Last year, I had such a great time at the TCOYD ONE Conference,
that I signed up for the 2018 event.
Kudos to the amazing people at Taking Control of Your Diabetes (TCOYD),
who outdid themselves again. Type 1
diabetes camp for adults? Sign me up! The conference was held at Paradise Point
Resort in San Diego—a great location. Also,
many thanks to the sponsors—as a result of conversations with Tandem and Dexcom
reps and the approval of my awesome endo, I have the Tandem tSlim + Dexcom G6
(and the Basal IQ, which is the predictive low glucose suspend) on the
way. I also was able to purchase an
excellent travel bag for all of my diabetes supplies, courtesy of Eu Go
(eugodiabetestravelcase.com). TCOYD
filmed all of the talks, and the 2018 talks have been posted online (the 2017
talks are also available).
The talks were incredible. Dr. Irl Hirsch never ceases to
amaze—this year, Dr. Hirsch spoke about optimal use of CGMs, and he also spoke
about how to use your CGM to do basal rate testing. I was blown away by the talk by Dr. Anne
Peters, who I have long admired and who advocates for those with adult-onset
Type 1 diabetes. Dr. Peters revealed
that she had autoantibody tests performed on herself, she is positive for four
of the five autoantibodies (but is not yet symptomatic), and she is the oldest
person enrolled in Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet.
Dr. Peters spoke about the use of Type 2 drugs in Type 1, and
personalized it by talking about the drugs that she is using to try to slow the
progression of Type 1 in herself (liquid metformin, for example). There was a panel discussion on Type 1
TrialNet. The amazing Kerry Sparling led
a group discussion about the good, the bad, and the ugly of Type 1
diabetes. IMO, negative
emotions/negative outlook are a huge factor in how well we can care for
ourselves—and yes it is up to us as individuals, with the support of our
diabetes team and loved ones, to do the 24/7/365 drudgery. Dr. Bruce Buckingham and Dr. Rayhan Lal, both
from Stanford, spoke about automated insulin delivery systems (closed loop
systems using a CGM + insulin pump + algorithm). Dr. Lal talked about Looping (DIY closed loop
systems and #wearenotwaiting); he has put hundreds of patients on DIY systems.
Dr. Jeremy Pettus gave a great talk about the rapid acting
insulins Fiasp and Affreza—Affreza is an inhalable insulin that is
significantly faster acting than injectable insulins. Fiasp is only slightly faster than Novolog
and Humalog.
Following last year’s conference, I reached out to Dr. Irl
Hirsch, and I was able to interview him for my blog on the topic of
misdiagnosis. This year, I ran into him
and was able to thank him—he is the most gracious, most brilliant man.
Tips and tricks:
·
Wash your hands before
performing a blood glucose test—even milk on your hands will skew the
result! Especially if you are using any
kind of closed loop system (insulin pump + algorithm + continuous glucose
monitor, wash your hands to be sure that you get a good result.
·
Pre-bolus before
meals. Humalog/Novolog are not that fast
acting—it is good to pre-bolus by 15 or 20 minutes—figure out what works for
your body.
·
Dr. Edelman was
campaigning to get more widespread use of CGMs.
CGMs are a game changer, and really improve the lives of people with
Type 1 diabetes!
I had a great time hanging with my support network, the amazing women of
the Type 1 women’s group that I attend in Oakland, California (thank you Amber,
Hanneke, and Sarah!). When I was walking
to the start of the morning activity of power walking, I met Amber V, who was
diagnosed with Type 1 in pregnancy (yes, autoimmune gestational diabetes is a
real thing, but overlooked). In a
Facebook group, I had provided Amber V with my blog on autoimmune gestational
diabetes—it was the first time she had heard of it! Amber V and I shared a big hug.
Frequently amongst people with Type 1 you hear, “There is too
much money to be made on treating those of us with Type 1 diabetes, so there
will be no cure.” I would challenge you
to listen to these extraordinary men and women (Hirsch, Buckingham, Edelman,
Peters, etc.) who are doing so much to improve our lives. Many thanks to
Steve Edelman, founder of TCOYD, and his team for putting on this extraordinary
conference.
