Diabetes Expert Dr. Bill Quick shares Diabetes management news and commentary at MyDiabetesCentral.com. The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110 http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110 http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/94942/misconceptions Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:08:37 -0500 Dr. Bill Quick A recent news story described “6 Common Myths and Misconceptions About Diabetes.”  In the article, Sue McLaughlin, president of healthcare and education at the American Diabetes Association, listed “the six most common myths and misconceptions about diabetes” and gave a detailed commentary on each. But her list, in my opinion, contains a mixture of truths, part-truths, and even some misconceptions.   Lets... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/94942/misconceptions http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/93882/therapy-diabetes Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:51:04 -0500 Dr. Bill Quick With the well-known fact that blood glucose levels (BGL) fluctuate moment-to-moment, and certainly day-by-day, it might be a bit surprising to hear that a diabetes medication could be developed that only needs once-weekly administration. But it's true -- Amylin and Eli Lilly have developed a once-weekly formulation of Byetta (exenatide), their GLP-1 analog drug for type 2 diabetes that presently requires injection twice-daily. The long-acting... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/93882/therapy-diabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/92916/hypoglycemia Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:30:02 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick Hypoglycemia unawareness is a very awkward phrase, but it describes a very serious medical problem. It's one that I think everyone with diabetes should know about, and also every family member, spouse, or partner of a person with diabetes. The term is used to describe a situation in which a person with diabetes is no longer experiencing the usual warning symptoms of hypoglycemia, and has brain malfunction, and can become unconscious without... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/92916/hypoglycemia http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/91823/trust-single-test Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:40:34 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick Anytime I'm at a big diabetes meeting where there are lots of exhibitors, there's probably one or more exhibitors who offer free A1C testing. And that was true again this week, at the IDF meeting in Montreal. As usual, I took advantage of the freebie and had my A1C done, at an exhibit sponsored by a company that makes an A1C machine for use in physician's offices (Bio-Rad's "in2it"). But as happened to me last summer when I got an A1C at a... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/91823/trust-single-test http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/91129/good-number Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:25:17 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick Recently I received an e-mail with the following question, and think it's worth some commentary: "I have type 2 diabetes and it's like a yo-yo. I'd like to know exactly what a good number is." I've always had a simple answer to whether blood glucose (BG) numbers are "good" or "bad:" they are neither! They are simply numbers: high, in the target range, or low, but there's no goodness (nor badness) in a number. More important, to answer the... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/91129/good-number http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/90314/yellow-stuff Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:36:58 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick Several weeks ago, I wrote about a new category of sweeteners I called the "green stuff." At that time, I was under the impression that the yellow stuff, Splenda (sucralose), was available only under the one name-brand. But I was wrong. On a recent shopping expedition, my wife Steph mentioned that she saw several brands of sucralose available on the shelves of the local supermarket. Several questions immediately come to mind: * Do the... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/90314/yellow-stuff http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/89265/diabetes-century Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:23:11 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick A reader recently wrote: "I just wonder if a cure will ever happen in the 21st Century? What do you think as a doc with diabetes? Will it make the extinction list of diseases when the 21st Century is over? Your perspective as a doctor?" Well, as a doctor with diabetes myself, I'll take the bait, and offer an opinion. But first things first: we'll have to define "cure" (and also define "remission" and "prevention") and also realize that any... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/89265/diabetes-century http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/88395/cure-diabetes Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:52:21 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick Once or twice a year, I get riled up by some bizarre claim that someone has found a cure for diabetes. This time, it was a claim that a product (which I will not name in this essay) "is a newly discoverd [sic] herbal formula which helps heal and cure Type II diabetes." The writer continues with the pseudoscientific claim that the "herbal supplement ... is a medicine to help cure and heal the diabetes condition by changing the shape of the beta... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/88395/cure-diabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/87559/green-stuff Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:36:54 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick I have frequently been in restaurants that have containers at each table containing packets of sweeteners: the white ones contain sugar, pink is saccharin, and blue is aspartame. I happen to like the yellow stuff: sucralose itself is white, but the packets are yellow, and so I somewhat illogically call the product by the color of its packaging: the white stuff, pink stuff, blue stuff, etc.   Recently, I received an advertisement in the... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/87559/green-stuff http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/86705/influenza-diabetes Mon, 14 Sep 2009 09:00:38 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick The news reports about the H1N1 influenza pandemic (popularly known as "swine flu") keep coming, but one aspect of the story is constant: although the majority of the cases are mild, the H1N1 influenza virus is occasionally a killer.   This morning's news report is that the first doses of the vaccine should be available in early October, rather than mid-October. Last week, it was that the H1N1 vaccine probably will only need a single... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/86705/influenza-diabetes