Modern medicine is amazing. Research is in development to help people with so-far-unfixable health problems. While a lot of research is still in its infancy and isn’t quite ready for primetime, we can’t help but marvel at the advances that are improving lives.

T1D MOMs never have the privilege of turning off their cell phone or going on a hike knowing that the phone might be out of range. We become the designated play date hosts because it’s so difficult to ask other parents to be responsible for our children at their homes.

Now, if you’re thinking advocacy means you have to chain yourself to the front door of FDA headquarters, think again. There are many different options for advocacy, and 99.9% of them don’t require hunger strikes or arrests. Advocacy is simply supporting a cause and seeking a change; it’s about making your voice heard

April showers bring May flowers… or so they say. In 2014, many parts of the country are just now starting to warm up a bit after a crazy-cold winter, with ice and snow blasting the Midwest even into this month! Here’s our very own monthly diabetes “blog carnival,” in no particular order.

Federal researchers on Wednesday reported the first broad national picture of progress against some of the most devastating complications of diabetes, which affects millions of Americans, finding that rates of heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and amputations fell sharply over the past two decades.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the rate of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes was 5.5 percent of the U.S. population. By 2010, that number had risen to 9.3 percent. That means 21 million American adults had confirmed diabetes in 2010, according to the researchers.

Driving the long and bumpy road of life with diabetes can be challenging in so many ways, including what happens behind the wheel of an automobile. That’s the focus of today’s special edition of our weekly advice column, Ask D’Mine, hosted by veteran type 1, diabetes author and educator Wil Dubois.

Many Times readers, some of whom have Type 1 diabetes, are upset over an article last Sunday in which Elisabeth Rosenthal explored the often extraordinary expense of treating the disease. It was an installment in her series, “Paying Till It Hurts,” about the high cost of medical care in America.

Cost savings in diabetes cannot come at the expense of quality. This is a part of the story that wasn’t clearly conveyed in the NY Times article. Read an open letter from Manny Hernandez to the New York Times.

Because let’s put it this way: if competitive bidding lowers reimbursement rates too greatly, we are never going to get to an artificial pancreas. Lucky for us, CMS is currently encouraging public comment on future rounds of the competitive bidding program, including for insulin pumps.

With the first quarter of 2014 now ending, we’re happy to bring you more favorite posts from around the Diabetes Online Community. Luckmarchroundupily, there’s never a shortage of great stuff to share, and this March has been no exception.

One of the joys of turning 50 is that your doctor will start recommending a colonoscopy. Many people dread the test, which involves having a tube inserted into the rectum to look for cancers and precancers.

Some Members of Congress want to derail ongoing diabetes research and undermine proven prevention efforts despite the fact a staggering 100+ million Americans either have or are at risk of developing diabetes.

The Centers for Medicare Services (CMS) is taking a narrow view of what it dubs “necessary” for people with diabetes. The result is a lack of coverage for good quality glucose meters, fewer test strips, and no coverage at all for CGM.

Half of Americans subscribe to medical conspiracy theories, with more than one-third of people thinking that the Food and Drug Administration is deliberately keeping natural cures for cancer off the market because of pressure from drug companies, a survey finds.