Category: Blog

I know a lot of diabetics are paranoid over the drug industry. The diabetic press is real bad about encouraging this paranoia — and might be the source. I know that a lot of articles question if the reason there isn’t a cure is that the drug companies are afraid they will lose market share on insulin, etc.

As I see it, it’s not the drug industry, but the trial lawyers.

Company X comes out with a new drug call it Y. It goes through the FDA pipeline — which is about a 10 year process.

They release Y to the public, and a small subset of the population has a side effect that they missed in clinical testing.

Then Company X gets sued, having to pay out a lot of money, and now Y isn’t profitable.

This actually happened to me. The only drug that has controlled my gastric relux is propulsid. Several doctors decided to prescription to populations that were not covered by the package directions and they got sick (I think heart related complications). The manufacturer wanted to avoid the lawsuits, so they pulled it off the market and all related medications have also been pulled. As a result, I no longer have access to that drug or any of the related drugs, and we can’t seem to control my GERD.

Head To Head Study: Pumps Versus Glargine and Fast Acting Insulin

Actually it isn’t because they went further than just finding out whether or not the patient perferred the pump. What they found out was that the patients had at least the same numbers, if not slightly better with the pump.

Someone in the diabetes network told me that a) the FDA isn’t approving pumps with more than 200 unit cartridges anymore and b) the Humalog had finally been approved for the pump — which a group of pump users are allergic to, me included.

I related this to my husband, who exploded — and you have to know him, he rarely reacts strongly to anything. He response? How can they regulate insulin so strongly but keep ephedra on the shelves.

Yeah, I want to know too.

First, cartridges cost money, and yeah, I’ll be reusing them. Second, changing insulin every day and a half is a pain. One of the reasons I have the pump I have, is that it is a 300 unit pump.

Also, I care about the humalog thing, because I’m afraid my insurance will try to push the Humalog issue. I’m sticking to state law, reminding the doctor endless I’m allergic to humalog, etc. Yeah, it’s $80 every 90 days instead of $50, but the crap makes me itch! Even injecting in the site makes me itch.

ARGH!

It’s been a rough 3 1/2 months — Rich broke his hip that long ago, and he’s still on crutches, but not here at the house anymore. He did do too much today, he says.

My health club shut down today. This is a very small, but extremely friendly place, just down the road from my house. It was owned by the Club Corp corporation and by Mack-Cali — the owners of the building. They jointly decided to close it — they are leaving equpment there, and it’s self-service for the employees of tenants of the building.

The good news is that they are moving the neighborhood members (and building tenants who want to join us), to the local country club. I’ve been working out there since they moved the big treadmills over, got a locker then laundry services yesterday. (So I have no excuses!)

They are promising new equipment and have already done some remodeling to accomodate us.

It’s just that I’ve never belonged to a country club, never imagined I would, and that’s all different to get used to.

They had a lovely wake for the club tonight.

Blood sugar numbers have just been fabulous this week. I’m a bit concerned as they are showing a bit low — I was at 98 when I got to the gym, and dipped to 86 even though I was doing sugar while working out — I REALLY hate that! (The doing sugar part).

But I still haven’t suffered a low since I got the pump.

Yeah, and today was my birthday. It’s a bit of a lousy time to have one with the club closing and Christmas close every year, but I’m stuck with the date.

Four Diets worked Equally

I posted on Dr DB’s blog tonight on this.

His commentaries on weight loss, nutrion, and exercise are of great interest to me. Especially his comments that he hasn’t been successful helping patients who are morbidly obese. I admit I keep looking for a cure on the internet.

Since I am (morbidly obese), and am approaching the deadline I gave myself on obesity surgery (though I may put it off further), I’m very interested in this issue.

I was able to lose 100 pounds during a very stressfree time period in my life. That changed when a good friend of mine was killed — Aubrey Hawkins — I gained the weight back during the weeks we were looking for his killers and during the time I was grieving for Peppermint Patty, a very very special dog.

Unforunately I react to stress by desiring food. I handled it better tonight than many others … I knew I wanted and needed something to eat, and managed to only eat onion soup — not a bad choice, took 1 1/2 units of insulin to cover it.

Anyway, I’m going to look at this information of the next few weeks.

EzManager has been updated, I’m not sure how, but I’m guessing it is working with the OneTouch Meters. They also may have added a meter.

Also, and this is cool! You can create your own pump cover. I’m thinking of a plain white with a little beagle cartoon, a graphic artist did of my Marcie when she was a puppy. See http://www.kweaver.org/pictures/pumpcover.jpg

And Animas is at http://www.animascorp.com

Continous Glucose Monitoring System

They anticipate PMA submission at the end of the year.

TheraSense | Investor Relations

Questions and Answers About Diabetes in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

FYI: Pump Wars are very similar in nature to Mac vs. PC wars. Remember that we are connected to our pumps 24/7, and that we become passonate about our pumps and their manufactures.

Medtronic MiniMed Press Releases – Corporate Information

I looked at the Minimed pumps and rejected them based on reservior size right away. I use 70-100 units of insulin a day, and their smaller size wasn’t an option.

More on another post.

Insulin Pump Is As Effective As Multiple Insulin Injections