What’s New in Diabetes Care?

April 22, 2011 What’s New in Diabetes Care?

Right now one million Canadians have Type 2 diabetes and do not know it.  That statement is from the Canadian Diabetes Association Website (www.diabetes.ca).  Diabetes is a growing epidemic and health concern.  There are new treatments and resources available to help manage diabetes.

Bayer and Roche have new meters recently available.  Bayer has a meter called the Didget.  This meter is aimed at kids and rewards them for good monitoring habits.  It comes with games and connects to the Nintendo DS or Ds Lite System.  Patients can get this through their local diabetes education centre or specialist.  Another new meter is called the A1C Now Selfcheck.  This meter captures the three month average of a patient’s glycosylated hemoglobin.  This is close to lab results that your doctor sees and gives patients a very good idea how well controlled their diabetes is.  This test can now be performed at certain pharmacies that have this meter.

Roche’s new meter is called the Accu-Chek Mobile.  This meter uses strip-free testing.  Instead of inserting individual test strips for each blood test a cartridge is inserted which is good for 50 separate tests.  The benefit of this machine is the elimination of strip handling which can be difficult for people with arthritis, Parkinson’s or other dexterity issues.  This machine is free for Humalog or Novorapid insulin users since they must test their blood sugar more often.

There is new medication available as well. Victoza is a relatively new product on the market.  This medication is for patients with type 2 diabetes.  This is a non-insulin, once-daily, injectable  medication, that can help improve blood sugar and has been shown to be able to provide the additional benefit of weight loss.  This medication may used alone or with other medications such as Metformin.  Other similar medications to this will be on the market shortly.  You can call your insurance company to see if this medication would be covered for you.

Besides additional products on the market there are also additional services available for diabetics.  Pharmacists can provide a diabetes medication consult, free to the patient, paid for by the Ministry of Health, and an unlimited number of diabetes follow-ups.  These consults can involve the pharmacist explaining medications, insulin use, and glucometers.  The pharmacist can also use the A1CNow meter and check your average three month blood sugar.  Pharmacists can also provide referrals to diabetic community services and web resources that are available to patients.

If you have diabetes, or are concerned that you may be at risk please call the pharmacy and book an appointment today.

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