I’ve been reading him for some time, and really admire his opinion.
Blog
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Dr. Bernstein vs. the ADA
Personally I’m more on the Dr. Bernstein side than the ADA.
Diabetes Mine: Dr. Bernstein vs. the ADA
I’m a big fan of Bernstein, and he has helped me tremedously. However, I find eating his way very difficult. On the other hand, I think the ADA recommends way too many carbohydrates.
Right now, I’m kinda of balanced between the two. I try to eat a Bernstein style breakfast, I feel better when I do. I use a food service for the rest of the day, and do fine by them.
If I get an overwhelming, I’ve got to eat urge (usually after a sleepless night), I pick a Bernstein style type of snack which usually gets me past it. It’s also MUCH easier on the blood sugar.
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Doctors are our employees
I’ve told two people that this week, and I figure I need to tell the blog readers this too.
Remember something VERY important. Your doctor is your employee. If things are not going well, you need to tell the doctor that. For example, if you can’t get an appointment when you need him, if his employees treat you rudely, etc. you need to tell him.
Earlier this year, I was ready to fire my sleep doctor. The situation has been fixed though, and that relationship is going well.
Of course, as employers we also have to realize that things aren’t always as easy as we would like them to be.
One of my very good friends is cratering because of a medical condition. I was appalled to find out that she need Procretic, and she ordered it through Medco, our mail order service. Whenever I get a new drug, my doctors ALWAYS give me a sample, at least a weeks worth, that gives me a few days to make sure it’s what we want.
Then I get a 30 day script AND a 90 day script. I fill both scripts immediately, that way I won’t run out if Medco messes things up, and I have a couple week window on the refill.
This is the SMART way of handling new scripts.
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Melt-down
I had SEVERAL major melt downs today.
First, I’m still not mentally really good because while I am finally sleeping I’m still quite a bit behind. Sounds weird, I do this a lot, but I’m scheduling this weekend to get caught up that.
I got new computers in my classroom today, and it was real upsetting since I’m leaving it this school year, under protest, and it isn’t my idea. These are actually what kind of computers I would pick out for teaching my classes and have exactly the right software.
While moving me to a different subject might be better off for the school, right now, I can’t see it that way. I wish they could leave me alone and do what I do best.
I did do a fabulous job of getting things set up, but it always costs me a lot mentally and stress wise. Thus the melt dones.
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Recall
Got my Animas recall letter today. Knew it was coming. I’m definitely going to be proactive this round about the condition of the pump.
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Detection Dogs
A commenter posted this:
If those 3 kids are on NPH or a mixture instead of a modern regimen they may have a lot of highs and lows naturally. Plus, if she has them change clothes every time and keeps them in a ziploc for several training sessions she may have plenty of opportunities without doing it on purpose. Is that possible?
First if those three kids are having a lot of highs and lows, I’d be in the doctor’s office getting it fixed before I’d be worried about detection dogs. I’ve been there, done that, and frankly, that insulin regimin is for the birds. I will give that it would be easier for a child to deal with than an adult, since they didn’t know anything else. The problem with those regimens is that if you don’t do everything exactly right, you are going to have swings.
As to the training. When I trained detection dogs, we used an established training protocol which had been tested. We trained every day. Those of us in the group who either had permits or were police officers and had access to real drugs, trained with them daily. The ones who did not have access to real drugs, used synthethic daily that had been tested in the laboratory AND the field. We trained with real drugs once a week under supervision.
I have some problems with using the used clothing. Do we know for fact what the dogs are being trained for, is actually “in the clothing”? Has anyone tested to find out how long the scent actually does last? Since diabetes itself is barely understood, I’m not even sure anyone knows what scent we are looking for.
Note: after dogs started alerting to certain cancers, they did isolate what was being detected by the dogs.
There are two problems that I see with purchasing a diabetic detection dog. If the dog does a lot of false positives, the user of the dog is going to start ignoring the dog. If the dog does not alert when they should AND the user of the dog is relying on the dog solely to avoid lows and highs, some diabetic is going to end up in the hospital unnecessaily.
I have no problem with someone purchasing a dog or cat, or getting one from rescue or a shelter with the purpose of obtaining a companion THEN noticing that the animal alerts. I do have a problem with declaring that animal a service dog since the behavior cannot be safely and reliably tested.
I also do have a problem with the diabetic relying on that animal solely. See above paragraph.
Another issue with service dogs is that if that label is abused and I know it has been, legimate users of service dogs are going to suffer.
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Server problems
If you read the blog last night and it was behaving strangely, make sure you run a virus scan. I did, freaked, but no permanent damage was called.
Apparently for a short period of time the server had been hijacked. Everything is fine now, but it was a bit scary.
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DLife and Detection Dogs
I did post a shorter version of my blog rant on the DLife website forum under show feed back, and the DLife people also claim the low was accidental.
I still think it was very unfortunate that they included the kids low on the show.
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Animas Recall
I’m really worried about the recall, and I guess I shouldn’t be but…
When the battery cover on my IR1000 chipped, I was so relieved that they replaced the pump, I didn’t squawk when the replacement pump wasn’t in as good condition as my old IR1000.
The cover was a bit worn, along with the buttons, and it creeped me out a bit when I saw that, because I knew that someone else before me had worn it and didn’t take as good care as I do.
I think I’m going to tell them that when they call to schedule the delivery. Here’s what is going to happen. They will fix the pumps they have in stock and ship them out. Then when the patients return their old pumps, they will refurbish them, and update the software, and ship out those pumps. So I’m sure I’ll get a used pump.
So far, mine looks like it did when it came out of the box, and I expect the replacement to look the same.
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DLife and Detection Dogs again
Someone on the insulin pumpers list claimed to relay a post from the woman on DLife with the detection dogs.
The post claims they use clothing worn by one of the children when they went low and didn’t induce lows. It’s certainly not proof enough for me.
I still think raising 5 children and training 16 dogs are too much for any small group of people (I am assuming 2, but she may have some help).
I still think it was horrible that the kid was recorded for a TV show going low and that they showed the dog’s alert. I have certainly been left with a very negative impression of everyone involved.
I still stand by my earlier blog entry. I was certified both as a detection dog handler and as a trainer.
We don’t know enough about what is going on in diabetics to develop training methods to produce reliable dogs. Anyone selling such a dog is doing the public a diservice.