not ARTIFICIALLY Sweetened - Episode 9 with Thapi Semenya

Welcome to 'not ARTIFICIALLY Sweetened'! Episode 9 - now with listeners in 8 countries!

We apologise for the delay in the release of this Episode and for the sound glitches due to internet issues in our virtual 'studio' during the recording of this session :-(

This Episode is brought to you by the CDE Online Pharmacy (https://cdeonline.co.za/), the online store of choice for people living with diabetes.

If you are a person living with diabetes or a health professional that facilitates diabetes care, you are in the right place!

Join us on our journey, as we grow together in understanding, insight, and self-awareness and ultimately change lives for the better!

Our deliberations will always be honest, challenging and thought provoking. Nothing is off the table as we discuss real people, their real issues and stories, and together discover real answers to many vexing practical issues in diabetes and its care.

Woven into this week's conversations, Stan and Michael

• raise the question of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising, currently available in some countries, but not South Africa,
• reflect on the importance of peer support in diabetes self-management,
• advocate when people with diabetes should consider changing their diabetes care practitioner,
• once again stress the importance for all health providers to have some level of diabetes training, so acute care does not unwind chronic diabetes care,
• underline the critical role of education, coaching and the development of insight in improving diabetes care.
• focus on our studio guest's frequently used term, 'illuminate', as a powerful reflective muse for "bringing to light what cannot be seen"
• introduce the next Sweet Life Diabetes Community Advocacy Message – "Here’s what people with diabetes wish their diabetes care team knew – It can feel quite lonely at times!”
• remind our listeners to participate in our polls to shape our insights into your needs and to help us plan future podcasts.

And importantly, we welcome our studio guest, Thapi Semenya, Law Student, Diabetes and 'Non-Communicable Disease' Advocate, IDF Young Leader in Diabetes Trainee 2022-2024, Dedoc Voice and Professional Advisor for The Luna Project UK.

With reference to a most insightful LinkedIn post written by Thapi, we reflect on her life with diabetes including her

• diagnosis
• feelings of loneliness and isolation despite massive parental support
• time when she lived in denial of having diabetes
• other chronic conditions, bipolar disorder and vitiligo
• feeling that diabetes does not define a person with diabetes
• study of law and how it supports her advocacy work
• experiences of doctors with differing treatment approaches to diabetes - what worked and what did not
• self-management enablers - Dexcom continuous glucose monitoring and social media support
• wish for health professionals to be open to dialogue and to be patient in facilitating the care journey
• insight that understanding the relationship a person living with diabetes has with their condition is so important
• need to travel outside her province to access good diabetes care
• international and women's health advocacy work

Remember that we want to hear from you! If you have any questions, suggestions, comments or contributions for future episodes, or if you would like to advertise on this podcast, please email us @ Podcast@CDEDiabetes.co.za

For health professionals working in diabetes

The CDE Academy Foundation Course in Diabetes Care for Health Professionals is a real-world-applicable online learning experience at one’s own pace. It can be accessed 24/7/365 and offers 30 CPD points. More information on this challenging, cutting-edge Course and registration available @ https://academy.cdeonline.co.za/