You might think “why is that important here, at diabetesdaily.com?” – and it is a fair question! It is important because the statistics around diabetes and heart disease are scary. Yet many of us don’t really think much about heart health. I know I don’t give it as much thought as I do the other scary complications. Yet it is more dangerous AND more likely than all of the other complications.
We talked a bit about why that is, but I’d love to hear all of your thoughts on diabetes and heart disease. I’m hoping that it will be alright for me to ask some questions here?
1) Do you think about diabetes and heart disease? If so, how/what? If not, why not?
2) What do you know about heart disease? Do you know what routine tests (both lab tests and or other tests) can give you information on your heart health?
3) Have you talked with your doctor about heart disease? Did you bring it up, or did your doctor?
I have a ton more questions, but this is a good start. Let’s get some discussion going! Heart disease is a big deal for us. It deserves a bit more of our attention! The folks at AHA have put together a great website called “Heart of Diabetes” aka iknowdiabetes.org, which has a lot of great information. I encourage you to go check it out.
Their website is focused primarily on type 2 diabetes. I have mixed feelings about that. For one, it is nice to see a big organization specifying which type of diabetes they are talking about (instead of grouping all of us together). On the other hand, heart disease is a huge deal for us living with type 1 diabetes as well. With that in mind, anything that someone with type 2 diabetes does for their heart health (exercise, smarter diet, etc) is also very beneficial for those of us living with type 1.
I also want to touch on something that some might be wondering. I was hired by the AHA to provide input and feedback on the “Heart of Diabetes” initiative. I was not hired to blog or promote anything. I am blogging and promoting because I really feel this is a good thing for us. You can count on my backing and support, both in terms of feedback and input AND in blogging and promoting them and the program every chance I get.
