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Category: DSMA

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What DSMA Means To Me

Chris Stocker

For those that may not know what DSMA stands for, it is Diabetes Social Media Advocacy. This was something that was created just over 8 years ago at this point by Cherise Shockley. For those of you who do not know who Cherise is, she is the most caring and authentic person you will ever meet. Those that doubt that are just idiots and people who wake up every day looking to be negative.

DSMA Weekly Twitter Chat

DSMA grew into a weekly Twitter chat, every Wednesday at 9pm EST. In 8 years, I don’t know if there’s been a week that’s been missed or not. Today, the chat is still here and is still going strong, if not stronger than ever.

DSMA also became just a hashtag to use outside of the Twitter chat hours. It was used to help connect people. If someone had a question or needed help with something, they simply put the hashtag in their tweet and before you know it, that person had more answers than they could even respond to.

DSMA has been so critical in the way that I manage my diabetes. I have met thousands of people online and hundreds of people in person because of DSMA. It has helped me see different perspectives, different management styles and has allowed me to take part in conversations that I wouldn’t normally take part in out in the real world.

Friendships and Connections

DSMA has created lifelong friendships that I will forever cherish. It’s also allowed me to see some people that I would wish to never speak to ever again.

DSMA has been such a critical part of my life for the last 8 years that I really don’t know where I’d be without it. The connections that are made during DSMA are unbelievable. I’ve been able to take management styles from people that have complete opposite views of me in every other aspect of life, but, they have a unique management tidbit that may have helped me out.

Now, as in anything with life, there’s going to be people who wake up every morning looking for a way to knock people down. I will never understand these people, but Twitter has created an opportunity for people to do this much easier. Every tweet or hashtag usage is just negative. That’s how you know that DSMA is making a real impact. These negative people wouldn’t be wasting their time trying to knock DSMA down if it wasn’t such an amazing thing.

Give It a Shot

DSMA has completely changed my life for the better and I think it can for you as well. So, join tonight by going to Twitter with any device or app you want to use and follow along with the hashtag #dsma

Even if you just lurk and read all the responses, that is fine, but it will be worth your while.

Also, don’t forget that you have 5 different ways, and you can enter with all 5 different ways to win a FREE copy of Mike Lawson’s Open Up Your Bag: a diabetes picture book.

Open Up Your Bag: A Diabetes Picture Book

Talking Cure on DSMA

Chris Stocker

Last night’s #DSMA Twitter chat was based around a cure. Do we think one will happen, what will it cost, when will it happen, what will a cure be, etc. These are all questions I think that many of us have asked ourselves or discussed with others at one point in our diabetes lives. Last night was the first time that I discussed it in a very long time. So, I decided to talk about it just a bit more here.

These are my honest opinions, love em or hate em, we are all entitled to those opinions.

Also, my language is a bit NSFW.

Will There Be a Cure for Diabetes?

For me to see? No. For my 6 year old niece to see? Probably not. Do I “hope” that there will be one? Abso-fucking-lutely. But, as I said last night during the chat, there is a huge difference between a hope and a belief. I definitely hope that a cure happens. Do I have hope in it? No. Do I believe? No.

The number one reason why I don’t think it will occur is basic economics. There is way too much money being made in the pharma industry for a cure to happen. I’ve heard people say that the economics isn’t the issue and that companies will still make money, but that’s all “future speak” meaning, we don’t know shit about what will happen if there is a cure. Projections are cool, but results are fucking awesome!

Also, I currently do not believe there is enough funding going into an actual cure. I think that the people and organizations that are doing it are great. Whether you like the Diabetes Research Institute or not because of some marketing mishaps they had in the past, they are still doing some excellent work. But, at the same time, I don’t really care to stay up to date with this cure talk anymore because I don’t care about breakthroughs are progress being made. I simply want results.

I am more focused on research and development that is going on within the technology industry that is going to help make my life with diabetes easier. That’s what I care about.

What Does a Cure Look Like?

That’s simple to me. A cure means the disease does not fucking exist! It doesn’t mean I still have to check my blood sugar, and have check ups. It means it doesn’t exist! Anything less than that is not a cure. Once again, it is progress towards a cure.

What Will it Cost?

If you want exact numbers, you can go do your own research, but I’m not going to look up the finances for big pharma to get exact numbers, but here’s the theory with a basic number. Let’s say the profits from diabetes are currently $1 billion per year. That means that the cure would have to make $1 billion per year for big pharma. So, whatever that number is, there’s your answer of the cost. I know it would be a lot.

Mike Hoskins had said last night:

And I my friend, believe in Zombie Unicornszombie-unicorn

Here is the bottom line for me. I think that the cure, unfortunately, is a false hope. At least for my generation.  It’s like holding out for Prince Charming when Mr. Right is standing right there in front of you. Meaning, IMO, why set my eyes on a cure, when I can set my eyes on better technology to make the disease even easier to manage?

I’m not telling you to give up hope for a cure. Because if you have gotten that out of this post, then re-read it, because that’s not what I’m saying. I’m also, by no means, saying that I don’t want a cure and that I think people should stop funding it. Definitely not saying that.

Would love to hear your thoughts. Comment below or on Facebook

What I Learned from World Diabetes Day

Chris Stocker

World Diabetes Day was a very long and tiresome day for me this year. I normally don’t really do anything to celebrate the day, I used to use it as a vacation day from everything I do with diabetes. Last year I participated actively for about 6-7 hours of the World Diabetes Day Chat, but this year, my goal was to break the record, in fact I wanted to actively participate in the entire event.

And I did.

Throughout the 13,14, 15 hours ( I don’t even know how long it was), I attempted to answer every question asked by every moderator. There were a couple of reasons why I did this. First, because I wanted to motivate someone to do something. I was hoping just one person would say to themselves, “if he’s been tweeting all day, I can find 5 minutes to send an email to my local reps.” Secondly, I wanted to show people that we all have time. I know we all live busy lives, but if you audit your day, you can find some time to do more advocacy related things that you feel like you don’t have the time to do. And lastly, I wanted to get a better understanding and feeling for how the DOC felt towards all of the topics that were being discussed.

So, what did I learn during this all day chat? A lot.

I learned that the DOC comes together like a boss. I learned that even when there were disagreements about certain things, there was still a common goal in the end, just maybe the paths were a little different. I learned that there are a lot of people that want to help and do more, but just don’t know they can do. I also learned that when we come together as a community like we did on Saturday, our voices are heard a hell of a lot louder than when we are just individuals shouting.

I learned how I can advocate better and how I can do things differently to better manage my own diabetes. I also learned that it’s very easy for your words to be taken out of context in just one tweet (well, I guess I already knew that).

What did you learn from the World Diabetes Day Chat? Comment below.

You Chatted, Now It’s Time To Act – 5 Things to Do Today to Take Action

Chris Stocker

I have been participating in DSMA chats on and off for the 5 years that it has been around. I do not participate as much as I would like to, but I definitely try to jump in when I can. Last night’s was one of the best that I can remember being a part of. It was being promoted well through PR campaigns as well because there were some special sponsors of the chat last night.

The theme of the chat was #ChatActChange

I broke that down as, we chat during DSMA, we act the next day (and every day after that) and then we will see change. But, we will only see change if we communicate and act on those communications. Change will not just happen by itself.

One of the questions last night was geared towards how someone can get started if they don’t know where to begin or what can they do to get started advocating for change. Well, I want to see as much action as possible, so I figured I would outline 5 quick easy ways that you can act today!

Contact Your Local JDRF and American Diabetes Association

Head on over to your local JDRF or American Diabetes Association’s website and just send them a quick email. Explain to them that you are interested in working with them on a specific cause. Maybe you can simply volunteer at a local walk and be able to communicate and meet people in your community and from there you can build a peer to peer support system. Your local chapters may be involved in something locally that sparks your interest, but reach out and introduce yourself and let them know that you are a helping hand.

Contact Your Local Politicians / DiabetesPAC.org

These two are very similar so I decided to combine them together (but it’s still 5 total right?) If you are anything like me than contacting your local politicians can seem intimidating and trying to even figure out who these people are and how I contact them can be nearly impossible. Except for the fact that DiabetesPAC.org exists.

While there you can view some of the top issues such as safety, quality and access. You can also make just a few clicks to actual actions.

What I think is the coolest thing on the entire site is the Diabetes Scorecard. This basically outlines for you where your elected officials stand on important Diabetes related issues. From there, you can send them a message to say thank you for supporting a specific cause or send them a note as to why they should be supporting something.

First, find out who your officials are. Go to http://diabetespac.org/whydpac and in the lower right hand corner simply input your zip code. All of your elected officials will pop right up for you. It is my recommendation to keep that site open so you can easily reference it. Open up a new tab or new browser window and head on over to http://diabetespac.org/dpac/scorecard

From there you can search for your elected official and find out if they have supported any of the Bills listed. Now that you know who you want to contact and about what, you can use this page to search for their social media accounts – http://govsm.com/w/House

Connect with Locals on Twitter

Connecting with people on Twitter can be easy because you can just easily jump into conversations and also build relationships. I’ve connected with a lot of people on Twitter who I never met, but consider them some of my closest friends.

Here is how you can find people locally (there are several other tools to use, but let’s keep it simple with Twitter):

  1. Go to the Advanced Twitter Search tool
  2. In the All of These Words area type “diabetes” (or any other word you want to use)
  3. Under Places, if your area is not currently selected, then make the appropriate changes
  4. You can scroll through these tweets and look for people that may be tweeting about items that grab your attention

Just Simply Ask “How Can I Help?”

This is a very simple way to get started. If you have a Twitter account (and if you don’t sign up for one right now) simply log into your account. Think about what you are passionate about when it comes to diabetes. This can be anything, CGM and Medicare, Insurance issues, Work place issues, diabetes and schools, etc. Now type the following in Twitter “I am passionate about XYZ and diabetes. How can I help? #dsma”

That hashtag is followed by thousands of people, someone will either have an answer for you on how you can help or they will connect you with someone who can.

If you don’t want to go to Twitter, here’s a really simple, quick way. In the comment section below, tell me your passion and I will help connect you myself with someone within the diabetes community.

That’s it. Just by doing at least one of these items today, you are already taking action. If you want to spread these out over the next week and just do one a day, that is perfectly fine with me.

I just ask that you do something. I am going to hold myself more accountable and take more actions where I can.

Happy Take Action  Day!

Thank You All for your Support

Chris Stocker

So, as many of you know, last week I received the horrible news that I lost my COBRA insurance coverage. I was denied twice after submitting a review of the decision. With that being said, I just wanted to take the time to say thank you.

Thank you to every single person that reached out to me to provide advice, supplies, support, and just a comment of concern. It truly means a lot to me that so many people care about what happened to me and what I am going through. You really notice how close this community is when something happens and people are in need of help.

So, thank you. I really can’t say it enough. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I will be posting an update on the situation tomorrow. Basically, I’ve reached out to politicians, attorneys, organizations, etc. and I will let you know what came out of all of that.

But, once again, thank you all so much.

photo credit: Avard Woolaver via photopin cc

Wish Upon a Star – DSMA Blog Carnival

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

The month of May’s DSMA Blog Carnival (I know, I am posting this on June 1…oops), is about filling in the blanks.  The question posed was, “I wish my insurance paid for <blank> because <blank>.  So here were go, I will try to fill in the blanks.

I have not had the disappointment yet of an insurance company not covering something that I needed to be covered so this is a little more difficult for me to fill in the blanks.  Rather then naming something I wish they would cover, I will speak about something I wish that they covered differently. Read More

Low on Insulin – Thank You for Reaching Out

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

I wanted to write this post yesterday, but I just did not have the time to get to it.  I am going to be in a tough position in the next few days because of a miscommunication between myself, doctor, and mail order pharmacy.  I am going to be running very close to having zero insulin.  I need to re-order my insulin, which the order will be placed tomorrow, but it’s a new prescription, so it usually takes a few extra days for that because the mail order companies don’t speed up new prescriptions very often.  I do have the option of getting a one month supply from the local pharmacy which I will most likely do.

But that’s not the point of this post.  The point of this post is that I tweeted this issue.  Within a few minutes there were two replies from people asking how they can ship me extra insulin that they have.  That is just incredible, totally incredible.  I cannot believe the support that exists in this community.  We have all seen it and said it before, but it needs repeating.  The caring and big hearts of the people in this community just continues to amaze me.

Somebody willing to ship me their insulin that they need to help me get through a tough time.  I appreciate those that did reach out.

Those people were Penny from A Sweet Grace and Scott from Arden’s Day.

Thank you both, really, thank you!

Diabetes Disclosure – DSMA Blog Carnival for March

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

This is the first DSMA Blog Carnival that I have done. My blogging has been slacking recently, so what better way to spark it than with a DSMA related post.

Disclosure of diabetes to me is simple. It tends to come up every time that I speak to somebody, really no matter what. So, let’s first start with the employer. I am my own employer, so yes, I definitely know. It tends to come up in a lot of business conversations as well. I do online marketing for a living, so I am constantly referring to the DOC when I talk about social media and blogging. So, the diabetes comes up just that easily.

Previously, when I was not my own employer, my co-workers knew. I told my closest co-workers that I have diabetes right away in case there was some sort of emergency, I wanted them to have some what of a clue what to do. Other co-workers found out just by conversation or by them asking what the funny thing on my hip was. There were a lot of Diabetes Police at my former co-workers office, so I took as many chances as I could to get some education in.

When I was in college, about 3-4 years ago, not many people knew I was diabetic. In fact, almost zero people knew. The only people that usually knew were the professors. I would make sure that I told the professor on the first night of class and then follow it up with an e-mail, that I had diabetes. If the professor heard a beeping noise, or I suddenly had to get up in a middle of a test because my blood sugar was 50 and dropping, they would know. By the way, if you are in college and have diabetes, I highly recommend not letting your blood sugar go low during a test, teachers are very funny about that kind of stuff.

I was not very talkative while I was in college. My first college that I attended, I talked to everybody. I was on the football team, it was a small school, and I saw the same people everyday. However, I finished school at Florida Atlantic University. I was diagnosed only a year and a half earlier, and I moved to Florida all by myself, not a single friend or family in the area. I was a little shy. I made sure to tell my roommate and my other suite mates, but that was about it. I started working very early in my college career, so I was all about going to class, going to work, studying, wake up and do the same thing all over. College was business to me, and I didn’t take much time to talk to people, so diabetes never came up. Sorry that this went off on a tangent about my social life in college. Moving on.

I don’t think I have a friend that doesn’t know that I’m diabetic. If they are my friend, they know. Just that simple.

I have never been one to hide my diabetes or withhold it on purpose. If it comes up, I tell people. I can remember going on a job interview to be a bartender and the topic never came up, so I didn’t mention it. My first day on the job, I let everybody know because I felt it was important for them to know in case of an emergency, or in case they saw me chugging the OJ! Another interview that I went on, I told them straight out. It was for a digital marketing company, so I figured that my experience with blogging and social media was a positive for me, so I brought diabetes up. Got the job and diabetes was never an issue.

Well, that is my take on diabetes and disclosure of it. I don’t recommend that you tell people or that you shouldn’t tell people. It is a personal decision and I respect it either way. This is your disease. We share characteristics of a disease, but diabetes is different for every single one of us. However you want to deal with it, is totally up to you.

Happy DSMA Blog Carnival.

How does Food Affect My Daily Routine

Chris Stocker

Last night I made it through my first, entire #dsma chat.  I have participated before, but have never been able to make it all the way through.  It was fun, but it definitely hurt my eyes really bad afterwards because there was just way too much to read and try to respond to.  I mentioned that this chat gave me a lot of blog ideas because at certain times, when you live just a normal life, except you have diabetes, you don’t have much to blog about.  I know that this whole food thing is something that people feel very strongly about.  I read a lot of blog posts and tweets about food and how it affects some of your daily lifes, but to me, it doesn’t affect me much at all.  This is also one reason that I am about 60 pounds overweight and haven’t had the best blood sugars lately.

Once I went on the pump, that is when all of my weight gain began, because I never thought twice about eating something in particular again.  When I was on MDI, I thought about if I really wanted to eat something quick because I knew I had to take a shot.  However, with the pump, I know there is nothing to it, but a few buttons and that’s it, now I can have that quick snack or extra serving if I wanted to.  At times I think about going back to MDI because of how much less I ate and the more that I took care of myself.

I want food to be more of a hassle in my life and other diabetes related things.  I want to be hassled and bothered by them for some time because for the past few years, I haven’t let diabetes get in my way, and I think my health and my care has gone down because of that.  I have two weeks before my next endo appointment, and they will be looking at my weight very carefully, if it is not down some, they are going to take action because it’s been about 2 years that I kept saying I would lose weight on my own.

Starting today, I am going to act like I am still on MDI, however, I’m on a pump.  I will calculate my own bolus and match it up with the pump to make sure that I still know how to do it.  I will not eat anything unless I test my sugar.  I will not have a snack just because all I have to do is hit a few buttons.  For the next few weeks, I am going to live different.  I am different because I have diabetes, I have to eat a different way…….. not because I have diabetes, but because I need to lose weight!