Do you follow MedScape -- the clinician and healthcare-professional-focused sister site of WebMD?  Well, check out the author interview with myself and Dr. Jackson in the "Diabetes & Endocrinology" section, published yesterday. (Registration required, but it's free)

It's presented as the "Expert Interview" on our new book, "Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes" -- which was a lot of fun, since we did the interview in tandem, with Dr. J as the medical expert and myself as the expert on all the crap we go through living with this volatile disease.

A favorite snippet from Dr. Jackson:
"If you were running an insurance company and wanted to insure people with diabetes, and were trying to figure out their risk, these are the 5 numbers you'd want to know. And the numbers aren't so complicated that people can't understand them."

See why these numbers are so important? 

He also says:
"I'm involved in outreach programs at the Joslin Center, and we go into communities and do diabetes programs with free testing, so we get people who are interested in their diabetes. We ask, 'Have you heard of an A1C? Have you had an A1C test?' And only about 10% of people are what we call 'A1C aware.' "

"Blood pressure is a little better. Microalbumin -- hardly anyone has heard of it. People have had eye examinations, but they're not sure about the results... One of the fundamental points in our book is that first you have to find out where you are before you can get to where you're going."

Right. So get the book. Get the tests. Figure out where you're going. I hope the message that came across at MedScape was the urgency of educating patients about these tests, and motivating them to take control. 

Score!!  Deb Manzella, a respected NY-based RN who writes for the New York Times Company's About.com/diabetes, has just come out giving Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes perfect marks.  Here's what she had to say:

"Cons? There are no cons. It's the perfect diabetes reference handbook."

This after she offers a meaty list of Pros for the book:

• Gives a comprehensive gameplan for managing the five most important areas of diabetes management
• Outlines the tests you need and tells you why they're important
• Gives you the science behind the numbers in easy to understand language
• Gives you the tools to bring your test results into the range you need.
• Gives additional advice about nutrition, exercise, medications, and much, much more.

"...This book is a terrific resource for diabetes management. After you learn the five most important tests, the book gives you the tools you need to keep your test results as normal as possible. Exercise, nutrition, medications, glucometers and other equipment all influence what your own personal test results will be.

"Beyond the basics, Dr. Jackson and Ms. Tenderich also address coping issues, healthcare basics, and resources to turn to for support and more information.

"Also, charts and diary pages to help you keep track of your results and your progress. This book stresses that knowing your numbers and working to improve them is the road to a complication-free life, and it gives you the tools to achieve it, too."

Read the FULL REVIEW here.

We're especially pleased with Deb's response knowing that she has extensive experience helping patients with diabetes, from teaching the newly diagnosed, to providing continuing care for diabetic patients in the hospital.  She's a strong advocate for "Knowledge Is Power" -- a lady after our own hearts...

Wow, more high praise from the ultimate source: a very knowledgeable and articulate patient.  Allie Beatty, who reports on all things diabetes over at TheDiabetesBlog.com and lives with Type 1 herself, has published a glowing review of "Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes."  Here's what she has to say:

"The book is a priceless addition to any diabetic library. It begins by explaining the five tests that are the cornerstones for monitoring your overall health with diabetes. These tests are: A1c, blood pressure, lipids, microalbumin, and an annual eye exam. You may think you know it all because you've been there, done that. But do you really know - what it tests, why it's done, and what your numbers should look like....?"

"I was impressed beyond my expectations... I was looking for a good guidebook on diabetes care. No ma'am. This book is AWESOME!"

See the full review HERE.  Thank you kindly, Allie and the Weblogs, Inc., team. 

        *        *        *

In addition, see our latest Virtual Book Tour appearances at these fine blogs:

Diabetes Notes - Rob Rummel-Hudson says "I’m not saying that your very SURVIVAL depends on you going and purchasing Amy’s book just as soon as you finish reading this. But really, why take the chance?" (~grin~)

GruntDoc - Dr. Robert Allen kindly notes, "If it at all interests you, please get a copy!"

Our Virtual Book Tour for the Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes Book has begun!

Have a look at our first stop over at Healthy Concerns.com.  Elisa Camahort reports on "health care from the patient's point of view."  She features an interview with Dr. Jackson on a variety of topics, including:

* Don't patients know the symptoms of pre-diabetes?
* Do insurers cover the basic health risk tests?
and
* What about vegetarian and vegan diets and diabetes?

Check it out!

Next stop is at the interesting and highly influential Health Care Blog by Matthew Holt. This expert on the in's and out's of the health care system was kind enough to invite me to shed some light on diabetes care and why our book represents a turning point.

It's a do-it-yourself (DIY) disease, after all. 

Commenters have some interesting things to say:

"Physician-centered chronic disease care works poorly."  Yup.

"... the actual quality measures right now mean very little in regards to the actual day-to-day care of a chronic disease. Just a big disconnect."  Agreed!

"One thing this book won't do is change the junk food crap and industrial food crap causing diabetes."  Weeelll...

I responded to that last one by saying we actually do include a big, fat chapter on dealing with food (pun sort-of intended).  It's harder, of course, when people have grown up with unhealthy eating habits and are used to overindulging.  But we're working to chip away at this epidemic with some very practical advice.

Also see my latest column on dLife.com: "Good Health by the Numbers: A DIY Approach."  This pretty well sums it up.  Stay tuned for more Virtual Book Tour. 
 

“What a great book!  It helps you not only understand your five most essential health factors, but also guides you in setting doable action plans.  You’ll find very serious topics – including the complications of diabetes – addressed in a fresh, upbeat (and even humorous) style.  Dr. Jackson, a seasoned Joslin endocrinologist and researcher, and Amy Tenderich, a journalist who has type 1 diabetes, make a perfect team blending academics and real-world diabetes experience.  They give readers confidence and hope that a long and healthy life with diabetes is possible.  This book can be a huge help for anyone with diabetes!”

— Melinda D. Maryniuk, Certified Diabetes Educator, Joslin Diabetes Center Boston, named American Diabetes Association Outstanding Educator of the year for 2005

"Diabetes often makes people feel frightened and overwhelmed, but a good understanding of modern management and

the goals of treatment are now having major positive impact on quality of life and health outcomes.  In the end, the informed patient makes this happen.  Richard Jackson and Amy Tenderich have really hit the bull’s eye by focusing on the key things that help people gain control over their diabetes.  I expect that many people will find this sensible, easy-to-read new book enormously helpful."

-- Dr. Gordon Weir, former editor of Diabetes, former Medical Director of the Joslin Clinic, and chaired professor at Harvard University. 

Last week, Forbes reported that a good half of the estimated 21 million adult Americans with diabetes now rate themselves as having only "fair" or "poor" health, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

"People with diabetes are three times more likely than others to say their health is flagging," the CDC report found.  Which means, of course, that a great number of people in this country are headed toward a future of diabetes-related complications, including blindness, kidney failure, cardiovascular disease, and lower extremity amputation.  Ouch!!

Why should this be the case in a World Power nation like the USA?  Poor quality and in many cases poor availability of health care are certainly issues.  And perhaps more importantly, the fact that our health care system is focused on the treatment end, rather than prevention.  HMOs stand more to gain from patients once they've developed kidney disease or retnal damage than they do from educational programs to prevent these problems.  Crazy!

This brings me to why we wrote this book.  Dr. Jackson, in his decades of patient interaction at the legendary Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, has seen thousands of patients struggling to get a handle on their health with diabetes. He has a lot of practical advice for them, starting with determining and understanding their own biggest health risks -- a simple matter of taking 5 standard lab tests.

Trouble is, many of the patients Dr. Jackson sees have had diabetes for years and have already developed complications by the time they've either discovered Joslin's program, or gathered the motivation to go there.  The damage to their bodies is already done.

How much better off these people would've been if they'd just had some very basic health instruction early on!  Why not package this golden preventative advice into a book that will serve as a hands-on guide?

Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes helps you chart and understand the 5 most important values (your personal “Essential Health Factors”) for living a long and healthy life with diabetes. That makes them pretty darn important!  They are:

·        Hemoglobin A1c—a measure of the average amount of glucose in your blood over the last several months

·        Blood Pressure—a quick, painless armband test to determine the force of blood flow through your body

·        Lipid Profile—a group of blood tests measuring your cholesterol and triglycerides (another type of fat), which is used to determine your risk of heart attack or stroke

·        Microalbumin—a urine test that is an early indicator of kidney damage

·        Eye Exam—a yearly exam that consists of dilating your pupil, allowing the doctor to see the back of your eye

Now, be honest.  If you have diabetes, or are newly diagnosed, when was the last time you had these tests? Do you know the result numbers?  Do you know what they mean?  One thing you can be sure of: If everyone tracked and acted on these values regularly, those depressing CDC results -- as reported by Forbes -- would look a lot rosier today.

Stay tuned for more tidbits from the book. 

 

So you all know we've been working on a "mystery book" for a while.  Well, it's time for the wrapper to come off! Even though the publication date is still a few months off.

I've been privileged to co-author this book with Dr. Richard Jackson of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.  We're calling it the "first-ever, hands-on guide to achieving a long and healthy life with diabetes." It actually tells people in plain language what they need to do to get a handle on their own personal key health risks. 

In essence, this book is meant to address the great number of people with Type 2 diabetes who might not have access to the best information or care.  But this do-it-yourself guide can be useful for all of us, who often neglect to get our test results regularly or do anything about the numbers even when we know them.  The book also includes very useful chapters (in my no-BS style) on exercise, food, traveling with diabetes, how to scour the Internet, foot and mouth care, complementary and alternative medicine, the newest diabetes devices and more.

Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes will appear in book stores in January 2007.

Click here to reserve your copy now.

Five Essential Health Factors You Can

Master to Enjoy a Long and Healthy Life

From our initial book brochure:

The first-ever guide to 5 crucial tests that everyone living with diabetes needs to have and monitor on a regular basis—by an MD at Joslin and Harvard Medical School and a diabetes patient-expert.

Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard University professor Dr. Richard Jackson and diabetes patient-expert and blogger/journalist Amy Tenderich walk readers through how to:

    * understand each of these factors
    * determine which are the most important for you to focus on (based on your family history and other risk factors)
    * create a personalized treatment plan for optimum blood-glucose control, heart health, and general diabetes management and well-being.

This is a path-breaking book that will be required reading for every single person with diabetes aspiring to manage his or her condition as successfully and fully as possible.

Five tests are the cornerstones for monitoring one’s diabetes and developing a daily management plan—yet few of the more than 21 million people in the US living with diabetes know their results on all five of these. In April 2006 USA Today reported that just under 42% of adults with diabetes had had these tests.

The five factors are:

    * A1c
    * Blood pressure
    * Lipids (HDL, LDL, triglycerides)
    * Microalbumin
    * Yearly eye exam

“Often people focus on the stuff they feel guilty about (usually weight or food), when that may not even be their most critical health issue.

“What people don’t usually do is get the hard facts on where they stand in terms of their own diabetes health risks. They either haven’t had the five essential diabetes health tests, or they have no idea what the results are or what they might mean. But these five tests — your A1c, blood pressure, lipids, microalbumin and eye exam — provide the essential information you need to understand and manage your own health with diabetes.”                     — from the Preface

Richard Jackson, MD, is Acting Head of the Section on Immunology and Immunogenetics at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Director of the Hood Center for the Prevention of Childhood Diabetes at Joslin, Senior Physician at the Center and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is a former Mary K. Iacocca Fellow and recipient of the Cookie Pierce Research Award from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He lives in Brookline, MA.

Amy Tenderich, a professional journalist with an MA in communication studies, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in May 2003.  Almost instantly, she began to tell it like it is on her own diabetes blog (www.DiabetesMine.com), for which she recently received the LillyforLife Achievement Award™ for diabetes journalism. Tenderich now also brings her unique observations on the challenges of living with diabetes to dLife in a monthly column, and does double-duty as a full-time mom. She and her family live just south of  San Francisco.