SAN ANTONIO — More than one million Americans suffer from Type 1 diabetes. It develops when the body stops producing insulin, making it difficult to control your blood sugar.
“It’s been just over three and a half years that I was officially diagnosed,” said Type 1 diabetic Kyle Kondoff, who has been a firefighter/EMT for the past nine years. He was diagnosed when he was 27. “The reason I figured out I was Type 1 is because I work at a local hospital at the time, and I had 36 hours of blurry vision, and a nurse actually told me, ‘you might be diabetic’ and I thought she was crazy.”
As a first responder, his diabetes is always top of mind. “If we are going to a fire, then I usually pop a glucose tab before, because I know my sugar is going to eventually come down with all the activity.”
Dr. Douglas Denham, the Medical Director of Clinical Trials of Texas, said their current Type 1 trial is extremely important. “One of the things we do here at Clinical Trials of Texas in San Antonio is medical trials looking at new devices that help them monitor their blood sugars. Traditionally, we’ve always had the finger sticks. You have to stick yourself, put it on a little strip, the meter gives you a number, but that’s like taking a picture of what your blood sugar is like. It doesn’t give you a full idea, is it going up or is it coming down?”
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