Is Joslin Diabetes Center Good for Type 2?

Over the last 10 full years that I have had type 2 diabetes, if you had asked me what my feelings were about Joslin Diabetes Center, I would probably have answered in a very positive way. However, over the last 15 months, I have become very disenchanted with Joslin.

Before people that have had positive experiences at Joslin become too vocal, I do believe Joslin serves the type 1 diabetes community reasonably well. Even having stated this, there are times when some of the “experts” employed at Joslin have expressed opinions that should make us wary of their sincerity.

Since I am a person with type 2 diabetes and have never been to the Joslin Diabetes Center, I can only speak about what I have read from the Joslin's Diabetes Deskbook, the Joslin blog, and other printed sources. Some information is excellent and some makes me wonder about why it was written.

One of the earliest Joslin blogs I linked to is this one about a better way to give an insulin injection. The author is identified and should be proud of her blog as I felt it was timely and people injecting insulin could learn good pointers by reading it. My latest blog on about Joslin blogger anonymity accurately expresses my frustrations.

While the Joslin Deskbook was reasonable, the more I review it, the more I am finding that I am in disagreement with some of the chapters and the policies that are not supported by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) or what I have read in other sources. Granted, I don't follow everything put out by the ADA, but I know that you need to start at some point until you realize that there are other facts and that one-size-does-not-fit-all solutions.

I had thought to do more blogs on the Deskbook (and I may), but in reviewing what I have written, I need to change my attitude as I developed a very negative attitude and really don't like to pass this on to my readers. An occasional venting can sometimes be beneficial, but not a series.

How do I know this? I had two of the more level heads in our support group read them. Both said I was too far on the negative side. They agreed with what I had written, but wisely suggested that I stick to more facts and let the reader evaluate the facts and keep my opinion to myself. They admitted that a couple of the blogs were going to be difficult because they agreed with what and how I had stated a couple of ideas.

They asked if I would attach them to an email and they would make notes in the blogs and suggest a few different ideas. It has been a week now and one of the two said he had read and reread the extract and then tried to write something. He became very frustrated because he felt like me that they did not pull things together as they should have, their ideas were too fragmented, and did not agree with an area in ADA 2013 guidelines. He asked how soon I needed them and I said I could wait and I had more to work on.  If I had a better idea by mid-April that would be good.