My wife (a Type I diabetic since age 12) and I have recently been given
the thumbs up from her physician to conceive.  Her ha1c is in the 7 range
and she keeps tight control of her BG by testing 5-6 times daily and
regulating with ultra-lente and regular.  We’re thrilled to be able to go
ahead, but still experience a bit of trepidation regarding this big step.
Can anyone out there provide some first-hand experience on diabetes and
childbirth?  Any response is greatly appreciated.  In particular, we’re
interested in how successful (i.e. rigid) you may have been in keeping
your BG under tight control.  Even now (not being pregnant) it’s a
struggle for us, and on occasion, her BG can (for a short time) jump into
the 200+ range.  By the way, we’re new to this internet thing, but think
the misc.health.diabetes group is a wonderful source of
information/support.  Thanks in advance for any feedback.  

Hopeful parents to be (wg…@aol.com)

My dad seems to think I drink an uncommonly large amount of sodas, etc.
I think he may be right, but we’d like to hear how much other people
w/ "dia-pee-pees" drink. My guess is that he’s refering to days like yesterday
when I drank 1 gallon of (skim) milk, and  prob anywhere from 12 to 15
sodas, and maybe 5 or 6 (8 oz?) glasses of water. I don’t drink that
much everyday. Obviously my bg was a bit high (over 500). Yes, I do
try to drink water more than sodas, but you know some days I just get
sick of water. When I stop drinking sodas (I go in waves), it’s safe
to say I’ll drink anywhere from 1 to 3 gallons of water a day. The latter
of course is when I get sick- my bg’s like to stay nice ‘n high (over 500
is all I know when at home, when-ever I’ve been in the hospital, it’s
been measured anywhere from 600-800)and I still feel pretty normal,
except that all I do is drink and pee. Anyway, I can feel a babble (so
to speak – or type, I guess) episode coming on, so I’ll stop b4 I really
get going.
Please let us know how this compares with what y’all drink.

Sarah

Hi! My name is Lorraine and I am using my friends computer.  I would
like to know anyone out there who has diabetes and has experienced
kidney failure because of this if you are on dialysis, and are
considering a kidney transplant what your feelings are about the drugs?
I would also appreciate hearing from an M.D. on the subject of
transplants, and drugs.  I am very nervous about the medications and
their side effects.  Also do you know of dialysis centers in Toronto?

Please answer via E-Mail.

I recently had my entire diabetes kit inspected at BWI in baltimore. After
the hand inspection by the guard I discarded the insulin . He claimed that
it could not go through X-ray. He also contaminated the membrane on the
insulin bottle.

I sent a letter to the manager of Wackenhut security at BWI. He agreed
that the insulin could go through but that they are required to inspect
any and all liquids they detect. He said that it was up to me to tell the
guard how to handle the items.  If the guard had hepatitis (which I was
most concerned about)  or failed to wash his hands after using the
bathroom, I was concerned about being unable to clean the membrane on the
insulin bottle even with alcohol.

I have been through many other airports without this problem. It has only
occurred at BWI. I have always declared the diabetes test set, injectors
and insulin as well as any other electronic gear. Anyone else have this
problem?

As for now I plan to write to the Diabetes foundation with copies of
letters from the BWI security as well as my letter. For now I will drive
the 7 hours when I have business in the Baltimore area rather that subject
myself to the improper handling of my insulin and other diabetic
medications and equipment.

Please respond either to this return address or, preferably,
bernste…@rl.af.mil

thanks
Norm

check out the recipe section:

http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo

choose
HEALTH
DISEASES…
DIABETES

There is alos a set of FAQ, if you back up through this series

Also, lots of good information and pointers

michelle

Subject: Fenofibrate Research Study                                  

Hi all;

I recently got some info about a research study starting here on
Toronto that I thought might be of interest. The following is a brief
summary of their handout requesting volunteers. (Any errors or
misinterpretations are mine).

        Diabetes Atherosclerosis Intervention Study

Dabetics are 2 to 4 times as likely to develop coronary artery disease
than non-diabetics. Coronary atherosclerosis, the narrowing of the
arteries around the heart, is linked to increased blood cholesterol
and diabetes. Research in non-diabetics has shown that lowering
cholesterol levels is good, and can both slow the deterioration and
also unblock vessels, thus decreasing the risk of heart attack.

This is a double-blind 3-5 year study, involving 360 Type II diabetics
from 6 cities (3 in Canada, 3 in Scandanavia). The drug fenofibrate
(Lipidil) is effective at lowering cholesterol and is now available in
a new long-lasting (200 mg) format. Males & females, all with
moderately elavated cholesterol & triglyceride levels will be invited
to participate. Angiograms at start and finish, 1/2 the participants
on fenofibrate, rest on a placebo. Dieticians will put everybody on
low fat (>30%) diets, regular blood tests and check-ups.

I will not be able to participate in the study myself, but was curious
if anyone had any thoughts or observations. . . Mike

                                  //// michael.wal…@CANREM.COM ////

 * 1st 2.00b #1853 * May the bluebird of happiness fly up your nose.

Recently I participated in a clinical trial of the dream-beam.  The dream-
beam is a device to measure BG by using laser to assess BG levels.  I’m afraid
I don’t have a lot of info about this, but I’ll tell what I did find out.
It is reasonable portable:  it is about 5 or 6 inches tall, about 3.5 inches
wide, and about 1.5 to 2 inches thick.  It does not appear to need to be
calibrated to each individual.  The machine requires only that the proper sized
finger receptacle be found for the individual’s finger size (this is a
simple process taking all of about 20 seconds, and need only be done once
unless your finger grows).  The index finger of the left hand is placed into
the receptacle which is on the left side of the machine.  The thumb and other
fingers must be positioned in certain other places on the machine–presumably
to avoid extraneous readings.  It takes about 10 seconds to get a reading.
The trial I went to is supposed to be the final clinical trial before
submitting the final product to be approved for the open market.  Apparently it
is hoped that the machine will be available by the end of October of this
year, but I guess given bureaucracy I would be surprised if that happened.
I’m afraid I do not have any idea of what the cost will be, but apparently they
believe it will be about the same as one year’s supply of test strips.  Not a
very hard figure given the vast variation, but perhaps that gives some idea.
Anyway, it is my feeling that these guys are very close and that within a year
we will see these start to show up on the market.

A number of people have asked me how to access the
Diabetes Knowledgebase WEB server, so here are very
brief instructions:

The Diabetes Knowledgebase is a collection of documents
that have been specially coded so that they can be
displayed by a World-Wide-Web (WWW or just WEB) client
program after it has retrieved them from the Diabetes
Knowledgebase WEB server.

To access the Diabetes knowledgebase WEB server and view
the files you need a WEB client program.  Two of the best
programs avaliable are Mosaic and Netscape.  Both are
avaliable in Windows, Unix and Mac versions.  You can
get via anonymous FTP from:

Mosaic:  ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu  (in mosaic directory)

Netscape: ftp2.mcom.com   or  ftp.mcom.com  (in Netscape directory)

(Windows versions are available via ftp from islet.medsc.wisc.edu
when I remember to turn on the ftpd server software.)

In order to use either program you need a TCP/IP stack running
on your computer.  If you don’t know whether you have this,
contact your network provider and they will assist you.

After you have retrieved Netscape or Mosaic, unarchive the
program files and install the packages following the provided
instructions. (You will need pkunzip for this.)

Once installed you can try to access the Diabetes knowledgebase.

From the file menu, select: Open location (netscape) or Open URL
(Mosaic).

In the dialog box type:  http://islet.medsch.wisc.edu

Click on <OK>

You should now be connected to the Diabetes Knowledgebase and
the Table of Contents should be displayed on your WEB Client.

Have fun,
Don

–
Donald A. Lehn, Ph.D.                    Phone (work): (608) 263-7668
Medical Sciences Center / 3415                 (home): (608) 277-1025
University of Wisconsin Medical School         (fax):  (608) 263-9300
1300 University Avenue                                              
Madison, WI 53706-1532             Internet: dal…@facstaff.wisc.edu
***  Spider:Diabetes Knowledgebase – http://islet.medsch.wisc.edu ***

I was put on Lopid (I actually got a generic called gemfibrozil, I assume
it is the same) last year after being diagnosed with an extremely high
triglyceride problem.  I was informed by my physician today that my HDL
was too low.  I had read somewhere that this was a side effect of Lopid.
My physician disagrees and says that this drug is one of the few that
preserves (fairly well) the HDL level.  Can anybody tell me what the story
is?…I know that I read the info that came with the drug and this is
where I may have read about this lowering effect.  

Dan, type II

After reading advice given on another thread I began wondering if we can
work on something positive to give to our significant others.  
Could we build a list of little things that get us back on track (or
keep us on track) without driving us crazy?

My favorite hubby statement…
"Thank you for watching what you ate when we went out to dinner.  It made
me happy to see you take such good care of yourself."

Least favorite statement…
"What are your numbers."

CindyB