Dexcom SHARE Unboxing
Arden's Dexcom SHARE arrived today, here are my obligatory unboxing photos.
The unit feels well built, it's a bit heavier than I expected and the slot where the receiver slides into the cradle is nicely rubberized. I'll be getting it set up later today for tonight's maiden voyage. Look for my review soon.
Disclosure: Arden received this SHARE from Dexcom as a gift. The note that announced the gift read...
"I wanted to let you know that you have been selected to receive a complimentary Dexcom SHARE cradle and system. Before launching this product, we asked our employees to nominate people in the diabetes community that went above and beyond to educate, support, nurture, or simply be a firm foundation for others with diabetes, and I nominated Arden and yourself."
I had no idea that Dexcom was gifting SHARES or that we were being considered, I found out just as the news of the SHARE being FDA approved hit the Internet - It was a lovely surprise. Had I never been contacted, I would have bought one immediately with our own funds. Dexcom did not ask me to provide a review or to speak favorably of the device, you can be sure that the review I will post will be reflective of my complete and unfiltered feelings and impressions and nothing else - Arden's Day and the diabetes community at large mean much more to me than $299. I am obliged to fill out a "very short survey after 30 days of use", which I will gladly do.
Children who have had enterovirus infection are around 50 percent more likely to have type 1 diabetes
Arden had the Coxsackievirus prior to her type I diagnosis...
from science daily.com
A new study published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) shows that children who have been infected with enterovirus are 48% more likely to have developed type 1 diabetes. The study is by Dr Tsai Chung-Li, China Medical University, Taiwan, and colleagues.
"Type 1 diabetes is considered to be caused by complex interaction between genetic susceptibility, the immune system, and environmental factors," say the authors. "Though the cue for genetic predisposition has been elucidated, evidence also points to involvement of enterovirus (EV) infection, including viruses such as poliovirus, Coxsackievirus A, Coxsackievirus B, and echovirus."
To investigate the link between EV infection and subsequent type 1 diabetes, the researchers used nationwide population-based data from Taiwan's national health insurance system. They looked at type 1 diabetes incidence in children aged up to 18 years with or without diagnosis of EV infection during 2000-2008.
Overall incidence of type 1 diabetes was higher in the EV-infected children than in the non-EV infected group (5.73 vs. 3.89 per 100,000 people per year, showing a 48% increased incidence rate in EV-infected versus non-EV-infected children). Hazard ratios of type 1 diabetes increased with age at diagnosis of EV infection, with a more than doubling of the risk of type 1 diabetes (2.18 times increased risk) for children aged over 10 years at entry. No relationship of allergic rhinitis or bronchial asthma to type 1 diabetes was found.
The authors point out that despite countries such as Finland and Sweden having the highest incidence of type 1 diabetes worldwide, they are thought to have low background rates of enterovirus infection, suggesting that genetic factors are a large component of the high type 1 diabetes rates in those countries. But they add: "Regions such as Africa, Asia, South America have a low but increasing incidence of type 1 diabetes and high prevalence of enterovirus infection; environmental factors like enterovirus infection may play a vital role in increasing incidence in these regions."
They add: "Taiwan has relatively low type 1 diabetes incidence; we believe that the marked escalation of the said incidence in recent decades can be largely attributed to the highly endemic spread of enterovirus infection in Taiwanese children, given that there has been little gene flow and genetic drift in such a short period."
They conclude: "This nationwide retrospective cohort study found a positive correlation of type 1 diabetes with EV infection. Our results suggest that preventive strategies, such as an effective vaccine against EV infection, may lessen the incidence of type 1 diabetes in Taiwan."
The journal article referenced can be downloaded as a PDF from Diabetologia here
FDA Approves Dexcom SHARE
I just received a note from Dexcom letting me know that their long-awaited SHARE device has been approved by the FDA!
The note went on to say that Arden was nominated by a Dexcom employee to receive the device as a gift which was an absolutely wonderful surprise that, even though I've never once accepted anything free in the eight years that I've written this blog, I am happy to accept. After reading the email I immediately watched this quick video about the device and had a rather unexpected response.
I was smiling as the video played, excited to try SHARE and happy that the FDA approved the device when out of no where the voice on the video said, "Telling parents where their glucose levels are... allowing a good night's sleep". I burst into tears. I am so incredibly tired from eight years of diabetes and broken sleep that the thought of overnight relief caused me fall apart for a moment. The mere idea that I won't have to get out of bed and walk across our house to check Arden's CGM is elating. From what the video indicated the SHARE does much more but at the moment, I'm just happy be able to stay in bed. The announcement from Dexcom isn't all good news as I am left with an amazing but now unless skill. You see, I can make turns in the dark without bumping into walls by using the indicator lights on our smoke detectors as my guide. Do you have any idea how long it took me to become proficient at that?
I'll be posting an in-depth review for you as soon as possible (Dexcom did not ask me to do that, actually the only thing that I was asked to do in exchange for receiving a SHARE is complete a short survey after using the device for 30 days). My upcoming review will include a detail disclosure.
In the meantime please join me in celebrating our new lives full of unbroken sleep and unstubbed toes. I can't wait to unburden myself from the anxiety of wondering if those three beeps mean a falling BG or just a fantastically stable number that is hovering a few points below Arden's indicator threshold.
The SHARE costs $299. You can find more information, see an overview, read frequently asked questions and browse all of the details about the SHARE on Dexcom's site –
Today is good day... I'm going to go watch that video again!
10/23/14: Arden's SHARE arrived today - see the unboxing pics here!
Take the DOC Asks the FDA survey
from diaTribe.org:
Please help us tell the FDA what truly matters to patients at www.diaTribe.org/survey - this takes five minutes and will help immensely. All the feedback will help inform a November 3 patient-led meeting with FDA drug/device leadership.
from diaTribe.org:
Here's the background - On November 3, the FDA will host an unprecedented discussion between the diabetes community and senior agency leadership (both drugs and devices). The event will be live webcast from 1 - 4 pm Eastern time, and will include a panel of patients (T1 and T2), as well as representatives from JDRF, American Diabetes Association, and diaTribe. As a community, our job is to present the numerous challenges we as patients face each day, and we need as many opinions as possible to be a part of this discussion! With JDRF, ADA, and dQ&A input, we have created a survey posted at www.diaTribe.org/survey. We are asking all people with diabetes to take the survey (~5 minutes) and share thoughts on what's important when it comes to living with diabetes. This feedback will go directly to FDA and help influence the conversation on November 3. The registration info for the webcast will be posted soon.
It's Diabetes Cure Season
I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing the first time that I read about promising research to cure type I diabetes. My daughter Arden was two years old, it was early fall, just a few months after her type I diabetes diagnosis and my emotions were volatile.
I read the article with precision focus, it promised that researchers had cured type I diabetes in lab mice and told of the goal to begin human trials as soon as they could secure funding – after all, research is expensive.
I woke my wife and told her about this amazing news saying, "Arden is only going to have diabetes for a few years, they cured it in mice". I was crying uncontrollably.
That moment happened over eight years ago and since then countless lucky mice have been cured but it was only recently that I came to understand why we see so much hopeful, yet ultimately crushing news articles about diabetes cures in the fall.
It's diabetes cure season. Diabetes awareness month is November and the media; television news, newspapers and online sources pay close attention to matching their stories with the calendar, because it's what works and how things have always been done. Let me explain...
Have you ever seen me on television, heard me on the radio or read something about me that was focused on parenting and mentions my book, Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad? If you have, did you happen to notice that all of those appearances happened in early summer, you know, around Father's Day.
Maybe you read my piece about head injuries as they relate to football, the one that ran on Huffington Post three days before the Superbowl?
Producers need content and they want that content to be relevant to the calendar. People need exposer and they (me included) take it where they can get it. So whether it's a writer trying to let people know about their parenting memoir, or a researcher wanting to get wide exposer for their work so that they can attract more research dollars – if you pay close attention to the calendar, you'll see that the "news" you are being given is carefully scheduled and targeted to your emotions and the events that are about to happen in the world. The news is marketed to you to elicit clicks, shares and word of mouth.
Much of the diabetes cure research that we will hear about in the coming weeks is very promising and I am one-hundred million percent behind all of it. Please just keep in mind that is was also very promising research six months ago, but now is when you are going to read the big news, on every media outlet – all from reputable institutions.
Don't misunderstand, one of these researchers is going to figure it out and I hope that it happens soon and perhaps even is one of the methods that is being bandied about today. But when I woke up this morning to see all of you on social media feeling like I did eight years ago, it broke my heart to remember how I felt after the moment had passed and I realized that the promising lab mouse cure wasn't going to take away Arden's type I diabetes – at least not any time soon. I didn't decide to write this post until I opened up my text messages and saw that my brother also read today's cure "news" and asked me if the article was legitimate.
The answer that I owe my brother but cant bring myself to send him... that news article is legitimate but it isn't going to cure Arden now. I love you for wanting that for her and I am so sorry that these thoughts are part of your day. I wanted you and everyone reading this to understand how these news cycles work because I know how shattering it is when they turn from Diabetes Cure Found! to Thanksgiving Treats That You Can Make at Home.
Wonderful research that will one day cure type I diabetes is going on all over the world and there are a ton of good reasons to be hopeful about them, but these articles aren't going to be how we find out that a cure has been found. On the day that happens, the world will celebrate the end of diabetes with a grand spectacle, no one will have to wonder if it is legitimate.
You are all, each and every one of you, in my thoughts today.