About Diabetes

Diabetes refers to a number of metabolic conditions in which there is a deficiency of the hormone insulin, or the body cannot use the insulin it produces, or both.

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Diabetes Online Community

People with diabetes, together with parents of children with diabetes and spouses and siblings of people with diabetes, often seek and provide information and support online. The Diabetes Online Community — sometimes referred to as "the DOC" or "the D-OC" — is a loose organization of bloggers, forum users, members of social communities, authors and users of diabetes-oriented Web sites, Facebook users and groups, and Twitter users who discuss their lives with diabetes, comfort each other when the usual diabetes-management tactics fail, share tips for making sure children with diabetes are safe at school, organize fund (and supply) drives for those in need — especially in emergencies, advocate for people with diabetes, and in short, provide the same sort of "neighborhood" online that many of us have (or have had) "offline".

DOC Member Sites

There are literally tens of thousands of people who are active in the diabetes online community in one way or another, and thousands of URLs. The selection below is but a small sampling of what is available out there.

If you're not connected to us yet, take a look around, listen for a site or a community that resonates with your approach and attitude, and join in the conversaton.

The Diabetes Resource

This is an omnibus directory of diabetes-related sites which provide health information, sell supplies and accessories, bring people with diabetes together, and provide support for people with diabetes.

dLife®

Starting off as an online/offline resource for people with diabetes, dLife includes a weekly cable television show as well as a site which includes health information, videos, blogs, forums, and a social community for people with all types of diabetes, as well as resources for healthcare professionals.

Diabetes Hands Foundation (DHF)

The DHF is the parent organization behind the TuDiabetes and EsTuDiabetes communities for people with diabetes and those who care bout them. (EsTuDiabetes is the Spanish-language community; TuDiabetes is mostly English-speaking.) DHF also sponsors a number of diabetes awareness projects, including the Diabetes Advocates program and the Big Blue Test.

Juvenation

A project of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), Juvenation is a social network aimed specifically at people with type 1 diabetes.

Children With Diabetes (CWD)

CWD is one of the most comprehensive sites for the parents of children with diabetes. It includes information about managing type 1 diabetes, including how to work with one's child's school district to manage his diabetes at school). There is also a lot of support from other parents of children with diabetes. CWD also sponsors the country's largest conference for children with diabetes and their families.

Diabetes Social Media Advocacy (DSMA)

DSMA is a loose organization of people who use social media — including blogging, Facebook, and Twitter — to provide support to other people with diabetes, to advocate for improvements in the availability, affordability, and effectiveness of the medications, devices, and methods used to treat diabetes, and to support efforts towards curing diabetes. Activities include a Wednesday night Twitter chat (hashtag #dsma) and a Thursday night call-in Internet radio show.

DOC On Twitter

Lists of the Twitter nicknames of members of various diabetes-oriented communities can often be found within on those communities' pages. TuDiabetes has a specific group for this, "Twitterbetics". In addition, some bloggers have "Twitter Rolls" (the Twitter nicknames of subscribers to their blogs) on their sites.