I am not a doctor. I am not a medical researcher or lab technician. I have never watched a complete episode of Grey’s Anatomy. But I am a Type 1 Diabetic. I am just one of 25.8 million Americans with Diabetes.

We're all kinda experts on managing chronic disease. Because, really, outside of a doctor’s visit every 6 months or so, we’re the ones doing all the work.

No one taught us how... [read more]

I am not a doctor. I am not a medical researcher or lab technician. I have never watched a complete episode of Grey’s Anatomy. But I am a Type 1 Diabetic. I am just one of 25.8 million Americans with Diabetes.

We're all kinda experts on managing chronic disease. Because, really, outside of a doctor’s visit every 6 months or so, we’re the ones doing all the work.

No one taught us how to do this. A meeting or two with a dietician isn’t enough, the behavioral changes necessary for those with a chronic disease are wholly unsupported in our current medical system. We have to do something. 7 out of 10 deaths in the US are caused by a chronic disease, and between heart disease and diabetes alone we are, as a nation, hemorrhaging money. Many of these conditions are preventable through lifestyle changes that no doctor can write a prescription for.

Doctors like to talk about charts and graphs, blood tests and medicine. Let’s start talking about the patient, the person, instead. Let’s make a disease that you have for life something that’s simply managed every day. Let’s get isolated patients together, talking, trading tips and tricks.

We’ll be talking about this (and more) at ‘OMG – My Pancreas Just Texted’.