from the editor

We just got excellent news in from San Francisco’s City Hall that they will LIGHT City Hall blue for World Diabetes Day, coming right up on November 14! Now, we’re trying to help get Google’s homepage lit in blue for World Diabetes Day – please sign the petition at www.diabetesdoodle.com. (Note: don’t click the donate now button afterwards unless you want to donate to ipetition.)

We often talk about the highs and lows in diabetes in reference to blood sugar levels, but they could also describe the current economic rollercoaster.

These are tough times for most Americans, particularly regarding healthcare costs for a chronic disease like diabetes. We have received hundreds of comments from diaTribe readers who've had to cut back their purchase of medicine because they need to pay more for gas, food, rent or mortgages. This is a time of hard choices, and the fact that patients are bearing more upfront costs through higher deductibles and bigger co-pays is disturbing - and these are the patients that have insurance. It's simply not right. Here's to Philadelphia-based Integrated Diabetes Service's willingness to offer diaTribe readers some help.

IDS offers personalized diabetes coaching in person, in groups, and by internet and all diaTribe readers can benefit from a 20% discount. Call 877-SELF-MGT [877-735-3648] or go to www.integrateddiabetes.com and mention that you are a diaTribe reader. We thank the IDS and CEO Gary Scheiner who pens his first story for diaTribe in this issue’s Learning Curve.

On a more positive note, September saw the release of new data that highlighted the movement forward in diabetes therapies and technologies. At the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) meeting this year, we were encouraged by results from the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study that showed long-term (think 10 years) positive effects of early blood glucose control and intensive metformin therapy on microvascular (eye, kidney, nerve disease) and macrovascular (heart failure and stroke) complications. The whole point was taking care of yourself early helps a lot later on. Even if you have had diabetes for a long time, starting anew will help you avoid the scary complications. I personally find it incredibly hard to be motivated but information like this that I can give my husband and friends, really helps them encourage me on the toughest days.

The results from the JDRF continuous monitoring trial were also a positive landmark in diabetes technology demonstrating definitively for the first time that CGM can lower A1c by a significant amount in six-months. Typically, the people who wore CGM the most frequently achieved at least 0.5% reduction in A1c from an average baseline of 8.0%. We think this will further improve as the devices get even easier to use and as education expands.

Read more details in this issue's Conference pearls on the results from both studies.

Over the long run, we hope that the positives will outweigh the negatives, but the path will never be direct or easy. That's science. That's diabetes. And that's life.

Kelly