Man bags and HbA1cs.

25 June 2010
16 Comments

I got an email from a reader about her son this week and thought I’d throw the question out to the community to see if we can get any other ideas (Aaron has already contributed a few). Can you guys help with this please?

T is 14 and when we go out, his supplies are in a bag that gets slung over his shoulder – well, his Dad’s shoulder actually. But he is now at that age when he doesn’t want to have to carry a ‘man bag’ with him. I guess it is just not cool.
But there is not way I let him go off with his mates without his jelly beans and meter.

Aaron, as an…

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By Nic on 25 June 2010 at 8.31 am
Posted in Community, Hypos & Hypers, Kids & Teens, Medical Services, Monitoring
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HbA1c time.

12 April 2010
27 Comments

Bleeeeurgh. Went for a blood test this morning. I’ve got a specialist appointment tomorrow, the first since I was discharged from the diabetes high risk maternity unit at National Women’s.

As part of this, I had to go and get some bloods done, notably the all-important HbA1c (or the molar measurement which is coming to take over the HbA1c).

I am absolutely dreading getting this HbA1c back. I liken it to getting exam results. Over the last 18 months I’ve actually looked forward to getting my HbA1c results back because I had a notion that they were going to be good (I was testing that much, and counting carbs like a mofo so you…

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By Nic on 12 April 2010 at 2.22 pm
Posted in Insulin Pumps, Monitoring, Pregnancy
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Aaron: Post Easter confession

9 April 2010
7 Comments

I don’t know about the rest of you guys but I certainly made the most of Easter this year and totally stuffed myself with chocolate eggs, lollies, treats and sweets.

It was a bit of a blow out (one that I was happy to have) but to make myself feel a little better, I also decided that I wouldn’t be overly concerned with recording the tests I did over that period. I’m pretty fastidious normally but you can see from the shot here that there is a distinct gap for the Easter break.

It was also my wedding anniversary you see so there may have been some drink of beer and a lot of eating of delicious (read: fat riddled)…

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By Aaron on 9 April 2010 at 9.30 am
Posted in Food, General, Slice of Life
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The ‘new’ HbA1c.

15 January 2010
2 Comments

A comment on this post led me to have another look at the ‘new’ international standard which has come in to eventually replace the HbA1c results which our doctors benchmark our diabetes control on.

I say ‘new’, because the new ‘molar’ system has actually been available in our lab reports since August last year. Apparently our blood glucose control will be reported both as an HbA1c and in mmol/mol for two years, after which time we’ll switch to solely mmol/mol. The reason for this is to foster international measurement of blood glucose control, as instigated by the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC).

To give you a better idea of how these numbers…

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By Nic on 15 January 2010 at 6.16 pm
Posted in Medical Services
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So long, 2009 – and the decade of the noughties.

31 December 2009
1 Comment

…. so what do we call this decade? If last one was the noughties, and the following one is the 20s, what is this one coming up? The teens?

It’s been a great year for BeingDiabetic. Visitor numbers have quadrupled, the community is growing and getting stronger, and we’ve had several face-to-face meetings (albeit only in Auckland and Nelson so far but it’s a start!). Keep up the awesome work everyone, and thanks again for being a great, interactive audience willing to help each other out.

On a personal note it’s been a pretty full-on year too and one I’m really proud of from a diabetes point of view. Only you lot (and maybe our partners to a degree) know…

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By Nic on 31 December 2009 at 9.43 am
Posted in Community
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