Welcome to 'not ARTIFICIALLY Sweetened', Episode 20
With listeners in 18 countries!
This Episode is brought to you by the CDE Online Pharmacy (https://cdeonline.co.za/), the online store of choice for people living with diabetes.
If you're living with diabetes or a health professional that facilitates diabetes care, you're in the right place!
Join us on our journey, as we grow together in understanding, insight, and self-awareness to change lives for the better. Our deliberations will always be honest, challenging and thought provoking. Nothing is off the table as we discuss real people, their real issues and stories, and together discover real answers to many vexing practical issues in diabetes and its care.
This week Stan and Michael discuss the potential uses of GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide in fields beyond diabetes, like psychiatry, and wider roles for the long-used molecule, metformin. They also offer a high-level review of, and insights into the biggest medical barrier to the successful management of diabetes, and potential acute complications of treated diabetes, hypoglycaemia and possible hypoglycaemia unawareness.
We meet our fascinating studio guest, Robby Richardson, serial adventurer and now CEO at Houghton Golf Club, Executive Committee Member of the Club Management Association of Southern Africa (CMASA) and living with type 1 diabetes for 46 years.
His diagnosis of type 1 diabetes
His early experiences with porcine (pig) insulin, and urine testing for glucose which offered very little insight into his glycaemia or understanding of his diabetes
Living with diabetes for extended periods in many countries - United Kingdom, Norway, Belgium, Morocco, Portugal and eventually South Africa
Working long hours as a disc jockey in nightclubs and later managing bars
Experiences of severe hypoglycaemia and some serious accidents and injuries because of hypoglycaemia unawareness – the effect of this on work life, especially in a leadership position
How his dog helped rescue him during a severe episode of hypoglycaemia
How an insulin pump, a team approach to diabetes, and diabetes education has changed his self-management and understanding of diabetes
How, unlike many others, alcohol has never played a part in his episodes of hypoglycaemia
That a full and ‘normal’ life can be lived by finding the right people and resources to help you live with diabetesWe also discuss how presumed hypoglycaemic coma should be managed:
Given the potential cardiovascular disease risk, especially in people with type 2 diabetes,
the first question to ask is, “is the person still breathing?” If not, commence cardiopulmonary resuscitation and call an ambulance
If they are, turn the person on the side to maintain an open airway, check for low blood glucose and treat accordingly.
Importantly, for people in the community, insulin should never be given – always glucose or glucagon injectionWe also introduce the next Sweet Life Diabetes Community Advocacy Message, the final in a 20-part series by Bridget McNulty - “Is there anything you wish I knew right now...”
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For health professionals working in diabetes
The CDE Academy Foundation Course in Diabetes Care for Health Professionals is a real-world-applicable online learning experience at one’s own pace. Access it 24/7/365 & earn 30 CPD points: https://academy.cdeonline.co.za/
Learna/University of South Wales offer a one-year, online, part-time, distance learning Postgraduate Diploma in Diabetes Care. Sign up for a second year to earn an MSc in Diabetes. Gain a competitive edge and enhance your client care! Register for the annual September intake: https://www.diploma-msc.com/p/diploma-in-diabetes
