F1_29DD

A complicated topic

What are “diabetes complications”? This is a term I have real problems with: it’s misleading, and has unfortunate impacts on everyone. I tend to think of there not actually being any such thing as a “diabetes complication”. There’s usually nothing “diabetic” about health complications. What are people referring to? Basically, at a crude level it’s about …

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“Tight control” – what does it mean?

Recently I spent a day participating in a training course for endocrinology registrars (i.e. doctors). It was the Practical Skills Course for Endocrinology & General Medicine Advanced Trainees run by the Australian Diabetes Society. I’ve participated in this course for several years now. I was there as a consumer/demonstrator to help educate the attendees on things like …

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US safety notice for Medtronic 600-series pumps

News recently emerged about a safety recall of Medtronic insulin pumps in the US. News spread quickly across the internet, but an Australian perspective might be useful. It’s a recall through the US Food and Drug Adminstration, and thus does not apply to Australia. The pumps affected are the 630G and 670G pumps (manufactured during …

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That time the Wookiee DIDN’T become more Bionic

As I wrote last month I was recently diagnosed with atheroschlerosis, with two partial blockages in arteries around my heart. Although my lipid profile has always been regarded as “low risk”, something developed at some point over the past years. Without having a heart attack, these narrowings were discovered by non-invasive testing (starting with a stress …

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End of an era – or is it?

When I started using an Animas 2020 insulin pump in 2010, I started with the Inset II infusion sets. I used these for years before realising I had options, and started exploring all the other infusion set types. I use many different types, at different times and for different purposes. For example the Silhouette/TenderLink style …

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