Diabetes Management Archives - BCDiabetes

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). […]

  Yesterday, (2017-02-23) a study of diabetic mice was published in the journal “Cell” showing that a special “fasting mimicking diet” (FMD) for 4 days every month caused regeneration of pancreatic insulin-secreting beta cells.  As such, in mice at least, this diet has the potential to reverse both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. No […]

Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) or “sensors” have been around for more than a decade.  With the arrival in Canada last week of the Dexcom G5 everything has changed: the G5 is more accurate than its predecessor the G4 allowing for ever more reliable low and high sugar alarms, it sends results straight to your smartphone […]

Yesterday the US Food and Drug Administration approved two new medications – both are shots & each is a combination of two different classes of medication in one shot: a basal long-acting insulin and a GLP-1 receptor agonist. The Novo Nordisk product combines Tresiba, an insulin not yet available in Canada and Victoza while the Sanofi product […]

BCDiabetes Medical Director, Dr. Tom Elliott, has launched a petition to lobby BC Pharmacare to cover SGLT2 inhibitors. As many as 50,000 British Columbians would likely benefit from SGLT2 inhibitors, but many do not have funds or coverage. This class of drug has been shown to reduce mortality for those at high risk of heart […]

A life saving class of diabetes oral medication, SGLT2 inhibitors, costing less than $3/day, is not covered in British Columbia, but is covered in the rest of Canada.  I asked Dr. Elliott, Medical Director of BCDiabetes.ca for his comments.  Dr. Elliott has already blogged twice on this class of medication (see https://www.bcdiabetes.ca/third-sglt2-inhibitor-in-canada/ & https://www.bcdiabetes.ca/empa-reg-outcome-renal/ Dr. […]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first closed-loop insulin-pump sensor system for the diabetes market.  The MiniMed 670G hybrid closed looped system, often referred to as an “artificial pancreas,” is intended to adjust insulin levels with little or no input from the user. It works by measuring glucose levels every five minutes and automatically […]

Last week the prestigious British medical journal the Lancet published a report summarized here describing dramatic reductions in low blood sugar without any loss of blood sugar control using the Freestyle Libre.   “The Freestyle Libre is the first of a new class of glucose monitoring devices that use “flash” technology.  These devices measure sugar/glucose in the […]

Via Reuters, electronic cigarettes may have helped about 18,000 people in England to give up smoking last year and there is no evidence of any serious side effects associated with their use for up to two years, according to studies published on Tuesday. “For cigarette smokers smoking cessation remains the biggest and most powerful positive health […]