FDA OKs First-Ever Nasal Glucagon for Severe Hypos in Diabetes, as reported by Miriam E. Tucker for Medscape.com, 25 July 2019.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first nasally administered glucagon product (Baqsimi, Eli Lilly and Co) for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia for patients aged 4 years or older who have diabetes. The nasal powder is the first licensed glucagon product that is not delivered by injection and that does not require a multistep mixing process.
“This new way to administer glucagon may simplify the process, which can be critical during an episode [of hypoglycemia], especially since the patient may have lost consciousness or may be having a seizure. In those situations, we want the process to treat the suffering person to be as simple as possible,” said Janet Woodcock, MD, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a statement.
Read more: FDA OKs First-Ever Nasal Glucagon for Severe Hypos in Diabetes
A1c Tip: Completely Change How You Treat Low Blood Sugars was written by GInger Vieira for InsulinNation.com, 24 July 2019. Your food habits impact the level and variability of your blood sugars and food mindfulness can avoid lows and completely change your A1c.
Your low blood sugar habits can have a big impact on several aspects of your life. The foods you choose, the amount you eat and how you handle the rebounding high from overeating can lead to exhausting roller coaster blood sugars, weight gain, difficulty reaching your goal A1c, and a tumultuous relationship with food in general. If you think that highs after binge-eating during one low blood sugar every day or every other day isn’t impacting your A1c, think again.
Ginger gives some GREAT advice on how to track how you treat lows, binge-eat for a low, choosing fast-acting carbs and more!
Read more: A1c Tip: Completely Change How You Treat Low Blood Sugars
Things You Need to Know About Diabetes and Sunburn was written by Kerri Sparling for ASweetLife.org, 20 July 2019.
Sunburns and high blood sugars unfortunately go hand in hand. Sunburns are considered an injury to your skin, and just like with any other kind of injury, your body is under stress and duress while healing. What to do?
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- Wear sunscreen
- Watch for wounds
- Cover up
- Watch your feet
- Check your meds for sun sensitivity
And if you get burned, read Kerri’s recommendations
Read more: Things You Need to Know About Diabetes and Sunburn
UnderMyFork: A Diabetes App is available in the Apple App Store for iOS devices. I haven’t tried it but I will … it’s FREE!
Simple food diary with blood sugar trends for people with diabetes. Add meal photos and see how your blood sugar changes. Discover which meals help you stay in target range. Undermyfork matches your meal pictures with blood sugar data from your CGM or glucose meter. The app automatically syncs blood sugar readings from supported CGMs, glucose meters and apps via Apple Health.
Read more: Undermyfork: Diabetes App
The Dangerous “All or Nothing” Mentality was published by Adam Brown of diaTribe.org, 15 November 2017. What does this mean?
“All or nothing” mentality: “Well, I don’t have an hour, so I can’t exercise”
According to Brown, “When I find myself saying this, I rely on the mental trick below – it works almost 100% of the time! It also reveals a bit about my philosophy on habits and behavior change: consistency beats quality much of the time. I’d rather exercise for 5 minutes per day, seven days per week than once on Sunday for 35 minutes. Put differently, the small steps I take every day matter far more than the big steps I take once in a while.”
A better way to think of exercise is: “Five minutes of activity beats zero minutes. Can I do slightly more than nothing at all? Yes, even if it’s a 10-minute walk on a lunch break.”
Exercise is also typically positioned as a “do it to live longer” kind of activity. But when things are busy today, it’s hard to prioritize the long game, and very easy to make “I don’t h ave time” excuses.
Read more: The Dangerous “All or Nothing” Mentality
I am disappointed by the nasal glucagon for two main reasons. First, I am hopeful that Lilly will move sooner than later to make the item non prescription. Doing so woudl make it available to places like schools, first aid kit manufacturers and the general public. I do not see any plans to do that sooner rather than later.
Second and far more important I am very upset that the Lilly assistance program requires a person to have commercial insurance in order to use the Co-Pay card. This places it squarely out of the reach of most PWD’s until the commercial insurance market adds it to the formulary. There is no incentive to do that.
I sense this will be a long road before we see this product available to most of us.
Hi Rick … I couldn’t agree with you more. I also think it might encourage T1s to less fearful of lows.