Health Expert Dr. Bill Quick shares health management news and commentary at HealthCentral.com. 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/profiles/c/110/index http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/110/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/profiles/c/110/index http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/153322/diabetes-mellitus Sun, 27 May 2012 10:55:09 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick Is there a “Type 3 Diabetes”? Well, maybe...   The “official” descriptions of various varieties of diabetes mellitus as promulgated by the American Diabetes Association are in a position statement titled Diagnosis and Classification of Diabetes Mellitus. They list type 1 (previously referred to as insulin-dependent diabetes  or juvenile-onset diabetes), which is usually due to autoimmune destruction of... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/153322/diabetes-mellitus http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/153167/care-improvement Mon, 21 May 2012 14:12:52 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick A survey of 12,000 hospitalized diabetes patients, done in 2011, has just been released. I won’t mention where the survey was done until later in this essay. The survey is done annually, and the results are compared to prior years. Some improvements were noted in 2011 compared to 2010: for instance, the survey noted that there has been an improvement in medication errors and more appropriate use of intravenous insulin... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/153167/care-improvement http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/152982/diabetes-unproven Tue, 15 May 2012 14:23:48 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick I was floored by some recent statements in my local newspaper from one trainer of diabetes alert dogs: "once completely trained, the dog likely could smell a change in blood sugar from up to five miles away" and  “a diabetic alert dog could smell a teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic-size swimming pool.” I wrote to his organization, and got an odd reply: “We have a significant number of personal accounts of our dogs... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/152982/diabetes-unproven http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/152712/symptoms-diabetes Sun, 06 May 2012 10:06:40 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick I recently answered a question asking about signs of diabetes: I experience irregular heart beat, feeling weak and sometimes very thirsty and visit toilet as well. Is this a sign of diabetes?   My reply:   Some of your symptoms fit with the possibility that you have diabetes: the extreme thirst for sure! The symptom you describe as visiting the toilet might fit, if you mean "frequent urination with large volumes of urine," which... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/152712/symptoms-diabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/152434/aliskiren-diabetes Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:18:46 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick "Do not use with angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) or ACE inhibitors(ACEI) in patients with diabetes." Pretty strong words, and part of the newly-revised label for a blood-pressure drug called aliskiren.   Aliskiren is a drug in a class called renin inhibitors, and is sold for the treatment of hypertension, to lower blood pressure (BP). By itself, it's okay to use, but it could be supposed that many physicians caring for PWD with... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/152434/aliskiren-diabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/152032/diabetes-questions Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:45:50 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick Several miscellaneous diabetes-related questions have accumulated, and I thought I'd tackle some of them here.   What is the normal blood sugar level for someone over 300 pounds? The values that are considered to be normal for blood sugar are not dependent upon weight. (The only situations that have different ranges are pregnancy and infancy).   Fasting glucose values are usually considered normal if below 100 mg/dl (5.6... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/152032/diabetes-questions http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/151863/prediabetes Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:17:24 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick Several questions have piled up about prediabetes (also spelled with a hyphen, like this: pre-diabetes), and I thought I'd tackle them all in once.   My fiance has the shakes when he does not eat until late afternoon. Is this a pre-warning sign of pre-diabetes? Maybe. There are several logic steps that would be necessary to fulfill to link his "the shakes" symptoms to diabetes (or to the precursor of diabetes, prediabetes).First, one... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/151863/prediabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/151593/bariatric-diabetes Wed, 28 Mar 2012 11:28:26 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick Bariatric surgery to "reverse" diabetes is again in the news. On March 26, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a surgery study, Bariatric Surgery versus Intensive Medical Therapy in Obese Patients with Diabetes.    This study, with as usual a cute acronym, the STAMPEDE (Surgical Therapy And Medications Potentially Eradicate Diabetes Efficiently) trial, is without a doubt the best study yet published to... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/151593/bariatric-diabetes http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/151512/avoid-forgetting Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:04:58 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick I received the following e-mail:   I have diabetes. I have had it for almost 8 years now. I'm 11 years old. I want the pump but I haven't been taking care of myself like I should. It is my goal to get the pump THIS summer! I would like a few tips on how to take better care of myself. I sometimes forget to test my blood sugar or take shots. Can you give me some tips please?   My reply:   Remembering to check the blood sugar... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/151512/avoid-forgetting http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/151329/people-diabetes Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:45:42 -0400 Dr. Bill Quick The Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Health and Human Services posted a "Fraud Alert for People with Diabetes" on March 13.   They point out that "criminals who plot to defraud the Government and steal money from the American people have a new target: people with diabetes." They indicate that someone may call you, and indicate they are from the government or a diabetes association, and offer you free diabetes... http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/110/151329/people-diabetes