Stress making your sugars wonky? It ALWAYS kicks mine up a notch.

1/10/2012 10:43:59 PM

http://www.diabetesmine.com/2012/01/diabulimia-a-powerful-memoir.html

WOW! I have seriously thought like this before. I have never done it and I actually did get pretty sick at one point in college right before I got married because I wasn't taking my insulin correctly (overwhelmed and Laziness at that point). I did not know it has a name now.

An eating disorder: diabulimia. Glad they wrote about it.

1/11/2012 12:56:58 PM

Yeah stress is making my blood sugars fly all over the place. Diabeetus hates freedom. On the plus side, I just found a better deal on the mortgage and will soon (hopefully <2 weeks) be able to close on this house. Doesn't need to take but so long since I've got the insurance/purchase contract sorted out already. Just need the bank to approve it and to get an appraisal.

1/11/2012 8:39:25 PM

^^is that when you purposely don't take your insulin so your kidneys will get rid of your blood sugar instead of it being stored? That's very hard on the kidneys!

1/11/2012 8:56:41 PM

It is purposefully not taking insulin to raise your blood sugar and then go into ketoacidosis. Or what you said.

1/11/2012 10:11:58 PM

http://www.diabetesmine.com/2012/01/sernova-improving-on-the-edmonton-protocol.html

1/23/2012 10:53:42 AM

I think it's pretty bizarre that one day I might get a scrotum filled with islet cells sewn into my gut. A solution is a solution, I suppose.

1/31/2012 11:33:24 PM

2/5/2012 12:30:37 PM

when I have a low, I find that swedish fish really get my sugar back to normal REALLY quick. So I guess those must be really bad to eat normally. I don't ever eat them normally because the couple of times I did, my sugars were insane.

3/2/2012 4:39:59 PM

Same here. They're tasty, but I kind of don't allow candy into my house any more. Like, I never buy it.

Or ice cream.

Or cake.

They're a once a month thing these days. :/

3/2/2012 8:47:19 PM

I am ok with ice cream. Not too bad with cake but we never eat that anyway. But candy, I have a bag of gummy bears in the house at all times for lows. That is the only time I eat them...Ken on the other hand, he is a sugar head.

We just happened to have swedish fish because Ken's parents know that about me. They are thoughtful people.

3/2/2012 9:17:52 PM

Ugh, I got the "you have diabetes? but you're so thin" line from a type 2 diabetic.

How are people who have diabetic problems so ignorant about shit like this?

3/17/2012 12:59:49 AM

A1C: 5.4!

down from 10+ 2 years ago!!!

3/28/2012 12:00:01 PM

that's awesome

wtg

3/28/2012 1:24:10 PM

WOW!! GG! I want mine to be that.

3/28/2012 1:26:43 PM

Any of ou folks happen to visit me at rex tonight???

3/31/2012 5:30:08 AM

Not me and I hope not!!

3/31/2012 9:16:58 AM

My A1c was 6.8. I consider this acceptable given how things have been going. :V

Hoping to get it lower now but it is quite the pain in the ass to do so.

3/31/2012 9:38:42 AM

Punchmonkey posted this on my FB wall but not here, so: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12127744-caffeine-protects-against-brain-degeneration-in-diabetes

Quote :

"Badly controlled diabetes is known to affect the brain, causing memory and learning problems and even increased incidence of dementia. How this occurs is not clear but a study in mice with type 2 diabetes has discovered how diabetes affects the hippocampus, causing memory loss, and also how caffeine can prevent this. Curiously, the neurodegeneration that Rodrigo Cunha, from the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology of the University of Coimbra in Portugal, sees as [a] result of diabetes is the same that occurs at the first stages of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, suggesting that caffeine (or drugs with similar mechanisms) could help them too. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for about 90% of all diabetic cases, is a full-blown public health disaster – 285 million people affected worldwide - 6.4% of the world population - with numbers expected to almost double by 2030, without counting pre-diabetic individuals. The problem is that the disease is triggered by obesity, sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits (although there is also a genetic predisposition), all of which are increasingly widespread. In the new study, João Duarte, Rodrigo Cunha and colleagues take advantage of a new mouse model of diabetes type 2, which, like humans, develops the disease in adults as result of a high-fat diet, to look at one of the least understood complications of diabetes – the disease effect on the brain, more specifically, on memory. They also investigate a possible protective effect by caffeine as this psychostimulant has been suggested to prevent memory loss in a series of neurodegenerative diseases, maybe even in diabetes, although how this happens is not known. when we consider that coffee is the world leading beverage right after water, with about 500 billion cups consumed annually, this effect, if true, needs to be better understood."

Snipped the rest out, blahblah.

Also, as a result of the ulcer I have healed from I'm now 20 lbs lighter and have seemingly better blood sugar control.

5/13/2012 10:45:07 PM

Yeah. I hope this caffeine thing could work for type 1s as well.

I am so glad your ulcer is better! How did you lose 20 lbs? WOW. You know if we are sick at all our sugars are crazy. Immunity problems are ftl.

5/13/2012 10:47:43 PM

I lost 20 lbs by not drinking any more beer, going on a restricted diet, eating twice a day, and eating about 2/3-3/4 what I used to be able to eat at meals. Worked pretty fast. :V

5/14/2012 1:00:13 AM

BUMP, because I just found this thread, I guess I never paid it any attention until I actively searched.

Well, for the past week, we've been struggling with above average mg/dL readings for my little girl (200-300) because she has a touch of a sinus infection.

She's still honeymooning, so we can't go the pump route yet (or so says our Endocrinologist). The 1/2 unit pen has been helpful, but highs are almost unavoidable when we typically round to the nearest 20% or so. (doses average between 2 and 3.5 units)

Earlier in the week BCBS enlightened us to mail order supplies so we're not paying through the nose on durables. Also, Wake Med Outpatient Pharmacy has Humalog and Lantus cheap cheap.

9/19/2012 2:33:17 PM

that's tough

9/19/2012 2:47:32 PM

The really scary part is the unknown of the repurcussions of having her blood glucose taking such wild swings.

punchmonk, Mindstorm, have either of you read anything about how high sugars affect development? Particularly in a young child?

Currently, our target is between 100-200, with optimum being 150. This sounds kindof high, but since she only eats 30-50 grams of carbs per meal, and only receives 2-3 units of insulin per meal, the margin of error is pretty high, so we can't lower her targets due to running the risk of her being low. (this is speculation. I've never had this discussion with her doctor, but I think I will bring it up at her next appointment to get his take). Couple the margin of error with the fact that she is not yet to the point where she can tell us how she feels and it is really scary. We almost ALWAYS round her insulin down.

This is a typical schedule. I'd love some input/criticism.

7:30-8:00am Wakeup
8:00am Pre-breakfast check
8:00-8:30 Breakfast
8:30am Breakfast Bolus
12:00pm Pre-Lunch check
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30 Lunch Bolus
12:30-3:00 or 3:30 Nap
Low to no carb snack when she wakes
6:00p Pre-Dinner check
6:00-7:00 Dinner
7:00 Dinner Bolus & Lantus
7:00-7:30 Bath/Bedtime Routine
7:30 Bedtime
12:00a Midnight Check (if there is reason for concern - waking up high/low/changing formulas)

Any pointers? Concerns?

Unrelated, I was watching Revolution the other night and it crossed my mind, how would one prepare for doomsday/power grid failure/etc. if they were diabetic, without refridgeration, more insulin, etc?

9/19/2012 9:21:33 PM

I don't have much input on development. Insulin is the key to let nutrients into the cells so I would think that development might be hindered. The body is so stinking complex. I do know that having your body out of whack all the time does not bode well for your future health. I have said it before and I will say it again, it sucks so bad doing for your body what your body is supposed to do for itself. I can see why you are so scared.

I am on a pump so I constantly have a basal drip flowing in so I have to eat small low carb snacks throughout the day when I am not eating a solid small meal. A lot of times, if I eat too many carbs during the day, I make a meal that is no carbs and then have a 30g carb snack before bedtime just to make sure my basal drip doesn't make me go low in the night. I know that a baby's sugar is way different than a kid's, a teenager's, a young adult's, and someone like me so I don't know if you should change something in her schedule. I hope they have you a nutritionist helping you with her day. I do know that my body is changing all the time so unfortunately, you will get to a point where you will find relief and then you might have to do some minor to major tweaking in her schedule to help try to keep her balanced.

I am never any good help, I feel, but I am some solid support if you ever need to vent. This difficulty will eventually be second nature so the unpredictability of the disease will then follow suit and be less alarming.

You guys are my heroes.

9/19/2012 11:15:47 PM

Saturday, we walked in our first JDRF Walk to Cure Type 1 Diabetes. Ava was one of, if not, the youngest there with the disease.



Her shirt says, "Ava is so sweet it makes her sick"

11/13/2012 3:07:29 PM

So awesome.

11/14/2012 9:35:28 AM

Coolness, man.

Also, uh regarding your earlier question about diabetes affecting development, I'm not quite sure. I got it when I was 17 and we didn't have to talk much about how it'd affect me because I was past all that. Honestly unless she's in the glycosuria zone all the time and sick and thirsty and peeing all the time I don't think it's going to cause that much in the way of physical problems. The human body is pretty damn resilient even with dumbabeetus attacking it constantly. Also, the fact that you all have a schedule for her is a great thing and I don't see any issues with that schedule (I'm not a parent, let me throw that out there). If she's got a structured and reasonably consistent schedule she will be just fine. Once she has a pump that can even fluctuate a little and she'll still be fine.

Also, on your unrelated note about what I will just describe as the apocalypse (end of society, let's say, or at least a serious interruption in it), I expect most diabetics have a plan for about 6 months if they have good health insurance. After those six months they're screwed and there's no way they're going to get more supplies and insulin without stealing. After about two years most of the insulin that was made would probably start to lose its potency even for the most aggressive diabetics out there who managed to get their hands on supplies. After that we'd all die. I, for one, would just use my supplies until they ran out then blow my brains out in the bathtub. Happy happy.

11/16/2012 6:27:17 PM

We have a years worth of insulin right now. Most of it expires in 2015

11/17/2012 9:46:56 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlNsak3UWWg&feature=player_detailpage

Embed Please.

1/4/2013 2:49:05 PM

1/4/2013 2:57:18 PM

so cool! I want to be a cyborg!

2/9/2013 6:25:33 PM

Quote :

"We have a years worth of insulin right now. Most of it expires in 2015"

You probably already know this, but keeping it cold will extend it's life.

What my Dad does to guarantee it stays cold is use one of those mini-coolers that hooks up to your car through the cigarette lighter. In case of a disaster in which the powergrid is knocked out, it will at least buy you some time, because it hardly strains the car battery at all.

2/9/2013 7:36:09 PM

^We keep it in the fridge, and have backup power

2/21/2013 6:58:06 PM

cure time again

http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/2013/02/18/gene-therapy-cures-dogs-of-type-1-diabetes/

Quote :

"Diabetes is characterized by high blood sugar. The cause of high blood sugar differs for people with type 1 versus type 2 diabetes. For type 1 diabetics, the pancreas produces little or no insulin, the hormone responsible for lowering blood sugar. For type 2 diabetics, tissues in the body are not responsive to insulin, termed insulin resistance, resulting in persistently elevated blood sugar. Muscle tissue is the main site of glucose disposal in the body and therefore, the main site of insulin’s action. Researchers from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain had developed a successful technique of reversing diabetes in mouse models by creating a glucose sensor in the animal’s muscle. They accomplished this through gene therapy to induce the expression of insulin along with the glucose-sensing enzyme glucokinase. In mice, this treatment lowered blood sugar by increasing uptake of glucose into muscle tissue. In a new study published online in Diabetes, the authors report using the same technique to lower blood sugar in type 1 diabetic dogs! The genes for glucokinase and insulin became incorporated into the animal’s DNA and the technique was effective for over 4 years after treatment. This was reportedly the first instance of this technique being successful in the chronic treatment of diabetes in a large animal model. In fact, they state that the animals no longer needed medical treatment for their diabetes and did not experience pathologically lowered blood sugar when they exercised. More research is required to determine if a similar treatment would work in humans."

3/6/2013 9:07:29 PM

WOW! Oh man! Getting closer and closer. It makes me so giddy! I want to be able to work out without my sugars being all over the place. I finally found a way to exercise that I LOVE and want to get waaaaaay better at doing and I have the hardest time with it because of my stupid glucose levels.

To be somewhat normal in that regard would be awesome!

3/6/2013 10:26:12 PM

http://www.youtube.com/v/RJGNctH26hI?hl=en_US&version=3

plz to embed

just saw this come across Facebook. A cure is closer every day.

[Edited on March 6, 2013 at 10:29 PM. Reason : .]

3/6/2013 10:27:02 PM

HOLY SHITBALLS!! That is amazing!!!!!

3/6/2013 10:35:29 PM

3/6/2013 11:07:23 PM

Ava is 2 today. 10 months ago, I wasn't sure this day would come.

[Edited on May 23, 2013 at 10:36 AM. Reason : .]

5/23/2013 10:36:28 AM

That is a great photo.

5/27/2013 2:08:40 AM

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/health/blog/2013/06/13/boston-childrens-hospital-found-the-root-cause-of-diabetes/

what the what?

6/18/2013 2:06:06 PM

saw that today

my mombo is type I insulin dependent (pump) and was diagnosed when she was ~39. I'm basically her genetic twin so most of my life I've been preparing for my diagnosis

6/18/2013 2:43:31 PM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23064897

Type I vaccine?

6/26/2013 10:54:19 PM

WOW!!!!

6/26/2013 11:16:15 PM

I got my new insulin pump without even having to speak to my insurance company. However, it will cost me a decent amount.

Who cares about that though, I'm just glad to have this thing back on a 4 year warranty so that I'm not at constant risk of being without that which keeps me alive for about a week waiting for a replacement.

9/16/2013 11:48:56 PM

The race for the artificial pancreas
September 18, 2013 | By Michael Gibney

Quote :

"Treatment options currently available to diabetics are limited to imperfect solutions, as both patients and caretakers will attest. Painful, bulky, time-consuming insulin delivery methods abound, and the industry knows it. Therefore, the company that finds an all-in-one solution that makes life easier for patients with diabetes also knows there's a payday in store. Cue the artificial pancreas. The drug delivery device--combining an insulin pump with a glucose monitor for complete, automated control over insulin dosage--has occupied the sights of several big names in the diabetes arena, giving rise to several iterations currently moving forward in clinical trials. But who is ready to land the coveted approval first? And is the technology effective enough to facilitate an immediate payoff? Johnson & Johnson The device: Hypoglycemia-Hyperglycemia Minimizer System (HHM) Johnson & Johnson's ($JNJ) Animas division took an early lead in 2011, as its Hypoglycemia-Hyperglycemia Minimizer System (HHM) became the first to reach feasibility studies. And at this year's June meeting of the American Diabetes Association in Chicago, the company revealed positive results from a second feasibility study of adults with Type 1 diabetes showing that patients maintained a healthy blood glucose range overnight with the device. In the small, 20-patient study, Animas showed that its HHM could keep patients within a healthy blood glucose range for over 90% of the night, and fewer than half of the patients dropped below that level at all. But soon after J&J kicked off its success in the field, other companies like Medtronic ($MDT), Becton Dickinson ($BDX) and Tandem Diabetes Care entered the fray, bringing their respective technologies into the development and trial processes, as well, to close the gap. Medtronic The device: MiniMed At the same ADA meeting in June, Medtronic touted two versions of its MiniMed device, one that is an early version of the artificial pancreas and one that is a true closed-loop system. The company revealed positive results from a 247-patient study of its integrated system that pairs continuous glucose monitoring with insulin infusion--not quite an artificial pancreas, but using the same concept to automatically regulate insulin levels. Its other MiniMed pump uses a complete closed-loop system, and the company began enrolling up to 85 patients in a study of overnight use. Read more: The race for the artificial pancreas - FierceDrugDelivery http://www.fiercedrugdelivery.com/special-reports/race-artificial-pancreas#ixzz2fMiD1GxG"

[Edited on September 19, 2013 at 2:41 PM. Reason : .]

9/19/2013 2:40:42 PM

Jazzercise Fuquay-Varina Fitness Center is holding a Special Benefit Class in honor of my daughter, Ava, and in support of her JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes team, Tu-Tu Sweet. All proceeds will benefit our team to raise money and awareness in support of a cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

http://conta.cc/19nMwmP

10/10/2013 3:50:19 PM