Strengthen your Insulin Compliance with Innovative Therapies & Knowledge by Catherine Albertson

As the number of people with diabetes in the U.S. continues to grow, so have the medical advancements to manage the disease. There are currently a number of therapies that make taking insulin less (or nearly) painless which in turn can increase a person’s compliance with their therapy. Many people living with diabetes have several complaints about taking injections - it’s painful, it’s inconvenient, bleeding can occur, bruising and scar tissue formations, and the list goes on. Because it is so important for people with diabetes to take their insulin regularly, there have been many individuals who have dedicated their lives to inventing a variety of insulin injection devices, and it is thought that a combination of these innovative therapies and personal research will help to increase a patient’s compliance with their therapy.

There are several therapies currently on the market, such as insulin pens, pumps, and injection ports, all of which were created to aid in a patient’s compliance with treatment. These therapies make taking insulin nearly painless. Depending on how and where on your body you inject yourself can directly affect how painful the injections are. Physicians may request that the patient inject him/herself at the clinic so they can confirm the patient is effectively taking their injections. People living with diabetes should be aware of several places on the body that are optimal for insulin injections, such as the abdomen, thighs, buttocks, and the backs of arms. Additionally, it is always a good idea to rotate your injection sites, to keep the subcutaneous tissue healthy and the bruising/scaring to a minimum. Being properly informed and trained on the use of these can help you avoid potentially dangerous or painful situations and can help you comply with your insulin therapy.

Injection Ports and insulin pump infusion sets allow for easy and pain free insulin administration to virtually any place on your body. Their small and convenient features allow for quick application and discreet wear. After scouring the internet and researching patient complaints about injections, it seems that no side effect is more important than the other. Creating devices that tackle the main three (bleeding, bruising, and scaring) have been at the forefront of diabetic advancements in recent years. Additionally, there is a direct correlation between a person’s resistance to their respective method of insulin injections and their blood sugar readings. Prolonged high blood sugar can lead to diabetic ketoacidosis, which is a life threatening condition. Additionally, uncontrolled blood sugars for prolonged periods of time can lead to life altering and sometimes fatal diabetes complications like heart disease, stroke, blindness and amputations. It is extremely important to monitor blood sugars and maintain a level glucose reading with constant and effective insulin administration. The advent of these less invasive therapies should only increase insulin compliance and help people living with diabetes stay healthy.

Don’t let your fear of injections get in the way of your health. Do your research regarding insulin therapies and recognize that there are alternative devices and information out there to help you stay well and active.

Catherine is the Senior Manager for Marketing at Patton Medical Devices, the manufacturer for the i-port® Injection Port. Employed since 2006, Catherine has been actively involved in the development of the i-port® branding, website development, event production and overall marketing operations for Patton Medical Devices. Her prior experience includes working for GSD&M and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Article Source: Strengthen your Insulin Compliance with Innovative Therapies & Knowledge

Diabetes - The 6 Points That Will Explain it to You
By Dick Aronson

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease in which patients present with absolute or relative insulin deficiency. It affects about 6% of western populations and is a major contributing factor for heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and peripheral vascular disease. Diabetes mellitus is also the leading cause of new blindness without a cure.

1. Types of Diabetes
There are four forms of the disease, classified as: types 1 and 2, gestational and other specific types.

a. Type 1 Diabetes
In people with type 1 diabetes the pancreas is not producing insulin, so blood glucose levels are higher than normal. People with this form of diabetes require daily insulin therapy to survive. This form is further split into idiopathic diabetes and immune mediated diabetes.

Type 1 accounts for around 10% to 15% of all people with diabetes. It is one of the most serious and common chronic diseases of childhood, with about half of the people with this form of diabetes developing the disease before age 18. It is also known as insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or juvenile-onset diabetes.

b. Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is marked by reduced levels of insulin (insulin deficiency) and/or the inability of the body to use insulin properly (insulin resistance). This form of the disease is most common among people aged 40 years and over and accounts for 85% to 90% of all people with diabetes. Most people with type 2 diabetes are obese.

c. Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy in about 3% to 8% of females not previously diagnosed with diabetes. It is a temporary form of diabetes and usually disappears after the baby is born. However, it is a marker of much greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life. Screening tests for gestational diabetes are usually performed around the 24th-28th week of pregnancy.

d. Other Specific Diabetes Types
This includes people who have diabetes as a result of a genetic defect, or exposure to certain drugs or chemicals.

2. Causes of Diabetes Mellitus
Diabetes is caused by resistance to, or deficient production of, the hormone insulin, which helps glucose move from the blood into the cells.

In type 1 immune mediated diabetes, pancreatic beta cell destruction results in failure to release insulin and ineffective transport of glucose. There is no known cause for idiopathic diabetes.

In type 2 diabetes, the beta cells release insulin but, receptors are insulin resistant and glucose transport is variable and inefficient. Some people may have conditions that can cause diabetes, such as Cushing's syndrome, pancreatitis or liver disease.

Risk factors for type 2 diabetes include;

a. Obesity
b. History of Gestational diabetes
c. Lack of physical activity
d. Hypertension
e. Age 45+
f. Ethnic groupings other than anglo-saxon
g. Low HDL cholesterol levels
h. Impaired glucose tolerance
i. Family history

3. Signs and Symptoms of Diabetes
Symptoms of diabetes include; dehydration, unexplained weight loss, excessive thirst, frequent need to urinate, fatigue, lethargy, severe irritation and itching, excessive hunger, blurred vision, skin and urinary infections and vaginitis.

4. Diagnosis
Diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance may be detected on routine blood tests as part of a general health check up or investigation for other symptoms or diseases. Diabetes tests check blood glucose levels. Someone with a random non fasting blood glucose level greater than 200mg/dl accompanied by other symptoms, or someone with a fasting blood glucose level greater than 126mg/dl can be diagnosed with diabetes.

Because symptoms can be mild, diabetes is often detected when a person suffers a problem that is caused by diabetes, such as a heart attack, stroke, neuropathy, poor wound healing or a foot ulcer, certain eye problems, certain fungal infections, or delivering a baby with macrosomia or hypoglycemia.

5. Diabetes Treatment
Effective treatment endeavors to normalize blood glucose and reduce complications using insulin replacement, diet and exercise. For those with very mild diabetes, diet plus weight loss plus exercise may be enough to keep blood glucose within reasonable levels.
Dietary changes should focus on the ideas of weight loss and blood sugar regulation by keeping the blood sugar levels relatively stable throughout the day, avoiding big peaks or troughs.

The principal treatment of type 1 diabetes, even from its earliest stages, is replacement of insulin combined with careful monitoring of blood glucose levels using blood testing monitors.

Type 2 diabetes may require oral anti-diabetic drugs to stimulate the body's insulin production and increase insulin sensitivity. Various forms of natural supplements for diabetes treatment have also been postulated as effective.

People with unstable diabetes, or those requiring many injections a day, may benefit from an insulin pump which is worn on the body and delivers a continuous infusion of insulin via a needle implanted into the body.

Gestational diabetes is fully treatable but requires careful medical supervision throughout the pregnancy. Even though it may be transient, untreated gestational diabetes can damage the health of the fetus or the mother.

Treatment for all forms of diabetes need not significantly impair normal activities, if sufficient patient training, awareness, appropriate care, discipline in testing and dosing of insulin is taken

6. Complications
Diabetes mellitus is the most common cause of adult kidney failure worldwide in the developed world. If undetected or poorly controlled, diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney failure, lower limb amputation, heart attack, stroke and impotence.

Dick Aronson has been involved in the healthcare industry for 35 years. He has written numerous articles on the subject and runs a number of informative websites,viz: http://www.healthinnovationsonline.com

Doctors, Deductibles, Diabetes, Contract Work - OH MY!
By Chris Stocker

Doctors and deductibles. Both have things in common, but also a lot of differences as well. You don't want to have a high deductible, just as much as you don't want to have a high doctor. Your happy when you meet your deductible, hopefully you are happy after you meet your doctor. But then comes my discussion and dilemma, which I know a lot of you share with me. Do you skip or hold off on visits because you have met your deductible and then in two months it sets back to zero and you have to start all over again?

I need to go to the dentist because it has been almost a year and a half since I last saw my old dentist back in PA. I don't want to go right now because I haven't met my calendar year deductible. So why not just wait until January 1, right? My endo was fine with that decision except that I said the same thing last year as well, which is exactly why I haven't seen a dentist for as long as I have. So then I started to think, is it just a lame excuse to not go and see the doc? I also need to go get my yearly eye exam. I do believe, however, that I went for a check-up earlier this year because I needed a new prescription for my contacts and needed new glasses.

Now, some of you may be thinking, how in the world have you not met your deductible this late into the year? I got a new insulin pump in January, I have infusion sets, reservoirs, transmitter and sensors for my continuous glucose monitor (CGM), but they were all billed from an out-of-network provider, so that ate up my out of network deductible, but didn't touch my in-network. All of my doctors are all in network with the type of insurance that I have. And of course the money that I pay every 90 days for my insulin does not go towards my deductible, why would it? So that leaves me with only one thing going towards it and that is my doctor's visits. So until I meet that deductible, there is no co-pay, it is strictly going towards the deductible.

I started seeing my new endo back in May or June, don't exactly remember and I have had monthly, well every 4-6 week visits since then. And since the insurance isn't covering anything yet, I'm sure you know much it is costing me for these endo appointments. So I am paying a monthly premium for my insurance, but still paying monthly doctor bills. I guess it could be worse because I don't pay anything at all for my pump supplies and testing strips, at least not yet.

Now, getting a little off of the deductible topic and into a more general insurance topic, private insurance. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you know who I work for, and that has been disclosed before the FTC crack down on it. Any who, I receive insurance from them as a full time employee. I have also created a company within the last 60 days as well. This wasn't really a planned thing so I will explain it briefly. I had friends and relatives that knew I was really into geeky, cool, tech things like website design, blogging, and social media. A few people needed help getting started on Facebook and Twitter etc. So then I said well why not start getting paid for doing this stuff. Then it started to evolve and had people asking me to do their PPC campaigns, (Google AdWords primarily) and also some organic SEO stuff. Now I definitely have to charge for that type of stuff because it is not the easiest and quickest stuff to do. Do I have to disclose when I am talking about my own company? Well, just in case, I own CSI Marketing Solutions, with 10% of all profits being donated to JDRF. Now you know the story, here is the question.

Since I am diabetic, I feel restricted that I have to work for a corporation that will offer me insurance. Is this new PPC / SEO business paying the bills? No, not really, so I'm not looking for this to be a full-time gig or expand it into something large with several employees, then in which I would be able to get some group insurance. This is just something that I am extremely passionate about and love to do, so I do it on the side and would love for my career path to follow this way. The only problem with that is a lot of work in this industry is done on a contract basis, and there's no insurance in contracted jobs.

So what am I to do? Are there any of you out there now that do this type of thing or any contracted work? Or own your own business? Like I said before, at this time there are no plans to expand to the level needed for insurance. I would really appreciate all of your help on this.

Chris Stocker
The Life of a Diabetic

Diabetes - Methods Of Insulin Delivery
By Robin Brain

Insulin may be delivered in one of a number of ways: under the skin (subcutaneous), into the muscle (intramuscular), or into the vein (intravenous). The instrument used for delivery of insulin may be a syringe/pen-needle, syringe autoinjector, hydrospray injector, IV infusion equipment, or insulin infusion pump. Subcutaneous insulin is given only by syringe, pen, autoinjector, or hyprospray. When insulin is administered by vein, into the muscle, or with an infusion pump, only the short-acting insulin is given. The fastest way to receive insulin is through an injection into the vein. The next fastest way is to have it delivered by syringe and needle into the muscle. The peak action of intramuscular insulin is about 1/2 hours, rather than the 2 to 4 hours for insulin injected under the skin.

The important points about giving insulin subcutaneously are to ensure the cleanliness of the process and to give the correct amount at the right time . All parts of the procedure are important. However, while omitting certain steps will not have a detrimental effect on the blood-glucose levels, omitting some steps will. When getting insulin out of the bottle, first clean the top of the bottle, then replace the vacuum in which the insulin is placed by injecting into the bottle an amount of air that is equal to the amount of insulin to be removed. To be sure the correct amount of insulin is injected, you can do the following: check that the amount of air to be injected into the bottle is equal to the amount of insulin to be removed, check the amount of insulin in the syringe in relation to the dosage to be given, and check the syringe. against the bottle to make sure that you have placed the insulin from that specific bottle into the syringe.

To assure that the right bottle is chosen at the right time, color-code the labels (for example, red for morning mixture, green for the Regular at supper time, and blue for the bedtime NPH dose).

Read more on New Diabetic Information. Check out for Diabetic Supplies US and Specializing Diabetic Supplies.

What Are Insulin Pumps?
By Pauline Go

Treatment of insulin-dependent diabetes involves the use of insulin therapy, wherein you provide insulin doses to your body at prescribed intervals. Today, there are several alternatives to the traditional insulin injections available in the market to inject insulin into the body. One such insulin delivery device is the insulin pump which is ideal for those diabetics who are very busy with their lives or for those whose blood sugar levels are very high and cannot be controlled by taking even 2 or 3 insulin shots per day.

The insulin pump facilitates continuous insulin infusion by injecting a continuous (basal) dose of insulin round the clock and supplemental (bolus) doses just before meal time. The insulin pump comprises of a pump and an infusion set (a syringe, equipped with a microprocessor and a catheter placed subcutaneously in the layer of fat just under the skin in the abdominal area). The syringe is quite small and is filled with short-acting insulin. Using an electromechanical mechanism, the syringe injects insulin whenever instructed by the microprocessor. Since no long-acting insulin is used, there is no mechanism to cope with emergency rises in blood sugar levels, which may trigger keto-acidosis.

However, the insulin pump involves a lot of maintenance issues such as change of batteries, infusion sets, insulin vials, etc to prevent the onset of infection at the site of insertion. Daily monitoring of blood sugars levels and urine testing is compulsory in order to regulate the insulin dosage according to the reading obtained. However, the user can maintain a better control over his blood glucose levels, and thereby preventing or minimizing the onset of long-term micro-vascular complications associated with diabetes.

About Author: Pauline Go is an online leading expert in medical industry. She also offers top quality medical tips like:

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