You've heard about the sports stars and the rock stars who succeed in life despite suffering from diabetes. Now, here's something a little more unusual: a circus acrobat! Dolly Jacobs is Circus Sarasota's "Queen of the Air." She recently gave an interview to the Bradenton Herald about her life in the circus.

Trim and petite like a dancer, Jacobs was diagnosed ten years ago. How did it happen? She had the warning signs most type 1s experience: weight loss and a killer thirst she just could not quench. Her mom already had type 1, so during a routine office visit, Jacobs asked the doc to check her blood sugar too. Whoa. It was 260 - way, way above normal. Jacobs was diagnosed not with type 1, but with a rarer form sometimes dubbed "type 1.5" or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of the Adult (LADA). LADA is basically the same as type 1 diabetes, but develops later in life.

So how does one deal with diabetes when your job involves flying through the air with the greatest of ease? Low blood sugar is easy, says Jacobs. Correct it with a soda or juice. High blood sugar is tougher. She says she can go as high as 500 or 600 just from adrenaline. So, just like any other athlete, she depends on testing several times daily and she wears an insulin pump - but not when she's performing. Eating healthy - lean meats, fruits and veg - are important too, she says.

Click here to read more. Kudos, by the way, to the journalist who wrote this article, Roberta C. Nelson, for taking time out to identify the different forms of diabetes and to explain the dangers associated with high vs. low blood sugar. Great!

For those of you who do not know her yet - consider today your lucky day!! She is Amy Tenderich and her site, Diabetes Mine, is a force to be reckoned with in the diabetes online community. What do I mean? When Amy speaks - anybody who's anybody in the diabetes online community listens.

A few months ago she posted an open letter to Steve Jobs, which was wildly discussed in the blogosphere and media. She invited gadget designers to rise to the challenge of creating sleeker, cooler, consumer-oriented medical devices for people with diabetes. Not only did she get the diabetes blogosphere stirring - but the minds of entrepreneurs storming, as well.

Amy motivated a San Francisco-based company to react in a universal remote control sort of way. Adaptive Path has designed The Charmr, a prototype of a continuous glucose monitor combined with an insulin pump, universally controlled by a device that looks to be no bigger than a USB stick! I strongly encourage everybody to checkout Amy's blog with all the details (including reader feedback) and the YouTube video on the Charmr. Bravo Amy!!

Seriously, you'd have to have a heart of pure stone not to be moved by this YouTube video called "Hope is in a Cure." To a fairly sappy soundtrack (okay, okay I'm not a Mariah Carey fan), we see a photo slideshow unfold, telling the story of one little girl's daily experiences with type 1 diabetes. The power of this piece is in its simplicity: a series of one family's snapshots illustrates perfectly what these brave kids go through and the sacrifices the whole family must make when type 1 enters a child's life. Not to mention the agony the moms and dads go through. That is something I can only imagine - and hope I never have to experience myself.

There's a heartbreaker of a shot in here of the little girl asleep, hands tucked daintily and securely under her pillow, asleep and in one sense relaxed, yet on guard against the next skin prick she knows will eventually come.

"Hope is in a Cure" was posted by Lisa of Londonderry, New Hampshire. I don't know who made it. Check it out today. Better yet, send the link to a few people you know. Too few people understand what "type 1 families" live with day-to-day. Let people know that diabetes never takes a vacation and never sleeps. And let them know the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation needs our support - you can start by supporting the upcoming Walk to Cure Diabetes.

The police came knocking at the home of Parlier, California, resident Terry Hillblom (59) in April 2006. They were there to deal with a dispute between Hollblom's daughter and her son, but Hillblom got involved and ended up scuffling with a sheriff's deputy, and getting arrested. Hillblom, who has diabetes and wears an insulin pump, says his pump's needle was torn out during the incident. Worse still, he claims the deputy involved would not let him reinsert it before taking him into custody. He says when he told the deputy he needed to fix the pump, the officer said "I don't care." Hillblom was later allowed to reattach the pump but says by then his blood sugar was more than twice its normal level.

Hillblom's not taking this lying down though - last week he filed a lawsuit over the incident. The deputy, Hillblom says, not only damaged his pump connection, but also entered the home without permission or a warrant, and Hillblom wants damages. The Fresno Bee reports that Hillblom is a prominent local resident, former attorney, and vice president of a medical-related non-profit.

As for the deputy involved, he maintains Hillblom caused his own injuries by resisting arrest. Says Hillblom's lawyer, however, "What I know from prior cases is that officers sometimes lose their temper and feel civilians fail the attitude test and they sometimes misuse their power."

What is most disturbing about this case? It's not the fact that the needle was torn out, but the fact that Hillblom was not allowed to fix it immediately. Like the incident involving Doug "Mr. Universe" Burns, this seems like yet another example of police ignorance causing harm to diabetics. Police must be better informed about diabetes, particularly the seriousness of disconnecting person from pump!

Certain models of the Medtronic Paradigm insulin pump can be irrevocably damaged by exposure to MRI radiation. As a result - and based on information supplied voluntarily by Medtronic - the US Food and Drug Administration has declared a Class II recall for the affected pump models. MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging) can cause the pump to malfunction and deliver a dangerously high dosage of insulin to the user.

Bottom line is that there's nothing defective about these pumps in terms of normal usage. You need only be concerned if you own one of the affected models and if your pump was exposed to MRI magnetic waves. Medtronic says the pumps that are affected should sound an alarm to warn users, but it is feared that people might override such alarms and continue using the devices, unaware that permanent damage has been done.

Owners of the affected models should have received a letter in the mail from Medtronic explaining the recall. If you use a Medtronic pump and have had an MRI, swing over to the FDA's website. There you can read the feds' statement (complete with typo misspelling "paradigm"!) on the problem and confirm whether or not yours is one of the problem pumps. This article in Diabetes Health is also useful. Strangely, I found the Medtronic website devoid of helpful info on the subject, but eventually tracked down a pdf of the letter sent to customers on the company's Canadian website.

Out of the nearly three million people in the United States with type 1 diabetes, less than 300,000 are utilizing an insulin pump. That's roughly 10%.

Diabetes Health wants to know why more type 1 diabetics are not on the insulin pump. They are currently collecting data via an on-line survey. Please give them your feedback. Diabetes Health promises a forthcoming article summarizing attitudes and general feedback garnered on the subject.

My older brother was one of those 300,000 insulin pumpers. But he has returned to needles. Watch for future post where he will explain how the pump gave him the best blood sugar control of his life, but a frightening side effect prompted him to set aside the pump forever.

Here are some fun travel facts about diabetes: an average Boeing 737 carries nearly 10 passengers who have diabetes. For every five cars on the road, there is one person with diabetes present. Whether you're going on a weekend getaway or a once-in-a-lifetime excursion across Europe, if you have diabetes, careful preparation is an essential component of getting ready for your trip.

Accu-check has put together a free resource guide for people with diabetes to help them travel with ease and confidence. It offers some tips, lists and suggestions to help them prepare for the journey and enjoy the ride, worry-free. The diabetes travel kit includes: a brochure detailing tips like proper handling of test supplies and medications, traveling across time zones, and special circumstances like traveling with an insulin pump. The kit also includes a Doctor's Declaration/medical certificate form that lists the physician's contact information and approves the user to be carrying diabetes supplies (helpful when going through airport security, border crossings and customs). And probably among the most important and least considered - the kit provides a foreign language phrase book, which translates some key phrases for people with diabetes into French, German, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.

Whether your travels take you down the road, or across the globe - knowing that you've covered all bases before you depart will help you keep your mind on your business or your pleasure. Your diabetes is something you can pack for as easily as your weekly attire, thanks to Accu-check for the helping hand!!

Medtronic, one of the largest manufacturers of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors, issued a call to action request for insurance companies. The need for greater coverage on continuous glucose monitors is as important (and as necessary) as the rising demand for insulin pumps.

The president of Medtronic's diabetes division, Chris O'Connell, urged the insurance companies to consider the vast growth of the company - which was measured as considerably faster than the industry average, with sales climbing 24% in the last quarter. The device was approved for adult patients last year and U.S. regulators approved an expanded edition for use in children. The continuous glucose monitor alerts diabetics to dangerous spikes or dips in their blood sugar levels via wire-like sensors inserted under the skin that measure glucose levels and transmit the data wirelessly to a pager-size receiver.

The company plans to conduct clinical studies to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of the technology. Presumably, after two to three years of clinical trials, the evidence will be conclusive enough for insurance companies to consent to providing greater coverage for this continuous glucose monitoring.

At the request of the Regulatory Affairs Manager at Generex, I am posting the following to defend the accuracy of the packaging and the claim of the product. The initial blog addressed a product called Glucose RapidSpray. The reader feedback, as well as the regulatory affairs response, is listed below. In no way, does Generex imply this product is to be used to treat hypoglycemia.

The comment to the original post stated:

The nutritional label on the product (available as a PDF on their web site) says the product has 188mg of carbs (or .188g) per serving (5 sprays). A typical glucose tablet has 4g... that's about 21x more carbs in a single glucose tablet than in 5 sprays of RapidSpray. Considering you typically use at least 15g of carbs to treat hypoglycemia, you would need around 80 sprays to get 15g of carbs into your system! When you take into account the amount of sprays you need, the calorie count isn't very much different from glucose tablets.

Read the label carefully, and be very careful using this!

The response from the Manager of Generex Regulatory Affairs states:

The product, Glucose RapidSpray™, is to be taken at the first sign of needing additional glucose in the diet, either between meals, during exercise, and/or before bedtime. It is not intended to take people out of full hypoglycemic states that normally a full tube of glucose gel or a full dose of Glucose tablets would be needed for. Glucose RapidSpray™ product is meant to be a complement to meals in order to help with glucose levels. As such, a direct correlation of carbs associated with Glucose RapidSpray™ and typical glucose tablets or gel is not warranted based on the intended use of the product. If usage of the product is maintained by taking Glucose RapidSpray™ at the first sign of needing additional glucose, then the Nutritional Facts stated on the package labeling is adequate for determining caloric intake (be it 5 sprays, 10 sprays, 15 sprays or whatever is taken to address the situation).

I consider the proactive response of Generex a good sign of how a company is run. Without needing to do so, Generex went above and beyond the call to address an open forum about the efficacy and accuracy of the product. This is the kind of interaction that convinces me a company cares! Good job, Generex! Lest I NOT hold my breath for Eli Lilly to return my call about Super Insulin. Novo Nordisk was far more receptive to address my interests, as a diabetic. Stay tuned for my follow-up on the Eli Lilly vs. Novo Nordisk – Who Love You, Baby!?!

An "incredible story of dedication and perseverance" is how dLife pitches its upcoming story on US Army Sergeant First Class Mark Thompson (pictured at right). It does sound like an awesome story and definitely worth a look. Says dLife, Thompson, who is diabetic, ended up in battle in Iraq and trying to manage his diabetes even when under fire. Talk about your tough challenges. Thompson was diagnosed with diabetes after becoming a combat arms commander and he didn't want to give all that up because of the disease. No, sir. He continued to serve and ended up joining his comrades in Iraq.

In its press release, dLife says that Thompson was told he could never be deployed to Iraq. Seems he wrangled it anyway. He found the idea of quitting "unacceptable." Says Thompson, "diabetes was not going to stop me from being who I wanted to be." He came up with a plan for managing his diabetes in the field, and successfully plugged that plan to his superiors. The caveat: that he could serve under strict guidelines and could be sent home at any moment if necessary. The first problem was discovered immediately: the more than fifty pounds of gear Thompson has to lug around crushed his automatic insulin pump. D'oh! Worse, he knew it would take over a month for a new one to arrive by mail. Even bigger d'oh! Left with no other choice, Thompson resorted to doing things the old fashioned way, with near-constant blood tests and administering up to fourteen insulin shots a day.

The dLife story on Thompson promises to dish more amazing details and has a happy ending: he served his entire year in Iraq and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroic or meritorious achievement in service. Says dLife creator Howard Steinberg, "I have a new hero. Plain and simply put, the story of Army Sergeant Mark Thompson is one of the most inspirational stories I have ever heard. This was not only a good story for the dLifeTV, it was an honor to present." Wow.

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.

Altea Therapeutics is working on the next generation of insulin delivery in the form of an insulin patch. Altea is developing, both 12 and 24-hour, patches to provide controlled, continuous delivery of basal insulin in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. This will allow uninterrupted, measured delivery of insulin through the skin, by way of an adhesive sticker no larger than a few centimeters. For those already diagnosed with diabetes, this could be the band aid to quell their fear of needles, as well as effectively sticking to an insulin regimen. For those in limbo, diagnosed as pre-diabetes, this may be the answer your body needs to supplement your insulin reserves.

The PassPort^TM System is comprised of a single-use disposable PassPort^TM Patch and a re-useable handheld applicator. The patch is made of a metallic grid containing powder insulin. The handheld applicator releases a single pulse of electrical energy that converts into thermal energy, painlessly fastening the grid to the skin surface. The electronic pulse also creates porous channels to deliver the insulin through the skin. No injections, application in milliseconds, and continuous basal delivery of insulin throughout the day.

This breakthrough technology is about freedom, convenience and ultimately better control. The PassPort^TM System replaces injections thereby enhancing compliance in patients. This directly correlates to better diabetes control. Upon FDA approval, I can only hope this dandy contraption is warmly welcomed into your doctor's office. As every doctor continues searching for the Holy Grail of patient compliance, tell him to check this out. Talk about patching things up!

An artificial pancreas is a machine with a real-time glucose sensor and an insulin delivery system. This will enable a diabetic to maintain normal glucose and HbA1c levels by automatically providing the right amount of insulin at the right time, just as the pancreas does in people without the disease.

According to Dr. Aaron Kowalski, Director of Strategic Research Projects for JDRF, "When a person has type 1 diabetes, maintaining an acceptable blood sugar level is a constant struggle. Tight control is very difficult for most, and as a result diabetes patients run the risk of developing severe and even deadly complications. The artificial pancreas will revolutionize diabetes care because it carries the potential of eliminating these complications and easing the tremendous burden of diabetes."

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation launched the JDRF Artificial Pancreas Project in late 2005 to expedite the availability of this rapidly emerging technology for people with type 1 diabetes. Through research and advocacy, the JDRF project aims to speed regulatory approval, health insurance coverage, and clinician adoption of promising new artificial pancreas technologies.

Is anybody else excited about this? It won't be long before I can eighty-six the nuisance of checking my blood sugars and leave it up to the algorithms of a little robot software guy, behind the scenes. Okay, not exactly-but still, it would be awesome!

Blood sugar testing is part of the daily grind when it comes to diabetes management. Albeit important, it is also the main frustration of my diabetic control. Yes, it only takes all of thirty seconds, start to finish. But I tend to think, each and every time, that's thirty seconds I'll never get back. And then I do the mental math for recreational torture: 4 tests a day, 30 seconds each, 365 days a year, 20 years...you get the idea. I'd like to review two options that might offer some remedy from the inconvenience of glucose testing: the glucowatch, and the artificial pancreas.

The glucowatch is intended for detecting trends and tracking patterns in glucose levels in adults and children with diabetes. It's available by prescription, only. The site disclaims, The G2 Biographer is intended to supplement, not replace, conventional blood glucose monitoring. Several years ago I journeyed west into NYC to guinea pig myself in the clinical testing of the watch. Does anybody use this thing?

The artificial pancreas is a man-made organ that has three parts, all of which have to work perfectly in synch: a sensor that continually monitors blood or tissue sugar levels, an insulin infusion pump, and a computer algorithm that controls the delivery of insulin minute by minute based on measured blood sugar. The brilliance of artificial intelligence might be our remedy while we patiently await the cure.

If anybody knows of other options to mitigate the annoyance of blood glucose testing-blog it back!

I was somewhat surprised to see an article on the web about a college-age girl who stopped wearing her insulin pump and tried going back to the old-fashioned insulin shots. I'm surprised because the pumps seem to be the gadget for diabetics and I have assumed young college-age kids would go for the latest technology over syringes every time. "It was rough at first," says Rachel Beckner (19) of Richmond, Virginia. However, she persevered for a year without it because she was unhappy with the way the insulin pump looked. I guess she felt self-conscious about it. A year later, though, Beckner has returned to the pump. She admits her blood sugar levels were not as stable on shots as they had been with the pump. It was also a question of convenience versus aesthetics: ultimately, convenience won out!

Beckner has had diabetes since age seven. The article in which I read her story also touches on the fact that she is just one of thousands of teenagers heading off to college who also have to deal with chronic medical conditions. For the first time in their lives, away from their parents, they have to handle the responsibility of managing conditions like diabetes alone. "My parents aren't there to monitor what I eat, or ask me if I've checked my blood sugar and done my shot, and I really have to be responsible about that," says Beckner. "It was harder in the beginning," she admits, but also says "I learned that I could take care of myself on my own, and I could deal with my diabetes and not have to rely on [my parents] for everything."