Disasters Averted

In an inpatient setting, a type 1 diabetes patient was scheduled for surgery the next morning. The patient was to be NPO after midnight and so the RN on duty withheld the patient’s Lantus. The patient’s glucose crept up, but this was not communicated with the house staff until it …

A young man, 32 years of age, with a history of ADHD and being treated with Adderall, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He had symptoms upon diagnosis — frequent urination, weight loss, and his BMI was 20. He followed a low carb diet, was taking metformin, and exercised, however, …

A new patient of mine was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and obesity. We discussed a weight loss treatment to target both her diabetes and obesity, and she followed our mutually agreed upon treatment plan. Things were going well — she would visit every three months and we would reassess …

Years ago I was attending an annual AADE meeting in Washington, DC. It was a hot summer day in August and while running between meetings, I got overheated. One of my fellow attendees, a nurse educator who was also a friend and past president of AADE, put a cool wet …

A patient came to us on reasonably high doses of basal bolus insulin, using Levemir and NovoLog flex pens. He stated that he had been using insulin for a few months and was referred for more management assistance from his provider. He was seen by a CDE to review his …

About one and a half years ago I was evaluating the educational needs of a mid-30’s, female, hospital in-patient with diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2). She and her husband both had DM2. Both were slender, active, did carb counting and followed all the prescribed recommendations of living successfully with diabetes. …

Can we “prevent” diabetes with weight loss? Or would it be better to say we can “delay” diabetes with healthy behavior? Often people are reluctant to admit that they have diabetes or to initiate treatment. Many times the cause of the delay in treatment is feelings of guilt (they feel …

A patient presented for outpatient diabetes education stating, “I really don’t know why I am here. I know I need to lose weight. I don’t know what else you can tell me.” She was reassured when I told her that there are people who are a perfect weight, exercise regularly, …

John, a gentleman in his 70’s who has diabetes, always visited my group after he exercised. I noticed he always had something (hard candy) in his mouth and he seemed tired. I asked him why he was doing this candy thing. He said, “After exercise I like to refresh my …

We were running a clinical study on erectile dysfunction. An obese 68-year-old male came in looking for help for his ED, so he thought he might qualify for the study. He had not had a medical workup for some time and wasn’t aware of any underlying diseases. I recommended he …