Category: Blog

GlucoBoy brings blood sugar monitoring to GameBoy – Engadget – www.engadget.com

Hook this sucker up to the wireless reporting gizmo and you’ve got a SUPER winner!

Just saw the new dentist. He was very pleased no pain. Cancelled the root canal and wants to watch it a month before he does fillings.

Of course that makes Nov. 15th fun filled. Sleep doctor and dentst in the same day. I should see a shrink instead of the CDE.

Got my Depo shot today.

Supposedly some diabetics see some changes in blood sugar with depo but I don’t. However, I’ve been on it for over 12 years.

I also don’t see monthly swings since Depo suppresses the cycle. I haven’t had a period in over 10 years. It’s very nice.

Between the two days without exercising, the 5 days of not controlling my eating, a slight infection from the broken tooth, and the lack of tight control because the Treo wasn’t working, my insulin resistance has obviously increased. At least obviously to me.

So, being the anal computer junkie I am, I downloaded the TDI (Total Daily Insulin usage) from my pump and plugged the last fourteen days into a spreadsheet I’ve designed from the charts in the “Pumping Insulin” book by John Walsh.

I took the resulting carb to insulin ratio and correction ratio and plugged those numbers into my Palm pilot’s EzManagter program.

(Note: yes, I know I’m a geek)

There was a massive change, so I grabbed my glucowatch and slapped it on my wrist — by the way, this time I’m using IV Prep — which is slightly tacky with the Cortozone spray and the burning sensation is very mild.

The glucowatch is showing trends similar to what I am seeing with my blood sugar monitor. I have done a couple of extra calibrations, to ensure that.

Nice to have the technology working with me.

Being without my Treo has really brought home to me that there is control and there is control.

I’ve been guestimating and as a result my blood sugar has been higher than I like. Several times after meals, I’ve had to adjust — and guestimate again, and those fractions of a unit make a huge difference.

That is the difference between MDI and the pump. it’s not just the basal rate though that is part of it.

It’s being able to eat a meal and put in 1.8 units of insulin and having a blood sugar of 140 2 hours later. If I have to put in 1.5 I’m 180 or higher, and if I have to put in 2.0 then I’m risking going low before my next meal.

The basal has a lot to do with it too. Trickling in rapid insulin all day in micodoses has got to be better than relying on buffered insulin. I know it is for me.

Though I do sense that control is easier for a Type 2 as more of our encron. system is working.

The differance in display was my fault. I took the default display rather than adjusting for my vision. now that I have fixed that i’m fine.

Hope they get this ironed out quick. Basically their suspend alarm isn’t working as documented.

Mine — a IR1000 — hollars at me every few minutes, which is handy when you disconnect to go to the hot tub, and you have your glasses on and they are fogged. Taking them out doesn’t help, because you can’t sen then either.

Animas Corporation – Important Safety Information

I think, in fact, I’m pretty sure a dentist gave me Vioxx for a few days after a root canal.

This isn’t the first drug I’ve taken that’s been pulled. Fen-Fen — which I took for a week and hated the dry mouth … and I was on a gastric reflux medication that was pulled, I can’t remember the name, but man, did it work. I slept the best on that medication…

Vioxx Pulled From Global Market

Merck & Co., Inc., announced today a voluntary withdrawal of rofecoxib (Vioxx) from the U.S. and worldwide market due to safety concerns of an increased risk of cardiovascular events, according to an alert from MedWatch, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) safety information and adverse event reporting program.

Chronic Insulin Use Increases Risk of Colorectal Cancer in Type 2 Diabetics

Chronic insulin therapy significantly increases the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), according to the results of a retrospective cohort study published in the October issue of Gastroenterology.

Another difference between the two types is gone.

Type 2 Diabetics Not Immune to Diabetic Ketoacidosis

A significant portion of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) cases occur in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to the results of a review of admissions published in the Sept. 27 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. There are subtle differences from DKA in patients with type I diabetes, but the treatment is the same.
“An episode of DKA was once considered a hallmark feature that would differentiate individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus from those with type 2 diabetes mellitus,” write Christopher A. Newton, MD, and Philip Raskin, MD, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. “With the changes in the frequency of DKA and the increased incidence of DKA in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, the question may be posed of whether there has been any change in the clinical or laboratory characteristics of the patients with DKA who present to the emergency department.”