Diabetes News, Weekend Edition

Hope your weekend is great. Here’s what is going on in the world of diabetes.

The Diabetes Action Team is running to conquer diabetes.

By joining the Diabetes Action Team, you can participate in any event you choose and gain the satisfaction of knowing you did it not just for yourself, but to help prevent, treat, and cure diabetes.

The Diabetes Action Research and Education Foundation is committed to the prevention and treatment of diabetes and to the funding of innovative, promising research aimed at finding a cure for diabetes and diabetes related complications.

The focus of The Diabetes Action Research and Education Foundation:

• Alternative and complementary research
• Grants for nutritional research
• Promising research to find a cure for diabetes
• Innovative research to prevent and treat diabetes
• American Indian diabetes prevention and treatment programs
• International medical assistance
• Children’s camp scholarship program
• Education and prevention programs

The Diabetes Action Team will be participating in the Marine Corps Marathon October 26, 2008.

The Marine Corps Marathon, or The People’s Marathon, is the 4th largest marathon in the United States. The course moves through Washington, DC, past monuments, the Capitol, and the National Mall, and finishes in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial where a Marine will place your medal around your neck.

Did you know the American Diabetes Association has a great outreach program

in elementary through grade 12 school?

School Walk for Diabetes is an educational fund-raising program that teaches students the benefits of healthy living, community service and school spirit while raising money for the American Diabetes Association.

Through SWFD, schools and their students have the ability to improve the health of their school community:

• Earn up to 15 percent back for school medical supplies and PE equipment.
• Educate their school community about type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
• Teach educational lessons that align with National PE and Health Standards.
• Promote continued healthy living and activity through thank you gifts.
• Raise money to support the mission of the American Diabetes Association — to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.
• Give students an opportunity to show their school spirit and earn community service hours.

Headline News:

CNN.com August 19, 2008. Study: Possible diabetes link to arsenic in water.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore say diabetics in the study had higher levels of inorganic arsenic, which is often found in ground water in some areas, than people without diabetes. Another good reason to drink filtered water. To check the water in your area go to the EPA site and read your water supplier’s water quality report which is due to the EPA by July 1 annually.

EON Ontario Now August 19, 2008. FDA Reports 2 Deaths From Byetta Drug. “The FDA has announced plans to strengthen the warning about problems of pancreas side effects that can be life threatening in the warnings that are required to be given in writing with the drug.”

You can read more about Byetta in the Battling Diabetes archives.

2007 FDA Alert:

FDA has reviewed 30 postmarketing reports of acute pancreatitis in patients taking Byetta, a drug used to treat adults with type 2 diabetes. An association between Byetta and acute pancreatitis is suspected in some of these cases.

Healthcare professionals should instruct patients taking Byetta to seek prompt medical care if they experience unexplained persistent severe abdominal pain which may or may not be accompanied by vomiting. If pancreatitis is suspected, Byetta should be discontinued. If pancreatitis is confirmed, Byetta should not be restarted unless an alternative etiology is identified.

FDA has asked and the maker of Byetta, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has agreed to include information about acute pancreatitis in the PRECAUTIONS section of the product label.

Label revisions can be found here.

Wall Street Journal Health Blog, August 22, 2008. Some Seniors Quit Taking Medicine When Medicare Doughnut Hole Hits. “Some 3.4 million Medicare beneficiaries hit the so-called doughnut hole in drug coverage last year — and a sizable minority quit taking their medicine rather than pay full price out of pocket, a new report says.”

What is the Medicare doughnut hole?

A quick over view from the Medicare Part D . com

• According to the CMS Model Plan, the Donut Hole phase begins when the covered medication costs reach $2510. (some plans begin earlier than this point at perhaps $1,800)
• Please note, this $2510 is the total retail cost of the covered medications, not what you spend personally. As a Part D beneficiary, you will pay only a portion of the $2510.
• In the CMS model plan, a beneficiary; like yourself, pays the first $275 dollars as a deductible and then 25% of the next $2235, for a total out of pocket medication costs of $833.75 (excluding monthly plan premiums).
• The Medicare Part D plan pays the difference or $1676.25

Medicare Part D beneficiaries remain in the Donut Hole until their true out of pocket costs exceeds $4050. The $4050 does not include the portion of your prescription expenses paid by the insurance carrier or your monthly premiums.

After the Donut Hole, the Medicare Part D beneficiary enters into the last phase of the Medicare Part D program or Catastrophic Coverage. From this point on, the Medicare Part D beneficiary pays $2.25 per month for generics / $5.6 per month for name brand medications or 5% of the medication’s retail cost, whichever cost is higher.