Recently, several more combination diabetes pills have become available, and I think I ought to update my previous essay on "Combination pills for type 2 diabetes" to include the new combo pills. I won't repeat many of the concepts there, so if your physician is discussing possibly prescribing combination diabetes pills with you, please review... Read more
For several years, I've been on Humalog (insulin lispro) with my insulin pump, after switching from Novolog (insulin aspart) because it was indeed having too long a "tail" for me to accurately calculate my doses. (The "tail" is an extremely long duration of action after the peak occurs.) I'm not the only one: Google "Novolog tail" and you'll find... Read more
There's been more than enough said about celebrity chef Paula Deen (the proud parent of the glazed donut, hamburger patty, fried egg, and bacon sandwich) and her recent admission that she has had type 2 diabetes for several years --- and that she's being compensated by Novo Nordisk for pitching the diabetes medication she's on, Victoza... Read more
In 2008, the WHO released a very general safety checklist to help make surgery safer. The WHO checklist has been tried in multiple hospitals, and according to discussion in the New England Journal of Medicine, "The rate of death was 1.5% before the checklist was introduced and declined to 0.8% afterward... Inpatient complications occurred in 11.0%... Read more
A recent article in the Toronto Star, Miracle on Bloor Street, reminded me that insulin therapy's 90th birthday will be arriving this week. Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old teenager who had lost weight to 65 pounds, received his first injection in Toronto, Canada on January 11, 1922. He dramatically improved, and went on to live thirteen... Read more
