping organizations nationwide serving low-income youth living with T1D. and help diabetes camps adapt to the physical requirements of COVID-19 and better serve youth living with T1D via capital improvements. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lilly-diabetes-joins-the-leona-m-and-harry-b-helmsley-charitable-trust-to-pledge-significant-funding-to-type-1-diabetes-camps-initiative-301368797.html XX A new movie with a superhero who lives with type 1 is coming to theaters next summer. Called “Gum-she: The Type 1 Protector,” it’s created by Jermaine Hargrove, diagnosed with type one 15 years ago as an adult. The main character Justice Johnson has diabetes but it’s not the cause of her superpower. That comes from the bubble gum she’s always chewing and she’s able to shoot gum from her palms to help her save the world. The American Diabetes Association is partnering on the film and promoting it.. one of the big themes is health equity.. There is a great article in diabetes mine all about this, I’ll link that up. In it, Hargrove says Bubble gum brings everyone together. Like music: it’s everywhere.” I’m excited about this – but I have to say – if this had come out when my kids were little – I would be hiding all of the bubble gum. If you watch the teaser trailer – she is shooting bubble gum everywhere! Using it to create bridges and running around like spider man. So.. it looks really cute but knowing my kids? Again.. I’d have to hide the gum. Watch for the trailer on world diabetes day – nov 14. The full film will be released next summer. XX Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode - The episode out right now is with Ethan Orr – the Colorado high school swimmer removed from his meet because of his the medical tape over his CGM. And send me your Dear Dr. Banting audio! What would you say to the man credited with the discovery of insulin? All the details and how to send it to me is in the show notes. That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20425367

Pulled from a meet for his CGM's tape, a high school swimmer with T1D speaks out 09/07/2021

Pulled from a meet for his CGM's tape, a high school swimmer with T1D speaks out A high school swimmer with diabetes is told he can’t compete at the state championships because of his CGM’s medical tape. It's a story that's been all over social media and national news outlets. What really happened here? We talk to Ethan Orr and his mother, Amanda Terrell-Orr. They explain what happened that day, what they’d like to see change and what we can all do to protect our rights when it comes to diabetes. Also this week! Send us your "Dear Dr. Banting" audio! This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcription below: Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health. Manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar and by Dexcom help make knowledge your superpower with the Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitoring system. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week, you've likely seen the story of a high school swimmer with diabetes told he can't compete at the state championships because of the CGM, his medical team what really happened here, we talked to Ethan Orr and his mother. Amanda Terrell-Orr 0:41 The whole point of the rule is to prevent a swimmer from having a competitive advantage. You would not have to be someone who understood type 1 diabetes to look at what even had on his arm and know that of course that would not cause the competitive advantage. Of course, it was just medical tape covering up a medical device. Stacey Simms 1:00 Amanda Terrell Orr and 16 year old Ethan join me to explain in their own words, what happened that day, what they'd like to see change and what we can all do to protect our rights when it comes to diabetes. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. Always so glad to have you here. We aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. I'm your host, Stacey Simms, my son, Benny was diagnosed with type one right before he turned two. That was almost 15 years ago. My husband lives with type two diabetes. I don't have diabetes, I have a background in broadcasting. And that is how you get the podcast. Before we jump in. I need your help. I am trying something for November. I want to hear your dear Dr. Banting stories and letters. I posted this on social media. If you're in the Facebook group Diabetes Connections of the group or you get my emails, you will be seeing this this week and for the next couple of weeks. Because all the month of September. I'm asking you to record some audio. It's very simple. Just do it on your phone. As part of the dear Dr. Banting exhibit. We talked to the folks at Banting house the museum where Dr. Frederick Banting had his eureka moment where he came up with the idea that led to the discovery of insulin with other people. But Banting house has an exhibit called dear Dr. Banting. And I go much more in depth on this. It's a Diabetes connections.com. It's on my social media. I'm asking you, what would you say if you could thank Dr. Banting for yourself for your child? Right, just thank him. So all the specifics are in the show notes. Basically just try to keep it to a minute. I'd like to play these back during the month of November. I'm really looking forward to what you have to say. Don't worry about making it perfect. Just try not to have too much background noise use your phone's voice memo app doesn't have to be anything fancy and send it to me Stacy at Diabetes connections.com I cannot wait to hear what you have to say. Alright if you haven't heard and boy this was all over social media last week and this week. Here's a quick synopsis of what has been reported. Amanda and Ethan will go much more in depth and and frankly set a few things straight that were reported a little bit inaccurately even has type 1 diabetes. He was diagnosed at age 10. He wears a Dexcom G6 he uses simpatch the brand of the tape is not important, but you should know that he wears the medical tape over the Dexcom as many people do, and that's pretty much what does that issue here. He also wears a Tandem t slim x two pump that he removes most of the time when he swims. Ethan swam all season for his high school in Colorado Springs. No issue he had the CGM on for every meet. But at the state championship, as you'll hear, it became an issue. And I'll let me tell that story. But you should know going in is that this is not a lawsuit. The family is not suing for damages or anything like that they filed a complaint with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. This is not about money. And you may have also heard that the CHS at the Colorado high school activities Association, which is receiving the complaint here. They say that Ethan did not have a signed medical authorization to have something like this. Well, he has a signed 504 plan. So does that overrule? Or could that be looked at is in place of what they're talking about in terms of medical authorization to wear tape in the pool because it applies to his diabetes and his diabetes medical management plan, USA swim, that governing body does allow medical tape. So there's a lot going on here and I think it's more in depth. And then you've seen in certainly a lot of these media reports, as well done as they are, you know, these people don't speak diabetes, they don't cover diabetes on a regular basis. So it's really excited that Amanda and Ethan agreed to come on and share their story where we could really kind of drill down and figure out what happened here and more importantly to me learn what we can all do to prepare our kids for sports and to kind of learn what we can all do to stand up for ourselves when it comes to diabetes. Right. Okay, so quick housekeeping note, I'm nosy I like to talk to people so we set the table for a while here I talk about his diagnosis story how he adjusted to swimming you know all that kind of stuff. So if you're just here for the lawsuit stuff, we don't talk about the actual swim meet until about 12 minutes into the interview. So you could go ahead and skip ahead I'm not offended but just know that there's some getting to know you stuff that happens before we talk about the nitty gritty Alright, Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen and when you have diabetes and use insulin, low blood sugar can happen when you don't expect it. That's what most of us carry fast acting sugar and in the case of very low blood sugar, why do we carry emergency glucagon there's a new option called Gvoke Hypopen the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar Gvoke Hypopen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle in usability studies. 99% of people were able to give Gvoke correctly find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke Logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit Gvoke glucagon comm slash risk. Amanda and Ethan, thank you so much. We did this on short notice I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story. Amanda Terrell-Orr 6:27 You're welcome. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Stacey Simms 6:31 And Ethan, you got up pretty early to do this. I am East Coast, your West Coast. So I appreciate that very much. Ethan Orrr 6:35 It's all good. Stacey Simms 6:39 Let's back up a little bit before we jump into what happened here and the lawsuit and everything. Amanda, let me start with you. Tell me your diagnosis story. Amanda Terrell-Orr 6:48 Sure. So Ethan was 10 when he was diagnosed, and our diagnosis story, I think is fairly typical of other people we had noticed, Ethan's teachers had noticed that we had noticed that he was going to the bathroom way more than usual. So I took him to his pediatrician and expressed some concern about that didn't really know what might be happening. They did a test of his urine. And it didn't show any kinds of problems with sugar or ketones or anything like that. So we just sort of stopped at that point. And then you know, weeks go by, and this is still happening. We went on a small vacation and even drank all the bottled water that we had, and was still going to the bathroom all the time. And then the day before Easter that year even had been kind of wrestling with a friend. And he started to be short of breath. And he also felt like really like something was wrong. So the morning of Easter, we wake up and I look in his mouth, and I see white spots in his mouth. And I say to him, it's time we need to go to urgent care. So in the back of my mind this whole time has been some education that I saw on a friend's Facebook post about type 1 diabetes, her son has type one. And she always posts educational information. And so in the back of my mind, I was thinking, I wonder if the test whatever they did at the pediatrician was wrong. So we go to urgent care, they test them for strep throat, of course. And then I mentioned to the doctor that I'm concerned because of these other symptoms. The doctor, of course, has someone test his blood sugar. And luckily for him, it wasn't extremely high. He wasn't NDK. But urgent care at that time, send us directly to the hospital. So Ethan really stayed a day in the hospital. And the next morning, we were able to connect with the Barbara Davis center part of Children's Hospital in Colorado. It's an excellent place for treatment of kids with type one. So we were able to go there and immediately start connecting with resources and other families and of course, like, like everyone after diagnosis, drinking from the firehose to try to figure out how are we going to live in this new life? Stacey Simms 9:10 Even What do you remember that time? Ethan Orrr 9:12 I remember during the day before with all the symptoms that I would wake up in the middle of the night like to use the restroom. I didn't know what diabetes was immediately in the car. So mom was tearing up a little bit on our way to the hospital. And she when I asked asked, like, what is diabetes? She's like, well, you're gonna be getting quite a few shots today. Because like home, right? No, I like I thought she was kidding. At first cuz I've never heard of some like that. The beginning is I was just in shock a little bit. But then like, I slowly edged in or wet or things will be good. Nothing's gonna change too much. Stacey Simms 9:53 I don't want to fast forward too much as we're getting to, you know, the news story here, but you're 16 now, so Were those six years. Obviously you play sports, did things kind of go to a better place? Do you feel like you guys managed it pretty well? Ethan Orrr 10:08 Right? When I got diabetes, I was still competing, swimming wise, and I was trying to swim for the Colorado torpedoes in Manitou. At the time I, I had my CGM, but it didn't work in the water was a different type of CGM. So my phone couldn't connect in I was in a spot where I was close to my honeymoon period. And so we had a we are way too many troubles, trying to like dangerous troubles trying to be able to swim that year. So I ended up just pulling out, you know, we made a family decision is too dangerous, because I could feel my blood, like when I went low or high or anything like that isn't that low? This year, at the beginning of the season, we are a little bit of a problem. Not a little, there's a big problem at the beginning of the season, because my body wasn't ready and adjusted for stuff like that. So I had a lot of very, very bad lows during some practice for like about a month. And then it finally picked up and I was completely fine after that. And I was able to swim very well with the rest of it without blood sugar issues. Stacey Simms 11:16 Amanda, let me switch over to you. Tell me about that experience. Because I know with my son, every seat Well, first of all, he changes sports every couple of years, which is bananas, because we figure it out. And then he moves on. So what was swimming? Like? Yeah, you hear you, Amanda Terrell-Orr 11:29 I hear you. Yes, we have that experience as well. It sounds like our kids are similar that way Ethan likes to jump around sports. So he had been even been competitive swimming for not an insignificant amount of time, I would say when he was diagnosed, and it was just in that honeymoon period and learning everything. And being just terrified of every significant low. You know, at the beginning, those things seem really insurmountable. Because even had a couple of really scary lows, it was also kind of affecting his confidence to stay in swimming. So sadly, something that he really loves. What we said is we put it on pause. We didn't think it would be on pause this long. But it was really Ethan's choice. And so we were really happy this season, when he chose swimming again. And then he started swimming, and everything that we thought we knew about management of his diabetes changed in some ways. And in Ethan's case, he was he's very active, he's very fit. But his body was not used to the kinds of energy that need to be expended to swim in particular. So we tried all the things, all the tricks, all the tips that everybody gave us. And he was still having really significant lows, having to be assisted out of the pool sometimes. But to his credit, and one of the things I'm so proud of him for is that he swam right through that he had to sit out of practice a lot because of low blood sugars. But he still kept going every day. And he believed us when we said your team is going to help you and by team I meant his endocrinology team, and also athletes with type 1 diabetes. So we threw out questions out there into the social media world and got great advice from other people, athletes with type one. And we combine that with the guidance from our endocrinologist and Ethan's body also adjusted to the swimming. And so at the end of all of that he was at the end of the season, he was really doing pretty well in terms of being able to swim safely. So we were very proud of how he came through this season. You know, to be honest, as a person without type 1 diabetes, and an adult. I don't think I would have done that. It was very, very hard, but he stuck it through and was fortunate enough to be able to go to the state championships. Stacey Simms 14:01 He said I'm curious what worked. Looking back on all of that. Right back to Ethan answering my question, but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health and bottom line you need a plan of action with diabetes. We've been very lucky Benny's endo has helped us with that and he understands the plan has to change. As Benny gets older, you want that kind of support. So take your diabetes management to the next level with Dario health. Their published Studies demonstrate high impact results for active users like improved in range percentage within three months. reduction of A1C was in three months and a 58% decrease in occurrences of severe hypoglycemic events. Try Dario’s diabetes success plan and make a difference in your diabetes management could have my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections for more proven results and for information about the plan. Now back to Ethan explaining how they got his blood sugar more stable during and after swimming. Ethan Orrr 15:03 So to be honest, the only reason it worked, I in my body got adjusted. At the beginning of it, I would have to take seven juices, maybe practice a, like during the entire thing, not not like a one point. But like throughout of like a one hour practice is really bad. But something that we did is I had gummies like little energy energy jam. Yeah, it's like the glucose gels. Yeah, we had glucose gels next to it. Because if you have too many fluids, with swimming, you can get nauseous, especially with it being juicing and eating granola bars before you, when something very hard tends not to work out very well to something that's like flexible with your stomach. So it's not like you're eating like a valley granola bar, and then you're going into pool and wanting to puke. Amanda Terrell-Orr 16:03 Yeah, even some of the things that you're maybe not remembering because they just became so routine for us is suspending his pump. like two hours before practice making sure he didn't have any insulin on board keyword also, toward the end there where we were waiting for his body to adjust, he would have the equivalent of a meal, about an hour before practice with no insulin to cover it. And he would still getting into the water, those first bit of time would still go very low in a short period of time. So then he would have to sit out like he was saying, you know, have a lot of juice. And then he would be nauseous and not able to swim as well. What the doctor kept telling us is, you know, hang in there, we're going to figure this out, your body's going to adjust. And sure enough that ended up happening. But those are the kinds of things that we had to try in the early part of the season. Stacey Simms 16:57 Sounds very familiar. My son's first wrestling practice freshman year of high school, he ate 85 uncovered carbs and still would not go above 70. Yeah, I was able. Amanda Terrell-Orr 17:09 Yeah, the other thing that was really challenging that we had never experienced before, but we know that other people have since we reached out is overnight. Well, after practice, Ethan would have lows that would last for hours, no matter how many carbs we would give him. So then we would have to get to the point where we were micro dosing glucagon with the advice of his doctor in his circumstance to try to bring his blood sugar back up. But there were nights where my husband and I were up for four hours at a time just trying to get his blood sugar into a safe range. And this year, is the first time in all of those years, he's had diabetes, that we had to ask for emergency medical assistance for a very severe low. So it was a really, really difficult time. But what we like to think about that, and you know, he's very resilient, he got through that time. And you know, the type one community was really helpful in helping us come up with ways that we could try to address these big problems that we're facing. Stacey Simms 18:14 So you brought up the state championships. Let's just jump into that now and talk about what happened and the basis of the lawsuit. And you know, what you hope to accomplish here, but start by telling me and Amanda, let me ask you what happened at the state championships. Amanda Terrell-Orr 18:29 So the summary version of that, that I would say is that even had several events that day, they were all relay events, which means that he was competing as part of a small team of other swimmers. He had swam to those events. And the last event of the day would have been his final relay event swim. He was standing at the side of the pool with another student next to a referee, and the referee asked Ethan about what was on his arm. And so Ethan explained, of course, that it was a continuous glucose monitor that it measured his blood sugar that it was for type 1 diabetes, and that he had the patch over it to keep it on during swimming, which every athlete knows that everybody's body's different, but you are more likely to need extra cover over your CGM when you're sweating or swimming or that kind of thing. So the referee asked... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20380451

In the News.. CGM Disqualifies High School Swimmer, Dexcom Smoothing, T2 Remission and more! 09/03/2021

In the News.. CGM Disqualifies High School Swimmer, Dexcom Smoothing, T2 Remission and more! This week "In the News.." Did wearing a CGM in the water disqualify a high school swimmer? What his family says happened and why they're suing. The ADA wants to start using the word "remission" instead of "reversed" for type 2 diabetes - we'll talk about why. Dexcom says they are no long smoothing data, new migraine and diabetes research and T1Interntioanl is out with their latest survey results about the price and use of insulin. each Wednesday at 4:30pm EDT! ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcript below Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments - where we are live - and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, whenever you want. XX In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Find them in your local grocery store, Target or Costco. Real Food You Feel Good About Eating. XX Top story this week.. A discrimination complaint against the Colorado High School Activities Association has been filed with the U.S. Department of Justice. At issue? A student was disqualified for wearing his continuous glucose monitor. Ethan Orr is a 16-year-old swimmer whose team qualified for the state championships. According to his attorney Orr wore a blood glucose monitor taped to his arm during seven prior matches, including the one in which his team qualified for the state championships, with no issue. But at this meet, the ref said Orr would not be allowed to swim in his last race because of his glucose monitor and tape. They didn’t have a sub so the whole team was disqualified. The attorney says, “This is simply blatant discrimination against a kid with a disability, and it led to unnecessary and unfair consequences to him, his teammates, and the school,” According to the lawsuit, Orr is protected under two federal laws - the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. I’ve reached out to the local reporter on this story and hope to talk to the family soon XX People with type 2 diabetes should be considered in remission after sustaining normal blood glucose levels for three months or more without medication. That’s a new consensus statement from the American Diabetes Association® and several other international groups. They recommend testing every year to determine long term maintenance. The real news here - as I see it - is trying to get people to stop saying “Reversal” or “cure” when it comes to diabetes. The statement here doesn’t seem to be about the science, but says the word remission “strikes an appropriate balance” between the diabetes not being active and progressive, but also recognizing improvement may not be permanent. https://www.diabetes.org/newsroom/press-releases/2021/international-experts-outline-diabetes-remission-diagnosis-criteria XX Got lots of comments and questions about some changes noticed on the Dexcom G6 app recently. Turns out, Dexcom has removed what’s called data smoothing from its most recent update. As of August 9th they say “The Dexcom G6 app used to smooth all but your current reading on your trend graph. With data smoothing, there can be some differences between the G6 reading you see in real time (the white circle) and the G6 readings you see in the past on your graph (black dots). I’m showing a photo here - I’ll post this with the podcast episode for those listening. To avoid these differences, we removed data smoothing from the Dexcom G6 app in the 1.9 release, but the Follow app and Receiver continue to smooth past CGM data. We will remove smoothing in an upcoming Follow app release to match the G6 app, but we don’t plan to remove data smoothing from the Receiver.” These differences don’t affect the real-time glucose data, alarm, or alerts. Honestly, I’m not sure why they’re doing this or why they smoothed in the first place.. but we’ll follow up and try to find out more XX Not a lot of answers here, but this is interesting.. apparently, people with type 2 diabetes are unlikely to develop migraines and people who get regular migraines are less likely to develop diabetes. To find out why.. scientists are looking at two small proteins that are linked to migraine and drive production of insulin. This team from the University of Tennessee says some of the newer treatments for migraines could increase the risk of diabetes because of the use of these proteins. They want to figure out how to prevent that. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/research/mouse-study-shows-how-causes-behind-migraine-pain-can-improve-diabetes-treatment XX T1International is out with results of their 2020 global out of pocket cost survey for people with type 1 diabetes. Worldwide, one out of every four respondents reported having under-used their insulin at least once within the last year due to high cost. 63.2% of participants reported disruption of insulin supplies and 25.3% reported an increase of insulin prices related to the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve conducted this survey every two years since 2016, adding additional questions each year. This time, the Results were published as a research paper in the Journal of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, linked in the show notes. https://www.t1international.com/access-survey/ XX More to come, including news about a rare form of diabetes, but first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good They make nutritious foods - grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients - I was in Target this week and I saw the new Entrée bowls, I bought the Lemon Chicken and the Lasagna. The Lemon chicken was great! It uses hearts of palm pasta instead of regular noodles which I thought sounded odd but really tasted good. They keep adding to the menu line! You can buy online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com. Back to the news.. XX This is from the UK but I think it’s an important reminder that there are more than 2 types of diabetes. It’s new plan to discover and treat mono-genetic diabetes. That’s caused by a single gene mutation - although the specific gene affected can differ. The condition occurs in two types, neonatal - which can occur within - and MODY that develops later, often before the age of 25. About 2% of all diabetes cases are thought to be monogenetic.. the National Health System in England is forming a new training and treatment program to make sure these patients received the correct treatment sooner. XX And finally, thousands of people in the path of Hurricane Ida are still without power and possibly need help getting their medication. I want to make you aware of the Diabetes Disaster Response Coalition (DDRC). This is a coalition of lots of diabetes groups - if you need immediate help or want to plan for an emergency, they have the resources. Physicians and health care providers can call 1-314-INSULIN to report diabetes supply shortages and request support. People with diabetes and their loved ones can call 1-800-DIABETES (800.342.2383) is available to support people with diabetes and their loved ones for more information. https://diabetesdisasterresponse.org XX Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode -Tuesday - we’re talking to the folks from Walmart about their deal with Novo to sell their own brand of Novolog Insulin.. The episode out right now is with MannKind, makers of Afrezza inhalable insulin. That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon. /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20359079

All About Afrezza Inhalable Insulin with CEO Mike Castagna 08/31/2021

All About Afrezza Inhalable Insulin with CEO Mike Castagna How much do you really know about the only inhalable insulin? This week, Stacey interviews the CEO of MannKind, makers of Afrezza. Mike Castagna talks about how Afrezza works, misconceptions about the product, the worldwide market, pediatric studies and lots more. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcription below: Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week all about Afrezza How much do you really know about the inhalable Insulet. I had a great conversation with the people who make it Mike Castagna 0:34 For me, it's about using the right product to meet your needs to get you in control. And if you're doing well, great, we're going to avoid the long term complications. But if you're not doing your health, and you gotta really try to find the best set of tools, they're gonna make you successful and fit your lifestyle. Stacey Simms 0:47 That's mankind CEO Mike Castagna. We talked about how Afrezza works misconceptions the worldwide market pediatric studies and lots more. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. We so glad to have you here we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. And this week, we're talking about the use of the only inhalable insulin, my son was diagnosed with type one right before he turned two, he is 16. My husband has type two diabetes, I don't have diabetes at all. But I have a background in broadcasting. And that is how you get the podcast, I have to say that personally, my family is very interested in Afrezza Benny really would like to try this seat. Of course, as I mentioned in that tease up there, they're looking at pediatrics, he is still under 18. So it's not proof for his age group. But we're watching it really closely. And I have a lot of friends. A lot of bloggers and people in the diabetes community have talked about this for years. And some things have changed. So I wanted to have them on the show and find out more. So a little bit of background for you. If you are brand new to all this, Afrezza was approved in the United States in 2014. And the company that makes it is mankind. For a while it was sold by Santa Fe, but then mankind took it back. It's one of those things where sometimes the business side seems to have gotten more attention than the product itself. So what is Afrezza it is a powder, it comes in cartridges, and you suck it in you inhale it with a special inhaler device. To me, it looks more like a whistle than a traditional inhaler like an asthma inhaler. It's not like a big tube. I'll link up some photos in the show notes. I'll also link up the Afrezza website so you can learn more and see their information. And my guest this week is Dr. Mike Castagna, the CEO of mankind now he has a Doctorate of pharmacy, he worked as a pharmacist behind the counter for CVS at the start of his career. But then he went back to school and he got an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. He's fun to talk to he doesn't mince words, and he truly believes in this product, I do have to tell you that Mike mentions monomeric insulin a couple of times, I'm going to come back after the interview and explain more about that give you a better definition. All you really need to know is that it's faster than how liquid insulin is made. And all of that in just a moment. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Daario. And over the years I find we manage diabetes better when we're thinking less about all the stuff of diabetes tasks. That's why I love partnering with people who take the load off on things like ordering supplies, so I can really focus on Benny, the Dario diabetes success plan is all about you all the strips and lancets you need delivered to your door, one on one coaching so you can meet your milestones, weekly insights into your trends with suggestions on how to succeed, get the diabetes management plan that works with you and for you, Daria is published Studies demonstrate high impact clinical results, find out more go to my dario.com forward slash Diabetes Connections. Mike, thanks for joining me, I'm really excited to catch up. And look, I'm stuttering because I can't believe this is the first time we're talking to you. But thanks for coming on. Oh, thank you, Rodney. I'm super excited before we jump in and start talking about Afrezza Can you give us some perspective kind of dial back because mankind is not. It's not a name that came out of nowhere? There's really important history. Can you kind of talk about that a little bit first? Mike Castagna 4:14 Sure. Mankind comes from our founder named after Al Mann and Al Mann was a true innovator. He started I think 17 companies and everything from the cochlear implant to the pacemaker to insulin pumps that many of us know today as Medtronic used to be called mini med. And Al Mann built the insulin pumps over the 80s and 90s and was very successful and sold that company to Medtronic. And then he took literally $1 billion of his own money and invested in mankind. And he had put this company together through three companies he owned the technology to make Afrezza was really a combination of companies and the reason he was so dedicated as he saw in the pump market, which we now see today on CGM was that the variability in mealtime control was so high and the fluctuations you see that the influence takes about an hour and a half to kick in. And it's hard to get real time control if you can't get a faster acting insulin. And so he set out to make a real time acting insulin, so phrases and hailed as monomeric. And that was really what the magic was in our technology making a dry powder was was free dryness, if you heard of dippin dots ice cream, we have basically large dipping machines in our factory, but we free dry the particles to make a freezer and under stabilize the monomeric form. So when you're inhaling, you're inhaling influenza, as soon as it's in your blood is active, or when you inject it has to hold hexamer and has to break down there were about 45 minutes. And that's how you can make it stabilize an injectable form. But it has to break down and then it starts working. And that's why there's always this lag effect between we see injectable and foam in and help us is very different products were categorized with real time rapid acting, but the name mankind comes from elmen and the guy who probably 60% of people on pumps have their own pumps that he created. So amazing gentlemen, huge contributions to diabetes and millions of people were alive today because of his work and his generosity and roven to take that forward here and kids and frozen inhaled insulin. Stacey Simms 6:06 I mean, never look at dippin dots the same again. Mike Castagna 6:10 I see a large factory of they don't like it, you know, we can always make different types of things don't go well. Stacey Simms 6:15 I love it. Let me ask you to go into a little bit more detail about how someone who uses Afrezza would actually use it. Can you talk a little bit about like a daily routine? Mike Castagna 6:25 Yeah, I mean, I know, you know, well, you're in this disease. I mean, people sometimes graze all day, and they just kind of ride their sugars and take a little bit some along the way or many boluses. And some people you know, eat once or twice a day, or some people, you know, carb restricted and everyone has a different way. And I think that you know, the big thing difference was for the patients that I see is, it's in the moment, meaning you don't have to time your meal and your insulin, when you're going to take it and where you're going to be. As soon as your food arrives. You take your first dose. Stacey Simms 6:50 Most people I know who use Afrezza take a long acting insulin with it. Is that pretty standard for people with type one? Mike Castagna 6:57 Yeah, I'll take one year, right? Yeah, you need a basal insulin of some sort, you know, and, and a meal time was held, we do have some patients on pumps where they will use their punches for their basil, for example, and use a phrase for real time corrections. So you know, the average patient is very different. We have some patients that are type twos, you know not not on any basil, you'll need to be on basil for if you're type two. But if you're type one, you need to basil, long acting insulin, and you need your meal time. And we know the biggest problem in this country is still mealtime control is the number one thing people with diabetes struggle with. And it's a big reason why, you know, six, or seven or eight, you know, eight out of 10 people basically are not a goal on insulin because of the mealtime control. So it's a daily challenge for everybody. Stacey Simms 7:39 Can you talk a little bit about how Afrezza is kind of measured out? Because when we think of mealtime, insulin, everything's a carb ratios. And especially as I mentioned, if you're on an insulin pump, you're you're putting in the carbs that you eat. So how does that work? Mike Castagna 7:51 Yeah, it's funny, I get into many debates with people because, you know, I'm a pharmacist by training, but I'm not the smartest guy. But I couldn't do all the work people do every day to influence sensitivity ratios and carb counting and timing. And all I can tell you is everyone's masks off by 50%, one direction or another. And so we have this false pretense that we're that accurate. And dosing are influenced by down to the half a unit or one unit. And the reality is your angle of injection can decrease, you know, change your absorption by 25%, your site of injection can change absorption, your your stress level can change your impact with your insulin, there's so many things that go into your daily dosing of insulin, that, you know, being that precise, down to the unit is not as accurate as we all think. And I think that's that's one of the misnomers of, you know, the timing is what you really struggle with when you're using injectable insulin, and you just don't know what's going to happen. You know, when people I guess doctors often you know, you don't have to carb count with Afrezza . And they give me funny looks. And the reality is, you know, we've never done a study where you're carb counting to get your dose of insulin, that's, you know, so becomes a four 812 dose linear all the way up to 48 units, it's additive, and you just got to be close enough. And so it's about a two to one ratio, you know, there's no direct pulmonary equivalent to injectable insulin, unfortunately, but, you know, people are taking five units of injectable insulin per meal, they're gonna need about eight units of Afrezza and maybe even 12. And you're gonna figure that out, it's your first meal or two what what the right dose is for you. But you just got to be close enough. And that's a big misunderstanding for people of how accurate the dose has to be. This is the sixth dose cartridge is a big problem. I know plenty of type one patients who take for a 1224 meal, especially they haven't Chinese food or sushi, they just they dose a lot. So I think that's something people have been comfortable, so dramatically different than anything they've ever been trained or taught in their history of living with diabetes. Stacey Simms 9:36 I would assume that a prescription for Afrezza comes with a doctor's visit where someone whether it's someone who works for Afrezza, or the endocrinologist talks to you about how to do this dosing. You said you figure it out, but I've got to assume that you're not just sending people home with this inhalable and say, just test it, I mean, right somebody, you're at a ratio Mike Castagna 9:59 and I think That's the key thing is, you know, having patients understand because it's odorless and tasteless. So you inhale, and you're like, what did I get it? And I'm like, yeah, if you inhaled, and I have the second, it's in your blood, it's in your lungs, it's breath activated. So you can't really, of course, you can try to mess up something. But we have something called Blue Hill, where we can show proper inhalation technique in the office on an iPhone app or an Android. And so you know, we hope that patients are being trained either by our trainers or the doctors offices, and will propagation technique looks like that's number one. And then number two is the right dosing. And as you know, individualized dosing is important and fun. And, again, that's why I say we take a lot of the math out because it's either gonna be a four or an eight, and all of a sudden, you're like, Oh my god, I'm gonna take an eight units, it's a lot it's really not when you're taking inhalation units versus injectable units and that's what people got to get comfortable with if their first or second dose so they really do figure out this meal did this or pizza is going to take longer so pick another dose and now our people do figure it out pretty much within the first week. And then there's one thing actually I want to mention because I often forget this is because injectable insulin is such a long tail it's in your body for four to six hours before it's out and that feeds into your basal rate your long acting and so when people switch over presence pretty much out of your body in a net roughly an hour and a half. Sometimes people need to adjust their basil and that's something to watch out for if you do switch to Afrezza enter you're struggling with with some of the basil rates. Some patients you know I hear people anecdotally you know, we don't want to study their the bump up their basil 10 15% on Lantus. And I've heard patients on to see that because it does have that long tail of down there in front sometimes on the basil. So there are the other metrics patients have to watch out for when they are switching to the product. It's not just the uptime, it's also something that basil where you look at Stacey Simms 11:38 I have a question and I i apologize because it's a it's a bit ridiculous. I'm gonna ask it anyway. Right back to the interview in just a moment. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen. And our endo always told us that if you use insulin, you need to have emergency glucagon on hand as well. Low blood sugars are one thing we're usually able to treat those with fast acting glucose tabs or juice. But a very low blood sugar can be very frightening. Which is why I'm so glad there's a different option for emergency glucagon, it's Gvoke Hypopen. Gvoke Hypopen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle, you pull off the red cap, push the yellow end onto bare skin and hold it for five seconds. That's it, find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma. Visit Gvoke glucagon.com slash risk. Now back to my interview with Mike, where I will ask that ridiculous question. You had mentioned it's tasteless, odorless, I recall hearing and I'll have to fact check this. But I recall hearing that years ago dandruff shampoo, they had to add like that tingly feeling because people didn't think it was working like it's totally fake. But people just didn't believe it was a medicated shampoo because it didn't have an unpleasant sensation. Have you thought or talked at all about adding like a flavor or a feeling to so people really know that they got it? Or is that just really bananas? Mike Castagna 13:12 If somebody might company come and talk to you ahead of time? There's somebody internally who wants us to look at like cherry flavor Afrezza especially as they go into pediatrics? And the answer is, look, there's blueberry Metformin because the metformin smells awful and tastes awful, probably. So you know, those things are possible. We've never done them. And to my knowledge in this industry with dry powders, it is a question that came up recently. Is that should we be thinking about the cherry flavor Afrezza or some other flavor? And I think the answer is TBD. We I don't know what the date is on inhaling the food coloring dye or whatever. Yeah. But that's some of the stuff we have to justify that it's safe and effective. And along with FDA would want us to test but they come up recently and another internal discussion. And since you're asking, I think we'll look at it, even if maybe there's a way to even show a placebo, that's a cherry flavor or something right a one time dose to see what it's like. So I don't know. But now, but people like I said, it's sometimes you get a call, like you know, when you take a phrase of one out of four people will get a cough initially. And generally there were the first four weeks that cough goes away 97% of the people. So I always tell people, you're having a cough, like as long as not interrupting your life, it should slowly get to your first refill. And it should be mostly resolved by that your body's getting used to putting a powder in your lungs. But that's uh, you know, when people ask, what's the difference between injectable and inhaled in terms of safety, you know, you're putting a drug powder in for the first time in your body and your body could choose that. And the number one thing that's different, were injectable insulin. You know, you have other other things. You're dealing with injection sites and pump sites and scar tissue and things like that. Stacey Simms 14:48 Does the body actually acclimate to the powder or is it just a question of someone gets better and used to the inhalation sensation? Mike Castagna 14:55 You know, it's it's a good question. I don't know if I have a black and white answer here. bodies give. Yeah, my guess is the body's getting used to putting a dry powder in and just exit and you get used to like weed. You can drink a glass of water before and after and help you minimize it. But it's generally like that's what it feels like it's not a productive call frightening, there's not a call to happens 10 minutes later, it usually happens. We have to inhale. Stacey Simms 15:17 You mentioned BlueHale , can you tell us a little bit more about what that is? Mike Castagna 15:21 Yeah, so BlueHale is to two different things. The first one that we're looking at is with the patient training device. So we can show you whether you had a good emulation or not a good emulation and show you that technique. The second version, actually, you can detect with those you put in the cartridge and hilar. So it has a proprietary software there that we can see what cartridge you put in for the adapter. And it'll tell you on your app, if you took a for a 12 or 16, how much you took in that session. And then we hooked integrate that with the CGM data. So now you can show those response curves on CGM one day and eventually I want to get into AI and predictive analytics. But we're not there yet. But we think that's the magic of what people really want, which is one that I use the thing when you live with diabetes, you just must remember and be that perfect to know exactly what those you did with them. You took it, what meal you were and then I... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20296475

In the News.. type 2 youth study, mini glucagon made easier, CGM via radio waves and more! 08/27/2021

In the News.. type 2 youth study, mini glucagon made easier, CGM via radio waves and more! It's "In the News..." the only LIVE diabetes newscast! -- Top stories this week: T2D screening guidelines to change New Gvoke Kit approved Gestational Diabetes cases up in younger women Are magnets & radio waves coming to T1D care? Update on -- Links and sources in the transcript ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcript below: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live on Wednesday August 25th 2021 – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, whenever you want. XX In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Find them in your local grocery store, Target or Costco. Real Food You Feel Good About Eating. XX Top story this week.. the number of young people with type 2 nearly doubled in the United States from 2001 to 2017. These researchers found significant increases in all types of diabetes among both sexes and across racial and ethnic groups. Type 1 diabetes remains more common among white youth. The highest rates of type 2 diabetes were seen in youth who are Black or Native American. It's interesting that these CDC and NIH researchers say they don’t know the cause of the huge increase in type 2. They talk about rising obesity, but wonder what’s behind that? They also wonder if it’s because of increased screenings, environment or something else. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/diabetes-surges-among-american-youth-study-shows-2021-08-24/ XX Big change recommended in screening for adults with type 2. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force now recommends screening for people who are overweight starting at age 35… five years earlier than recommended right now. That would include 40% of the US adult population. This task force recommends screenings that insurance companies must completely cover, without out of pocket costs to the insured, under the Affordable Care Act. XX FDA approval for Gvoke Kit to treat severe hypoglycemia. Xeris pharmaceuticals already provides Gvoke glucagon as an autoinjector and a prefilled syringe.. this Kit is for patients who prefer to draw up their own doses of glucagon using a vial and syringe. You don’t have to mix anything, it’s still a ready-to-use liquid glucagon. Could be helpful to those who prefer mini-glucagon doses – which are NOT FDA approved – but are sometimes used during illness. Note that’s my comment, Xeris and the FDA is not talking about mini glucagon dosing at all. https://www.fiercepharma.com/drug-delivery/xeris-a-rival-to-lilly-and-novo-gets-fda-nod-for-glucagon-kit XX Growing numbers of pregnant women are developing gestational diabetes. Between 2011 and 2019, rates of gestational diabetes in the United States jumped 30%, according to a large nationwide study of first-time mothers. The cause? Not clear. Every age group saw an increase – from 15 to 44 – so it’s not just moms getting older, which is happening. These researchers want to look at non -traditional risk factors like stress. This was a huge study – 13 million moms in the US. https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/08/18/diabetes-pregnancy/7401629306285/ XX In the – no thank you – department – researchers say they’ve got an implanted pump you’d refill just by swallowing a capsule. The catch? First, they have to implant the pump – which is described as the size of flip phone - along the abdominal wall, interfaced with the small intestine. That refill capsule is magnetic, so the implant draws the capsule toward it. It then punches the capsule with a retractable needle and pumps the insulin into its reservoir. The needle must also punch through a thin layer of intestinal tissue to reach the capsule. These Italian developers testing it all out in pigs – they say it controlled blood glucose successfully… for several hours. https://spectrum.ieee.org/implantable-medical-devices XX Another maybe it’ll work item… Israeli startup Hagar has something called G-Wave technology that measures blood sugar levels using noninvasive radio waves. The prototype puts the tech into a ceramic bracelet. Uses Bluetooth to transmit readings to an a mobile app with display and alert functions. A proof-of-concept study found the company's radio frequency technology was able to continuously measure glucose levels with at least 90% accuracy, compared to the estimated 70% rate for traditional continuous glucose monitors. They claim that’s because it measures glucose in real time. Hagar now plans to launch clinical trials to pursue FDA approval XX More to come, but first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good They make nutritious foods— grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients— I was in Target this week and I saw the new Entrée bowls, I bought the Lemon Chicken and the Lasagna. The Lemon chicken was great! It uses hearts of palm pasta instead of regular noodles which I thought sounded odd but really tasted good. They keep adding to the menu line! You can buy online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com. Back to the news… XX Big grant goes to Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute to study the use of CGMs in hospitalized patients with type 2. This is a $3.1 million dollar grant from The National Institutes of Health. It’s to build on research going on now – during the COVID-19 pandemic. CGM devices have been approved for outpatient use since 1999, but their use in the hospital setting remains limited to research efforts and the special conditions allowed during the pandemic. XX Congrats to Diversity in Diabetes for their newly minted 501c3 status. The group was founded last summer and is dedicated to creating awareness and providing solutions to end health disparities and the lack of representation in the diabetes space. Their big event – People of Color Living with Diabetes Virtual Summit kicks off Sept 16 – more info and how to register in the show notes. XX Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode -Tuesday – we’re talking to the folks from MannKind, makers of Afrezza inhalable insulin. You had a lot of questions for them.. looking forward to that episode! The episode out right now is with Kyle Banks – a Broadway performer diagnosed with type 1 while acting in the Lion King. That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! If you’re watching this replay on YouTube please subscribe, if you’re listening via the audio podcast please follow. Whatever it’s called – I appreciate you being here. Thanks for joining me! /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20277008

"It's Been Like a Dream Come True" Kyle R. Banks, Broadway Performer with T1D 08/24/2021

"It's Been Like a Dream Come True" Kyle R. Banks, Broadway Performer with T1D Kyle Banks is a Broadway performer – singer, dancer, actor – he was diagnosed with type 1 while in a production of the Lion King and had to figure out – pretty much on his own – how to manage on stage. Kyle explains how he learned what he needed to do to perform at his best and shares stories about his time on stage with T1D. Now Kyle has started a foundation to help get diabetes technology into the hands of more people who need it. Plus, some feedback about our last episode.. and a little bit about back to school. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health. Manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. Announcer 0:22 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 0:27 This week, Kyle Banks is a Broadway performer, singer dancer actor who's diagnosed with type one while in a production of The Lion King and had to figure out pretty much zone how to manage on stage, Kyle Banks 0:41 I would have to go into work with my glucose hovering around 33 50. And by either intermission or the end of the show, my glucose would crash and I would experience these crazy hypoglycemic episodes. And it was really scary for a while. Stacey Simms 0:58 He's come a long way, Kyle explains how he learned what he needed to do to perform at his best. And now Kyle has started a foundation to help get diabetes technology into the hands of more people who need it. Plus, I got some feedback from you about our last episode. I'll share that and a little bit about back to school. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. Always so glad to have you here. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. so much great feedback from our last episode where I interviewed my son Benny diagnosed before he was two now he's 16. And he went away for a month this summer to Israel without us with a non-diabetes camp program. So if you've listened, and you send me feedback, I really appreciate it. As I shared during that episode, I was nervous because we are far from perfect. There was funny bits too. I'll share a few of those after the interview. But guys, really, thank you so much. It is amazing to have that kind of support. I really appreciate you. I met Kyle banks at friends for life this summer lucky enough to travel to that in person conference, Kyle gave a welcome speech to new families that were there for the first time. And I knew I had to talk to him. But I heard from a bunch of families who came up to me later, instead of you that interview, Kyle, you know what a great voice. And boy does he have a great voice and what a terrific story. He was diagnosed with type one, nearly six years ago in November of 2015. And as you'll hear the story he was performing, he had made his career on Broadway. And if To me, it just seems like performing in that kind of venue on with that kind of energy you need to put in. It's like being a professional athlete. So I was very interested to talk to him. And I was really surprised, and you may be too as you listen, to hear how he started off with truly very little guidance. Of course, he has come a long way. And he shares how he did it, where he turned for advice, what he's using now. And he also talks about his foundation, and that is Kyler cares. We're going to talk about the benefit concert that helped that foundation from Broadway with love. It's called I'll link that up at Diabetes connections.com and you could watch really the incredible performances very entertaining. I am gonna play a clip of Kyle singing from that in just a moment and then we're gonna go right into the interview. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen, you know, low blood sugar feels horrible. You can get shaky and sweaty or even feel like you're going to pass out there are a lot of symptoms they can be different for everybody. I'm so glad we have a different option to treat very low blood sugar Gvoke Hypopen it's the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar Gvoke Hypopen is pre mixed ready to go with no visible needle before Gvoke people needed to go through a lot of steps to get glucagon treatments ready to be used. This made emergency situations even more challenging and stressful. This is so much better. I'm grateful we have it on hand. Find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit gvoke glucagon.com slash risk (Kyle sings “Summer Time”) Stacey Simms 5:04 Kyle, thank you so much for joining me. I'm really excited to talk to you. Your story is so unique. Thanks for coming on the show. Kyle Banks 5:12 Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be a part of the show for sure. Stacey Simms 5:15 That's great. We have so much to talk about. Let me just start if I could, at the beginning, your diagnosis story happened. While you were you were living your dream, right you were performing on on Broadway, you were touring, tell me about when you were diagnosed with diabetes. Kyle Banks 5:32 Well, I was diagnosed in November of 2015. And I'm an actor, vocalist. And so I usually between like the Broadway cast and the touring company of The Lion King, and I was on tour at the time, and we were touring like Canada and California. And I just begin feeling having these crazy symptoms, like exhaustion and constant the need the urge to constantly urinate in, I would really scared me to death was the fact that I lost 30 pounds over the course of like three weeks. And so that was the trigger that made me go to the doctor to see what was going on with me. And that's when I was told that spective that I was diabetic based on my glucose test that that yet administered in the urgent care office, unfortunately, was on steroids at the time. So the physician that was treating me suspected that maybe steroid induced type two diabetes Oh, wow. So he prescribed, prescribed Metformin for me and told me, he suggested I go to the emergency room, but my response was, but have showed a knife so as possible, like what can we do to get through this. So I picked up my prescription and Metformin and went to the show to the theater, still feeling awful. And over the course of the next three weeks, of course, the Metformin did absolutely nothing to help with the symptoms that I was experiencing. And that landed me in the hospital for three days. And that's when I was properly diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. But still, up until being hospitalized, I was working and doing the show, which was looking back on it, which was really crazy, because it shows the intense at high intensity shows a lot of a lot of energy, most of which I did not have Stacey Simms 7:40 let me just jump in. Because we're going to talk about performing on Broadway and what that does to your body in the energy you need. The Lion King, which we've been fortunate enough to see is nonstop What was it like during that time? Do you can you share I mean, I can't even imagine you must have slept all day, and just performed the best you could have been gone right back to bed. Kyle Banks 8:01 Yeah, that was my life. Literally in bed all day, wow. Up until the time I would go to work, strike myself into the theater. And usually we're running around during the entire show, just acting. Crazy. You know, the cast is so much the show so much fun to be a part of being in the cast. And then the Quraan camaraderie backstage during the show, the energy is always high and festive. And so of course that's participated in none of that when I wasn't on stage, I was like in my dressing room trying to just replenish any amount of strength that I could or sitting in my station where we get stressed. While the show was happening, it was definitely a huge struggle pushing through just that time. Even after my diagnosis, it took a while for my energy to return. Because my glucose levels was so all over the place. When I was diagnosed one of the crate I you shared with me a bit about your son's experience and the fact that he had amazing doctors that he had access to the same thing with me. But you know, my doctors were not able to tell me once they prescribed insulin for me and showed me how to incorporate that into like the management of diabetes, that they did not share with me the struggles that I would have taken insulin and being so active. That was something that I had to figure out on my own. So Stacey Simms 9:36 to give you a prescription for insulin, I assume they put you on shots and send you back out to perform it sounds like with very little instruction of, you know, exercise is going to bring you down and eating is going to kind of level you out or I don't even know. So when you got back to your first weeks or months of performances. Do you mind sharing a little of the trial and error I can't imagine as you've already said it, it wasn't a smooth transition back. Kyle Banks 10:03 Oh, God, no, you know, it's crazy because I actually went to New Orleans to travel to New Orleans to visit my mom's doctor. And she told me to go to the emergency room. And that's when I was hospitalized for three days. So then once I was released, I flew to Denver where the show and jumped right back into the show with now my new regimen for diabetes management, which included finger pricks, which I would do like sometimes 12 or 12 finger prints during the show. And this insulin regimen, that immediately after the first show, I remember my glucose crashed to like the low 20s. And this became a pretty consistent situation where I would have to go into work with my glucose hovering around 303 50. by either intermission or the end of the show, my glucose would crash and I would experienced these crazy hypoglycemic episodes. And it was really scary for a while and this went on for months. And I knew that I just could not continue in this route, because I was reading that, you know, the fluctuations really dangerous, and not only could you know, pass out and have a seizure, if one's glucose goes too low, but you know, could also bring about complications as well. So I knew I had to figure out a better system for my lifestyle, and this new diagnosis that I was now living with. So after about nine months after, actually a full year after my diagnosis, the show just happened to travel to New Orleans. And we were there for a month at the end that I decided to take some time off from work to figure out how to better care for myself and to figure out if I would even be able to continue on performing at this level, and just really figure out a plan for my career. Stacey Simms 12:05 Well, we know how the story ends that you are still performing and you can. So what made the difference? How did you figure it out? Right back to Kyle answering that question. But first, Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario. And one of the things that makes diabetes management difficult for us that really annoys me and Benny, it isn't actually the big picture stuff. It's all those little tasks that add up. I mean, are you sick of running out of strips? Do you need some direction or encouragement going forward with your diabetes management? Would visibility into your trends help you on your wellness journey? The Daario diabetes success plan offers all of that and more No more waiting in line at the pharmacy no more searching online for answers number wondering about how you're doing with your blood sugar levels, find out more, go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections. Now back to Kyle talking about how he figured out how to thrive on stage and avoid those huge lows. Kyle Banks 13:09 Just having that time to the Lion King can be all consuming when you're doing the show between rehearsals and the actual show and the adrenaline that comes in being getting prepared for it. And once once the curtain comes down, so it doesn't really leave much time for other activities. But having the time off, I was able to just really do a lot of research digging online and social media. I discovered beyond type one and children with diabetes. And since a lot of various resources that could different podcasts, such as you or I listened to a lot of shows which people just talking about how they care for themselves. And this is such a varied cast of people talking about their experiences, athletes, teachers and a varied cast. So I was able to really just dig in and hear what other people were doing and take certain things that I could apply to to my situation and really helped me by when I went back to work. I now have a plan of action, I could test it out and discovered that it actually worked. I could go into work with my glucose hovering around 120. I make sure I had lots of snacks with me and a small meal that I would eat without insulin during intermission, and then another small meal after the show without insulin. And I was so shocked that I was able to I didn't experience the crashes anymore, and I'm able to just maintain my level of activity in a safe way and I'm just so thrilled that this information was available to me. I just had to go a little digging to find it. Stacey Simms 15:03 So yeah, I mean, it sounds like if I'm hearing you correctly, that you went outside the traditional medical sphere, right, it sounds like you got all of your information from the community, Kyle Banks 15:14 pretty much, pretty much, I knew that my situation is very different than the other patients that my physicians were treating. Initially, I thought, well, the way Kyla cares came about was, when I was in New Orleans, with the time off from work, I reached out also reached out to children's hospital because I figured that would be a great route to find out how they were basically, you know, in the theater with basically big kids running around, running around the theater. So I figured that it would be a lot of insight that maybe the kids or the kids would be able to give me as it relates to how they manage. And so I connected with Children's Hospital is already connected with them, because we do a lot of outreach through Disney. And with Shriners Hospital Children's Hospital, so it's rather easy to connect with them. And that's when I discovered that the kids were having horrific outcomes as well as it relates to glucose management. And I was really moved by the fact that the endocrinology team, stressing to me just the effects that this disease is having on communities of color, specifically kids of color, and how they were having different outcomes in their Caucasian patients. It really struck me and months after that initial meeting, I was just harping on the information that I was given. And that's how eventually, that's how coworkers came to be as a result of that meeting at Children's Hospital with the endocrinology team, Stacey Simms 16:50 we're going to talk about Kyle cares. And we're going to come back to these disparities that are just, they're heartbreaking, and they are real, just to finish kind of on your experience, you're able to go back and perform. And as you said, you you kind of bounce on, if that's the right word, you kind of go back and forth between the Broadway cast the touring cast. I know, everything's messed up now because of COVID. But from from the time you went back, were you able to go back to the roles that you had been performing and loving before your diagnosis? Kyle Banks 17:22 Yeah, I was, I'm just so happy to have been able to figure out how to do that safely. Because I did it for so many months. Luckily, without any horrific events happening, like me passing out on stage, or even behind the stage, for that matter, I was able to make it through that very scary time period, without any of that happening. And I'm very lucky to have that had a seizure with my glucose being so low so often. But yeah, I was able to figure out how to do it and how to continue doing all of the things that I love. And like I said it was the community making the information that so many people are just so eager to share online that really helped me push through Stacey Simms 18:11 what technology Do you use now? Kyle Banks 18:15 You Economy pod influence, and the Dexcom ci six, continuous glucose monitor? Stacey Simms 18:22 Are you able to I think I know the answer to this, but are you able to kind of hide that stuff under your costumes? Or is it shown I'm curious what that looks like. Kyle Banks 18:32 Um, you know, the wardrobe department at lion kings so supportive in just just extremely loving and nurturing through this whole period gluinos first outfit with my Omni pod, I was so concerned that it will cause problems for wardrobe. And when I brought it in and sold it to them on my own. It's like, Oh, that's no problem. So they made me flesh tone bands for my arm and for my abdomen that I could wear deserve scenes in the show where we repair on top. And it was pretty simple fix. Wow, that's great. Yeah, I think they made my slipcovers in like two minutes, like maybe like five minutes before the first show when I was wearing the really simple thing. That's cool. All right, Stacey Simms 19:20 let's talk about Kyle cares. I am going to come back and ask you a lot of Broadway questions later. But let's talk about hierarchies. Right now. This is your nonprofit. As you mentioned, this provides grants you do a lot of work to get technology for children for young adults with type one. And I've done a little bit of reporting over the years, frankly, not as much as maybe we all need to be thinking about but some reporting on the racial and ethnic disparities, because it's really incredible when you dig into it. When you look at use of insulin pump technology. It's something where, you know, 1/5 of black children compared to white children use comes from my understanding of how Craig if I'm wrong, it's not only Because of income or education or insurance, you know, it's a question of, I don't know, you tell me I shouldn't be talking to you about this. Tell me what you have found out, what should we be thinking about? Kyle Banks 20:11 Yeah, you know, that's that was my thought as well, when I, when we first began, like digging into Kyla cares and figuring out, you know how we wanted to help. providing grants that can go towards the technology would be the most beneficial route. And we soon discovered that, you know, the complicated the situation is, is much more complicated the financial barriers that keep people from accessing the technology, especially with kids, the stigma surrounding diabetes, specifically type 1 diabetes is really high. And a lot of kids, even the ones that have insurance and have their parents have the financial means to access to technologies, they still don't want to wear them because they don't want to feel different than their peers or don't want the attention that wearing these medical devices on their bodies brings into their lives, we've discovered that a lot of what is needed is one diabetes education, just making... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20229233

In the News.. Diabetes & COVID booster shots, new insulin approved for pumps, Major League T1D & more! 08/20/2021

"I'm So Happy I Went!" 16-year-old Benny spent one-month abroad (without us) 08/17/2021

"I'm So Happy I Went!" 16-year-old Benny spent one-month abroad (without us) My son Benny is back from a four week trip halfway around the world with a non-diabetes camp program. He says it was amazing! To be honest, I had a really hard time with it. This week, we share how we prepared, what went wrong, how Benny deals with feeling different on these types of trips and a lot more. Previous episodes with Benny: This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcript below: Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first pre mixed auto injector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week, I sent my teenager with type one halfway around the world for a month with a non diabetes regular camp program all the way to Israel. He's home safe, and I thought it would be fun and interesting to talk to him about how it all went. Are you glad you went with all the work you had to do? Benny 0:43 I am so happy I went I'm so happy you guys let me go. It was amazing. Stacey Simms 0:49 Benny is 16. And we share how we prepared what went wrong, how he deals with feeling different on these types of trips, and a lot more. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. Always so glad to have you here. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. My son Benny, who you're going to hear a lot of this week was diagnosed with type one right before he turned two. He is now 16. My husband lives with type two diabetes, I don't have diabetes. I have a background in broadcasting and that is how you get the podcast. And I've talked about this for a while on the show. We've been planning for quite some time. But if you are brand new, earlier this summer, we sent our son Benny to Israel for four weeks. I still can't believe we did it. bit of background. He has attended this irregular summer camp about four hours away for us in Georgia since he was eight years old that first year for two weeks. And for a month every year since except 2020. Of course due to COVID. He also goes to diabetes camp. He started going to the sleepaway diabetes camp for a week, when he was seven, he went to a little day camp in our area, he mentioned that he gets called kudos, he went to that when he I want to say he was three or four years old, he was very, very little. And that's a wonderful program as well. But for this year of the regular camp, when you are a junior, when you're going to be a junior in high school, there is an option to go to Israel. So while we don't know all the staff who went we know the program, they know us the kids know Benny, and they know the type one situation as much as friends can. Even so this was really hard. It was mostly hard just for me. But I'm going to come back after the interview and tell you a little bit about the lowest moment I had for real when he was away. And how it was it was honestly perfectly timed. I was so lucky to have the support that I did. I'll do that after the interview. A couple of notes before this interview. If you are new to the show, and you haven't heard any of my interviews with Benny before, he is a bit silly. He's a bit sarcastic. And you know, I think our whole parenting or family style leans a bit toward that toward darker humor. So please No, and I'm sure I don't have to say this. We take diabetes very seriously. He is in great hands in terms of health care, and our endo who we've had, we've been seeing him since he was two things were doing great. I also want to say that I am a bit troubled by the comments you're going to hear Benny make about diabetes camp, but I'm choosing to leave them in like it's how he feels right now. Just remember when you listen, this is a 16 year old, who may not have the best memory of when he was younger. But I know how much he loved diabetes camp and how important it was for I think for the confidence that you're coming from him now. And we'll revisit this issue when he gets older. But we have done other episodes about how much he liked camp. So I'm gonna link those up as well if you want to listen. But look, how you feel is how you feel. And that can change at different ages doesn't make it any less valid. So I'm leaving those comments in. And after you listen to the interview, if you have any questions or stuff you'd like us to follow up on, please reach out, you can always go to Diabetes, Connections comm and contact me through the website. We have a Facebook group Diabetes Connections, the group, and of course, I'm all over social media. But I'd love to know what you think especially those of you who have teenagers or young adults who were not teenagers so long ago, you know, I'm curious to know because I wonder and I worry sometimes about being so open about this, you know, we are so far from perfect. I do worry a little bit about you know some backlash, frankly, and some people thinking we're really doing it wrong. So let me know what you think. But be nice about it. All right. Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario, we first noticed Dario a couple of years ago at a conference and Benny thought being able to turn your smartphone into a meter was pretty amazing. I'm excited to tell you that Dario offers even more now. The Daario diabetes success plan gives you all the supplies and support you need to succeed. You'll get a glucometer that fits in your pocket unlimited test strips and lancets delivered to your door at a mobile app with a complete view of your day. The plan is tailored for you with coaching when and how you need it. And personalized reports based on your activity, find out more go to my dario.com forward slash Diabetes Connections. Benny 5:13 Hi, Benny, how are ya? I'm great. How are you? Benny 5:14 I'm great. How are you? Stacey Simms 5:16 I'm doing very well. You've been home for three weeks as how are you settling in? Benny 5:20 Great. I want to go back. I miss my friends. Stacey Simms 5:23 Yeah, I'm sure. I'm glad you had a good time. So I have a lot of questions for you. Benny 5:28 From Listen, stop. Hi, listeners, Stacey Simms 5:33 parents and adults with type one. But first, let me just ask you How was the trip? I mean, I tell everybody how the trip was Benny 5:40 very, very fine. Stacey Simms 5:43 And we'll talk more in detail about diabetes stuff. But did it meet your expectations? Like Was it a good time? Benny 5:49 Honestly, the most fun was when they just kind of let us do whatever in the hotels, Stacey Simms 5:54 history, religion, majestie, no big shakes, just hanging out your friends. Benny 5:59 Two days before we went to some banana boating thing. All the counselors were talking about how much fun it is like they all did it. And it's super cool. And it was really boring. Oh, you're the worst. Stacey Simms 6:11 Alright, so let's talk diabetes stuff. Benny 6:13 Oh, okay. Stacey Simms 6:14 Um, we planned a lot of this. We talked to the staff and they knew you because you've been there for a long time. But not all this stuff know me. Benny 6:21 I had one of the counselors as a counselor at Camp Coleman. Two years back, no, three years back. And then one of the other counselors was in our unit early early. Stacey Simms 6:35 I guess my point is, you have been to this camp since you were eight years old. So while perhaps the people that were on your bus, you know, the the staff Yeah. familiar, the system, the people that I needed to talk to you understood that this was just you didn't just show up that day, and say, I'd like to hang out with these campers, so they knew who you were. So we did a lot of planning in advance that I can talk about at a different time, because I don't want to get too bogged down in all of that. But let's start with what involved you, which was the packing anything to share. I mean, we just went through and figured out what you needed, and then added half more, we gave you like, 150% of what we thought you needed. had that go for you. Benny 7:11 I didn't touch 80% of what was medical wise. I mean, there wasn't much need for it all. Like it was nice to have it in case I didn't need it. Most of it was like die hard situation. Like if you're going through the desert for 18 weeks, and then swimming through the negative. What. Stacey Simms 7:32 I don't know if you can swim through it. But I mean, like knock wood we sent you with, I think two vaccines and one GMO pipe open. So you didn't use any of that. Right? So that kind of stuff. Thank God. Now of course, of course, we sent you with more insulin than you needed normally. And you use a ton less insulin. Yeah. Which we'll talk about. Well, I Benny 7:51 used most of the vials, right You certainly with Stacey Simms 7:54 right? But I sent you with pens. Also, you know, I sent even lots of extra stuff. I'm curious and I mean, not to put you on the spot. But why don't you use a nice medical bag? Why won't you let me send you with something that is organized easily? much work the blob of a bag that you use too much work. It's so gross. It's one big compartment. Benny 8:15 It works. It does its job. Stacey Simms 8:18 We do break it up with little bags inside. But I gotta tell you, I know it's not me, but I would I would get like a nice medical bag Benny 8:25 with little find a medical bag, and we can talk about it. Stacey Simms 8:29 I have like 10 that I would get Oh, you're the biggest pain. Okay, so we'll look for that. Like this thing. No, that's a that's a packing cube. Benny 8:37 Hmm. That Well, mine is packing you. Stacey Simms 8:40 Well. Yours is part of a packing cube system. Yes, you have. For those of you who know packing cubes, I enjoy them. I have them all different sizes. Then he uses just one big rectangular bag for your medical supplies that he carries out at home in his backpack. And it's great because it has everything in it. But it's horrible because it has everything in it. I like you should compartmentalize. I Benny 9:02 already do that. Give me a face in different way. Stacey Simms 9:04 Yeah. Alright, so then you had everything packed. And you had your medical bag of all your diabetes stuff inside a backpack that I assume you took every year. Okay. Is it a Camelback? Did it have water? I don't remember Oh, Benny 9:14 so I had a hiking bag right that I threw a Camelback bladder in Stacey Simms 9:20 Was it easy to get water all the time? Benny 9:22 Oh yeah. They made sure you had a you weren't allowed off the bus if you didn't have three liters minimum of water would you Stacey Simms 9:29 perfect What about the the plane ride there that I know it's so long but you know for me not fun for me you got on a plane in Charlotte and you flew by yourself from Charlotte to Newark then you met the group went Newark to Israel and for me once the Dexcom signal disappeared in Charlotte like that was pretty much it cuz you got on the plane oh yeah appeared you had it but I didn't have it that was pretty much it for the day for me cuz I'm not gonna do watch you How so? How was it? You know? Did you do okay? Especially on the plane. Benny 9:58 I didn't do anything. Special, like at all. When I got to new work, my blood sugar did go low a little bit, but I had food. And then I was fine. Stacey Simms 10:07 He told you look out for this baggage claim Lowe's, when you get off the plane after you've been on the plane for a while and start walking, it was terribly described with it we're going to be this is going to be one big complaint episode I can tell grievances will be aired. Benny 10:19 I just like to make it known. I may complain a lot about it. But I loved it. Stacey Simms 10:23 Thank you for that disclaimer. Because I know you loved it. You read you just like to complain when you get a chance. Yeah. So you get there. I'm not going to I promise I'm not going to go blow by blow the whole trip. But I am curious. That's a very long plane ride. As you said you didn't do anything really special? Did you consider changing basil rates walk around or anything? Benny 10:43 So the first trip the flight there, I didn't even think about it. And it worked out pretty fine. So on the way back, I didn't touch it. Stacey Simms 10:51 Alright, well, that's control IQ helping. That really helps a lot. Because in the past, we've, if you've been in the car for three or four hours or a plane ride, you've gone so high, so that's really good. Okay, so we had set up different basal rates in your pump. Yeah, because we assume there would be a lot of activity. So as I recall, we had the regular one, then we had a 15% less insulin and the 30% lessons, and we labeled them. Yeah, 10% less, you switch to that when you got there. Benny 11:15 The first full day we were there, I switched immediately to the 30%. Less one. And I was Hi, pretty much the entire day. And I did that for about a week. And then I texted you. And I thought the 15% less would be too much. So we made a 20 like 3% one. But eventually, I ended up just switching back to my normal basal rate. And I mean, that was fine. Stacey Simms 11:40 One of the questions that we got and that I was going to ask you about here is talking about how difficult it was to carb count. Forget the activity for a minute or two. But like with all the foods that you do, yeah, no, Benny 11:50 it was next to impossible to know exactly how much I just kind of guessed. And sometimes, or at least most of the time, breakfast and lunch, it was next to impossible to know how much I should give myself because I didn't know what kind of activities we were doing. And I didn't know how like extraneous they would be. Stacey Simms 12:10 Well, they would tell you in the morning, though, wouldn't they what you were doing? I mean, I knew Benny 12:14 what you were doing. Well, they they tell us the night before, but like it was vague. It was like okay, we're going to go on a hike tomorrow. And that could mean we're going to walk 10 feet up in elevation, up some stairs and then look at a valley or canoeing. We're going to walk through the negative for four days. Stacey Simms 12:32 I feel like I should have asked you more about like when you were going high when you first got there because you gave yourself 30% less insulin. How did you feel like were you uncomfortable was fine. Yeah, you never feel bad when you're high? Benny 12:42 Well, I mean, sometimes. Yeah, I know. I know. But yeah, no, I was fine. Stacey Simms 12:46 But mentally were you? I mean, I I don't even have to ask because you you didn't get stressed out. You never get stressed out because of diabetes. Like Were you worried like no, no, I mean, Benny 12:59 the only time I was where I was worried about going low during the desert. Yeah, but that was about it. Stacey Simms 13:05 So tell us about that. What was the desert when you say that? What was that? Right back to Benny answering that question. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen and when you have diabetes and use insulin, low blood sugar can happen when you don't expect it. That's why most of us carry fast acting sugar and in the case of very low blood sugar, why we carry emergency glucagon there's a new option called Gvoke Hypopen the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar to Gvoke Hypopen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle in usability studies. 99% of people were able to give the book correctly find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit Gvokeglucagon.com slash risk. Now back to Benny talking about the only time he was really nervous about diabetes on the trip Benny 14:05 is like the third or fourth day we were there. And they made us pack our bags. We left the hotel. We put our big bag with money with the majority of our clothes under the bus and we didn't see that for three days. We had a medium sized like duffel bag, which had clothes for the next few days. And then we had our you know our backpack. So the bus would drive our medium bag to the next camping spot. We'd unload that and we'd carry our our normal bags with us. About 20 minutes into the first hike. I immediately went low. So the medic that was with us, like prepared. You know I talked to her. She was great. She had like four like hand sized bottles of like squeeze honey, and I downed like half a one like 20 minutes into the trip. That was pretty much the hardest, battling Those lows was the hardest, like the most difficult thing I had with that diabetes pretty much the entire trip. Stacey Simms 15:05 What was the medics reaction? Was she just met? Oh, Benny 15:07 no, she cool. She was, um, she was a medic in the IDF. She had worked with kids with diabetes before she'd been on the trip. And she was fine about it. So Stacey Simms 15:15 she didn't make you feel weird now. Okay. How was the honey? It's pretty good. Benny 15:20 You know, eventually, I just got to the point because I mean, it was a constant battle for the entire trip. Make sure it Angola eventually just got to the point where I just like, tapped her on the shoulder and she'd be like, okay, Stacey Simms 15:31 and that was three days. Yeah. Okay. So that was probably the hardest part. Yeah, I miss those three days. Benny 15:36 It didn't help that we were grotesquely underfed. Stacey Simms 15:40 Okay, complain away. Hit me with the breakfast so late Benny 15:43 for lunch and dinner. We're fine everyday. I still don't understand why. But breakfast, you know, we'd like in the early hours of the morning 530 to 11. breakfast every day was a cup of tea and a single cookie. And I will never understand it. We'd hike, you know, and then at 11 we'd sit down and have lunch. And then we wouldn't do anything until dinner. And I don't understand why lunch and dinner were so big. If we're not doing anything. Did you ever put anything in your bag? Stacey Simms 16:11 Like for the next morning was? Yeah, Benny 16:12 well, so my friend Nathan had these like, you know, those like gels that bikers use on there. Yeah, he had a bunch of those. So I stole a couple. They had like 100 milligrams of caffeine in them to be perfect. But you Stacey Simms 16:23 never put like a pita in your bag for the next day. No, Benny 16:26 gingers weren't like, stuff we could take with us. I'm just kidding. And then they were like, I mean, it wasn't like we were literally in the middle of the desert with no way. Yeah, we had to walk or we wouldn't be able to get out. There was always you know, bus was always a 20 minute drive away. Stacey Simms 16:40 What food Did you like the best shwarma Benny ... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20149865

In the News.. Tandem timeline update, T2D closed loop study, camel milk?! and more 08/13/2021

In the News.. Tandem timeline update, T2D closed loop study, camel milk?! and more It's "In the News.." the only LIVE diabetes newscast! Top stories this week: lots of interesting news in the latest Tandem Diabetes investor call including timeline and country updates. Researchers see whether a closed loop system can help people with type 2, new recommendations for gestational diabetes screening, camels milk for diabetes?! and the The Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists Annual Conference starts this week. every Wednesday at 4:30pm EDT to watch "In the News.." Live. Learn more about ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcription below: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more if you want, whenever you want. XX In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Excited to have them back as a sponsor! Real Food You Feel Good About Eating. XX Our top story this week.. couple of interesting nuggets in Tandem Diabetes’ recent investor call. The company has grown at least 40% in nearly every quarter since late 2017 when the first major update came through on the Tslim X2. They’re getting ready to launch Control IQ in Germany and France.. and they’re moving ahead with studies of this hybrid closed loop system down to age 2. Timing of NEW features is still a bit up in the air.. the company says they answered more FDA questions about bolus by phone and feel on track for approval by the end of the year - iOS and Android. T-sport submission will now likely happen in 2022. Like a lot of diabetes tech, COVID pushed these timelines out. One other little tidbit.. looks like there won’t be a big user manual with the mobile improvements - the training will be part of the app itself. Seems like common sense, but that’s a big change that apparently the FDA asked for. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4445137-tandem-diabetes-cares-tndm-ceo-john-sheridan-on-q2-2021-results-earnings-call-transcript XX How about a closed loop for type 2? New research from the University of Cambridge shows it works just fine. This was interesting because the idea here was to look at people who require dialysis or a kidney transplant. This was a different system, a fully closed loop – no meal announcements needed. People using the artificial pancreas system spent more time in range and less time with hypos. This system has an adaptive algorithm and got better as it went, the average time in range on day one was 36% and by the third week it was 60%. They didn’t list much about the technology here - but I’m going to follow up. It’s not clear why these researchers aren’t also studying this completely closed loop for people with type 1. They are moving ahead with a new study in people with type 2 who do not need dialysis. https://www.healtheuropa.eu/artificial-pancreas-trialled-in-type-2-diabetes-patients/110399/ XX New recommendations for gestational diabetes - screening should continue into the second trimester says the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. They say screening for gestational diabetes improves both maternal and infant health, and treatment. Gestational diabetes is estimated to occur in up to 9-percent of all pregnant women but might be up to three times as high depending on the diagnostic criteria used, say these researchers. The task force recommends clinicians screen for gestational diabetes between 24 and 28 weeks', using a two-step approach of both a screening tool (oral glucose challenge test) and diagnostic (oral glucose tolerance test), just the tolerance test, or fasting plasma glucose tests. XX A new way of looking at glucagon.. these researchers say they want to administer it as a preventive.. writing in the journal of the American Chemical Society these researchers say they have developed hydrogels that remain intact in the presence of glucose but slowly destabilize as levels drop, releasing glucagon into the system, safely raising blood sugar. This is very early on and hasn’t yet been tested in people.. the early challenges so far have been keeping the hydrogel stable and keeping the glucagon from leaking out of the water like structure. But they say they’ve got it and are moving on to further studies. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210720/Novel-method-for-glucagon-delivery-to-help-individuals-living-with-Type-1-diabetes.aspx XX More to come, but first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Real Good Foods. Where the mission is Be Real Good They make nutritious foods - grain free, high in protein, never added sugar and from real ingredients - we are big fans of the pizza - Benny puts his in a frying pan, I prefer the air fryer. They keep adding to the menu line with breakfasts like waffles & breakfast sandwiches and great meals made with cauliflower & stuffed chicken. You can buy online or find a store near you with their locator right on the website. I’ll put a link in the FB comments and as always at d-c dot com. Back to the news.. Is this the new okra or something that might actually work? Looking at camel’s milk to help lower blood glucose. camel milk has many of the sought-after bioactive properties of so-called "superfoods." And is said to help with insulin resistance and glycemic control. There’s a clinical trial going on right now in Abu Dhabi looking to see if that’s folk lore or the real deal. One study they point to is in a camel breeding community in North India which found that those who regularly consumed camel milk had a 0% rate of diabetes. Quick warning here.. camel milk if you can get it is very expensive and you’re warned to avoid it in raw form.. XX The Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists Annual Conference starts this week. The theme is “Changing Forward,” was designed to highlight patient care that moves away from what organizers call an institutional, task-oriented approach. They want to push for more individualized care that reflects the diversity of people with diabetes. It’s a virtual conference and of course we’ll have an update next week from any sessions or reports that are of interest. XX That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Quick housekeeping note and a thank you.. I have something called the book to clinic program where I’m able to supply pediatric endocrinology offices and clinics with my book - The World’s Worst Diabetes Mom. I’m thrilled and flattered that educators and endos think this is of value to families. Big thanks to our newest book to clinic sponsor, Dia Be Tees - their mission is to raise Diabetes Awareness through modern, cute, humorous and fun tees! 10% of their profits go to JDRF. It’s very reasonable to become a book to clinic sponsor! if you’re interested please let me know. And if you’re a clinic who wants books, reach out and I’ll put you on the list. Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode -Tuesday - you’ll hear from my son and get his thoughts on what it was like to spend one month overseas with a youth program not focused on type 1. He’s 16 and you bet I’m happy he’s home, but we both learned a lot. Thanks and I’ll see you soon /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20122967

"It's Important You Enjoy It" - T1D Coach Eoin Costello is Passionate About Fitness 08/10/2021

"It's Important You Enjoy It" - T1D Coach Eoin Costello is Passionate About Fitness Any level of exercise can be more challenging when you live with diabetes. When Eoin Costello was diagnosed with type 1 at age 19, he was worried that his love for fitness and sports would have to be put aside. Instead, he found a way to not only stay active but to coach other people with diabetes to do the same. Whatever level of fitness you're looking for, Eoin is all about having fun and making it work. He's also the host of . Stacey appears on a recent episode talking about her parenting experience. Also this week, In Tell Me Something Good – type 1 diabetes and space force? Did we just see a big barrier – military service – come down? This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcription Below: Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar and by Dexcom help make knowledge your superpower with the Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitoring system. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week exercise with type one can be a challenge. You know there are a lot of variables Eoin Costello was determined to make it work when he was diagnosed and says the key is don't expect perfection. Eoin Costello 0:41 When I start something new, I'm probably gonna see some highs and I'm probably gonna see some lows. And I think being aware of that, first of all is very important because you're not going to be as frustrated or discouraged when you do inevitably see these highs and lows Stacey Simms 0:57 Eoin was diagnosed as a young adult. He has his own podcast and we talk about managing different kinds of workouts, treating lows at 3am. And lots more in Tell me something good type 1 diabetes, and space force. Did we just see a big barrier US military service come down? This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. Always so glad to have you here. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. I'm your host, Stacey Simms, my son was diagnosed with type one back in 2006, at the age of almost two, and he is now 16. My husband lives with type two diabetes, I don't have diabetes, I have a background in broadcasting. And that is how you get this podcast. I am just back from podcast movement, which is a really big podcasting conference. I've gotten to it in years past, but I haven't been in a while it was really fun to catch up just like diabetes conferences, you know, you see all your friends and you do learn stuff. And I was there in a different sort of capacity, not just learning about my own show. But I'm working a little bit with a group called sheep podcasts, which is of course, podcasting for women. And I bring all this up just to say, it was really interesting to see the difference between travel at the beginning of July, which was the first time I really went to any kind of conference or in person gathering that wasn't, you know, immediate family. And in July, we were certainly very cautious. And friends for life, the organization there did a great job at being smart about COVID and doing everything they needed to do. But the difference this time was just the attitude and the feeling because of the Delta variant. You know, it was very interesting. Many more people were masking indoors than in July, many more people were expressing concerns about traveling back and forth. And I don't bring this up to say anything other than it was an interesting observation. You all know as you listen, you know, this is a very educated audience What's going on? I don't have to tell you anything. If you follow me on social media, you might have seen that I was wearing a mask outdoors in downtown Nashville, I was kind of reluctant to go to downtown Nashville at all, but I'd never been there. And I wanted to see all the bridesmaid stuff myself. Because it is like the National Capital now in the US for bachelorette parties. And yes, it lives up to that hype. It was amazing. But I was wearing my mask outdoors. If you followed me on social you saw that. And I haven't done that before but it was crowded and a lot of young people and you know in the US the younger the less likely to be vaccinated. So we took more precautions than we know I say we then me than I normally would have also was so much fun to meet some diabetes friends just as an odd coincidence in Nashville last Wednesday. As you listen children with diabetes, the group that puts on friends for life had a very cool event with mankind, the people behind Afrezza inhaled insulin, and they sponsored a fun time at a go kart track with Conor Daly. He is an IndyCar driver who lives with type one. And he was in town because Nashville had their very first Music City Grand Prix. I will link that up. It was a very cool, very different kind of race. But Connor was very cool himself. He was super engaging with the kids. I will link up some coverage. There was a new story come up some of the local news stations came out and made some videos which was really nice. I got to meet Rachel Mayo, who is a very cool lady who lives in Nashville. And you know, we're we've connected on social media for years. She lives with type one. She works with the JDRF chapter there. And Ernie Prado who's been on the show before he works at NASA. I saw him with friends for life. And he told me if I was going to Nashville, I had to look her up. So Rachel, it was so great to meet you. And maybe next time we will get in the go karts. I don't know. It was really fun though. you know, one of the things I mentioned podcast movement, but one of the things that's really fun about going there is meeting other podcasters you know, we already have fabulous other shows in the diabetes community. There are lots of podcasts and more of them. keep popping up all All the time, I did sort of a swap with this week's guest, but we did it kind of backwards. I taped the interview you're about to hear with Eoin first. And then he interviewed me about a week later. But he has already aired the interview that he did with me. His turnaround time was quicker. So I'll put the link in the show notes to that Eoin Castillo's show is the Insuleoin podcast, it is great. Oh, and you can hear the name in the title there Eoin was diagnosed almost 10 years ago at the age of 19. And he was very active very much to sports at the time. And as you can imagine, very worried about whether he'd be able to continue. It's a bit hard to imagine now. But even 10 years ago, there wasn't the social media there was in the communication we have now in the diabetes community. I mean, it's taken off for sure. But when you think about it, 2011 was still at the very beginning. So there wasn't a lot of information out there for somebody who wants to run marathons or lift weights competitively, you know, that sort of thing. We had a great conversation about how Eoin you know, kind of found his way and he is now helping many, many other people. And he is Yes, he's from Ireland. I think his accent is much nicer than my my New York accent which occasionally comes out I know you hear it here and there. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen. Our endo always told us that if you use insulin, you need to have emergency glucagon on hand as well. Low blood sugars are one thing we're usually able to treat those with fast acting glucose tabs or juice but a very low blood sugar can be frightening. Which is why I'm so glad there's a different option for emergency glucagon it is Gvoke Hypopen. Gvoke Hypopen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle. You pull off the red cap and push the yellow end on to bare skin and hold it for five seconds. That's it. Find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with via chromosoma or insulinoma. Visit Gvoke glucagon comm slash risk. Eoin Welcome to the show. It's great to talk to you today. Eoin Costello 6:59 Thank you, Stacey. Thanks for having me on. I'm actually a longtime listener of the podcast. I was a pleasure. So I appreciate it. Stacey Simms 7:05 Thank you so much. I was just about to say I really enjoy your podcast. It's kind of funny talking to a fellow podcaster. This will be nice. Eoin Costello 7:14 Absolutely. At least we were both used to speaking on a mic. Stacey Simms 7:17 Oh, we see now you set it up. Now we have to like up the game. We really have to be good today. I want to talk about your show and what led you there. But let's just start at your story's beginning. You were diagnosed with type one at at 19. What's going on in your life during that time? Eoin Costello 7:35 Yeah, so I was kind of transitioning from high school, we just call it regular school in Ireland into college. So I had done a year of like a portfolio course I was actually going to art college for animation. It was around Christmas time. And I had noticed some differences in terms of how I was feeling. Obviously, I was very tired. I had lost about a stone and a half in the space of a month. I was really thirsty all the time. I just didn't have any energy. And I suppose because I was 19. And I was kind of into fitness and train and and keep myself healthy. I had this I had this naive attitude of I'm 19 I'm invincible. How could there be anything wrong with me, therefore, I'll just brush it off to the side. And it was around Christmas time and and in Ireland, we like to go to bars, we like to have a good time around that. Obviously, in France, I was having a few drinks. And if I was tired during the day, I would say it's only because I was out last night or if I was thirsty. It's because I've had a few drinks the previous night. And it wasn't until my parents were kind of quietly concerned. What they had mentioned that I should probably go dEoin to the GP get a blood test and just to see if everything's okay. And I reluctantly agreed because I was kind of saying, Look, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me. But I I gave in, because I just wanted to keep my parents happy. Stacey Simms 8:59 Let me just interrupt you real quick. Just to translate over here. A stone is 14 pounds. So you lost 21 pounds. Eoin Costello 9:06 Yeah, it flew off me. Right? Yeah. And in a very, very short space of time was about a month, a month and a half. But the thing about it was because you kind of see yourself every day, I didn't notice it as much. And it wasn't until I'd seen a friend who I hadn't seen and maybe six months or so I just bumped into her in the street. And she said to me, You look really different. And I said how would you mean and she goes I don't know you just look different. And she she kind of blurted it out and was embarrassed nearly but from saying it, but it was obviously because I had lost so much weight in such a short space of time. So basically I went down to the GP got a blood test. And a couple days later I got a phone call saying this is all I said it is blood test come back. You have type 1 diabetes, you need to go to the hospital right now. And I went in and my bloods were like six 40 640 so very high. And then that led me to my new life. Stacey Simms 10:05 Was there any confusion about which type it was? Because sometimes, as a young adult, they don't go type one initially, Eoin Costello 10:11 no, straightaway, they they had told me it was type one. But I had barely even heard the word diabetes before. I obviously knew that it was a condition that people lived with. But I had no idea of the complexities of it, or just the, the detail that you have to now live your life by. But no, there was no confusion. It was type one straightaway. Stacey Simms 10:31 And while I'm sure your parents were supportive, but very worried, I heard your brothers gave you an interesting well, while you were in the hospital, is that true? Eoin Costello 10:40 Yeah, it is true. So I was I was in hospital. I think I stayed there for about three nights while I was on an IV and obviously getting the crash course and diabetes management. And my family, in a good way have a dark sense of humor. We're nice people we like to think what around difficult times like that sometimes it can be nice to try and keep things light hearted. So my two brothers got a cough my brother and or my my dad. And we're obviously informed that Eoin has been diagnosed type 1 diabetes is in hospital. And on their way to the hospital. They picked up bottles of CO sweet jellies, these kinds of things to bring in as a joke. It kind of sounds weird. If you don't if you don't know. It came, it came from a good place. Stacey Simms 11:30 That's funny. Yeah, I think sometimes dark humor has its place for sure if you know it's coming with love. That's really funny. Exactly, of course. So you're already very involved, as you said in fitness. I assume you played sports all growing up. What were you thinking at the time about what was to come next? Eoin Costello 11:47 Yeah, there was a lot racing through my mind, obviously. But one of the big things that stood out to me and one of my main concerns was, can I continue to play sport, can I continue to be active, and for my whole life, I, I played a lot of different sports. But at the time, I was playing football, or I was playing soccer at a very high level. And I wanted to continue doing that. And because I didn't know anything about diabetes, I had almost automatically assumed that this would prevent me from being as active or playing sport. So it was obviously a big adjustment in terms of how to manage blood sugar around exercises, as we all know. But as time went on, I kind of quickly realized that look, you can of course, still play sport, you can be active, as long as you're still prioritizing your diabetes health. But the first while I was I was very concerned. Stacey Simms 12:41 It's interesting, when you were diagnosed, you know, almost 10 years ago. Now, this is a time before a lot of social media. I mean, it's kind of just starting. But I guess what I'm asking is, you have a huge Instagram following, and other social media following and you post advice, and you talk very openly about how to do what you do with type 1 diabetes, I've got to assume that wasn't available for you. When you were diagnosed? How did you figure it out? How did you know what to do? Eoin Costello 13:07 Very, very good question. It reminds me of when I kind of first got back to college. Because when I was in class, obviously, I had just been recently diagnosed. And as you say, Stacy, there was no social media, there wasn't really any, any sort of community based support groups that I could kind of connect with online and learn from other diabetics. And as we know, it can be very isolating to live with diabetes, because it's sometimes are consuming in your life. So at times, I was thinking I only person in the world left with this thing. And obviously I wasn't, but sometimes you can feel like that because it is so just on your mind all the time I was in college, I remember, some days, I was supposed to be doing work, but I might be behind the computer or laptop, just researching diabetes, because I became obsessed with in a really good way. Because I knew that. Okay, this is a very, very serious condition. It's something that is out of my control. Now I have it, there's nothing I could have done to bring it on. There's nothing I could have done to prevent us. But it's in my best interest now to know as much as possible. And for any diabetic out there, the more that we know, inevitably the easier things can be. I kind of just became obsessed with obsessed with trying to understand how different exercise would affect me how stress would affect me how lack of sleep would affect me, how hydration, different foods, these kinds of things. And it was it was almost like a guilty pleasure. I was just constantly constantly looking at open research and Stacey Simms 14:42 we're going to talk about what works and I'd love to get some advice for everybody from you know, the very casual athlete to somebody who's really, really more involved in fitness. But I got to ask, did you have any mishaps in the beginning? Did you try anything that you said that's not going to work? All right back to Eoin answering that question. But first bottom line, you need a plan of action with diabetes. We've been lucky that Benny's endo has helped us a lot with that and that he understands the plan has to change. It's been he gets older, you want that kind of support. So take your diabetes management to the next level with Dario health. Their published Studies demonstrate high impact results for active users like improved in rage percentage within three months reduction of a win see within three months and a 58% decrease in occurrences of severe hypoglycemic events, try Dario’s diabetes success plan and make a difference in your diabetes management. Go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections for more proven results and for information about the plan. Now back to Eoin answering my question about whether he's tried something in his workout or his diet routine that just didn't work. Eoin Costello 15:59 Thankfully, I didn't have anything dramatic. Thankfully, I highlight. But yeah, of course, there's so much trial and error with diabetes and from throughout throughout the last 10 years, I have just had thousands of highs, maybe not 1000s of lows, hopefully keep them keep them less. But the more that I tried different things, the more that I tried to get out there the more exercise that I did on a test and different foods with different amount of amounts of insulin. There's just so much trial and error. But hopefully, I didn't have anything like decay or I wasn't kind of rushed into hospital board. Well, fingers crossed. Yeah, let's keep let's keep it. So it was more so just the highs and lows as they call them rather than anything too serious. Thankfully, Stacey Simms 16:47 well, and I'll be I'll be clear on I was thinking more like you ate a banana before a workout. And it was not the right idea or wasn't so much like DK. Okay, I'm not too worried about, you know, that kind of mistake. I was just thinking about something smaller. But that's up to you. Eoin Costello 17:03 Yeah, of course, there's times where I remember when I, I think it was been a few weeks after I was diagnosed and I was kind of getting back into the gym. But I was also kind of coming into a honeymoon phase quite quickly after I was diagnosed. And I was taught and I was learning to carb count for one unit of insulin for 10 grams carbohydrates. And I remember, I finished the workout in the gym, I went down to the changing room to get changed up shower, and I had a banana. I weighed out the banana. It totaled 50 grams of carbs. So I thought, Okay, perfect. I've waited out I've done everything I'm supposed to do. I took five units of insulin and ate a banana. But I hadn't fully realized the impact of a potential honeymoon phase. So I quite quickly plummeted. And I now have to get two liters orange juice in quite quickly. But I'm just mistakes like that. Just where you think you're on the right track with an insulin dose of carb count or something as... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20079899

In the News... FDA hints on D-tech timeline, Libre 2 app approved, interchangeable insulin and more! 08/06/2021

In the News... FDA hints on D-tech timeline, Libre 2 app approved, interchangeable insulin and more! It's "In the News..." the only LIVE diabetes newscast! Top stories this week: FDA hints on 2021 D-tech timeline, the Freestyle Libre 2 app is approved, interchangeable insulin to cost less, an "astonishing" type 2 teen study and a big fall-off in use of metformin in people with type 2. Join us on Facebook live every Wednesday at 4:30pm EDT This week I was on the road, at the Podcast Movement convention. Sorry about the setting! Back in the home studio next week. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcription below: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. I’m on the road – again! This time I’m at podcast movement a big convention going on in Nashville.. so apologies if the audio and video are a little bit off but I think we’re good enough. And As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more when you have the time. XX In the News is brought to you by Real Good Foods! Excited to have them back as a sponsor – we’re big fans. Real Food You Feel Good About Eating. XX Our top story this week… a brief comment about diabetes devices at the FDA might give a hint to some timelines we’re all watching. FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health head Jeffrey Shuren says COVID-19 remains a source of uncertainty. "Goal is to be back to normal as we roll into 2022," Shuren said. "But there are a lot of variables that could impact that… don't know if we'll get hit with another tsunami of submissions for full marketing authorization for a lot of the COVID products. Getting back on track, everything is moving for the diabetes submissions." Products in front of the FDA expected by year’s end: Medtronic’s 780G and Zeus CGM, Insulet’s Omnipod 5, Tandem’s bolus by phone and it’s expected that Dexcom’s G7 will be submitted soon. https://seekingalpha.com/news/3715640-fda-devices-head-says-progress-being-made-on-diabetes-devices-backlog XX The FDA did clear one diabetes product this past week.. Abott’s Freestyle Libre 2 iOS app. The Libre 2 hardware was approved last year.. this is the app for Apple phones.. it gives users optional real time high and low alarms – still have to scan to see the actual values. It updates every minute – only CGM that does – and it lets caregivers remotely monitor. Freestyle Libre 2 has a 14 day wear.. no exact date on when the App will be available or when it’ll be available for android users. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/abbotts-freestyle-libre-2-ios-130000861.html XX Other side of the coin, Abbot will pay $160 million to resolve claims that two of its units submitted false claims to Medicare. The Justice Department said free glucose monitors were provided to get patients to order more testing supplies, and the companies routinely waived copayments. They were also accused of charging Medicare for ineligible patients and for more than 200 patients who were actually dead. XX Back to the FDA.. for the first time, they’re allowing a less expensive brand name insulin to be substituted for the original. Semglee – approved last year – is basically the same as Lantus but it’s a lot less expensive. Semglee is now is the first-ever to earn the “interchangeable” designation Trusted Source, meaning it’s fully approved to be substituted for Lantus at the pharmacy. No need to get permission from the doctor. This is the second copycat of Lantus; the first was Eli Lilly’s Basaglar, launched in 2016. There is some new branding and labeling needed here, so expect a relaunch of Semglee by the end of this year. FYI the pens are a little different even if the insulin in them is the same. It’s always a good idea to know what your doctor is prescribing and what your pharmacist is giving you.. even if it costs less. XX Big new studies focusing on children and teens with type 2 diabetes.. showing how different the disease can be in younger people. The studies, published July 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that within 15 years of a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, 60% of participants had at least one diabetes-related complication, and nearly a third of participants had two or more. These Texas researchers call it astonishing and say it appears type 2 in youth is much more aggressive than in older people. These researchers say more treatment options are needed for younger people because lifestyle changes don’t seem to be enough. The study also showed a lot of families don’t have regular access to medication or health care providers. They say it was a diverse study representative of teens and kids in the US. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-08-young-adults-complications-diabetes.html XX More to come, including new about people with diabetes who stop taking a very commonly prescribed medication.. but first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Real Good Foods! We’ve been fans for a long time – Benny especially likes their ice cream. Real Good Foods makes delicious food you’ll feel good about eating; high in protein, grain free and always made from real, nutrient dense ingredients. The labels are easy to read – because the ingredients aren’t chemicals and fillers. Whether it’s waffles or burrito bowls or stuffed chicken or the pizza that started it all.. I think you’ll really love Real Good Foods. Learn more with the link in the FB comments or as always at d-c dot com. Back to the news… XX Interesting research using artificial intelligence to catch diabetes eye issues earlier – when they’re easier to treat. Changes in the blood vessels in the retina cause diabetic retinopathy, the most common diabetic eye disease and a leading cause of blindness in US adults. There are several studies and institutes looking at the use of A-I here, but these folks at the Indiana University School of Optometry say they’re using information that is often ignored for diagnosis and it’s making a big difference. The National Institutes of Health’s National Eye Institute funded the work. https://www.futurity.org/biomarkers-diabetic-retinopathy-blindness-vision-2604812/ XX Nearly half of adults prescribed metformin after a new diagnosis of type 2 have stopped taking it by 1 year. The fall off is most dramatic during the first 30 days. These researchers say it didn’t matter how long the prescription was written for and most who discontinued still had A1C’s high enough to still need glucose lowering medication. They say as physicians quote - A lot of times we're quick to prescribe metformin and forget about it...Physicians might write a script for 3 months and three refills and not see the patient again for a year...We may need to keep a closer eye on these folks and have more regular follow-up, and make sure they're getting early diabetes education." https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/955893 XX That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! And quick note this is our 400th episode. I’ve been busy with some behind the scenes stuff and it caught up to me! A huge thank you to all of you.. incredible support from this community. Six years and 400 episodes is an accomplishment that I’ve only reached because of you. And join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode -Tuesday – I’m talking to Eoin Costello the host of his own diabetes podcast – about staying active or starting getting more fit with type 1. This week’s interview – the one that’s out right now – is a look at the features of Omnipod 5 – the newest hybrid closed loop system in front of the FDA. Thanks and I’ll see you soon /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20048273

"We really listened to what people wanted" - A look at Omnipod 5 with Horizon 08/03/2021

"We really listened to what people wanted" - A look at Omnipod 5 with Horizon Anticipation just keeps growing for the new Omnipod system, still waiting for FDA approval. This week, we talk to Dr. Trang Ly, Senior Vice President & Medical Director at Insulet Corporation. We’ll get an in-depth run through of the features of Omnipod 5 with Horizon, what makes it different from the other hybrid closed loops already on the market, and many other questions you all had. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcription Below Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. Announcer 0:21 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 0:26 This week anticipation growing for the new Omnipod 5 system still waiting for FDA approval. Many of the people behind it have waited a long time to knowing the promise of closed loop systems for people with diabetes and their families. Dr. Trang Ly 0:42 I still remember the very first time the very first patient that I put the system on and, and I was watching that insulin being delivered. And I remember just like hugging the participants, Mom, because we just both knew how incredible this was going to be if, if this could reach masses of people. Stacey Simms 1:04 That's Dr. Trang Ly, Senior Vice President and medical director at insulin Corporation, we'll get an in depth run through of the features of Omnipod 5 with horizon. What makes it different from the other hybrid closed loops already on the market and many other questions you all sent in. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. You know I'm always so glad to have you here. We aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. As you listen to this particular episode couple of things to keep in mind, Omnipod 5 with Horizon the full name of the system we are talking about today is not out yet it is not commercially available as of this taping. This episode is live on August 3 2021. The FDA is still mulling it over. If you are looking for even more information and some of the history of this, it may be worth going back to our first episode about this system that was almost exactly two years ago with the company CEO Shacey Petrovic. And I will link that interview up in the show notes at Diabetes connections.com COVID, really through this submission for a loop with the delays. And I didn't mean upon there with the word loop. But I know there has been frustration in the community. And there's frustration with an Insulet as well. But it really is close. Now, if you are not familiar and I know we have a lot of new listeners who've joined the show more recently. I know some of you have been hearing about this for years. But bear with me for just a moment as I explain it very quickly. You've got your Omnipod pod. That's the thing that holds and infuses the insulin, it's an all in one. It sits on the body, there's no buttons, there's no display, there's nothing to read, you've got your separate handheld controller, the thing with the display on it and the buttons are the touchscreen of how you actually control the pod when it comes to giving insulin for meals or for correction doses, that sort of thing. And for Omnipod five with horizon, you also have the Dexcom G6, the continuous glucose monitor, the pod and the CGM work together to give less or give more insulin to try to keep you in range. Now that is very, very simple. But Dr. Ly will explain it in much better detail. And I will also link up more information as always in the show notes. If you haven't ever seen what this looks like if you're curious, we'll link you up to all of the information. Dr. Trang Ly, my guest is the Senior Vice President and medical director at Insulet. Corporation, she leads their Omnipod five automated insulin delivery system clinical program before her time at Insulet. Dr. Ly was a pediatric endocrinologist in Australia. And toward the end of the interview, we talk about how personally knowing families that will benefit from this system and systems like it, you know what that is like for her. So my interview with Dr. Ly in just a moment, but first Diabetes Connections is brought to you buy Daario health and over the years, I finally managed diabetes better when we're thinking less about all the stuff of diabetes tasks, and that's why I love partnering with people who take the load off on things like ordering supplies, so I can really focus on Benny, the Dario diabetes success plan is all about you all the strips and lancets you need delivered to your door, one on one coaching so you can meet your milestones, weekly insights into your trends with suggestions on how to succeed get the diabetes management plan that works with you and for you, Dario is published Studies demonstrate high impact clinical results, find out more go to my dario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections. Dr. Ly, thank you so much for spending some time with me. My listeners are very excited to get all the information that they can about this. So thanks for being with me today. Dr. Trang Ly 4:58 Yeah, great to be program. Thanks, Stacey Stacey Simms 5:01 you got it. Let's start with an overview. I know that most people listening are probably very familiar with what we think Omnipod 5 with horizon will be. But can you start by just giving us an update and taking us through what is in front of the FDA for approval as you and I are speaking today? Dr. Trang Ly 5:17 Yeah, so happy to do so the Omnipod five system that you're referring to is Omnipod, or Insulet, first automated insulin delivery system. So this system, he has previously known as horizon or the Omnipod, five algorithm on the pod itself. And it talks directly with the ICGM, which is the Dexcom G6 sensor, and also has a separate controller device as well to be able to remotely deliver boluses and stop and start automated mode, the system that some kind of FDA just requires you to wear a pod and a CGM to stay in automated delivery, because the algorithm is on the pod itself. And I think that is the key feature of the Omnipod five system, Stacey Simms 6:14 a lot to break down there. And we'll get to each of the components. But let's start there with the kind of the brains of the operation being on the pod. What does that mean, in a practical sense when someone is wearing the system that they don't have to worry about it stopping that sort of thing? Dr. Trang Ly 6:27 Yeah. So the The key difference between previous products is that with our current Omnipod dash and earlier versions of Omnipod, the pod delivers the basil programs and the bolus delivery that the user has initiated. And so insulin is not under automated delivery. But in our future system with Omnipod. Five watch the pod does is that takes the CGM value which you wear on body and so that value directly communicate with the pod itself. And then the system and the algorithm on the pod takes that CGM value and determines how much insulin you need every five minutes. If you're running high, and you need a little bit more influence, the pod will automatically increase insulin delivery. And if you're at your target or dropping low, it will augment insulin delivery, so it might suspend or it might reduce the insulin that you need. That is the key difference between the product that is available today. And the future with Omnipod. Five, Stacey Simms 7:38 you would still use the PDM or the phone and we'll get to that to give yourself a meal bolus or a correction bolus. Dr. Trang Ly 7:47 That's right. For those instances where you're about to have a meal. Or if you're running high for whatever reason, like you underestimated carbs earlier, and you want to give a manual bolus, you can do that any time. And you would do that by using the controller device or PDM, to enter in your carbs, and use our bolus calculator to deliver that insulin. So all of those features are very similar to the current production on the pod dash, which again, is very similar to our earlier version. So that's on the pod. Stacey Simms 8:24 Let's talk about the algorithm a little bit. I know there's a lot that's proprietary here. But I'm curious, we've seen over the last couple of years, Medtronic come out with a you know, an automated device. Tandem has control IQ, I believe my listeners are pretty familiar with the workings of those, what would be the biggest differences between how those systems work and how Omnipod 5 with horizon will work. Dr. Trang Ly 8:49 I'm very familiar with those algorithms. Because I, you know, in my previous life, I worked very quickly with those systems as they were being developed. And so I say, you know, having been in this role for the last five years and been running the clinical trials. For them, I can tell you that the main difference I'd say would be that our algorithm, you can set the target glucose for whatever time of day. And the range we have is between 110 to 150, in 10 milligram per deciliter increments. And you might have a family where you want to go overnight, you want to run out and 20 because you feel more comfortable at 120 overnight, and then but during the day you want to run at 110 you can set up a profile so that the algorithm augments insulin delivery to your preferred target glucose level. And, you know, we we knew when we were coming to market that we were not going we certainly weren't the first and not the second product market. So we knew that we had to deliver a level of personalization for our users. So we really listened to what people wanted. And people do want that level of personalization and customization. And so we implemented that design feature into our clinical trial to demonstrate that our system performs very safely across those different target glucose level. Until our clinical studies which show we'll get into Dude, what was tested across a very wide range of patients, for initially, we did a beam study, which was for patients aged six to 70 years of age. And then most recently, just a couple weeks ago, we were reported on our preschool age participants who were between two to six years of age, and they see I'm sure you'll appreciate that they're young. glucose control is just very variable, very unpredictable. And, you know, I think strength of our algorithm is that it works very well, even if you, you know, Miss or skip a bolus, occasionally, you know, that algorithm is going to kick in, it's going to deliver, you know, a decent amount of insulin to get you back in range, it's going to happen immediately, but it's calling to do its best to keep you in the range as much as possible. And similar, I'd say to the other systems, especially, I'd say more second generation systems is that we are getting, you know, excellent timing range, especially in the overnight period. Stacey Simms 11:32 It was I laughed a little when you said preschool, as you know, My son was diagnosed before he was two. And whenever I see studies with little kids that work so well, it's so exciting, because you know, that age group, they can't even tell you when they're feeling weird. They can't stomach my son couldn't even pronounce the word diabetes. So it's a different age group altogether. So I was thrilled to see those results. Dr. Trang Ly 11:53 I know, well, I have two kids under five right now, and they don't have diabetes. And I have no idea how much they're going to ace or whether or not you know how much activity they're going to do. And I just can't even fathom how challenging it would be to have a child with diabetes. And are they low? Or are they or as I just grumpy? asleep, Stacey Simms 12:18 I didn't have enough. Oh, my goodness, I should have said this towards the beginning. And I know, I know Dr. Like that, you know, this, we use control IQ. We're very happy with the Tandem, but we're not rooting for any system here. I think that the and I say we I mean me, I it's so exciting to see all of these systems beginning to come to market beginning to really have an impact to have differences in their algorithms so that people can pick and choose exactly what they want. And we're just at the beginning of it. So I am so excited to see the study's going so well, I have a couple of questions about what you've already mentioned, on that target of 110 to 150, just to be crystal clear about it, you're talking about not just putting the pump into say using Tandem, for example, exercise mode or sleep mode, you're seeing in you know, my weekday profile, for example, I know my son plays basketball every day from three to seven so we're going to create a profile that changes his blood glucose target for that period of time, perhaps starting you know, before he plays a little bit and then extending after and that's an actual profile in the pump that you then could change. Okay, perfect. All right, that's really interesting. Is there an Is there a and I hate to use Tandem is word sorry, is there an exercise mode or a sleep mode? Or is it just the user sets it as they want? Right back to Dr. Ly answering that question. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by tchibo hypo pin and you know, low blood sugar feels horrible. You can get shaky and sweaty or even feel like you're gonna pass out there are a lot of symptoms and they can be different for everyone. I'm so glad we have a different option to treat very low blood sugar Jeeva hypo pen, it's the first auto injector to treat very low blood sugar chivo Kibo pen is premixed and are ready to go with no visible needle before Jeeva people needed to go through a lot of steps to get glucagon treatments ready to be used. This made emergency situations even more challenging and stressful. This is so much better. I'm grateful we have it on hand find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the G book logo g book shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit Jeeva glucagon comm slash risk. Now back to Dr. Ly. Going into more detail about how the Omnipod 5with horizon system works. Dr. Trang Ly 14:36 Separate but yes, what you describe is exactly how our product works or during the day. It might be that you want your son to run out 110 through the day but maybe between the hours of three and seven you'd run at 140 that is an option. And you can set that up pre programmed so that he doesn't have to remember to do that every day or you can run in what we call a hyper protect mode, which is work similarly to like attempt days or that you you'll be familiar with. So that's more of an ad hoc, oh, I feel like exercising for the next two hours, I'm going to set my program in hyper protect mode. And hyper protect, what the system does is it adjusts your target glucose to 150. And it actually gives you less insulin than your basal insulin. So you're running essentially with less insulin on board than you would normally would during that period. And so we we did a lot of studies to kind of land on that design. And we feel that he does a good job of preventing hyperglycemia for, for people without problems asked afterwards. So it has worked well, because it doesn't, you know, sometimes, when you're preparing for exercise, you might take a snack, and that drives your blood glucose up. And then if you have a really robust algorithm that might kick in and give you a fair amount of insulin. So that's what we were trying to avoid with our design was that not just that the setpoint is elevated, but also that the system can't give too much insulin during that time. So that's sort of our equivalent exercise mode. We don't have anything called sleep mode. But as I said, our set point of 110, you know, once were created will be the lowest available in the United States. Stacey Simms 16:30 One of the things I've learned recently, and I I feel like I haven't seen this reported very widely, is that, unlike Tandem control IQ, the Omnipod system, the Omnipod, five with horizon, learns the user it changes, it has a little bit of I guess I call it artificial intelligence. Is that correct? And can you walk me through what I'm saying? What I mean by that? Yeah. Dr. Trang Ly 16:56 Yes, yeah, I think I think you're I'm getting to a really key difference between our, our system and others. So with, with our system, when we, when we were developing it, we wanted to reduce the work that comes with diabetes, as well. And so you know, a lot of the work that comes with that is adjusting those or rate adjusting, you know, all the settings and things like that. And so our system, initially, when you, when you have it out of the box, it does rely on your basal rate to start off, automated insulin delivery. But over time, the system learns through the turtle Gary informed that is delivered by the system. So the system knows about this, and can rely on this information, because it's reliable come through the system to augment insulin delivery. So you might have a small child who only has 10 units of insulin per day. Now system is not going to give too much insulin, based upon the fact that it knows that in the last few days, it's never given more than 10 units a day. And so the safety constraints are personalized for that user. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, know, we have users that use 100 units a day. And in that case, the algorithm knows that it can give a lot more insulin, and this person will tolerate it quite fine. Because you know, when you have insulin is unlikely to make much difference for this person who takes 100 units a day. And so as it accrues that information over time, the algorithm does adapt the ability to know how much insulin it delivers based on that information. So what it means is that, in order to get the results we got, you know, you're not having to tweak basil rates on an hourly basis. Sometimes I've seen, you know, people have different basil rates every hour. And what we're really striving to do here at Insulet is create products that reduce burden for people. And that includes including, you know, optimizing settings, so that people can get, you know, so that everybody can get good glucose control and, and not have to rely on perhaps educators and clinicians at the academic centers who are familiar with these devices to really get those good results. Stacey Simms 19:38 So I'm just trying to understand the the automatic adjustment that you're talking about there based on the total daily insulin. So if after a few weeks of using Omnipod five with Horizon, a person should expect to not adjust basil rates should like what should they be seeing because if like let's say as someone has six different basil, right When they start on the system, what what's happening? Right? What's going on? Are they Is it like the other systems where it's adjusting every five minutes, it's giving you boluses. If needed you How is the smartness of the of the pump working there? Dr. Trang Ly 20:12 Yes, if you had six different rates running for 24 hours, initially, the algorithm would take that information and would have bent in front of every every five minutes based upon the inputs that were provided to the system, as well as how your... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/20006303

In the News.. T1D gene mapping, new T2D meds, insulin implant research & more! 07/30/2021

In the News.. T1D gene mapping, new T2D meds, insulin implant research & more! It's "In the News..." the only LIVE diabetes newscast! Our top stories this week: 100 years of insulin, the largest genetic study of type 1 diabetes is complete, approval for a new type 2 meds for teens, research moves forward on an insulin-producing implant and an Olympic hopeful starts a diabetes sports foundation!. Watch "In the News..." live every Wednesday at 4:30pm EDT ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcription below: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. I’m on the road, so apologies if the audio and video are a little bit off but I think we’re good enough. And As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more when you have the time. XX Lots of articles, op-eds and celebrations to mark this week’s 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin. In July of 1921, the collaboration of Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip and John Macleod led to the isolation and purification of insulin. Most marking the occasion this year are focusing on access and affordability.. The International Diabetes Federation is launching a three year campaign to celebrate the advances made in diabetes, but also to call on more action to ensure all people living with diabetes have the best possible quality of life and health outcomes. https://insulin100.utoronto.ca/ XX The largest and most diverse genetic study of type 1 diabetes ever undertaken is complete. Researchers at UVA say they’ve identified the “most likely causal genetic variants associated with risk and their target genes.” They hope the results will help lead to better medical and drug treatment or possible prevention and genetic treatments. This study looked at more than 60-thousand people. and identified 78 regions on our chromosomes where genes are located that influence our risk for Type 1 diabetes. Of those, 36 regions were previously unknown. https://news.virginia.edu/content/largest-ever-type-1-diabetes-genetic-study-identifies-potential-treatment-targets XX New partnership announced between LifeScan the glucose monitoring company and Noom, a digital health platform focused on behavior change. LifeScan will be the first digital health diabetes management company to partner with Noom's Diabetes Support Program. The goal is to bring personalized health insights to better address eating habits and weight management. The new fully-integrated OneTouch Solutions program will be available first to consumers in the US starting this Fall. https://www.lifescan.com/news-and-updates/2020-press-releases/noom-to-launch-digital-diabetes-and-weight-loss XX AstraZeneca gets approval for its once weekly diabetes medicine Bydureon in kids as young as ten. The injectable is used for people with type 2 diabetes. The approval comes about a month after data showed the drug significantly reduced blood glucose levels in adolescents compared to placebo. Bydureon is already approved for adults with type-2. The only other non-insulin options available for adolescents with type 2 have to be taken daily. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/astrazenecas-weekly-once-diabetes-drug-gets-us-approval-children-2021-07-23/ XX Rice University bioengineers are using 3D printing and smart biomaterials to create an insulin-producing implant. The three-year project is supported by a grant from JDRF. They researchers will use insulin-producing beta cells made from human stem cells to create an implant that senses and regulates blood glucose levels by responding with the correct amount of insulin at a given time. The goal here is to show their implants can properly regulate blood glucose levels of diabetic mice for at least six months. So we’re really early on here but it’s an interesting new way of looking at reproducing what the pancreas does. https://indiaeducationdiary.in/rice-university-rice-team-creating-insulin-producing-implant-for-type-1-diabetes/ XX A judge rules that Roche did NOT infringe Insulet’s patent – this case brought over a patch pump sold in the UK. We told you about this case a few weeks back.. Insulet claimed because of it’s Omnipod patent, Roche didn’t have the right to sell it’s Accu Chek Solo. The judge ruled for Roche. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/roche-diabetes-care-succeeds-in-uk-3307644/ XX An Olympic hopeful with type 1 is sitting out the Tokyo games due to an injury.. but she’s also inspiring others and starting a new non profit to help other people with diabetes. Long jumper Kate Hall Harnden was on track for the 2020 Olympics, but was injured this past January Diagnosed at age ten, she and her husband have formed the , which aims to give financial assistance to people with diabetes who want to improve in their sport and diabetes management. They’ve planned to launch grants for financial assistance in July 2021, and those details are being finalized. They’ll host two camps in Maine this year.. one for teens and one for any age. I’ve linked up to a great story in DiabetesMine if you want more info.. XX That’s In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! And join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode -Tuesday – I’m talking to Omnipod – we’ll get a update on the Omnipod 5 with Horizon system. This week’s interview – the one that’s out right now – is with Gold Medal Olympian Gary Hall Jr – when he was diagnosed in 1999 he was told to give up swimming. He didn’t and he talks about why.. and how he overcame what was conventional wisdom for athletes at the time. Thanks and I’ll see you soon /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/19971521

"We're not in this alone" - Gary Hall, Jr on Winning Olympic Gold with T1D 07/27/2021

"We're not in this alone" - Gary Hall, Jr on Winning Olympic Gold with T1D When Gary Hall Jr was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1999 his doctors told him to give up competitive swiming and drop out of the 2000 Olympics. Instead, he charged ahead and became the first person with T1D to take home an Olympic Gold Medal. Hall won Gold in Sydney in 2000 and again in Athens in 2004, adding to the medals he'd won in 1996 before his diagnosis. Stacey caught up to Gary at this summer's Friends for Life Conference and asked him how he got past what his doctors told him. He also shared what he tells newly diagnosed families today. Plus, Benny is home – after a month abroad.. Stacey has and update on her son's trip to Israel and how they managed his diabetes for that time. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcript below: Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario health. Manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first premixed auto injector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week with the Summer Olympics underway and swimming taking center stage this week, I caught up with gold medalist Gary Hall Jr. The very first person with T1Dto take gold. He talks about what's changed since then. Gary Hall, Jr 0:40 I rely heavily on the convenience of CGM, I mean being able to see where my levels are trending. In order for me to compete at the Olympic levels and do the necessary training, I was manually testing with finger sticks 20 times a day, Stacey Simms 0:55 when Gary was diagnosed in 1999. He was told he'd never swim competitively. Again, we talked about how he got past that and what he's telling families today, and Benny is home my son after a month abroad, I have a little bit of an update on how it went. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. I'm always so glad to have you here. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. My son Ben, he was diagnosed right before he turned two back in 2006. My husband lives with type two diabetes, I don't have diabetes, I have a background in broadcasting. That's how you get the podcast. And one of the fun things about going to diabetes conferences is that you don't know who you're going to run into. It turns out that just a few weeks before the postpone to Summer Olympics were to start there was an Olympic gold medal swimmer at the recent friends for life conference. So great to be able to go back in person finally kind of feeling our way through this and hoping that, you know, we'll see what happens for the rest of this year but hoping that we can get back to it. But once I saw that Gary Hall Jr. was speaking to families, attending friends for life for the first time. I knew I had to ask him to be on the show. So he graciously agreed he met me just a few hours later we did this interview in person you will hear me during the interview referred to how far he had to walk and I mean it. This conference center is huge. And I appreciate him basically meeting me at the farthest point from where he was. And you'll also likely hear some background noise or some music. If you are not familiar Gary Hall Jr. represented the United States at swimming in 1996 in 2002 1004, it's really quite a family legacy. His father, his grandfather, and his uncle all competed on the US Olympic swim team. Paul won silver in 96. And then he was diagnosed in 1999. With type one, his doctors told him he would never swim again competitively. But then in 2000 in Sydney, he became the fastest swimmer in the world. He broke his own record in 2004. And by the time he retired from competitive swimming in 2008, he had won 10 Olympic medals, including five gold. In these current Olympics. There is a competitor from the US with type one, Charlotte Drury. She's not a swimmer. She's a trampoline gymnast. And I talked about her during in the news last week, our last episode hoping to have her on the show in the near future. I'm really interested to hear the difference because it's only been what a little bit more than 20 years since Gary Hall Jr. was diagnosed and told no way dropped out of the Olympics, you'll never do it. And Charlotte Drury was diagnosed and three weeks later returned to her full training as she was diagnosed this year, she was diagnosed right before the trials. So it's a completely different world in these 22 years, let's say in between those diagnoses. So I'm really interested to kind of talk to her in the near future hopefully. Alright, so let's get to it. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen. And when you have diabetes and use insulin, low blood sugar can happen when you don't expect it. That's why most of us carry fast acting sugar. And in the case of very low blood sugar, why we carry emergency glucagon there's a new option called Gvoke Hypopen the first autoinjector to treat very low blood sugar gvoke hypo pen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle. In usability studies. 99% of people were able to give Gvoke correctly find out more go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the gvoke logo gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma visit gvoke glucagon.com slash risk. Gary, thank you so much for walking the length of the convention center to talk to me today. I appreciate it. Gary Hall, Jr 4:50 Yeah, I'm getting my steps in today. I feel really good about it. And I'm also having a lot of fun. Awesome. I'm Stacey Simms 4:56 glad to hear that. You spoke to the first timer. Families this morning people who have are experiencing their first time to friends for life. Why was it important for you to speak to them? What were you talking to them about? Gary Hall, Jr 5:09 The antiquated expression is shell shocked. Now, I think it's PTSD. But when you go through a diagnosis, it hits your heart, it hits your family members and loved ones really hard. And you have a lot more questions than answers. And desperate is a word that comes to mind when reflecting back on my own diagnosis, what makes this such a great convention, such a great organization, friends for life, and children with diabetes. And everybody that attends, you know, it's that sense of community here that we're not in this alone, that there are others out there living and dealing with this condition in a similar way that understand your struggles. And that's really all we want. In some ways, it's just to be understood, you know, in such an emotional, traumatic time and experience. And so for first timers, many of them are newly diagnosed, or the parent of a newly diagnosed child, it means a lot to me, because I haven't forgotten what it's like, in that short time after a diagnosis and to be able to offer some support and encouragement and hope, hopefully, hope, to those makes me feel really happy. Stacey Simms 6:34 But when you were diagnosed, there was no one to lead you through it. There is no had been knowing with your experience or the experience you wanted to have. And you've very famously shared, you know, what a difficult time that was and how emotionally low it brought you. I don't want to take you through that whole thing. But I'd be curious to know, where you found inspiration. How did you get through that time when they said sorry, kid, you're done? Gary Hall, Jr 7:00 Yeah, it took time. It took time, you know, there are stages of grief, and waited my way through that mark. And found, in some ways, fortunate that I was a top level swimmer prior to the diagnosis. Because I had people reaching out to me, this is unusual, that's not the norm. And so I was able to very early connect with jdrf children's Congress, and children with diabetes. I was here in 2005. When this was a new thing. Stacey Simms 7:40 I'm gonna ask you about that. I heard there with some some swimming some kids. Yeah, it stands in the pool. Gary Hall, Jr 7:46 You can count on that when it's here at the Coronado Springs Resort. Disneyland world. Yeah, lots of swimming. Lots of smiles. Good memories. Stacey Simms 7:57 I bet I bet. But I mean, not to dwell on the difficult, but it's wonderful that they reached out to you. Right. And that is, that is an unusual experience. But you still had to find a way to say to yourself, my dream still gonna happen? Gary Hall, Jr 8:12 Yeah, there was no certainty in that pursuit. I didn't know what was possible. But this is life, right? Like, we don't know what we're capable of, until we put ourselves out there. And I was willing to try and was really fortunate to connect with Dr. Anne Peters and, and has been here in the past and spoken so many people and she's great. She's, I love her. I love hen Peters. She was the inspiration. It only came in the way of Yeah, let's give it a try. You know, is that that was such a departure from these other doctors that I had initially come in contact with that, um, yeah. If you set your mind to something and try to figure it out, you're gonna have some success, eventually. So that's what we've kind of set to work doing. And like I said, there's no certainty that I would be the fastest swimmer in the world one day, but that's what happened. Stacey Simms 9:20 Yeah. When you look back at that time, and you think about how you manage diabetes Now, what's changed for you? Gary Hall, Jr 9:29 The game changer in diabetes management was the continuous glucose monitoring device and Dexcom came out with that device just changed with diabetes management, and it was just almost like, how come I I couldn't have had this 20 years earlier? You know, or you know, I guess it wasn't that long when I but 10 years earlier. I rely heavily on the convenience of the sea. gam I mean, being able to see where my levels are trending, in order for me to compete at the Olympic levels and do the necessary training, I was manually testing with finger sticks 20 times a day. And that doesn't even come close to comparing to you know what the Dexcom has to offer? Yeah, that's been the biggest change area. You know, in 2000. I was diagnosed in 99. last century, Stacey Simms 10:25 turn of the century turn of the century, Gary Hall, Jr 10:27 you know, the pumps were really just becoming popularized at that time. And I like pumps, a lot of people swear by them and love them. But it was just I never felt connected. That's the first time I've ever used that. Upon I just caught myself. Anyway, I yeah, I just never the attachment. And maybe it was because I was swimming in the water and just wearing a skimpy Speedo or whatever body conscious, I don't know. But I was able to get over that with when the CGM and in the street behind the speedo location. Stacey Simms 11:05 We get a little personal on this show. Gary Hall, Jr 11:06 Yeah, so yeah, but the benefits to me were worth a wearable. Yeah, I live with the pump companies were doing but at the time 2000 everybody was, you know, it was parading in the convention halls. You know, the pumpers, you know, is this big movement and game changer, and you know how diabetes managed, but I found after trying all the pump set, you know, I was getting good, you know, range as long as the testing was the key. And as far as long as I was willing to give myself a shot. You know, pen needles are pretty easy to take. So that's just personal preference. Stacey Simms 11:46 I just want to ask you about the 20 finger sticks a day, because I remember my son went seven years without a CGM. And it was, especially in the pool, this pruney fingers, it's really hard to do finger sticks. Was that an issue for you? I mean, do you have memories of like, oh, not this one. I'll try this finger or I mean, it must have been slipping around on the pool and the wet test strips. Right back to Gary answering that question. But first, one of the things that makes diabetes management difficult for us that really annoys me and Benny isn't actually the big picture stuff. It's the little tasks all adding up. Are you sick of running into strips? Do you need some direction or encouragement going forward with your diabetes management, with visibility into your trends help you on your wellness journey? The Dario diabetes success plan offers all of that and more. No more waiting in line to the pharmacy. No more searching online for answers. No more wondering about how you're doing with your blood sugar levels, find out more go to my daario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections. Now back to Gary answering my question about what it's like checking your blood sugar while you're swimming. Gary Hall, Jr 13:00 So yes, drying off properly is very important. There are times where Yeah, there's just a watery blood thing I don't Yeah, it was juggling, you know, and a lot more to carry and a pocket. You know, I like to travel white empty pockets. So now I've got my smartphone and, and a pen. And so I appreciate probably that more than anything because I you know, bulky pockets, slow you down. Stacey Simms 13:29 And my listeners will definitely want to know, if you have any tips and tricks keeping that Dexcom on in the water. Everybody's got a different method because everybody's skin is different. I'll give you that disclaimer. Any advice or any thing to share? Gary Hall, Jr 13:41 Yeah, I know. I use duct tape. Stacey Simms 13:45 I need to just narrate. He looked around almost ashamedly. Yeah, I know. Gary Hall, Jr 13:53 I'm just hardcore that way. I guess I'm sorry. I kind of like the roughness of it. And so yeah, when I need securing I get that that silver ducted. Stacey Simms 14:06 I'm almost Sorry, I asked. You're meeting kids here. You're talking to parents. You know, this is a family conference. There are a lot of adults with type one as well. But I remember when my son was first diagnosed, anybody that looked like they were living well, with type one, I would just great. How did you do it? What did you do? You know, what's the key? And I know there's not really an answer for that. But I'm curious what you say, because I'm sure parents have already asked you. Gary Hall, Jr 14:30 What do you have to do to stay healthy? And? Stacey Simms 14:34 Well, I think it goes beyond that. I'll change my question. Beyond keeping your blood sugar in control and listening to your mom. Right and doing everything. Yes, always. I'm curious if there's more to it, because for me, I find that my son thrives the best when he is he's allowed to take risks. He knows that we trust him. And even if he messes up, you know, hopefully it's in a safe enough environment. He's 16. Now, just for context, So we're giving him a longer and longer rope. And I think that's important for thriving with diabetes is letting your kids make mistakes, letting yourself make mistakes. I'm curious if anything like that kind of helped you. I mean, you're somebody who had such high goals that had to help you thrive as well, Gary Hall, Jr 15:16 well, I've got children, my daughter is 15, my son is 13. Now, and they don't have diabetes, knocking on wood, and they're at an age where I remember from my childhood independence as an important thing. And as a parent, you want to protect them in a shelter them, right. And even more, so when your child has diabetes, we have to let them go, they have to leave the nest at some point, and develop that sense of independence. And so that's difficult for a lot of parents here. Especially newly diagnosed, you know, that really have that instinct to protect and shepherd and, and so then there may be some mess ups, you know, and learning curve, and trial and error process, there's air involved, and there certainly was in my learning curve and diabetes management. Eventually, you get through that, and they're able to take some ownership of it. And I think for me, I've always had a fierce sense of independence. And so that was really important for me, not just in my pursuits in the pool, but also in in diabetes management. Stacey Simms 16:34 Summer Olympics are coming up. What can we look for? Like, can you tell us anything? We should be like watching behind the scenes or stuff we don't know, or, you know, fun stuff about swimming? I mean, you you made such a show of it. Gary Hall, Jr 16:48 That sport is entertainment. So don't fault me. No, no. I had some fun. That's all I was doing. horsing around, but it for Look out, I went to the Olympic trials for USA Swimming. They were in Omaha, Nebraska just a couple weeks ago, and saw the team qualify. And what an intense meat that is, you know, they take first place and second place, third place goes home, I was able to see some outstanding swims. I'm a fan of the sport. I've been following it closely my entire life and the guy, the next guy, you know, because there's certainly been a lot of merit of, you know, Michael Phelps, his retirement, he's been a pillar of USA Swimming for so long. You know, who's going to replace that pillar. Caleb dressel is the guy. And everybody will know his name after these Olympics. He's really just a phenomenal swimmer and great role model. I expect good things out of him on the women's side. Katie ledecky, she was around in the last Olympics. She is a sweetheart, she's a darling, she's exactly who you want your daughter to grow up to be like, so Team USA is in good hands. There's a lot of swimmers with them, shoulder to shoulder, representing the United States and we can count on them to do a great job and represent us really well. Stacey Simms 18:10 And then just one last question before I let you go. Kids listening families listening with type one who want to swim, high school level college level, maybe dreaming about the Olympics. Any advice for them? I guess I'll be fishing here a little bit. But feel free to get specific. Obviously, you want them to follow their dreams? Gary Hall, Jr 18:26 Yeah. Listen, I say it often, you know, you don't have to win an Olympic gold medal to enjoy the benefits of sport. You know that there is social camaraderie, this built in a support system and you're surround yourself with other young ambitious people that have goals and work hard to chase them down. And, you know, this is an exclusive to swimming. Obviously, I'm a little bit biased. I think it's the greatest sport in the world. It is but you know, we'll we'll accept the benefits of other sports in addition to I love sport, I love what it teaches the data. It's overwhelming kids that are involved on us in a sports program on a sports team average, they outperform their classmates by one full grade in the classroom. You know what it does in stress reduction, and overall health benefit is tremendous. You know, if there was a single drug that had the efficacy of exercise and provided the same benefits of exercise, every single doctor in the world would prescribe that. It doesn't have to be swimming doesn't have to be for a gold medal. But go out and have some fun. Stacey Simms 19:43 Gary, thank you so much for talking to me. You're listening to Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Lots more information about Gary in the show notes at diabetes... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/19931354

In the News.. Oral Meds for T1D, Dexcom API News, Closed Loop and Teens, Olympics and more! 07/23/2021

In the News.. Oral Meds for T1D, Dexcom API News, Closed Loop and Teens, Olympics and more! It's "In the News..." the only LIVE diabetes newscast! Our top stories this week: Oral meds to prevent T1D move ahead, racial disparity in peds CGM use, what that Dexcom API news means, a new study with teens and Control IQ and a summer olympian talks about her recent T1D diagnosis. Join Stacey live on Facebook each Wednesday at 4:30pm EDT! ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcript below: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more when you have the time. XX Our top story.. A new oral drug to prevent type 1 is moving along in trials. Right now it’s called IMT-002 – and put very simply - it’s meant to block a genetic trait that increases the risk for the disease and is seen in a majority of patients. It’s a new way to think about treating type 1 – phase two studies could start next year. It’s thought that this could help with other auto-immune diseases as well.. the next condition these researchers want to tackle is celiac. XX Could the global rise in diabetes have an environmental component? In an Advances in Pharmacology article, researchers say routine exposure to chemicals that disrupt our endocrine systems play a role in triggering diabetes. These researchers say "We often attribute patient's disease risk to individual choices, and we don't necessarily think about how systems and environments play into disease risk," They go on to say so-called lifestyle factors like exercise and diet fail to fully account for "the dramatic rise and spread" of diabetes. https://www.ehn.org/environmental-factors-of-diabetes-2653768475/how-endocrine-disruptors-contribute-to-diabetes XX A new study shows Black children less likely to start or continue with a CGM after a type 1 diabetes diagnosis. These researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia or CHOP as it’s commonly known, show that a racial-ethnic disparity in CGM use begins within the first of year after diagnosis. White children were more than two and a half times more likely to start CGM compared with Black children and twice as likely to start CGM compared with Hispanic children. There was a disparity even when broken down by types of insurance – commercial or government. These researchers say social determinants including structural racism, are likely playing a role in disparities in care and outcomes https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20210719/black-children-less-likely-to-start-continue-cgm-after-type-1-diabetes-diagnosis XX Very large survey of women shows that half of those with type 1 or type 2 diabetes are not getting pre-pregnancy counseling. This study included more than 100-thousand women. Right now guidelines from many groups including the CDC and American Diabetes Association recommend providers offer women with diabetes health counseling before pregnancy to cut down on the increased maternal and infant risk associated with both conditions. These researchers hope to develop better tools for women & their doctors. https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/news-media/research-highlights/women-with-diabetes-and-hypertension-dont-receive-pre-pregnancy-counseling/ XX Big increase for time in range when kids use hybrid closed loop systems. We’ve heard about a lot of improvement, but in this study, the percentage of kids and teens with t1d spending at least 70% time in range… more than doubled after 3 months of using Tandem’s Control IQ system. This was a study of about 200 kids, median age was 14, and it was a real world study – where the kids went about their lives, not in a clinical setting, and the researchers pulled the data electronically. Interestingly, sleep mode use increased through 6 months, while the exercise mode was used less over time. Kids with an A1C over 9 saw the most improvement. Those with an A1C under 7 didn’t see much of a change. XX Dexcom gets FDA clearance for real time APIs.. what does that mean? Third party companies like Fitbit or Sugarmate which have long integrated Dexcom data have been doing so on a bit of a delay. Now they can do so in real time. API stands for Application Programming Interface, which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. Dexcom’s Partner Web APIs will allow users to view all of their diabetes care data in one place to enable in-the-moment feedback and adjustments, the company said in the announcement. https://www.mobihealthnews.com/news/dexcom-gets-fda-nod-its-new-api-integration XX Cool new exhibit at Banting House – recent guests of the podcast and museum celebrating the birthplace of insulin. They’re set to open up again this week – the first time since March 2020 – and there’s a new computer generated exhibit. It does work outside.. In the square where Dr. Banting’s statue stands. Giving visitors a virtual glimpse at the life and work of the man credited for the discovery of insulin. If you haven’t visited – it’s in Canada – or seen the museum, I highly recommend a spin around the website, we’ll link it up. XX Summer Olympics are kicking off and by now you’ve probably heard that American trampoline gymnast Charlotte Drury was just recently diagnosed. She found out she had type 1 weeks before the 2021 Olympic qualifying trials, she revealed on Instagram last week. she and her coach pressed on and she basically got back into things within three weeks. She posted this photo of herself wearing the Dexcom. Drury is the first American woman to win a gold medal in trampoline at a World Cup That’s Diabetes Connections – In the News. If you like it, share it. And feel free to send me your news tips. Stacey @ diabetes dash connections dot com. Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode -Tuesday – I’ll share my conversation with Gold Medal Olympian Gary Hall Jr – when he was diagnosed in 1999 he was told to give up swimming. He didn’t and he talks about why.. and how he overcame what was conventional wisdom for athletes at the time. This week’s show is the story of Jack Tierney, diagnosed in 1959 with type 1 he’s 81 and he says he’s never felt better. Thanks and I’ll see you soon /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/19899797

"I've never felt better in my life and I'm 81 years old" - meet Jack Tierney 07/20/2021

"I've never felt better in my life and I'm 81 years old" - meet Jack Tierney Jack Tierney has lived with type 1 for more than 60 years. Not surprising, he was first misdiagnosed with type 2 and lived with that diagnosis for almost two years. He shares the story of finally getting the right diagnosis, living well with T1D before home blood sugar meters or fast acting insulins and why he just last year switched to a pump. Stacey talks to Jack and his son Jamie. In Tell Me Something Good – boy it was great to get back out to an actual in person conference. Shout out to not just FFL but to my local Charlotte community as well. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Previous episodes with people who've lived with type 1 for more than 50 years: ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcription below: Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health manage your blood glucose levels increase your possibilities by Gvoke Hypopen the first pre mixed auto injector for very low blood sugar and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. This week Jack Tierney is 81 years old and was diagnosed with diabetes more than 60 years ago. He had classic symptoms but remembers being shocked to hear the news. Jack Tierney 0:38 And he told me I was a diabetic and I said to him what's that I had never heard the word or knew nothing about it. And he told me what it was generally speaking, and I'm convinced that the doctor probably did not know the difference between type one and type two because this was January of 1960 Stacey Simms 1:00 Jack was mis diagnosed with Type two for almost two years. He shares the story of finally getting the right diagnosis living well with T1Dbefore home blood sugar meters or fast acting insolence and why he just last year, switch to a pump in Tell me something good boy, it was great to get back out to an actual in person diabetes conference, shout out not just to friends for life, but to my local Charlotte community as well. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. Okay, so glad to have you here we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. My son Benny was diagnosed 14 and a half years ago, just before he turned to my husband lives with type two diabetes. I have diabetes, but I have a background in broadcasting. And that is how you get the podcast. I got an email a couple of weeks ago from Jack Tierney, who you'll hear from today. And he said check out the 12 minute YouTube video that my son and La filmmaker has created for me, it's called an 81 year olds 62 year journey with type 1 diabetes. Well, that caught my attention. I've talked to quite a few people over the years who have lived a very long time with type one, it really is incredible to think about how they made it work without the things that we consider now like the very very basics right home blood sugar meters, and a one c test fast acting insulins, Jack and his son Jamie have a great story. And I will link up that video that started all of this in the show notes you can always go to Diabetes connections.com. If you're listening on a podcast player, you know like apple or Spotify or Pandora, sometimes the show notes are a little wonky. And the links don't work, just head over to the episode homepage. And it also has a transcription. If you follow me on social, you know that I went to the friends for life conference recently the first in person conference for me since March of 2020. I'm going to talk about that after the interview. But I wanted to say a quick Welcome to anybody new who is listening who found me there who I met at that conference, there were so many new people, it was great to be able to say hi and have some hugs and meet your kids. So I'll talk about that a little bit. And I'll get to Jack's story in just a moment. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health. And, you know, we first noticed Dario a couple of years ago at a conference and very thought being able to turn your smartphone into a meter was pretty amazing. I'm excited to tell you that Dario offers even more now, the Dario diabetes success plan gives you all the supplies and support you need to succeed. You'll get a glucometer that fits in your pocket, unlimited test strips and lancets delivered to your door and a mobile app with a complete view of your data. The plan is tailored for you with coaching when and how you need it and personalized reports based on your activity. Find out more go to my daario.com forward slash diabetes dash connections. Jack and Jamie, thank you so much for joining me. I am so interested to hear this story. Thanks for making time for me today. Oh, you're welcome. We will hear Jack story and I can't wait to hear you in your own words. But Jimmy, let me just start with you. What made you create that video, Jamie Tierney 4:19 my dad said he was working on some scripts about his thoughts on diabetes and living with it for over 60 years. He wrote a number of different stories about it and wanted to record that on camera. And so we started doing that and we have all seven or eight sorry, eight tapes, I believe, of doing that. But what I was most interested in is his personal story, his life story because once we got started there was there's a lot of things that I didn't know about his story and about about diabetes in general. And so that's what got me interested and then I wanted to follow up with with his doctor and with his with his brother to get multiple sides and also my mom I'm here to get her side of it. It's one of those things that started off as one thing and changed a little bit as we went. Stacey Simms 5:06 All right. So Jack, you have lived 62 years with type one. Can you talk about your diagnosis? Because not too surprisingly, you weren't diagnosed correctly right away, Jack Tierney 5:16 right? Yeah. In the first tape that I did with Jamie, I did talk about what happened with me, I actually came down with type one in 1959. At the time, my mother, who was only 43, had a brain tumor, and I was under a lot of stress, and I was attending college. In fact, when I was home with her after she had to have had a tumor removed, I did get the flu, like so many type ones, it just exacerbated or caused type 1 diabetes, because I weighed 100, I'm six foot four at the time, a weighed 150 pounds, I was down to 125 and peeing incessantly, like everyone who gets type one does. And so I returned to college. What happened was, I was just deteriorating so fast. I was in a small town in Indiana attending college. So I went to the local general practitioner, and he did some tests and told me my blood sugar was over 500 and then needed to be 80 to 120. And he told me, I was a diabetic. And I said to him, what's that I had never heard the word or knew nothing about it. He told me what it was generally speaking, and I'm convinced that the doctor probably did not know the difference between type one and type two, because this was January of 1960. And he was a general practitioner in a very small town. But what he did do was consult with the dietician at the college I was attending, and he treated me I now know pretty much like a type two diabetic because he put me on 1000 calorie diet, your I am weighing 125 and surviving on any did give me a pill, I believe it was called diag and Ace, I really survived that way for about 18 months, just living on 1000 calorie diet and and I was in a really rigorous academic program too. But then as my brother indicates on the video, I came home and he was really worried about me. And luckily I had transferred to the University of Dayton and I was, I got in touch with a wonderful Doctor Who put me on insulin shots. And that made all the difference in the world. You know, I did get back to weighing about 150 in about six months, and you know, took the taking shots. In fact, what I say on the video, when I added it all up, I've given myself probably 42,000 shots over the years, by the way, preparing to do the tapes, Jamie because whenever Jamie does film project, he does extensive background for it. And he gave me a book titled breakthrough about the discovery of insulin by Dr. Frederick Banting. And in fact, when I, I'm going to start to cry, because I read that book in two days. Because it just reminded me of how many kids died before Dr. BAMMY who's one of the greatest human beings that ever lived, discovered him. And it just, you know, I just brought back so much to me reading that book. But the man was a absolute saint for all that he did. I'm sorry for crying. But every time I think of that, man, I just think all of us were type ones are eternally grateful to him back, he's got to have one of the highest places and heaven. Stacey Simms 9:10 It is incredible, you know, as we're marking 100 years of the discovery of insulin to think that someone such as yourself was diagnosed at a time really not that long after, at a time when many doctors and they still mess this up. But you didn't know the differences between the types. I'm curious, you know, I've heard other people talk about being diagnosed in the 40s and 50s. By medical professionals who kind of, you know, gave them really dire diagnosis or dire outcomes or would say, you know, you're really not gonna live that long. Were you I hear the emotion in your voice. Were you told things like that back then? No, Jack Tierney 9:47 you know, that's, that's very interesting, because I remember Okay, for example, one of the doctors that I know just casually here in San Diego is Dr. Steve Adelman. And he too, is a type one diabetic. And I remember in paper he had written, he mentioned the fact that he was told that that he had he would live no more than 15 years. And he was diagnosed as a young adolescent. So I know that many people who were afflicted with type one word told, for example, one of my doctors is put me in touch with a two or three other type one diabetics here in San Diego who've had it for 60 years. And one of the women that I talked to she's now 70 and she was diagnosed at age 13. And again, the doctors told her that she would live no more than 15 years. Stacey Simms 10:50 How did you then go forward? I mean, it sounds like you kind of alluded to it, you know, did the shots it wasn't that difficult, you know, again, the weight back but this was at a time before blood sugar meters. This was at a time where I assume if you were checking it wasn't very accurate. What were you doing? Right back to Jack answering that question. But first Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke Hypopen . And our endo always told us if you use insulin, you need to have emergency glucagon on hand as well. Low blood sugars are one thing we're usually able to treat those with fast acting glucose tabs or juice. But a very low blood sugar can be very frightening. Which is why I'm so glad there's a different option for emergency glucagon, it's Gvoke Hypopen. Gvoke Hypopen is pre mixed and ready to go with no visible needle, you pull off the red cap and push the yellow end onto bare skin and hold it for five seconds. That's it, find out more, go to Diabetes connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma. Visit gvoke glucagon.com slash risk. Now back to Jack answering my question about how he stayed healthy. Jack Tierney 12:06 Well, I'll tell you one of the tapes that I did with Jamie was on exercise, I quickly realized how important exercise was I just felt intuitively that I would utilize insulin more effectively via exercise. And so as I mentioned on the tape, one day when I was 23 years old, I played 50 holes of golf carrying my own bag. And I used to routinely play basketball because I'm six foot four, three to four hours, sometimes even five or six at a time if I had the opportunity away from my academic studies. So I just found that exercise was so important. And you know, I've been as somewhat of an exercise buff all my life. In fact, one reason why I contacted Yahoo and diabetics the connections because on a news release here in San Diego, I saw where Eric Tozer was running eight different marathons on every continent in the US over a short period of time. Yeah. And he's a type one diabetic. So, in fact, on one of the tapes, I say, whenever I get when two people like Eric, I really follow their story, because it's motivational to me to maintain the exercise level that I like to Stacey Simms 13:37 let me jump over to Jamie for a minute, as you're hearing your dad talk about, you know, playing 50 holes, and golf and basketball. Growing up. Was he super active? Was this a family thing? Did he make you all get involved? Or was this his thing? Jamie Tierney 13:50 Oh, no, no, we I've been playing golf and my dad, before I can remember, I was about two years old. And, you know, I was thinking because the US Open was fishing yesterday. And he used to wake up at three in the morning and drive down there and get us a place in line to go play and then then come home and wake me up and take me back there. And then we play golf and maybe come back and do yard work stuff like that. So growing up, I never thought it was any different than anybody else's dad probably more probably quite a bit more active than most other dads I knew around. Stacey Simms 14:25 Was diabetes kind of in the background, then do you remember as a kid, or you know, as a young adult at all? I'm trying to envision what it would be like because now you know with insulin pumps, we see gems, we see it more. But I'm curious, Jamie, from your perspective, what it was like to grow up with a dad with the type plan? Jamie Tierney 14:42 Well, I don't always see him do the shots. And you know, I don't remember ever asking him what those were about that I just remember. I was near what it was that he had to take medicine he had to do it every single day and had to do with a needle which isn't fun for anybody. I remember a few times, you know when when we would We are playing golf specifically with hot that he bring like a candy bar with him in case he would start feeling a little woozy he would, you know, he would, he would eat something to kind of revive themselves from there was a couple times I remember when it got a little bit scarier than that where he needed, you know, he needed some assistance needed to get back to the clubhouse quickly to get back to normal. So I was always aware of that. But again, you know, I didn't really know that much about the disease itself and how it works. Other than if you've ever looked a little bit off, it needs to get some, some carbohydrates and and quickly, Stacey Simms 15:36 Jack, I would imagine and I'm just thinking from my own experience, as a parent and as a daughter are our parents generally don't want us taking care of them. And we don't want our kids taking care of us when we become parents. But type 1 diabetes is kind of always there. Were you consciously trying to think, okay, I don't want Jamie to have this responsibility. I've got this, did that kind of stuff go through your mind? Jack Tierney 15:58 No, you know, I just felt you know, it's an affliction. Everybody has ailments and afflictions. And, you know, once I realize how valuable and importance for my health, taking shots where it just became second nature to me, and I just felt so much better. But I just told my wife last night, since I've been on the T slim X to in last eight months, I've never felt better in my life, and I'm 81 years old. So I just am seeing the value of the pump, you know, and like Dr. McCallum says on the tape, he was a little surprised that I would take to it but you know, I always respect him so much. He just told me that this T slim is really something and I'm just so thankful I took the leap eight months ago and did it because I feel tremendous. Having done I do feel better now that I'm on the pump than I ever did just taking shots. Stacey Simms 17:11 Now, what led you to do this? It was was it a conversation with your endocrinologist? Jack Tierney 17:16 Yes. And and just also, he told me that this pump was exceptional in his point of view. In fact, Stacy, I'll say this to you, I just and so long story but I did talk with Dr. Aaron Kowalski today the president of jdrf in New York, and he told me he's using the T slim the Tandem t slim max to also so that made me feel really good. That maybe this is definitely it just reinforced by decision as being a very good one. Well hearing about this from Dr. Kowalski. Well, Stacey Simms 17:56 I know Dr. Kowalski, but we chose it to and I gotta tell you, I absolutely love it for my son. It's just the software. It's great. So you were already then using a Dexcom CGM. Because if you're listening and not familiar, the Tandem system works with the Dexcom. Right. Are you using that together? And had you been using a CGM for a while? Jack Tierney 18:16 Yes, in fact, that's a funny story. You're gonna love this story. What happened was about three years ago, I went to see Dr. McCallum and I wanted to get on a continuous glucose monitor. Because, you know, I'd seen it advertised and it just sounded like the cat's meow. So I'm waiting to see him. And there's a young man waiting to see another endocrinologist. And he says, Dr. Tierney, and I said what and what it was, it was a gentleman, a young man that whose first name is Brandon. And I saw Brandon when he was nine years old to help him get ready for a test to get into a highly academic private school here in San Diego. And he at the time, he told me he was a type one diabetic. And so what happened was he was using the Libre and went over all of the advantages to the Libre before I saw Dr. McCallum, so I walked into Dr. McCallum's office, and I said, Well, Dr. McCallum I think I've made a decision on the continuous glucose monitor that I should be using because I one of my former students told me the benefits up Wow, so I went on the Libre. But then, in fact, at the time that I went on the Libre, the Dexcom, six wasn't available, right. And so it just sounded like the best one for me at the time. But then, of course, eight months ago, when I made the decision to go on the T slim. They told me it was worked in concert with the Dexcom six and that's why of course I switch to that saying it's great to Stacey Simms 19:58 Yeah, it's it's Wonderful to have these choices. You know, I was gonna ask you, right, I was gonna kind of ask you to take us through the process of going from, you know, no home blood sugar meter to kind of you know what it was like in the 80s. And then, you know, the different insolence, but you like rocketed ahead, and now you're on a hybrid closed loop system. So you've right, it's Jack Tierney 20:20 so sad, you know, there was nothing available. Thinking back, I did a lot of research before I did the eight tapes that Jamie debts. And one of the things that I learned and I had read a little bit about that, because I read a lot about that diabetic compilations and controls study that was done in 1980s and early 1990s, with type ones. And you know, in fact, they abbreviated the study early because it showed that tight control of type one of your blood sugar is imperative. In fact, I think I in my research for those... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/19840001

In the News... Smart Insulin, Pixar Features Diabetes, T1D up K2 and more! 07/16/2021

In the News... Smart Insulin, Pixar Features Diabetes, T1D up K2 and more! It's In the News - the only weekly diabetes newscast! This week's headlines include: Lawsuit against insulin makers moves ahead Mixed news for Teplizumab Peep the pump at Pixar Antacids to help type 2? #T1D up K2 Join Stacey live on Facebook to watch each Wednesday at 4:30pm EDT! ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcript Below: Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I’m Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines of the past seven days. As always, I’m going to link up my sources in the Facebook comments – where we are live – and in the show notes at d-c dot com when this airs as a podcast.. so you can read more when you have the time. XX In the News is brought to you by Inside the Breakthrough. A new history of science podcast full of “Did You Know… Stuff” XX The top story this week.. one step forward, one step back on a lawsuit involving all three insulin makers. A federal judge dropped anti-trust claims – but the case will move forward under federal racketeering laws. That means Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi face organized crime charges. The Judge says the plaintiffs plausibly alleged schemes of unlawful bribery and mail and wire fraud. The other defendants in this case are pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts, CVS Health, and UnitedHealth. Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi are accused in the lawsuit of inflating the official list price of insulin while the actual prices negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers remained flat due to massive rebates from drug companies. XX In a separate development, Lilly announced they have spent one billion dollars on Protomer Technologies – a company who’s been working on what they call smart insulin. These proteins that can sense concentrations of specific molecules and adjust to create variable doses. This pipeline includes an insulin product that adjusts to different glucose levels in diabetic patients. In 2020 Lilly led an investment round that gave them 14% of the company. This deal gives them the rest. We’ve heard about glucose-responsive insulin for a while now, JDRF has funded a lot of the research. A spokesperson says this significant milestone brings the promise of the game changing technology one step closer to the clinic. XX Mixed news for Provention, the makers of teplizumab. The US FDA says no to the drug shown to delay type 1 diabetes in those most at risk. It made it through an FDA advisory panel earlier this year, but the full FDA issued what’s called a Complete Response Letter or CRL which means they’ve completed the review and won’t approve in its current form. However, earlier this week, the company got good news from the UK. Teplizumab was awarded an Innovation Passport – a new designation that is meant to fast track investigational medicines through the regulatory process there. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/teplizumab-awarded-innovation-passport-united-110000773.html XX An Australian study shows good outcomes with closed loop therapy for older adults with long time type 1. This study looked at 30 healthy adults aged 60 and older who’d previously used an insulin pump. They used the Medtronic 670G either in manual or auto mode for four months at a time then switched to the other mode for another 4 months. They all spent more time in range when in the closed loop stage.. and biggest benefit was seen overnight. Less hypoglycemia was a big benefit for this group. These researchers say they want people to know that older age is not a barrier to closed-loop therapy and closed-loop has important clinical benefits Bit of an editorial here: I would not call the 670G or really any current commercial pump offering a closed loop. To me, if you’re still bolusing for meals, that’s a hybrid closed loop or partial loop, but potato potahto perhaps. https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20210706/closedloop-system-improves-cgm-metrics-for-older-adults-with-type-1-diabetes XX Pixar released the teaser for it’s next movie.. Turning Red and eagle eyed members of the DOC spotted what looks like a CGM and a purple insulin pump – maybe an older model Medtronic? I heard from a source at Pixar with type 1 who says this was absolutely on purpose It is definitely intentional to include better representation of the real world, whether it is wheelchair users, crutches, pumps/cgms, hearing aids, and more… This initiative is largely credited to our characters art and crowds departments. I’m working with the Pixar PR folks and hope to have more info and an interview as the movie is closer to release. XX A class of drugs widely used to treat heartburn and stomach ulcers, improve blood sugar in patients with diabetes when added to their usual treatment. These drugs are known as proton pump inhibitors – they include Prilosec and omeprazole. They suppress acid and affect certain hormones that are important in glucose regulation. They did not prevent diabetes.. but these researchers say if somebody is already on a PPI and they are doing well, it might also be helpful for their diabetes. Those with higher A1Cs benefited the most. https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20210702/antacids-aid-blood-sugar-control-in-people-with-diabetes XX More to come, but first, I want to tell you about one of our great sponsors who helps make Diabetes Connections possible. Inside the Breakthrough is a podcast that mixes historical wisdom with modern insight – it’s a science show that’s also entertaining. I love it. They cover everything from accidental discoveries to famous names in science to old myths hand washing to and even a horse poop crisis in New York City – luckily averted. And this all actually relates to diabetes! Listen to Inside the Breakthrough wherever you listen to podcasts.. Back to the news… XX A new attempt to climb K2 – the second highest mountain on earth - something accomplished by only one person with type 1 diabetes before. Right now, Jerry Gore – diagnosed as an adult - is acclimating at base camp. Gore is 60 years old and has been climbing for 40 years. He hopes to raise money for his charity, Action4Diabetes, which provides healthcare and support to disadvantaged young people with Type 1 diabetes in South East Asia. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/jerry-gorek2?experiments=b2c_059_donate_to_yourself_v3&successType=StaticDonateButtonClick?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socpledgemobile&utm_content=jerry-gorek2?experiments=b2c_059_donate_to_yourself_v3&successType=StaticDonateButtonClick&utm_campaign=post-pledge-mobile&utm_term=MdnpGx3vR XX Congrats to Sebastien Sasseville who just biked across Canada in 15 days. We told you about this trip when he kicked off two weeks ago.. I don’t think anyone expected the weather to do what it did – Canada broke several heat records – and there were storms and wind. Sasseville lives with type 1, he did this to raise awareness for access to technology. He’s climbed Everest and has completed several grueling extreme races & posted on his Instagram: “This was the hardest thing I have ever done, and could not have done it without the crew. They kept me safe and alive, I will be forever grateful. We did it boys!!! Chase life experiences and create memories with people you love. That is my best advice for a fulfilled life.” Congratulations to Sebastien and crew! XX That’s Diabetes Connections – In the News. If you like it, share it. And feel free to send me your news tips. Stacey @ diabetes dash connections dot com. Please join me wherever you get podcasts for our next episode -Tuesday – a conversation with just a great guy.. he’s 81 and he’s lived with type 1 for more than 62 years. Thanks and I’ll see you soon /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/19823480

The Baby-Sitters Club & Type 1 Diabetes in Media 07/12/2021

The Baby-Sitters Club & Type 1 Diabetes in Media The Baby-Sitters Club comes to Netflix! The beloved series features a character who lives with type 1 diabetes. How did the show do portraying life for a 7th grader with T1D? We talk to New York Times Bestselling author and winner of the National Book Award Robin Benway. Robin loved the books as a child and was diagnosed with type 1 as an adult. Also this week, Mike Suarez turned his son’s story into an adorable picture book called In Tell Me Something Good – she had a huge goal for the JDRF rides this year – of course so much had to be cancelled this year but her story took a wonderful turn.. on and off the bike. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode transcription: Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by One Drop created for people with diabetes by people who have diabetes by Gvoke HypoPen, the first pre mixed autoinjector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom take control of your diabetes and live life to the fullest with Dexcom. Announcer 0:22 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 0:28 This week, it's all about books and a TV show that's based on books. We're talking about the Baby-Sitters Club with a New York Times bestselling author who loved the series as a child and was diagnosed with type one as an adult. Robin Benway 0:43 Oh my gosh, I'm now something that I was a fan of for so long. I can now watch on television. You know, I was thinking about Stacey when I did start to watch it. I thought it was nearly perfect. Stacey Simms 0:54 Robin Benway is the winner of the National Book Award when we talk about Stacey and the babies sitters club, what we liked what we didn't, and about diabetes in media. Plus a dad turns his toddler story into an adorable picture book about type one. in Tell me something good. She had a huge goal for the JDRF rides this year, of course, so much had to be cancelled and changed. But this woman's story took a wonderful turn on and off the bike. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show. I'm so glad to have you along. I'm your host, Stacey Simms, and we aim to educate and inspire about type 1 diabetes by sharing stories of connection. My son was diagnosed with type one, gosh, ages ago now he was almost two and in December it will be 14 years. Yeah, he's 15 and a half 15. And more than that, I don't even know anymore. My husband lives with type two diabetes. I do not have diabetes, but I have a background in broadcasting and that is how you get the podcast which we've been doing now. for more than five years, and I have been wanting to talk about the Baby-Sitters Club for a long time, I mean, we have talked about it because many guests over the years have said that it was very influential to them, either. They read it and really were touched by Stacey's story, the character who lives with type one, or somebody else read it and diagnose them because of it. That happened at least once to one of my guests. It's really incredible to think about these books, and the impact they've had on our community. So when I saw column in Elle magazine recently, about the Netflix adaptation, I really wanted to talk to Robin Benway, the author, I knew she'd be fun to talk to just by her writing voice in the magazine, and she really was and Robin also had some unique insight about the books and about the adaptation, and I was really excited to talk to her. We also talked about diabetes in other media, you know, I think a lot of us cringe when we know there's going to be a depiction of diabetes and a show or they mentioned insulin and we Oh, we know what's coming. So it was fun to talk to Robin about that. And to kind of spotlight some good stuff that's actually out there. All right, I'm going to talk about my reaction in more depth to Baby-Sitters Club in a little bit of a review, but I'm going to do that later on. Because this is a longer episode. We've got two interviews, we've got Robin. And I also spoke to a dad who wrote a picture book rhyming kids book for about his little boy, and it's called year one with type one, and that is with Mike Suarez. So that's coming up in just a bit but first, diabetes Connections is brought to you by One Drop, and I spoke to the people at One Drop was really impressed at how much they get diabetes. It makes sense their CEO Jeff was diagnosed with type one as an adult. One Drop is for people with diabetes by people with diabetes. The people at One Drop work relentlessly to remove all barriers between you and the care you need. Get 24 seven coaching support in your app and unlimited supplies delivered. No prescriptions or insurance required there. Beautiful sleek meter fits in perfectly with the rest of your life. They'll also send you test strips with a strip plan that actually makes sense for how much you actually check. One Drop diabetes care delivered, learn more, go to Diabetes, Connections comm and click on the One Drop logo. My guest this week is a National Book Award winner and a New York Times best selling author. She wrote a column about the Baby-Sitters Club and her reaction to it in Elle magazine. That's what caught my eye. I reached out and said, Would you talk to us but to come on the show? She said sure. And we had a great conversation. Now she grew up with a father who lived with Type One Diabetes, but she herself was not diagnosed until she was an adult. So her perspective on the Baby-Sitters Club, which she loved, as you'll hear as a kid was very different because she wasn't relating to the type one aspect about it right away. I'm also curious to know what you thought of the Baby-Sitters Club. I'm going to be putting more about this in the Facebook group. We've talked about it a little bit, but we'll put more posts in there and get your take. And as I said earlier, I'm going to put a little bit more of my review, although you'll you'll hear much of it in the interview. But a little bit more later on. Here is my talk with Robin Benway. Robin, thank you so much for jumping on to talk about this. I really appreciate it. It's I'm looking forward to talking with you. Yeah, same here. Thank you so much for having me. All right before we jump into the Baby-Sitters Club, and I have a lot to talk about with that. Let me ask you just the basics. You were diagnosed as a young adult, right you were in your in your mid 20s? Robin Benway 5:28 Yes, I was 26 it was July of 2003. I was diagnosed I was diagnosed with celiac disease at the same time I was having really low iron problems I was having anemia so they started doing a lot of bloodwork just to find out what was going on and started noticing that I had elevated blood sugar levels. And my father, who was my biological father was also a type one diabetic. So once they saw those blood sugar levels being elevated, they started to put things together pretty quickly. And so I in a, you know, a very strange way felt very lucky that I was diagnosed that way that it didn't progress to the point where I had to be hospitalized or my blood sugar's were, you know, four or five 600 or something like that, that I was diagnosed sort of accidentally and was able to catch it pretty early and could start, you know, meeting with an endocrinologist and started taking insulin pretty soon after that. So there was no mistaking at that age, oh, maybe it's type two, maybe it's something else because of your father, they pretty much went right there. At first, they were like, maybe it's type two. There was a lot of I think, you know, this was 17 years ago. So I think now, the way that people are diagnosing type one and people in their 20s and 30s is very different than it was 17 years ago. I think that was when people were just starting to see that, at least based on my experience and the responses that I was getting from doctors at the time. You know, I had grown up knowing that my dad was diabetic, but in our family, we had always sort of been under the impression that once you hit 12 or 13 years old, you're sort of out of the woods of that, you know, I think a lot of they used to call juvenile demise you know, because they were diagnosis of young. So I think it was a real shock because I had always thought, okay, I'm out of the woods. I'm fine. And that wasn't the case. But they definitely did think it was type two. They started me on oral medications at first Metformin, but nothing worked. And I remember I still remember the first time I took insulin, it was just like, oh, that was the problem. You know, that's what I need because my blood sugar's just came down to right where they should be. So, you know, it was a little disheartening knowing that I was going to have to go on insulin, but at the same time, that relief of knowing that now here's the drug that works was it balanced it out? Stacey Simms 7:36 Do you remember I've been told this by other adults that I've talked to that what that first dose of insulin feels like, Do you remember that? Robin Benway 7:44 I do. Remember, I was staying at my mom's house. I was living alone at the time and I thought I don't want to be alone when I take my first dose of insulin just in case. And I remember it dropped. My blood sugar's a little lower. They were like maybe in the mid 60s, and I just remember, I didn't feel shaky but I just remember feeling less. It's that feeling of a sugar rush basically, you know when your blood sugars are high I for me personally, I definitely feel a little agitated, a little edgy, you know a little bit more, I don't know Piper's the word but just a little fuzzier. And I just remember that feeling going away. And I remember also being so terrified of like having to give myself an injection like having to give myself a shot. And I was incredibly amazed at how easy it was and how painless it was. I had always imagined that it would just be a torturous experience, you know, mostly because your experience with injections is like vaccinations or inoculations. You know, it's Earth flu shot. It's a very different experience. Give yourself a shot of insulin. And I remember feeling that relief also of Oh, I can do this. Okay, this is something that I can do. Wow. Yeah. So Stacey Simms 8:50 the article that I'd mentioned, you start out by talking about this high spot in your career, the National Book Awards Gala and then the reality of being an adult with type one, which is go to the bathroom, I get up your formal gown, you know, giving an injection. And, you know, certainly a great way to start the article. But I'm curious, do you share your diabetes experiences with your friends and family? I mean, not everybody has to be giving themselves injections at the table. Right? I know. I'm sure you're not hiding things. I don't mean to imply that. Oh, as a mom, that was the first thing I thought of was, oh, my goodness in the bathroom. She okay. Yeah. Robin Benway 9:29 You know, I obviously all of my friends and family know about it. I'm not someone who would ever conceal that part of me. It's not something that I ever feel ashamed of, or feel like I need to keep secret. That's certainly not it at all. I think. For me, it's more about I'm very conscientious of other people's reactions to blood and to syringes or needles, and I just don't want to ever make someone I definitely have known people and I've heard of people who just give themselves an injection right at the table, you know, or will check their blood sugar under the table. And for me, I'm just not comfortable. That just in terms of making other people uncomfortable, but also sometimes things go wrong, you know, like, sometimes, you know, there's a little bit more blood than you thought there would be or you hit a blood vessel when you're injecting yourself with insulin. And, you know, sometimes it's just easier to be in, even if it's a public restroom, you know, it's still a confined space. And sometimes just the privacy is sorted out is something that I prefer but in terms of being open, I definitely I talk about it. I do a lot of school visits with my job, you know, writing for young adults and young people, I do a lot of school visits. And I always talk about how I was diagnosed and how that changed the trajectory of my life. And I always say to kids, who here knows somebody with diabetes, and almost every kid raises their hand you know, whether it's type one or type two, it doesn't really matter to me, I just, I know that they can make a connection with what I'm saying and relate it to either themselves or someone that they love in their lives. No doubt. Stacey Simms 10:53 Yeah, I think that's to is the difference between my my personal experience of type 1 diabetes is my 15 year old who has made a career out Have trying to gross out his friends. Yeah, no, since the third grade watch this. Yeah, slightly different experience than a grown woman in Robin Benway 11:09 that dress. You know? It's expensive. You just really don't want to get anything on this. Stacey Simms 11:15 So let's talk about the Baby-Sitters Club. Now I'm a little bit older so my guilty reading pleasure as a kid was worse sweet Valley High then Babysitter's Club, also say, okay, okay. But were you a fan of this as a kid, this was something that you read and you look forward to. Robin Benway 11:32 Oh, I cannot even describe to you like how much I love the Baby-Sitters Club. Like, I can just remember going to my local bookstore, you know, the Walden books that was in the mall at the time when there were still Walden books in malls and scanning the shelf and just looking for the new one and either being so excited when there was a new one or so disappointed when, you know, they came out every month and you know, on day 30 I'd be like, Where's the next one you know, and sharing with your friends or your Got the new super special, so then they would loan it to you and super specials were bad. But yes, I mean, just when I think about the Baby-Sitters Club, because I've also talked a lot about, you know, what is sort of my formative reading now as a writer, like, what did I read as a child and a young adult that sort of made me a writer? I think the two things about the Baby-Sitters Club is that they were so funny. And I think I learned how to write humor and really good dialogue from those books. I think you can't really teach how to write humor or write something funny, but I think if you can see it, you can see how either rapid fire dialogue or really smart responses or interrupting each other like, that was formative for me as a writer was seeing how they did that. And then also just as like a 11 1213 year old girl, you know, that is where, and I'm sure a lot of women and girls have had this experience, your friendships just kind of implode. And nobody really knows why. But suddenly, your best friend in sixth grade is your biggest enemy in seventh grade. And the factions are changing all the time and who's friends with who and who's not friends with who and who Did what to whom it's traumatic, it's a really difficult experience. It's a big part of growing up, but it's still difficult. And the thing with the Baby-Sitters Club was that at the end of the book, they were always friends. So you could see the sort of regeneration of friendship again and again and again. And for me, it was very comforting. You know, when sort of my female friendships were in turmoil, it was so lovely to see these girls work through things and stay friends in the end. So those were, I think the two things that kept me coming back to the book, but a great way to look at it. Stacey Simms 13:29 Yeah, but you as a reader, your type one experience was with your dad. So I imagined Stacey McGill, the character in the book who has type one wasn't somebody who could really relate to that wasn't what you were reading the books at the Robin Benway 13:42 time? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. You know, I actually I shied away from Stacey as a reader. You know, I loved I moved to New York when I was 18 years old. I've always wanted to live in New York. So reading her as a 12 year old I was like, Oh, that's she's a sophisticated city girl. You know, that's how they always portrayed her. She's From New York City, but that was my favorite part of her but there were books where either she was just diagnosed or I think there's a book later in the series where she was hospitalized. And I had a hard time reading those just because at the time my dad's health he had been a diabetic for 30 years at that point, so his health had gone up and down, you know, just the nature of the disease and the nature of treatment at the time as well. It wasn't as advanced as what we have now. So you know, it was scary to see my dad go through that and I, Baby-Sitters Club was my safe place. You know, that was my fun, safe, circular path of Stony Brook Connecticut. I didn't want a hospital or an insulin shot coming into it. So I don't say I didn't like Stacey as a character. I love Stacey as a character but in terms of what she went through, I just I really shied away from that. That wasn't I was much more a Claudia dawn girl. So yeah. Stacey Simms 14:54 How did you approach the Netflix series you've lived with type one now for a while. We all know that they never get it right in In media, I really looked looked at the show. I look very much forward with a lot of trepidation. I was almost afraid to watch it. What was your reaction? Robin Benway 15:09 I mean, I literally had an alert set on Netflix to remind me that the Baby-Sitters Club will be on Friday, July 3, and then I got the notification. I was so excited for it just because I had loved the books. And you know, I don't know any of the creators personally, but I was familiar with their work and their backgrounds. And I had read a lot of articles by that point about how they had approached the material and I just had a really good feeling about it. You know, I just thought that this is possibly in really good hands. And honestly, I wasn't even thinking about it in terms of Stacey and diabetes. I was thinking about it as oh my gosh, I'm now something that I was a fan of for so long. I can now watch on television. You know, I was even thinking about Stacey, so when I did start to watch it. I mean, I thought it was nearly perfect. I thought that they kept the spirit. I love that they kept the girls young, you do feel like you're watching 12 and 13 year old girls, b 12 and 13 year old girls, you know, and all of the struggles that go into that, but all of their I don't say immaturity, but just that feeling of they're still young, they're still figuring things out. They're not 17 years old in high school, you know, they're still little girls and I thought that was really important what the books were and to the show, and I just thought the way they modernized the material was perfect. You know, they talk about Claudius grandmother being in bands and our you know, Claudia is Japanese American and talk about her grandmother being advanced in our when she was young. And you know, at one point Marianne is babysitting for a kid who's transgender and that would have never been in the past 30 years ago, and I just thought they did a beautiful job of modernizing not only the characters, but the storylines while still staying true to what the spirit of the books was. They did Stacey Simms 16:45 a nice job with that too. And they did this many times where they would put something in like that, you know, the child who was transgender, but the storyline wasn't so much about that child. It was the babysitter character's reaction to it and reflection of it.... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/19785479

Dexcom CEO Kevin Sayer Answers Your Questions 07/06/2021

Dexcom CEO Kevin Sayer Answers Your Questions What do we know about the upcoming Dexcom G7? Find out in this conversation with company CEO Kevin Sayer. As usual we have a long list of questions from you covering everything from adhesives to watches to more. Sayer shares details about how they’re preparing for the G7 rollout (it has not yet been submitted to the FDA), as well as issues with Medicare, integration with their current pump partners and when arms will become an approved wear site for US customers. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, please contact your health care provider. ----- available to Diabetes Connections listeners! ----- Get the App and listen to Diabetes Connections wherever you go! Episode Transcription below Stacey Simms 0:00 Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health: manage your blood glucose levels, increase your possibilities, by Gvoke HypoPen: the first premixed autoinjector for very low blood sugar, and by Dexcom: help make knowledge your superpower with the Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitoring system. Announcer 0:23 This is Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms. Stacey Simms 0:29 This week, a Dexcom update from the company's CEO. As usual, we have a long list of questions from you, covering everything from adhesives to watches to more about the upcoming G7. Kevin Sayer 0:41 And the goal is to simplify CGM for everybody across the board. What I often say is everything you love about G6, you'll love more about G7. The size is so small, you don't really recognize it's on your body. It's really a great profile, a little bigger than a nickel. Stacey Simms 0:56 CEO Kevin Sayer will also share details about how they're preparing for the G7 rollout once it's approved, as well as details about Medicare and use but their pump partners. This podcast is not intended as medical advice. If you have those kinds of questions, contact your health care provider. Welcome to another week of the show, always so glad to have you here. You know, we aim to educate and inspire about diabetes with a focus on people who use insulin. I'm your host, Stacey Simms, my son Benny was diagnosed back in 2006, just before he turned two. He is now 16 and a half. My husband lives with Type 2 Diabetes. I do not have diabetes, but I have a background in broadcasting. And that is how you get the podcast. My usual disclaimer, whenever we have them on, Dexcom is a sponsor of this show, you will hear their commercial later on. It's because we love the products. But when we have people from Dexcom on as guests to give you information, they don't tell me what to ask or what to say outside of that commercial. And I just want to take a minute to say, I very much appreciate Kevin Sayer and others from Dexcom being so accessible over the years, you know, they don't always answer my questions, but at least they come on and address them and listen to them. There are a lot of companies that are very reluctant to even do that, who won't come on the show. And that's really unfortunate because you, as you listen, and you know the diabetes community overall, I'm very much entitled to speak to these people and to these companies. So I will keep pushing nicely, but I'll keep pushing, I promise. Quick heads up, there will likely be no longer format episode like this one next week. I'm still gonna do the "In the News" episodes that I have added live on Facebook and then turning them into podcast episodes. But I am, as you listen, if you're listening as this episode is going live, I'm at Friends for Life. I'm at that conference. They're having it again. I'm so excited. It's the first diabetes conference I have attended since February, no, since the first week of March of 2020. I went to a JDRF conference in Wilmington, just as COVID was beginning, it was very weird. If you did anything, any kind of public event in March of 2020, you remember that. But I'm back, they're back, I'm at Friends for Life. And I really don't want to rush out an episode. But if anything exciting or you know, breaking news happens or I'm able to record something and put it out, I will. But just a heads up, likely no episode next week. Alright, and this week, not much of an introduction needed. Kevin Sayer is the CEO of Dexcom. And this interview focuses on some of what came out of the recent ADA scientific sessions and ATTD conferences. But mostly I share your concerns and your questions. We've covered a lot of these issues before, I don't ask a lot of follow up about things that, in my opinion, you can easily Google up. As usual, I had limited time with Sayer, who was doing back-to-back interviews. So if you have a specific question or if things went by very quickly, definitely jump into the Facebook group. You can comment on the post with this episode. We have some amazing members who will answer your questions, who will show you where to find the information. It's likely a previous episode, but we have people in clinical trials, we have people who were in on a lot of the investor calls. They listen, they take notes, they're fantastic. So if you haven't joined Diabetes Connections the group on Facebook, I highly recommend it. My interview with Kevin Sayer here in just a moment. But first, Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Gvoke HypoPen and you know low blood sugar feels horrible. You can get shaky or sweaty or even feel like you're gonna pass out. There are lots of symptoms and they can be different for everyone. I am so glad we have a different option to treat very low blood sugar. Gvoke HypoPen, it's the first auto-injector to treat very low blood sugar. Gvoke HypoPen is pre-mixed, it's ready to go with no visible needle. Before Gvoke, people needed to go through a lot of steps to get glucagon treatments ready to be used. And this made emergency situations even more challenging and stressful. This is so much better and I'm grateful we have it on hand. Find out more, go to Diabetes-connections.com and click on the Gvoke logo. Gvoke shouldn't be used in patients with pheochromocytoma or insulinoma. Visit gvokeglucagon.com/risk. Kevin, thank you so much for jumping on with me. Another busy time for you, as so many presentations, lots of studies, lots of news, lots of upcoming and anticipated news. So I appreciate you spending some time with me and my listeners. Kevin Sayer 5:11 Oh, thank you for having me. It's always fun. Stacey Simms 5:13 Let's set the table a little bit here. We are following up on the ATTD conference and you are in the midst. Dexcom, as we're speaking of ADA, this is all still virtual though, right? Kevin Sayer 5:25 It's all still virtual, yeah. I was looking, was hopeful earlier this year it might be in person, but not yet, probably not till next year. Stacey Simms 5:33 Well, as we look through the news that is coming out of both of these conferences, I could just start out by saying it's kind of, I'm not sure victory lap is the right phrase here. But it does seem that almost every study is basically, Kevin. CGM works, it's good, it helps, we get better outcomes from it. So let me just give you a moment to talk about some of that. Because there were so many, we can't really touch on all those studies. Kevin Sayer 5:58 There are so many studies, and it's good for a number of different groups as well. You've got all the automated insulin delivery studies, and other than Medtronic's product, all these other studies are powered by Dexcom. You've got stuff in the UK, France, Insulet Tandem in the US, there's a lot of good news on the automated insulin delivery system front. And all these works are powered by Dexcom G6 right now, you've got studies that we presented at ATTD ast week, or that were presented by physicians that we're very well aware of. The mobile study, which was for patients with Type Two Diabetes who are on basal insulin only. You know, when you start a study like that, it's kind of a risk, because you ask yourself the question, "What happens if it doesn't work?" Well, it works. And what we learned is these patients, even though they're not making a decision every four or five, six hours, for eating, they are making decisions about what they eat, and what they do and how they exercise when they can see data. And they can see the effects of what goes on in their lives. And their time in range goes up significantly, if they can see what their time and range is, you know, they've been operating in the dark, and people would argue that they don't need it all the time, like I do. And so that study, we think is just really good and will be the basis, hopefully someday for getting CGM coverage for that group of patients. And so we'll push on that one. There was another study we had last week, or at ATTD. Early in the month, published in Belgium, where a coalition of diabetes gurus I guess, over there's the best I'd call them, it's really all the leaders in the Belgian diabetes community, took a bunch of intermittent CGM users and put them on Dexcom G6 for an extended period of time. And then we looked to see what happened. And what we saw is on real time CGM, the patients are better in every category, every single category, time in range, hyper(glycemia), hypo(glycemia), you name it, they did better. So we really did validate the Dexcom equation over competitors with that study. And we think it's very important and they realize real time CGM, it is important, it is important for data (to) be accessible. And the alerts are something that you can use. There are other studies being presented by other people in the Type Two, Arena-Kiser's got a study where they show patients do well on, Doulas got several studies, they're across the board. And the evidence is building for these other markets. But it starts at the beginning, obviously with automated insulin delivery and, and we work our way down. But we've had information presented across the board showing the utility of Dexcom. And if you've been to this study, this meeting 10 years ago, like I was when I first started here, my literally, my first month was my first Dexcom ADA, nobody even knew who we were. And those who did said yeah, the product's not real great. So times have changed pretty dramatically. Stacey Simms 8:41 Do you remember what that first study that was presented at ADA or ATTD? Which one it was that you were there for 10 years ago? I'm curious of that. Kevin Sayer 8:50 Back in the day? Stacey Simms 8:50 Yeah. Kevin Sayer 8:51 First study, we didn't even present studies. Back then, we, I will tell you the most important study we did, we did a study in where we first got ADA recognition, we did a study with our G4 system against a competitor in Europe. And we got a bunch of recognition there. And then the next study that really got us a lot of recognition in ADA meeting was our DIaMonD study where we show the people on multiple daily injections. If they went to CGM, they would get much better results. What it was hard for me to learn is you don't say I want to do a study like this and get it done in a week. It takes a couple of years to accumulate all the proper data, process it, develop all the subsets and everything. And so my patience has been has been level set with respect to studies like this. And there's multiple studies going on in the field that will be presented over the next several years. Stacey Simms 9:44 All right. Well, that's a really good segue to moving ahead, because, as you know, my listeners are very interested in this technology. And the slide that probably got the most attention in our groups was one that was presented at ATTD about introducing the Dexcom G7, showing all of the features of this. So let me, I'm not going to go through all of them, obviously. And you and I've talked about this many times before, but faster warm up. It's smaller, simple application, all in one. This is all still part of the plan, as we had talked about before. Kevin Sayer 10:19 Oh, yes. Stacey Simms 10:19 Okay. Kevin Sayer 10:20 Yeah. And, you know, we started working on the G7 before G6 was even in clinical trials. The G7 is a project we've envisioned for a long time, Verily, actually it was Google Health before then, Verily was a partner with us in designing this product, and we (were) working out for quite some time. And the goal is to simplify CGM for everybody across the board, what I often say is everything you love about G6, you'll love more about G7, the size is so small, you don't really recognize that it's on your body. It's really a great profile, a little bigger than a nickel. We're running this study with arm and abdomen indications. And while patients wear them wherever they want, we're going to show you that it can be worn wherever you want. And I think that's a big deal, that we go ahead and do the work to do that. The faster warmup is kind of mind-blowing when you put a G7 up and then you look after you pair it. And then you look and see you only got 25 minutes left, it's like, oh, wow, I don't have to do the two hour countdown. You know the accuracy and performance that Jake presented at ATTD shows that we're not, we're not ever going to go easier on the performance side and say good enough, we always push ourselves to offer something that will keep people safe and confident with what they have. The app is completely new, we'll build things into the app over time, like automated, the frequently asked questions feature we have now but we're just gonna keep making it better. Some of the features of our Clarity system will ultimately be in the app. So you'll get more information. When you go to it and look at it out of the get go. You know, we'll get it approved. It'll be a while before our partners have integrated their systems. But we're working with Insulet and Tandem already on G7 integration, it'll be able to talk to multiple devices at the same time. Its manufacturing cost ultimately will be less expensive. It's been designed for an automated process. And we've got fully automated lines up and running to assemble the G7 sensors. We have, in fairness, have automated G6 lines up and running now too, but we've got special transmitter lines and center lines and those kinds of things. It is going to be, a really, the most advanced CGM ever. Stacey Simms 12:25 Well, you've touched on a couple of listener questions already in that testing alternate sites, including arms, integration with the systems that are already using G6, so I don't want to spend a lot of time going in depth on things that you've mentioned. But in the slide it said direct to watch capability. Right back to Kevin clarifying what was meant in that slide. But first, Diabetes Connections is brought to you by Dario Health and bottom line, you need a plan of action with diabetes. We've been lucky that Benny's endo has helped us with that and that he understands the plan has to change as Benny he gets older, you want that kind of support so take your diabetes management to the next level with Dario. Their published studies demonstrate high impact results for active users like improved in-range percentage within three months, reduction of A1C within three months and a 58% decrease in occurrences of severe hyperglycemic events. Try Dario's diabetes success plan and make a difference in your diabetes management. Go to https://mydario.com/diabetes-connections for more proven results and for information about the plan. Now back to Kevin Sayer, answering my question about what the company means when it says the Dexcom G7 has direct to watch capability. Kevin Sayer 13:44 Capability. Yeah, it won't go there first pass. But we had to have different electronics and a different radio set to go direct to watch than what we have in G6. And it's easier to get us to change than it is to get Apple changed or to change their watch. And so as we were doing the G7 system, we did contemplate that. So it is configured to do so, I do not believe it's in the first release. But it will be not long after that. We'll have a direct to watch capability. And we know people really want that, the watch presents interesting problems. And we can all sit and say we want that. But you have to charge your watch every day or at least every 36 hours. Where are you getting your alerts if you're direct to watch and it's on the charger? And you're in different parts of your house? There's complexities to the watch that go far beyond just direct to connect. And particularly with the FDA who've used the alerts in the alarms and the connectivity is so important that we had to make sure we do it right. So we'll work on that and get it wired appropriately. But I look, I know what something I would want If I were a user. So we continue to push for it. Stacey Simms 14:44 Just to follow up on that. When you say it won't be in the first iteration of it but you know, it'll be, it's capable, it'll come, that it kind of implies that you figured out what to do with the alerts and alarms when someone hangs it up to charge. Kevin Sayer 14:56 I don't know what they have figured out. I just know they're addressing it all. I have to plead the fifth, I just, as I've asked that question, they said, "Well, here's a problem. How are you going to deal with that?" I said, "Well, you guys don't have to tell me." They'll come up with the right answer, Stacey. Stacey Simms 15:09 Alright, so, I'm sure they will, but to say direct to watch capability, there's a little parentheses that says when we figure it out, Kevin Sayer 15:15 Oh, I know we're working on it, but... Stacey Simms 15:17 Okay. Kevin Sayer 15:18 But Stacey, we couldn't even go direct to watch before with the electronics. We couldn't go direct to watch with a G6 transmitter, the G7 electronics stack and configuration is such that it can go direct to the watch, we could not with G6. Stacey Simms 15:32 Okay. Many more questions. My listeners are very, of course, interested in the adhesive changes. Is the G6 to G7 change, I know you're addressing this, I know you're testing it, we've got emails from people who are in different trials for adhesive and reactions and things like that. And I have lots of questions, people say it's getting better, other people say it's getting worse. Anecdotally, it's very difficult, obviously, for me to know. Talk to me a little bit about those changes and how it's improving. Kevin Sayer 15:58 Well, we've tested numerous adhesives before we landed on the adhesive we selected for G7. One of the reasons we kept the product life down to 10 days is to make sure we have enough adhesive to get to that 10 days. We'll be putting the overpatch in every box. So if somebody wants an overpatch, they don't have to call us. So everybody should be thrilled with that one. And it's quite easy to use, we're hopeful that there's no allergy with G7. Somebody's always gonna have a reaction, that's just physiology, but we're working with new tapes for G6 already, where it will hopefully have something. The things that cause a lot of the allergic reaction in G6 we've eliminated from the G7 manufacturing process. So we're hopeful that a lot of this stuff goes away on its own, we'll monitor it very quickly. But we've already got four or five other G7 adhesives in test in addition to the ones that we're going to launch with, to make sure we can create better options in the future if we need to. So, you know, stay tuned on that one, we are comfortable. As I sit here, we will not have the same level of reaction that we would have at G6 when we change it. But yeah, we won't know till we're out there. Stacey Simms 17:09 Yeah. And you mentioned the 10-day wear and part of that being for adhesive. But my understanding is that the idea is for 14-day wear for Dexcom G7. Kevin Sayer 17:19 Eventually. Stacey Simms 17:20 Eventually. Kevin Sayer 17:21 Eventually, not again, not first pass. We'll get it approved with 10-day data, very important to us is... /episode/index/show/diabetesconnections/id/19698782

Diabetes Connections with Stacey Simms Type 1 Diabetes

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