Category: Diabetic Issues

Diabetes Mine: Live from the Biggest Event in Diabetes, 2006

I’ll have to admit, even though I had a super weekend, I’m still envious of her trip. And I don’t even like to travel!

Diabetes Mine: ADA Product Roundup 2006

Go see what Amy’s up to!

I have some questions (and these should show up on her site, since this is a trackback).

So after seeing the Dexcom and Freestyle in person, which would you go for?

Which is your favorite meter since you’ve had your hands on a bunch?

parenthetic (diabetic)

dLife Today: Penny Wise and Pound Foolish?

A recent UK decision highlights one of the problems with universal coverage, and interestingly enough, it isn’t that different from an issue faced by Americans under many managed care programs – cost pressures that deny life-enhancing drugs.

This definately bit me in the rear when I first went on an insulin pump. My diabetes care and my life has improved significantly since I started pumping insulin. However, the HMO I belonged to, wouldn’t fund it, and I did it out of pocket. I’ll probably have to do the CGMS system out of pocket too, I just have to decide if it is worth it.

BBC NEWS | Health | Diabetes inhaler rejected for NHS

Insulin that can be inhaled rather than injected has been rejected by NHS advisers on grounds of cost.

Bet they are the only ones who will feel this way.

Quite a few people come by my website looking for information about Byetta, but since I haven’t done it, I can’t give much information on it.

There is a website devoted to Byetta at http://www.bettaweightloss.com

I’ve posted quite a bit about Symlin though.

Someone just commented on the blog and asked about diabetes dogs, and I want to give my thoughts on this. There are several issues.

The first is selling of dogs to assist people with medical issues. I know of no reputable organization that sells dogs to the handicapped. By reputable, I mean Seeing Eye Dogs, Guide Dogs of America and Canine Companions for Independence. There are lots of other organizations with similar goals, missions, and funding. What all of these organizations have in common, is that they are able to gain enough volunteer and monetary support to run their programs and service their users. The users of these dogs do not have an income that will warrant the purchase of such a dog.

Back when I was training K-9 police dogs, they went for $10,000 to $20,000. There are several reasons for that cost. First, training dogs is extremely labor intensive, as is training their handler. In addition, the police department is paying for future expertise as needed, both to update training AND for expert witnesses to go to court and testify in the team’s behalf. If you priced out the labor to train a guide dog or other assistance dog, it would probably exceed that cost. Thus the average family would never be able to afford it. That’s the reason for the volunteer and monetary support.

I’ve trained drug dogs, taught others to train dog dogs and certified dogs for drug detection. Here’s what it takes to train a detection dog — a repeatable circumstance that can be documented and trained for. I’m do not believe that a dog can be trained using Person’s A symthoms and be reliable for Person’s B sympthoms.

As a diabetic, I am not willing to be my life in the paws of other of my dogs. I have started to see that little Maggie sometimes reacts differently to me when I am low, but I think it is due to too factors: I’m searching for food, and I tend to fumble around more, so she sees it as an opportunity to get food. So here’s how I feel about the situation…

If your family wants a dog, get one. If you are lucky enough that the dog is observent enough to pick up on your sympthoms use that as another sign in your environment that you need to deal with your diabetes, BUT I don’t believe that you should rely on it 100%.

I also believe if your son is as poorly controlled as you say, your medical team should be using continuous monitoring and find out why your son is poorly controlled. I am not blaming you, I’m blaming your medical team. There is currently a 3-day sensor available (the precursors to the Guardian). I would also be bugging Medtronic and see if the guardian is a legimate answer for you. Frankly, I think a Guardian would be cheaper, even at its current price. Remember, you have to buy the dog, feed it and maintain its training.

Oh, and remember that maintaining the training is duplicating the exact conditions the dog needs to observe. And that’s the primary reason I won’t be involved in that kind of training for myself or others. I don’t want to go into that condition unless I have to.

BlogHer did a trackback to my site, in a post that made the following statement?

Diabetes: A Wake-up Call | BlogHer [beta]

In most cases, it can be prevented, so why aren’t we doing more to combat it?

ARGH! In most cases, it can be prevented? When will people get it through their thick heads that in most cases it can not be prevented.

First, she links to a bunch of other diabetes sites — those run by Type 1 diabetics, and we all know that Type 1 can’t be prevented until we can order our genetics and our environment.

I believe that it can’t be prevented in most Type 2 diabetics either. My genetics definately showed my doctors and I that Type 2 is coming, but I certainly wasn’t able to prevent gettiing it, and I really believe that it is today’s technologies that have kept me from cardio vascular complications so far, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t succumb too, just like my father and his parents.

There have even been some recent studies that seem to show that all we can really do is to delay the onset of Type 2 diabetecs, but not completely avoid it unless we die of something else first.

I’ve been taking insulin almost from the start.  Amy writes about the discussion at the ADA meeting at the following link.

Diabetes Monitor – ADA report: February, 2006

I personally prefer the control insulin gives me.  My only problem was with long lasting insulins because they don’t release smoothly — at least for me.  I will admit that I haven’t been on Lantus and it is supposed to be smoother. 

Of course, I went even further and went to the pump.  Makes it even easier to control.

This article interests me on a lot of different levels.

First, Verplank went to a Dallas ISD high school (not mind, but the closest one between mine and the house), and grew up at the country club down the street from our house. By the way, a good portion of our school’s golf team has already been in my CS classes.

I’m also interested in his strageties for competing and managing blood sugar, though we are in vastly different sports. Dog agility is a short burst of energy and long periods of sitting around.

Scott Verplank – Celebrities with Diabetes – Diabetes Health magazine

For Scott Verplank, staying on top of his diabetes with frequent blood glucose testing means staying on top of his game for the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour.