Pocket Pal  Pocket Pal is a blood glucose meter with a built-in lancing device and a pull-out compartment that holds 25 test strips. A small piece of the Dario detaches from the meter and connects to a smartphone headphone jack, linking the meter to a Dario app. After logging into …

When Walmart first introduced their $4 generic drug program we thought that it would be an oddity for a month or two and then go away. Then everyone jumped on the bandwagon and soon these programs were so commonplace that our patients felt anything over $4 was too much. Studies …

Every time we talk to a patient newly diagnosed with diabetes we talk about the kidneys, the feet, and the eyes, and what can happen if we let our glucose levels run rampant. We focus on this because the concept of microvascular complications has been beaten into our heads since …

Dr. Aaron Vinik, a world-reknowned expert on diabetic neuropathy, talks about the issue of “numb feet” and how this early sympton of diabetes often ends up in a patient being sent to a podiatrist rather than getting care for diabetes. He also reveals some of the exciting new medications and …

Dr. Aaron Vinik addresses the question of why so much current diabetes therapy is focused on lowering blood glucose levels despite evidence that for some cardiovascular issues, this doesn’t have as much of an impact as other drugs which may have less BG-lowering capacities….

It was 8:15 pm. A patient who lives alone called me. “Joy, I just mixed up my Humalog and my Lantus. I took 20 units of Humalog but I was supposed to take 20 units of Lantus, and I took 10 units of Lantus.” I knew that the onset of …

In this week’s Homerun Slides, Dr. Stanley Schwartz discusses the “Adipocytokine Syndrome” which he describes as “A New Model for Insulin Resistance and Beta Cell Dysfunction.” He also reviews and compares several diabetes drugs’ effects on insulin resistance and beta cell function as well as other diabetes comorbidities….   To download these …

Rudy Bilous, MD, FRCP Richard Donnelly, MD, PHD, FRCP, FRACP Atherosclerosis For any given age, level of cholesterol or BP, the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) is 3 to 5-fold higher among patients with diabetes compared with subjects without diabetes. Macrovascular complications include fatal and non-fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) events, …

A previous history of severe hypoglycemia is linked to increased death rates after a cardiovascular event in type 1 diabetes patients… Hypoglycemia is the most common and life-threatening complication of type 1 diabetes. The average type diabetes patient experiences about two episodes of hypoglycemia per week. Patients with type 1 …

Macrophages, a type of immune cell, were found invading pancreatic tissue during the early stages of the disease… Type 2 diabetes is characterized by the loss of beta cells, reduced insulin production and low-grade systemic inflammation. A new study compared healthy mice to obese mice that developed diabetes. The mice were followed …