Battling Diabetes

Learning about your diabetes doesn’t have to be scary and in fact can be a fun and educational process for kids.

And check out these products that can make compliance cool.

The Cadex Pediatric Alarm Watch with these features:

More →

What a terrific idea!.

A diabetes tradeshow.

The American Diabetes Association, Diabetes EXPO will be held in 18 venues across the United States. It is the largest exhibition dedicated to diabetics.

With the number of Americans who have diabetes and pre-diabetes, this sounds like a great way to reach out to that population.

Center For Disease Control, June 24, 2008: Number of People with Diabetes Increases to 24 Million. “Diabetes now affects nearly 24 million people in the United States, an increase of more than 3 million in approximately two years, according to new 2007 prevalence data estimates released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This means that nearly 8 percent of the U.S. population has diabetes.”

The ADA Diabetes EXPO contains highly interactive events that include professional speakers, access to health providers, a variety of ADA program/event information, exercise and cooking demonstrations and much more.

It’s one stop shopping for everything related to diabetes, healthy eating and active living.

• Exhibitors provide how-to-product demonstrations, free samples and the latest products, services and information.
• Medical professionals are present to answer questions
• Exciting lectures are scheduled throughout the day
• Cooking and exercise demonstrations
• Free health screenings
• Youth Zone – an interactive area for children

More →

For the techno geeks and wizards out there, here’s what is going on in high-tech gadgets for diabetes care.

• Friday Diabetes News mentioned the glucose monitoring car of the future introduced by Medtronics. The M Concept car is a Lincoln sedan that uses wireless technology to monitor a patient’s blood glucose level through the car’s dashboard. Using BlueTooth technology the system alerts the driver of blood glucose problems with audio and visual signals. Medtronics plans to also launch a vehicle system which will dial for medical assistance if the driver does not respond to alerts or when abnormal glucose levels are generated.

More →

Today’s post is in response to an email from a Battling Diabetes reader who asks how to get low cost diabetes medications, supplies and care if you do not qualify for Medicare.

I’ll do my research but I would appreciate feedback from the experts. YOU! Please post your insights and links so we can all help each other.

If you qualify for Medicare due to your age or disability here are some sites that will answer questions you may have:

WebMD: Medicare Health Center

Medicare Learning Network:An Overview of Medicare Covered Diabetic Supplies and Services (pdf format)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: The Official U.S. Government Site For People with Medicare

More →

According to a report released in January by the American Diabetes Association the” total annual economic cost of diabetes in 2007 was estimated to be $174 billion. This is an increase of $42 billion since 2002. This 32% increase means the dollar amount has risen over $8 billion more each year.”

A study by the CDC states that for every $1 spent on diabetes training and education, $8.76 is saved on health care costs. Forty six states now have passed diabetes bills and the states of Ohio, Alabama, Idaho and North Dakota have not. We should be asking WHY NOT?

More →