march madness!

even though my team's out of the tournament, the madness continues. head on over to diabetes mine to check out my sunday funny!

diabetes alert day!

hey y'all. it's diabetes alert day. what's that you ask? it's easy. it's a day to bring awareness to type 2 diabetes ... and helps you non-diabetic folks find out if you may have or are at risk for developing type 2. there's a simple diabetes risk test to take.

here's what the american diabetes association tells us:

The Diabetes Risk Test asks users to answer simple questions about weight, age, family history and other potential risk factors for prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Preventive tips are provided for everyone who takes the test, including encouraging those at high risk to talk with their health care provider. For every test taken, Boar’s Head Brand® - a leading provider of premium delicatessen products - will donate $5 to the American Diabetes Association starting March 25 through April 25, 2014, up to $50,000.

you guys. let's recap. BOAR'S HEAD WILL DONATE $5 TO ADA FOR EVERY TEST TAKEN. what are you waiting for? even if you are the healthiest person in the world and have no family history of diabetes, TAKE THE TEST. help reach that $50,000 total!

last year on alert day, more than 39,000 people took the risk test ... during the month of march, more than 148,000 took it and 37 percent of them were at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes. 

There are an estimated 79 million, or one in three American adults, who have prediabetes. Those with prediabetes have blood glucose (sugar) higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Early intervention via lifestyle changes such as weight loss and increased physical activity can help delay or prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. 

enough reading here. go take the test and educate yourself!

jdrf mentor program

a few months ago, i completed training for the jdrf mentor program. do you have this program in your city? it's relatively new here - or at least, new to me.

JDRF can connect you with another family or adult facing life circumstances similar to yours. For example, as an adult you may be dealing with workplace issues, planning to have children, have financial/insurance concerns, and more. A family, on the other hand, may be facing a new diagnosis, dealing with sending a child to school or college for the first time, or trying to handle an increasingly independent teenager. Our family and adult mentors are volunteers who can share their personal experiences, answer non-medical questions, and most importantly, lend valuable, specialized support when you need it most.

i think it's such a great idea that you could be connected with someone who is going through a situation you may have gone through in the past and can help them and be there to let them share their frustrations or successes. i was excited to sign up and learn more.

recently, i was contacted with information about someone who i might be a match for. of course, i will not be sharing any specific or personal information about whoever i may be matched with for their privacy, but i'm looking forward to meeting other people that are a part of our diabetes community!

are any of you jdrf mentors?

time change = lancet change

there's a running joke (feels like a joke to me ... only because i don't abide by it) around the diabetes community that daylight savings time is the time to change out your lancet. pretty much because plenty of us don't change them as often as you're 'supposed' to. i do change mine more often than every time change, but not daily.

source

our spring forward is approaching (this saturday! mark your calendar! i had no idea until i saw it on the news yesterday. time flies...). this morning when i was checking my blood sugar, i thought about the lancet change because my usual depth level wasn't drawing any blood. is the needle dull? am i THAT cold? is my skin thicker?

i used to set my depth to 3. (the depth is how far the needle shoots in your skin to draw blood.) some days, level 3 works ... some days, it doesn't. today, 4 worked.

does anyone else have to adjust their depth? do you have to use a higher number over time?

good thing my fingers are numb to the pricks.