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David Spero
David Spero has been a nurse for 32 years and has lived with multiple sclerosis for 25 years. He is author of two books: The Art of Getting Well: Maximizing Health When You Have a Chronic Illness (Hunter House 2002), and Diabetes: Sugar-coated Crisis – Who Gets It, Who Profits, and How to Stop It (New Society 2006). He writes for Diabetes Self-Management and Arthritis Self-Management magazines. He is a project director with New Health Partnerships: Improving care by Engaging Patients, a project of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
Treat People, Not Numbers
The recent arguments over tight glucose control remind me of things I experienced as a hospital nurse. Then, like now, doctors hurt patients by treating them as numbers, not people. ..
Why We Need Reasons to Live
If you don’t have a reason to get out of bed in the morning, it won’t matter how healthy you are, will it? If you don’t have pleasures, positive goals, love, or meaning in your life, why bother with self-management? We all need reasons to live, but sometimes we don’t have them or we forget what they are…
Shivering in Alaska
Fairbanks in February is not a tourist destination. Yes, I had a nice time at the diabetes expo. Led a workshop on “diabetes for couples” and gave a talk on succeeding at self-care. Sold some books, made some friends. All in all, I feel lucky to have survived…
Loving Louisiana
The first leg of my two-stop, cross-country trip went great. I led an all-day seminar for nurses called “New Solutions to Diabetes” in Lafayette, Louisiana. What an interesting place!
Mixed Feelings on Tech
For a long time, I was skeptical, even critical, of technological progress. I saw cars taking over the landscape and polluting the air. I saw people turning into Kewpie dolls in front of their TV sets. I saw countries’ wealth and brain power devoted to inventing ever more awful weapons…
Neither 1 Nor 2
In response to my recent blog entry asking what people wish health professionals knew about diabetes, Michael Barker commented about “ketosis-prone diabetics,” of which he is one. Thank you, Michael. Ketosis-prone diabetes, or “KPD,” as it’s called, is an important and growing problem…
What Do You Wish They Knew?
I got some good news last week. I’ve been invited to speak to health professionals in Louisiana and to people with diabetes in Alaska. And they’re paying me! Now I have to figure out what to tell them, so I’m asking for your advice…
Watch Your Mouth!
What health condition has killed the most adult humans since the beginning of recorded time? Most likely it was gum disease (also called “periodontitis”). Before modern food processing made food soft and mushy, people who lost their teeth couldn’t eat natural food. So they became weak and died. Unfortunately, gum disease may still be a killer for people with diabetes…
Health Advice — Stop Worrying About It
Since I write books and articles and speak about healthy ways to live, I am ashamed to report that real health depends on… not worrying about your health! That’s what a new book says, and I tend to agree. But does this message apply to people with diabetes?
Sunshine in a Bottle
This time of year, sunshine is hard to find in the Northern Hemisphere. Days are shorter, and the sun shines at a lower angle. Lack of sun is thought to be a cause of seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. SAD is rough on people with diabetes, because it increases carbohydrate cravings and fosters weight gain. But how does lack of sun make us SAD?
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