Category: Living With Diabetes

The three hottest words in Type 1 diabetes these days are “loop”, “looper” & “looping”.  These refer to the groundbreaking revolutionary open source software implementation of the Artificial Pancreas, the technological cure of Type 1 diabetes.  Loopers are Type 1s who use the Loop app running on an iPhone to control their insulin pump based […]

My name is Tyler Craig, and I am a patient at BC Diabetes. I would like to add my voice to Dr. Elliott’s and his team’s advocacy efforts to have universal coverage for CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) devices. I am grateful that BC Diabetes introduced me to the CGM device as it has been a […]

Continuous Glucose Monitoring, known as CGM, allows for the automatic tracking of glucose (sugar) levels for people living with Type 1 Diabetes (TID).  Keeping sugar levels within a safe & healthy target range (5-10 mmol/L) is crucial to prevent the dreaded diabetes complications of loss of consciousness, heart disease & stroke, blindness, kidney failure and […]

Yesterday BC Minister of Health Adrian Dix announced Pharmacare coverage of the SGLT-2 inhibitor class represented by empagliflozin (Jardiance). Although BCDiabetes would have preferred that all three SGLT2 inhibitors on the Canadian market be covered, the long overdue announcement was most welcome news. Our readers will be aware of the long-running BCDiabetes advocacy campaign for […]

On April 30, Medical Director Dr. Tom Elliott spoke with patients at the BC Diabetes Freestyle Libre Interpretation Class, and livestreamed it on Facebook to share with patients who could not attend. In this video, he explains the basics of blood sugar control, including the effects of diet, exercise, stress, basal and rapid insulin, and […]

BCDiabetes is actively lobbying with Pharmacare to cover a number of life-saving therapies and devices. At the top of our list is the SGLT2 inhibitor class of medication: see this video made with Diabetes Canada & previous blogs here, here and here. SGLT2 inhibitors are covered in every Canadian province except BC. In the 2019-Feb […]

On February 1, 2019, the prestigious medical journal the Lancet published a meta-analysis examining potential benefits the statin and class of medication. The article confirmed and extended the powerful evidence for benefit for the use of statins in people with a previous history of heart disease, stroke and for those with diabetes.  It showed that […]

2018-Oct-10 saw Health Canada approve the Medtronic 670G insulin pump, the first of its kind in Canada to support closed-loop functionality for basal insulin.  This innovation, the first step towards an artificial pancreas, is welcome news for every individual with diabetes who is an intensive insulin user (either a pumper or taking multiple daily shots). […]

Kudos to the BC NDP government for extending insulin pump coverage to every British Columbian living with diabetes requiring intensive insulin therapy (effectively all those with Type 1 diabetes and those with Type 2 diabetes taking two different kinds of insulin).  On Tuesday the Minister of Health, Adrian Dix (who has Type 1 diabetes himself […]

On Oct 12 BCDiabetes blogged on the CRA Disability Tax Credit as it applied to Type 1 diabetes and how the CRA had moved the goalposts: see Type 1 Diabetes sucks but dont ask the CRA for sympathy. Good news – the CRA has reversed its policy: so it is back to the old rules […]