The healing continues. From laughter, that is.

As we wait with great hope for a cure for diabetes, we do so with a smile thanks to humor to be found on the new website LOL Diabetes (www.loldiabetes.com). I've posted before about this site, which itself is part of the popular diabetes website Six Until Me (www.sixuntilme.com). Nevertheless, things have become waaaaaay to funny over there for me to not highlight some of my favorites.

These would be my Top 5:

5 - The Insulin Monkey. This picture features a stuffed animal, a monkey to be exact, with dozens of syringes sticking out of it, much like a pin cushion. The words "You're Doing it Wrong" that are printed on the picture sum it up perfectly.

4 - iPump. A play on the now famous iPod silhouette ads, this mock version of this campaign features people wearing insulin pumps in place of iPods.

3 - Thumbtacks. A photo of a child's Spider Man poster fastened to the wall with -- Thumb Tacks? No, no, no. Look again...those are lancets! As someone aptly commented on the entry, what a great use for all those extras!

2 - Wanted! In this Old West style Wanted poster, there's a bounty for bringing in Twinkie the Kid. Turns out "The Kid" is wanted for Shootin' Up High Blood Sugars.

1 - The Enemy. By far my favorite, Short, simple, and hilarious. The photo features no other than Willy Wonka himself, with the words "The Enemy" written below. Very true. And very funny.

There are a whole bunch more that could have made a Top 10 list (namely: Soundtrack to a Low, Is This the Remix?, My Pump Makes Me Look Like a Cross-Dresser, Ah! Needle Landslide, and What's Better Than a Cookie).

Be sure to check out LOL Diabetes. Think you have something funny to add? I say go for it!!

Hear ye! Hear ye! I have an announcement to make. About 3 months ago, a committee formed to explore the possibility of creating a new conference series for adults with type 1 diabetes. Most conferences are currently geared towards all types of diabetes, but a group of us felt there should be more for the unique challenges that are posed to adults living with type 1.

With that in mind, we are conducting an interest study for the conference. Who would you like to see at the conference? Tell us what is missing from Type 1 diabetes (besides the obvious **cure**). This will help us with programming, as well as securing sponsorships for the event. Besides giving you all you want from the latest and greatest in type 1 diabetes - you have a chance to leave your mark on this revolutionary event. At the end of the survey, there is a question about creating a name for the conference. The committee will choose the winning name. The winner will receive an autographed copy of Know Your Numbers, by Amy Tenderich and Dr. Richard Jackson. The second and third places prizes are a Six Until Me mug and a Diabetes Mine mug, donated by Kerri Morrone and Amy Tenderich.

The survey closes on Friday, September 7, 2007 so don't miss your opportunity to voice your opinion. Take the survey today!!

Things can get a bit stuffy sometimes in the medical world. This is probably for good reason, because in many cases the topic of conversation is someone's health. To help create a less "buttoned-up" medical environment, many people have taken up writing their own personal blogs. Such sites offer a look at what it's really like to live with a particular condition, rather than pouring through page after page of text or internet site that focuses almost entirely on the science behind it all. This, of course, is not to say that there isn't great value in the latter -- especially since that's primarily the type of blog we run here at TheDiabetesBlog. But, let's face it, sometimes you just need to take a step back from it all and laugh.

To that end, you may want to check out a new site called LOL Diabetes (www.loldiabetes.com). The site itself is an offshoot of the popular diabetes blog Six Until Me (www.sixuntilme.com). Following the design of the odd, but hugely popular, humor website that features cats and other small animals doing funny things, LOL Diabetes (LOL stands for Laugh(ing) Out Loud, by the way. Just in case you were new to...well, civilization) features photos, videos and stories that are two things: 1) Related in some way to diabetes, and 2) Funny!!

After viewing the site, don't be surprised if you feel compelled to submit a funny diabetes tidbit of your own. I'm even sort of tempted myself. If you choose to follow suit, you can go ahead and send your own humorous photo, video, or whatever to loldiabetes@yahoo.com Feel free to say that I referred you...it may get your stuff up on the site quicker ;)

Blogs are everywhere these days. Hell, there seem to be about a hundred that run along the right side of this page; with topics ranging from Cinema to Wireless Technology. Oh yeah, and don't forget about us here at the Life Science blogs, covering news and info dealing with cancer, cardiovascular health, and diabetes. But, these are OUR stories. Well, maybe not directly -- but we are the people that are passing along the information here on these blogs. What about YOUR story? Well, now there's a chance for you to talk about your experience with diabetes, and the forum to do so is based off of a very well known and respected diabetes blog called Six Until Me (www.sixuntilme.com).

Separate from the main page blog, the new Your Story page allows readers to email their contributions and have them published on the site, thereby fostering an even greater sense of community and support among readers. And "stories" appears to be a pretty loose term, as it is made clear on the site that you can contribute anything diabetes related that you feel the world would benefit from knowing. Pictures, videos, poems, antecdotes, and of course, actual stories can be emailed to: story@sixuntilme.com

I encourage you to vist Six Until Me and spend some time navagating the site. Unlike much of what I write on TheDiabetesBlog, the content on Six Until Me is less diabetes medical/research-based and more centered on daily living with diabetes. The highs, the lows (both figuratively and literally), the good, the bad, and even the ugly -- it's all covered by the site's author with humor and elequence. Now, with the addition of the Your Story section of Six Until Me, your own stories, musings, rants, and tales of personal triumph can also be told.

Yesterday was Diabetes Alert Day, the day that is set aside annually to raise awareness for the disease that has become a worldwide epidemic. I've mentioned it several times before on this blog, but I find it absolutely stunning that a disease so pervasive remains so out of the public radar. Specifically, I find the greatest ignorance stems from most people's lack of knowledge with regard to the difference between type 1 and type 2 -- or that there even are two types of diabetes, never mind one being different than the other.

According to recent statistics, 80 percent of the American population cannot distinguish between the two types of diabetes. To help remedy this problem, insulin pump manufacturer Medtronic, Inc. announced that they will spend an undisclosed amount of money on educating the public about the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

I personally witnessed, on a recent trip to the Caribbean with my girlfriend -- strike that, by this point in the trip she was my fiance -- how this lack of understanding can become highly problematic. While going through security at the Cyril E. King airport in St. Thomas, part of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a security officer came across a bottle of juice in our carry-on bag. Because of new flying regulations, bringing liquids of almost any kind on board an airplane is generally a no-no. When it was explained to the security officer that my fiance is type 1 and that she needed the juice at the ready to combat any unsuspected low blood sugars, the explanation seemed counterintuitive to the woman. Though she didn't actually ask the question, I could still hear it through her disconcerted expression -- "Why would she need to drink a high-sugar juice if she has diabetes?"

Because we were already running a bit late, and since it was clear that we were not getting through to our gate (or the security officer, for that matter) with that juice, we cut our losses and parted with the juice. Fortunately, you can buy juice and other food and drinks once past security, which is what we did.

To me, this was representative of what must be going on at airports, restaurants, places of employment, concerts, movie theaters, grocery stores and more every day; ineffective medical assistance and/or a lack of self-treatment cooperation due completely to a staggering degree of ignorance.

I truly hope that Medtronic's efforts to raise public awareness finds great success. Further, I hope their endeavors challenge and motivate other like-minded companies to jump on the proverbial bandwagon with this. If you'd like more information on Medtronic's educational initiative here: www.realdiabetescontrol.com

Spring training is already underway, which means that opening day at your nearest ball field is right around the corner. Fittingly, Men's Health magazine features up-and-coming New York Mets slugger David Wright on its cover, and inside some of the game's best players are spotlighted. But, on page 122, you'll find an article on who are considered to be the best of the best -- not on the baseball field, but in the medical field.

Twenty different endocrinologists are listed as being among the best in this area of medicine. Taking top honors in the northeast is Dr. Martin J. Abrahamson, medial director at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. Quoting Dr. Abrahamson, "A 15-minute visit to a primary-care physician isn't enough to help someone self-manage his diabetes. You need a team of experts to help you as you implement a whole new lifestyle to treat the disease."

America's Top Docs from other medical fields are also mentioned: neurologists, psychiatrists, gastroenterologists, dermatologists, cardiologists/internists, urologists, etc. You can find this article in the issue of Men's Health on news stands now.

It's terribly unfair. Your sugar drops. You can feel it. The primitive instincts that do not qualify as being on our best behavior sometimes spill out in the subliminal advertising of a low sugar. When your blood sugar drops to hypoglycemic levels, your body goes into survival mode and only lends energy reserves for the nature of survival-unfortunately social graces and reason do not register high on that list.

dLife has put together a guide to help take the guesswork out of treating a low sugar. Too often we tend to over treat lows and end up on the other side of the 80/120 fence, It's difficult to master the twin deficits: too little sugar or too little insulin. But as Kerri (Six Until Me) points out-there is no such thing as a perfect diabetic...we can only do our best.

With that in mind, dLife suggests a few good ways to treat a low, without going too far. Their Rule of Thumb emphasis the 15 grams per 15 minutes rule. This simply means after consuming 15 grams of a fast acting carbohydrate, wait fifteen minutes before re-testing. If your levels are still too low, repeat and retest. Good sources of fast acting carbohydrates include: Glucose tablets (read packaging for equivalent of 15 grams carb) , sugar-sweetened soda (read packaging), 3 small Smarties rolls , 8 Sweet Tarts, or 1 Tablespoon of honey.

It is with great pleasure that I have the opportunity to blog about someone I consider to be a first string player in the sport of diabetes. Her name is Kerri, and her position is all over the place! Yes, you read that correctly. Kerri is a trifecta of talent. She currently works as an editorial assistant for dLife, where she writes a monthly column, "Generation D." She also finds time to contribute as a co-editor for EXIST Magazine, an online resource of CNN news with an MTV voice. You might recognize her co-editor (who is also her ever-supportive boyfriend) Chris Sparling. But the main event that drew my attention to Kerri was her blog, Six Until Me.

She started SUM in May of 2005 after Googling "diabetes" and finding not much more than a list of complications and the American Diabetes Association website. She was one of the pioneering blogs in the diabetes community. When she first set it up, SUM was one of 5. Nowadays you'll find more than 150 diabetes blogs out there in cyberspace. SUM has become reassurance for Kerri that she is not alone in dealing with diabetes. Having that kind of reassurance means the world to her, as I'm sure it does for those of us reading. Kerri puts her heart and soul into SUM and I invite any of you who spend a few minutes there to prove me wrong.

Throughout her twenty-something years of experience as a type 1 diabetic, Kerri insightfully shares her tricks of the trade in diabetes management. Grab a pen because this girl knows what she's talking about! First, she says to test often. Yes ma'am. You can't argue logic and that seems to be the only avenue open these days to tight control. Her second suggestion is just as important, but far more effective: personal forgiveness. Kerri says: diabetes is a very psychological disease... There is no such thing as a perfect diabetic. But you can be one that tries your best. Don't do yourself the disservice of calling certain foods "bad," because you don't deserve that. If your management takes a tumble, dust yourself off, forgive yourself, and move on. Life is too short to be saddled with guilt. Kerri, your words epitomize the emotional exuberance we all need to withstand diabetes. You inspire me. You share your wisdom in ways that make me proud to have you along for the ride on the D-train. That alone, should win you the Diabetes OC Awards, for which you have been nominated. Good Luck and congratulations on your ever-growing success!

Prior to meeting my girlfriend, who is an insulin-pump wearing type 1 diabetic, I didn't have all that much exposure to the disease. I remember my friend's mother having diabetes (though I didn't know at the time that she had type 2, and that there was a difference between type 2 and type 1), and years later a friend of mine dated a girl that was type 1 (who also wore a pump). I may or may have not mentioned her in the past, but she once threw a pumpkin at his car -- not because she was diabetic, but because she was a lunatic. Anyway, the point is that my exposure to, and understanding of, the diabetes was very limited. But now that I am used to being around someone with diabetes, I find myself more tuned in to the statistics, news stories, research, etc. that was always out there, but for some reason never seemed to get picked-up by my signal. I also catch myself quite often almost "looking for it."

Case in point: I was on the subway the other day when a young girl jumped on with a decent sized .mp3 player on her hip. I didn't notice the headphone cord stemming from it right away, so I almost immediately thought that it was an insulin pump. This actually happened a few different times, only with cell phones and other hip-attached items. Another time, I sat next to an older man on the subway and noticed his medic alert bracelet. Call me nosy, but I sort of glanced over at it to see it mentioned him being diabetic. It didn't, but for some reason I sort of just expected that it would. Trying to make sense of where my sudden ultra-awareness is coming from, I can only think that it comes from the most obvious place that it possible could: My Mind. The place where this new knowledge has been stored. Knowing that the number of people diagnosed with diabetes is growing tremendously with each passing year, my mind logically leads me to draw conclusions -- sometimes inaccurate ones, but others being right on the money. Like the time the guy who looked like he was skipping onto a new song on his iPod when, in fact, he was actually programming something into his pump -- bolusing, perhaps. I was right about that one. I'm not sure what me being right about that means, but I consider it a good thing, chiefly because I don't feel as ignorant about the topic as I clearly once was.

Far more funding must go into diabetes research, but before that ever happens, the public at large is going to have to know what it is. Plain and simple. For people with diabetes, and for people who are very close to people with diabetes, the education on the topic comes free (and based on how much it costs to maintain the disease with test strips, insulin, etc., that's about the only thing that seems to come free). As a result, it is understandable how it could then become assumed that just because you know just about everything there is to know about diabetes, everyone else must, too. But, I represent only one example of someone who knew almost nothing -- until I met my girlfriend, anyway. Now, armed with a great deal of knowledge on the topic, I am in the strange position of knowing how little the public actually knows, but at the same time knowing how much some people with diabetes think that the public knows. The truth is, the public does not know much. It's time they learn, don't you think? It may lead to more people staring at each others' iPods on the subway, but we'll just have to live with that.