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Greetings!
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Photo by Sharon Schneider
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Hi everyone! We've just had our winter solstice this week - the shortest day in the southern hemisphere. Generally, it's a time to make a wish for the the coming year and to give thanks for what we're grateful for in our lives. Here, at the Type 1 diabetes network, we're thankful to have our community of members!
This month we bring you a mixture of things: what Kate has been up to at ADEA, some health and practical tips for our pregnant and breast-feeding members, and a story about what can be achieved with amazing willpower! We hope you enjoy this month's newsletter. |
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Kate Gilbert is still a very busy bee
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 While Kate, our former president, might have concluded her official role with the Type 1 Diabetes Network, she certainly hasn't stopped spreading the word and sharing her knowledge about T1. Kate was recently invited to open the Queensland Australian Diabetes Educators Association (ADEA) state conference held in early June this year.
Kate was asked to share some of her wide-ranging insights. Of course, she had plenty of information to impart, including her lifetime experience, the importance of building partnerships between patients and health professionals and drawing on her many years of working with other people with diabetes. She also talked about her original research on what people with diabetes want from their health services and illustrated what a great partnership in the consulting room might look like from the patient's perspective.
Kate also gave insights from 13 years of leading us, the Type 1 Diabetes Network - from what started as "a good idea at the pub" to what it evolved into: a successful national consumer organisation. Besides opening the conference, Kate presented an abstract on young adults with diabetes and the challenges they face.
We'd like to thank Kate for sharing her knowledge, and the Queensland ADEA for giving so much airtime to T1D.
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************Sponsored Announcement************
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Hope for a cure, but it's early days yet!
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Photo by Roc Scoble
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US researchers are experimenting with a surgical procedure that could lead to the cure of type 1 diabetes. This procedure would involve implanting insulin-producing pancreatic islet cells into people with T1.
By implanting these cells, they hope that the autoimmune reactions are avoided. But then the need for drugs to suppress an autoimmune response after the procedure (so that the body doesn't reject the implanted cells) is expensive, life-long, and may pose other problems.
It's early days, however, as the research hasn't been done in humans yet. But it's great to know there's work being done to find a cure for us. Read more about this research here.
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******************Sponsored Announcement*****************
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For more information visit www.abbottdiabetescare.com.au
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Health and practical tips during pregnancy & when breast-feeding
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While not specific to type 1 diabetes, we thought that this article and related study would be useful to our pregnant and trying-to-conceive members. :-)
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Photo by Menno Hordijk
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Basically, it says pregnant women are at particular risk of being low in vitamin D, which is important for healthy bones. The Australian study found that race, season and BMI (body mass index) are better predictors of low vitamin D levels than sun exposure. The doctors running the study recommend that pregnant women take routine vitamin D supplements (1000 units) daily. Read about it more here and here .
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Photo by Olivier Hodac
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If you're pregnant or already breastfeeding, you might be interested to know that one of our members wrote to us sharing her experience on insulin pumps while breastfeeding. She said she feels isolated at times, and working out what to wear has been a trial and error.
For those of you who are breastfeeding and use a pump, what's been your experience? Having type 1 presents some unique challenges to would-be mums and new mums. Please share your tips with others on our Reality Check forum.
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*****************Sponsored Announcement*******************
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***********Diabetes MILES Study Announcement***********
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Living with diabetes? ...Tell us about it!
Are you:
- aged 18 to 70?
- able to read and write in English?
- interested in sharing your diabetes experience?
Be part of the largest ever Australian survey about what it's like to live with diabetes and how it affects your health and wellbeing.
The Diabetes MILES Study: Management and Impact for Long-term Empowerment and Success
Complete the survey online at www.diabetesMILES.org.au between July 1 and July 16 and go into the draw to win 1 of 5 $100 gift vouchers.
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Achieving your dreams with amazi
ng willpower
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As some of you may recall, the first female team and person with Type 1 Diabetes won the last season of the American Amazing Race*.
This article about Nat Strand struck a chord with us - particularly these comments from Nat Strand's teammate, Kat Chang,
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Photo by El
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who also happens to be a doctor:
"Other teams would be
asleep for eight hours straight, and her insulin pump would be beeping every hour - sometimes every 10 minutes - and we just wouldn't get a full night's sleep," recalls Chang. Even as a fellow doctor, she says she had no idea how all-consuming diabetes management was until she lived it, right alongside her best friend: "Being with her 24-7 for an entire month straight was really enlightening," Chang says. I definitely have a new respect and understanding for diabetes - that it is just so, so, so difficult to manage, and it is absolutely 24-7."
Even though Kat Chang is a healthcare professional, she hadn't realised how involved type 1 diabetes is and the impact it has on our daily lives.
If the comments by Kat doesn't say it all about type 1 diabetes, we don't know what does!
* The Amazing Race is a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams.
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| Want to catch up with some other type 1-ers? | |
These informal meets are the perfect way to meet others in your area who have type 1 diabetes. Organised by everyday people, these unofficial get-togethers are a fun and relaxed way to get to talk to people who really understand! Currently there are meets being organised in Brisbane North and Gippsland, Victoria. Keep an eye on the Meet Forum for meets in your area, or why not organise a meet yourself? |
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Quick shots
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Hot topics on the Reality Check online forum include:
On Munted Pancreas, Parents of Kids with D are discussing: |
******************Sponsored Announcement*****************
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For more information visit www.accu-chek.com.au
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I hope you enjoyed this edition of Yada Yada. As usual, if you have any suggestions, just reply to this email.
All the best!
From everyone at
The Type 1 Diabetes Network
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