Daniel Sher • Clinical Psychologist • Diabetes Focus

31/07/2026

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18/07/2026

📖 Read our dear Lurina's latest blog about navigating the feeling of being overwhelmed while living with diabetes. 💙

Some days, the constant decisions, unexpected highs and lows, and emotional weight of diabetes can simply feel like too much. And that's okay. You're not alone in feeling that way.

In this heartfelt blog, Lurina shares an honest reflection on overwhelm, self-compassion, and the importance of giving yourself grace when things don't go as planned.

Read the full blog on our website www.dedoc.org/blog 📖

We'd love to hear from you: What helps you when diabetes feels overwhelming? Share your thoughts in the comments, you never know who might need to hear your perspective. 💬

16/07/2026

I am in full nerd mode today. I found a really cool study on glucose and cognition 🧠📈

Researchers followed 200 adults with Type 1 diabetes for 15 days. Participants completed brief cognitive tasks on their phones several times a day, while continuous glucose monitors tracked what their glucose was doing in real time.

The key finding was that larger glucose fluctuations were associated with slower and less accurate processing speed. In practical terms, people may take longer to process information, match symbols or respond quickly when their glucose is considerably above or below their usual level.

This is an important finding because glucose levels are a variable that many neuropsychologists, schools, universities and employers still overlook. It is also one reason I advocate for appropriate exam accommodations, including extra time, for people whose diabetes may affect their processing speed under certain conditions.

Cognitive performance does not occur in isolation from the body. A person with diabetes may perform differently because they are low, rapidly dropping, very high or experiencing significant glucose variability - not necessarily because they have a fixed cognitive weakness.

This is why, when I conduct cognitive testing with someone who uses a CGM, I review their glucose data alongside the assessment, and I include this data in their report. It provides essential context and helps ensure that the results reflect their underlying cognitive abilities as accurately as possible.

A neuropsychological assessment is a snapshot - not a verdict. Imagine completing testing after repeated overnight hypos, or while your glucose is rapidly rising or falling. You may appear slower, more inconsistent or less attentive than usual. Without understanding diabetes or reviewing your CGM data, an examiner could mistake a temporary glucose-related effect for a fixed cognitive problem. This is how people with diabetes get misdiagnosed with ADHD.

Before we label the brain, we need to check the glucose.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a chronic condition characterized by glucose fluctuations. Laboratory studies suggest that cognition is reduced when glucose is very low (hypoglycemia) and very high (hyperglycemia). Until recently, technological limitations prevented researchers from understanding how natur...

15/07/2026

This is my side-gig. When I'm not immersed in diabetes psychology, I'm thinking about brains 🥸

www.capecognition.co.za

30/06/2026

Language matters. Try to keep these terms in mind when describing a client or person with diabetes:

22/06/2026

A little announcement:

Diabetes psychology is my one true professional passion. But when I’m not talking about diabetes, I’m usually talking about brains. I’m a neuropsychology nerd, which basically means I spend a lot of time thinking about how people think, learn and function.

That interest eventually grew into Cape Cognition, a multidisciplinary assessment centre run by my lovely wife, Jessica Sher Speech Therapist . I am essentially her most enthusiastic (part-time) employee. Between the two of us, dinner conversations have a worrying tendency to drift toward brains, behaviour and assessment reports.

Together, we do deep-dive psychometric testing for children, teens and adults, looking at things like:

- ADHD and Autism assessments
- Neurodivergence mapping
- Learning and school-related difficulties
- Psychoeducational reports, (including exam concessions)
- Memory and dementia screening
- Head injury assessments
- Speech and language assessments
- Attention, planning and executive functioning

The nice thing about Cape Cognition is that we don’t just look at one piece of the puzzle. Jess brings the speech-language brain, I bring the neuropsychology brain, and together we try to make sense of the whole person: how they think, learn, communicate and cope in everyday life.

And for my diabetes people: don’t worry, I haven’t abandoned you. Diabetes psychology remains my main thing. This is just the other nerdy corner of my professional life.

In many ways, the work is connected anyway. Whether it’s diabetes, ADHD, autism, memory, learning or language, the goal is the same: to help people understand themselves better and walk away with practical, useful recommendations.

You can find out more here:

Clinical psychology, neuropsychological assessment, medicolegal assessment, and speech therapy services in Cape Town. Evidence based assessment and professional reporting.

15/06/2026

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05/06/2026