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Eric Lagergren

Eric Lagergren

Eric Lagergren was born in 1974 but didn’t give much thought to diabetes until March 2007, when he was diagnosed with Type 1. He now gives quite a bit of thought to the condition, and to help him better understand his life as a person with diabetes, he writes about it. Eric is the senior editor for the Testing Division at the University of Michigan’s English Language Institute in Ann Arbor.


Writing from the Sickbed

On Wednesday of last week my wife woke up sick with the flu. We don’t know if it was the dreaded H1N1 or just seasonal flu, but she had a fever of 102 and a lethargy that, coupled with the whole-body ache that accompanies the flu, kept her bedridden for a good 70% of her time with the illness. On Sunday she was feeling better and she decided to venture out of the house with me; just a short trip to the dog park with Ellie (our labradoodle)…

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Adhere to Me

I use an insulin pump. The insulin is delivered into my system subcutaneously from the pump through a couple dozen inches of surgical tubing, then finally through a cannula that pokes a few millimeters into my skin. For nonpumpers out there who aren’t familiar with what I’m talking about, Smiths Medical (while they still support diabetes supplies for another few years) has a 12-step series of photos online that will enlighten you as to how this stuff looks —my stuff, at least, since I use the Cleo Infusion Set…

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Diabetes Information Overload

A few nights ago I woke up around three and couldn’t fall back asleep. As I’ll often do when this happens, I went downstairs and checked my blood glucose, then poured a glass of water, drank it down, poured another, and walked from window to window, looking out at the silent street, the front yard, the strip of flower bed alongside the house…

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Maybe It’s (Diabetic) Complacency

I know it’s just me. I know I’m the only person in the world who has Type 1 diabetes who doesn’t get right on it when it comes to breaking bad habits. I rationalize. I retreat. I avoid. And I slip mildly into… dip my foot into — up only to my shin or maybe to my knee — those two sins of sloth and gluttony that provide the immediate comfort of putting off today…

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My Cholesterol, My LDL, and That Statin Dose

The past week has been Time of the Doctors. On Monday I visited the endocrinology clinic for my quarterly checkup. Yesterday I met with my PCP for my six-month visit. Both doctors had on hand my complete blood lab results from the many vials that were drawn from my arm last week. All in all, my health snapshot looks good. This week, rather than go through the things I talked about with my doctors — and I always discuss quite a bit with them — I’ll focus on the conversations related to my cholesterol and my diabetes

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Supplies, Supplies, Supplies

OK, all Gomer Pyle references in my title aside — or, for those of you who know it better from the end of Pink Floyd’s song “Nobody Home” from The Wall, all Pink Floyd/Gomer Pyle references aside — I have some musing to do on my durable medical equipment…

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Flu Shot, Ultrasound, Dentist, Endo, PCP, Therapy

Anniversary Dinner and Three Courses of Insulin

What Time Can Do To Diagnosis Stories

When Diabetes Is Boring

When Good Insulin Pumps Go Bad (Part 3)

When Good Insulin Pumps Go Bad (Part 2)

When Good Insulin Pumps Go Bad (Part 1)

My Morning Implodes. Diabetes Doesn’t Help.

Don’t Bring Up Diabetes, Doctor

Planning Adequately, Eating Poorly

I’m a Traveling Man Who Has Diabetes

Diabetes and iPhone: Another App Article?

How Much Doctoring is Too Much for a Type 1?

It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Insulin

Random Thoughts on My Diabetes and This Blog

Another Endocrinologist Visit

Running Scared: A Legitimate Concern or Just an Excuse

My Routine, My Blood Glucose

Best of Luck, Tara

They Had To Tell Me, Didn’t They?

Revisiting the Thyroid Thing: The Results

What Did You Say?

No Food or Drink Allowed

Is It Just Always Something?

Product Review: WaveSense Jazz Blood Glucose Meter

A Smattering of Diabetes Oversharing

Insurance, Skin-Prep Wipes, and Principle (Part 2)

Insurance, Skin-Prep Wipes, and Principle (Part 1)

A Rather Pedestrian Topic

For the Rest of My Life, This Month

Switching Pharmacies Is Hard on the Heart

Mundane, Yet Necessary. And Yet…

It’s Always There

Checking, and Checking Some More

A List, A Diabetes List

Am I Doing Fine, Really?

Recognizing the Need to Tweak Thought

I’m Doing Fine, Really, But…

Here’s What I Was Going To Do

The Weather Outside and Within

The Stigmata of Diabetes

Confessions of a Thanksgiving Weekend Survivor

The Stir, or Lack Thereof, Over A Cure

Rambling About Diet (and Diet Coke)

Insulin Pumpers: Learn from My Experience

Check Check One Two

Joe the Diabetic

When the Paranoia Subsides

The Paranoid Moments

A Week In The Life

Hypoglycemia’s Dangerous Enough

In Dreams the Future

Those Three Little Words

Beware Diabetic Complacency

So How Should I Presume?

Diabetes, Stomach Stuff, and Spousal Stress

Infusion Tubing Snag and Pump Site Rip-Off (Beep Beep)

The Interruption of Normalcy

One Side Effect from a Low Blood Glucose

Regarding the Diabetes

The Problem with Responsibility

The Sound of Diabetes

The Positive Can Be Negative

Moving Out of the Fast Lane

Eat the Shelf

Blockage Detected

This Sounds Familiar To Me

Blood on My Hands

What’s the Buzz All About?

"It Turned Everything Upside Down"

A Letter to My Durable Medical Equipment Provider

Those Negative Inner Voices

Fifty-One On, One Off (Kinda)

Breaking Bad News

A Year of Helping Medical Students

P2P Diabetes

Looking Back

Taking It Off in Bed

Continuous Glucose Monitoring and Me

Welcome to Miami (Bienvenidos a Miami)

Mind Your Own Business

Forbidden Fruit

Diabetes In My Hierarchy of Needs

In Praise of the Diabetes Contact List

Do My Test Strips Define Me?

It’s 3 AM. Do You Know What Your Blood Glucose Is?

What Causes Stress and Relieves It at the Same Time?

I Get By With a Little Help From the 19th Century

Ode to Diabetes, or Oh Diabetes

Before They Are Doctors

Diabetes, Beer, Dinner, and Medical Students

My Diabetes, My Family Centered Experience

Priming the (Insulin) Pump (Part 8)

Priming the (Insulin) Pump (Part 7)

Priming the (Insulin) Pump (Part 6)

What Are They Thinking? (I’m Thinking)

Priming the (Insulin) Pump (Part 5)

Priming the (Insulin) Pump (Part 4)

Drilling for Blood Glucose

Priming the (Insulin) Pump (Part 3)

Priming the (Insulin) Pump (Part 2)

Priming the (Insulin) Pump

Back in the Saddle

Health Care Without Crisis

Nothing Like Experience To Ease Diabetes Anxiety

Addicted to Your Self-Management?

The Ubiquitous Garden Metaphor

On Keeping a Diabetes Journal

A Diabetes Neophyte’s Prologue (Part 3)

A Diabetes Neophyte’s Prologue (Part 2)

A Diabetes Neophyte’s Prologue (Part 1)

Disclaimer of Medical Advice: You understand that the blog posts and comments to such blog posts (whether posted by us, our agents or bloggers, or by users) do not constitute medical advice or recommendation of any kind, and you should not rely on any information contained in such posts or comments to replace consultations with your qualified health care professionals to meet your individual needs. The opinions and other information contained in the blog posts and comments do not reflect the opinions or positions of the Site Proprietor.


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