When I was first diagnosed it not only scared me but it also made me wonder how people were going to treat me. I was sixteen years old and in my junior year of high school. It was in October of 2000, the week of homecoming and I had been having some symptoms for over a week. My mom decided that I needed to get into the doctor's office and quick. I went to my primary care physician and talk to him about what was going on. When they tested my blood glucose, it was not able to be read on the meter. According to their meter it meant that it was over 550. Later on I found out that it was nearing 800 and I shouldnt have even been able to walk into the doctor's office. I was admitted to Mercy Medical Center in Mason City Iowa and started on insulin and a carbohydrate diet. I was there for 3 days. The first was to bring my blood glucose under control and the second was the starting of a series of diabetes education classes. I left the hospital scared to return to school with the fear of what people were going to say. I knew there was other diabetics in the school system but she was popular and I wasnt. I didnt return to school for a day and went to work with my mom so she could watch over me. Luckily she worked for the Foster Grandparents Program for the school so they were very understanding or so we though.
I went back to school and was very supported by what friends that I did have. Though there were some that didnt come around me anymore and that showed who my true friends were and were not my friends. I had people that were narrow-minded enough to say that I was shooting up because I tend to bruise badly when I have blood or IVs put into me. Those people were silenced. Everything went good until I started getting depressed about things going on.
February 2001, I was hospitalized for depression...the doctors said the cause was because of the fact that I wasnt dealing with the diabetes like a normal person should. What's normal? I know a lot of people have different view points of what normal is and I thought I was handling it just fine. According to them I wasnt. That started a lot of different things with that and has recently (November 2006 diagnosis) brought a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder.
School got harder especially with the school faculty not dealing with the students' harassing me and not wanting to be supportive of me being a diabetic. All were supportive of the popular girl (who was also the Superintendent's daughter and will remain nameless). I guess that's what having money and being the superintendent's daughter brings the perks of...a supportive school faculty and non-supportive to those who dont have money or are not the superintendent's daughter. It actually came to the point that the harassment was so bad I ended up dropping out of school late in my junior year of high school and getting my GED. Though I thought that was all of my troubles.
June, 2001...I got the intestinal flu, but the one thing that we were not educated enough with was sick days. I stopped taking my insulin shots when I was sick because I was unable to keep anything down including fluids like water. We feared that I would drop but never knew that I would eventually get to the point that I was in DKA. I was taken to the emergency room at Municipal Memorial Hospital in Charles City Iowa and then transferred to Mercy Medical Center by ambulance where I was taken to CCU. I was there a total of three days. I dont remember the first 24 hours of the stay. My mom said that she never wanted to see my blood pressure that low ever again. The lowest she said it got was 36/48 with pulse of 122. I should have been dead then. That's when the nurse told her to go home and get some sleep because they werent sure what was going to happen next. I was placed on bicarbonate while in there to help with it. Supposedly that's one of the last things that can be done when severe DKA strikes. We learned to always make sure that I take my insulin no matter if I eat or not.
I guess the first year of my diagnosis was very crazy and very hard to deal with. There's been other things now lately going on that I will post about later on.
Khaos Faerie
Friday, July 20, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Weight Loss Fad (continued)
I was diagnosed October of 2000. I was 16 years old and at that time had lost a lot of weight due to high blood sugars. I was in my junior year of high school. I had some problems when I was first diagnosed including hospitalization in CCU due to lack of blood sugar control which caused a lot of weight loss in June 2001. At that time I never thought it was a problem. I sometimes would skip my insulin at meals so whatever I would eat would get burned off. During the CCU stay I was in a coma most of the time. My mom said that she watched my blood pressure drop to the point I should have been dead. I was there for twenty-four hours and had to be placed on a Bi-carbonate treatment. Usually they can treat it with an insulin drip and IV fluids but when you go into a coma the Bi-carbonate treatment was the best route.
After I was out of CCU I meet with a diabetic educator to discuss precautions to prevent future episodes. That when I learned that this was something common that happened to females with Type 1 diabetes. I was told that they skip insulin shots to lose weight. Though I was also told then that I was in because I also had the intestinal flu which also caused high blood sugars so beginning only 17 then I thought that if I only did it every so often it would hurt me and I could still keep off the weight.
I went for a few years doing this and it wasnt until recently I started noticing side effects. I am now 23 years old and have the starting of diabetic neuropathy in my left foot and leg. This is causing a lot of problems with standing or walking for long lengths of time. I'm very sensitive to a lot of food and have to be very careful when I eat. Late April 2007-early May 2007 I was back in the hospital after my fiancee had to take me to the emergency room because I was very sick. I had to be sent to ICU for a 12 hour period to watch me because there are times that when the diabetes goes out of control it will cause other problems like how much oxygen you are getting your blood stream and you blood pressure will drop like what happened in CCU the first time I had this problem. I had been skipping my fast acting insulin shot more and only taking my long acting to lose weight again. It scared him a lot to see me so very sick and he wasnt sure what exactly was causing it. I know that what was causing it was because some of my choices I had made with my diabetes care, being not taking my fast-acting insulin when I was supposed to be. I talked to the doctor about this and they said that this is a common thing that happens with females especially with the way that today's society is with the appearance of females.
Both times were diabetic ketoacidosis episodes caused by a combination of things, but everytime me not taking my insulin to lose weight was a large contributing factor. I am now taking my insulin like I am supposed to be taking it. I am in the care of both a primary doctor and an endocrinologist through the diabetes center here in Utah. I still have the neuropathy in my left leg and foot and this will never go away. I can stop it from getting worse by taking care of myself. I can also prevent other further complications including eye sight loss and kidney function problems. There might be the possibility of neuropathy medications and medications for preventing kidney problems but that is it. Anymore now my typical day includes testing my blood sugar 4 times a day, shots 5 times per day (4 fast acting and 1 long acting). I work from 3pm to 11:30pm training to become a technical support agent for Dell computers. I take my fiancee to work at noon so I'm usually up at 10am. My eating habits are a little off because of the strange schedule that I have but I make sure that I take my insulin when I eat and test my blood glucose when I'm supposed to plus extra times during sickness. I have to make sure that the job that I have is a sit down job where I dont have to stand or walk for any length of time.
After I was out of CCU I meet with a diabetic educator to discuss precautions to prevent future episodes. That when I learned that this was something common that happened to females with Type 1 diabetes. I was told that they skip insulin shots to lose weight. Though I was also told then that I was in because I also had the intestinal flu which also caused high blood sugars so beginning only 17 then I thought that if I only did it every so often it would hurt me and I could still keep off the weight.
I went for a few years doing this and it wasnt until recently I started noticing side effects. I am now 23 years old and have the starting of diabetic neuropathy in my left foot and leg. This is causing a lot of problems with standing or walking for long lengths of time. I'm very sensitive to a lot of food and have to be very careful when I eat. Late April 2007-early May 2007 I was back in the hospital after my fiancee had to take me to the emergency room because I was very sick. I had to be sent to ICU for a 12 hour period to watch me because there are times that when the diabetes goes out of control it will cause other problems like how much oxygen you are getting your blood stream and you blood pressure will drop like what happened in CCU the first time I had this problem. I had been skipping my fast acting insulin shot more and only taking my long acting to lose weight again. It scared him a lot to see me so very sick and he wasnt sure what exactly was causing it. I know that what was causing it was because some of my choices I had made with my diabetes care, being not taking my fast-acting insulin when I was supposed to be. I talked to the doctor about this and they said that this is a common thing that happens with females especially with the way that today's society is with the appearance of females.
Both times were diabetic ketoacidosis episodes caused by a combination of things, but everytime me not taking my insulin to lose weight was a large contributing factor. I am now taking my insulin like I am supposed to be taking it. I am in the care of both a primary doctor and an endocrinologist through the diabetes center here in Utah. I still have the neuropathy in my left leg and foot and this will never go away. I can stop it from getting worse by taking care of myself. I can also prevent other further complications including eye sight loss and kidney function problems. There might be the possibility of neuropathy medications and medications for preventing kidney problems but that is it. Anymore now my typical day includes testing my blood sugar 4 times a day, shots 5 times per day (4 fast acting and 1 long acting). I work from 3pm to 11:30pm training to become a technical support agent for Dell computers. I take my fiancee to work at noon so I'm usually up at 10am. My eating habits are a little off because of the strange schedule that I have but I make sure that I take my insulin when I eat and test my blood glucose when I'm supposed to plus extra times during sickness. I have to make sure that the job that I have is a sit down job where I dont have to stand or walk for any length of time.
Insulin may trigger type 1 diabetes
Researchers have long puzzled over what causes the body to turn against itself in type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that destroys insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas. Now, two studies suggest that insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar concentrations, may itself be to blame.
Insufficient amounts of insulin clearly lead to the symptoms of type 1 diabetes, but researchers haven't known whether the hormone directly sets the immune system on its course to creating the disease. Other molecules, such as the enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase, may also play pivotal roles in this process, and any of these could become targets for new drugs.
"We know there are many targets in type1 diabetes," says George Eisenbarth of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. "The fundamental question is whether any one target is more important than any other."
Eisenbarth and his colleagues worked with mice genetically predisposed to develop type 1 diabetes even though the animals initially produce insulin. The researchers engineered some of the mice to produce an altered form of insulin that could regulate blood sugar yet remain below the immune system's radar screen. While the diabetesprone mice with normal insulin eventually developed the disease, those engineered to make altered insulin did not.
In the second study, David Hailer and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School in Boston isolated immune cells from patients with type 1 diabetes and analyzed the proteins that the cells latched onto. Half the isolated cells reacted to insulin, while immune cells from people without diabetes ignored the protein, the researchers found.
Both studies appear in the May 12 Nature.--C.B.
Source Citation:
"Insulin may trigger type 1 diabetes.(BIOMEDICINE)(Brief Article)." Science News. 167. 21 (May 21, 2005): 333(2). Student Resource Center - Bronze . Thomson Gale. Salt Lake County Library System. 3 July 2007.
Insufficient amounts of insulin clearly lead to the symptoms of type 1 diabetes, but researchers haven't known whether the hormone directly sets the immune system on its course to creating the disease. Other molecules, such as the enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase, may also play pivotal roles in this process, and any of these could become targets for new drugs.
"We know there are many targets in type1 diabetes," says George Eisenbarth of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. "The fundamental question is whether any one target is more important than any other."
Eisenbarth and his colleagues worked with mice genetically predisposed to develop type 1 diabetes even though the animals initially produce insulin. The researchers engineered some of the mice to produce an altered form of insulin that could regulate blood sugar yet remain below the immune system's radar screen. While the diabetesprone mice with normal insulin eventually developed the disease, those engineered to make altered insulin did not.
In the second study, David Hailer and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School in Boston isolated immune cells from patients with type 1 diabetes and analyzed the proteins that the cells latched onto. Half the isolated cells reacted to insulin, while immune cells from people without diabetes ignored the protein, the researchers found.
Both studies appear in the May 12 Nature.--C.B.
Source Citation:
"Insulin may trigger type 1 diabetes.(BIOMEDICINE)(Brief Article)." Science News. 167. 21 (May 21, 2005): 333(2). Student Resource Center - Bronze . Thomson Gale. Salt Lake County Library System. 3 July 2007
Mixed bag: islet-cell transplants offer good and bad news.
Several years after receiving experimental transplants of insulin-making cells, most people with diabetes still need dally insulin shots, a new study finds. But the transplanted cells that thrive in their new hosts prevent sudden drops in blood sugar that come without warning, a life-changing improvement for some patients.
People with type 1, or juvenile-onset, diabetes lose their insulin-making pancreatic cells when their immune systems attack the clusters, or islets, housing these cells. In a procedure called islet transplantation, physicians take islet cells from a cadaver and infuse them into the portal vein of a patient's liver, where the new cells start making insulin. That indispensable hormone orchestrates sugar metabolism.
In a study published in 2000 by researchers in Edmonton, Alberta, islet transplantation seemed to have cured seven patients with diabetes (SN: 9/2/00, p. 1563.
Now, in the Sept. 28 New England Journal of Medicine, an international team led by the Alberta researchers reports that only 6 of 36 type 1 diabetes patients receiving islet transplants no longer needed insulin injections about 3.5 years later. That suggests that in most of the patients, the transplanted cells couldn't produce a full complement of insulin. The reason may be that the number of cells delivered to the liver was too small, the recipients' immune systems killed too many of the cells, or the cells simply died, say the researchers.
Nevertheless, study coauthor A.M. James Shapiro, a transplant surgeon at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, is heartened by the findings. "Insulin independence isn't the be-all and end-all in these patients" he says.
Indeed, the participants were chosen because, despite taking the best available medicines, they had had dangerous episodes of suddenly plummeting blood sugar. The drops came without the shakiness, sweating, and racing heartbeat that usually alert a person to low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. As a result, some of the patients couldn't drive cars or care for children.
The researchers found that 24 of the 36 participants retained some functional islet cells from the transplants, and all 24 were subsequently free of severe blood sugar crashes.
Even a small number of transplanted cells "increases insulin concentrations second by second" delivering a trickle of the hormone that appears to prevent the crashes in the participants, Shapiro says. "This allowed a return to some kind of seminormal existence [and] has had a huge impact on their lives," he says.
Side effects of the transplant procedure stemmed from the immune-suppressing drugs that the patients needed to prevent rejection of the islet cells. Some participants developed pneumonia, a drop in white blood cell counts, chest pain, fever, mouth ulcers, diarrhea, headaches, anemia, nausea, or a combination of complaints. Scientists plan to look for regimens for immune suppression with fewer side effects.
"This is not a procedure that's ready for prime time in the vast majority of people with type 1 diabetes," says endocrinologist Judith E. Fradkin of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Md. However, she adds, "we shouldn't write it off."
Source Citation:Seppa, N. "Mixed bag: islet-cell transplants offer good and bad news." Science News. 170. 14 (Sept 30, 2006): 213(2). Student Resource Center - Bronze. Thomson Gale. Salt Lake County Library System. 3 July 2007.
People with type 1, or juvenile-onset, diabetes lose their insulin-making pancreatic cells when their immune systems attack the clusters, or islets, housing these cells. In a procedure called islet transplantation, physicians take islet cells from a cadaver and infuse them into the portal vein of a patient's liver, where the new cells start making insulin. That indispensable hormone orchestrates sugar metabolism.
In a study published in 2000 by researchers in Edmonton, Alberta, islet transplantation seemed to have cured seven patients with diabetes (SN: 9/2/00, p. 1563.
Now, in the Sept. 28 New England Journal of Medicine, an international team led by the Alberta researchers reports that only 6 of 36 type 1 diabetes patients receiving islet transplants no longer needed insulin injections about 3.5 years later. That suggests that in most of the patients, the transplanted cells couldn't produce a full complement of insulin. The reason may be that the number of cells delivered to the liver was too small, the recipients' immune systems killed too many of the cells, or the cells simply died, say the researchers.
Nevertheless, study coauthor A.M. James Shapiro, a transplant surgeon at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, is heartened by the findings. "Insulin independence isn't the be-all and end-all in these patients" he says.
Indeed, the participants were chosen because, despite taking the best available medicines, they had had dangerous episodes of suddenly plummeting blood sugar. The drops came without the shakiness, sweating, and racing heartbeat that usually alert a person to low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia. As a result, some of the patients couldn't drive cars or care for children.
The researchers found that 24 of the 36 participants retained some functional islet cells from the transplants, and all 24 were subsequently free of severe blood sugar crashes.
Even a small number of transplanted cells "increases insulin concentrations second by second" delivering a trickle of the hormone that appears to prevent the crashes in the participants, Shapiro says. "This allowed a return to some kind of seminormal existence [and] has had a huge impact on their lives," he says.
Side effects of the transplant procedure stemmed from the immune-suppressing drugs that the patients needed to prevent rejection of the islet cells. Some participants developed pneumonia, a drop in white blood cell counts, chest pain, fever, mouth ulcers, diarrhea, headaches, anemia, nausea, or a combination of complaints. Scientists plan to look for regimens for immune suppression with fewer side effects.
"This is not a procedure that's ready for prime time in the vast majority of people with type 1 diabetes," says endocrinologist Judith E. Fradkin of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Md. However, she adds, "we shouldn't write it off."
Source Citation:Seppa, N. "Mixed bag: islet-cell transplants offer good and bad news." Science News. 170. 14 (Sept 30, 2006): 213(2). Student Resource Center - Bronze. Thomson Gale. Salt Lake County Library System. 3 July 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Diabetes Weight Loss Fad
I used to try to lose weight by not taking my insulin, but learned the hard way that it can cause a lot of complications including DKA.
I have two eposides of DKA in which I was place in either ICU or CCU. The first eposide, about 8 months after my diagnosis, I came down with the flu and we werent sure how to treat it. I ended up in CCU for 24 hours and basically comatose. The second time which happened this past April 2007 was because of this fad diet with not taking insulin. It doesnt work as well as some people might think it does. You might lose weight but you also lose muscle mass as well.
I'm only 23 years old and have the starting of neuropathy in my left leg. This is caused from doctor's who didnt know what they are doing. I am finally with a new doctor that understands what he is doing and is a specialist. I still have a regular doctor for everything else but he doesnt deal with my diabetes.
Cherise
I have two eposides of DKA in which I was place in either ICU or CCU. The first eposide, about 8 months after my diagnosis, I came down with the flu and we werent sure how to treat it. I ended up in CCU for 24 hours and basically comatose. The second time which happened this past April 2007 was because of this fad diet with not taking insulin. It doesnt work as well as some people might think it does. You might lose weight but you also lose muscle mass as well.
I'm only 23 years old and have the starting of neuropathy in my left leg. This is caused from doctor's who didnt know what they are doing. I am finally with a new doctor that understands what he is doing and is a specialist. I still have a regular doctor for everything else but he doesnt deal with my diabetes.
Cherise
Bipolar and Diabetes
Thursday, June 28th, 2007
6:37pm
Bipolar and Diabetes
People with mental illness have a higher incidence of many medical conditions, including heart disease, asthma and other lung problems, gastrointestinal disorders, skin infections, diabetes, hypertension, migraine headaches, hypothyroidism, and cancer. Bipolar patients are also less likely to receive medical care than people without mental disorders. Substance abuse, including smoking, alcoholism, and drug abuse, also contributes to many of these problems as well as reduced access to care. Medications used for bipolar disorder can also increase the risk for medical problems.
However, people with bipolar disorder and other mental illness have a higher risk for a number of these conditions independent of these factors.
Diabetes. Diabetes is diagnosed almost three times more often in people with bipolar disorder than it is in the general population. A 2002 study reported that 58% of bipolar patients were overweight, with 26% meeting the criteria for obesity. Being overweight is a significant risk factor for diabetes and so it may be the common factor in both diseases. Drugs used to treat bipolar also pose a risk for weight gain and diabetes. Common genetic factors have also been implicated in diabetes and bipolar disorder, including those causing a rare disorder called Wolfram syndrome and those that regulate carbohydrate metabolism.
Migraine Headaches. Migraines are common in patients with a number of mental illnesses, but they are particularly common among bipolar II patients. In one study, 77% of bipolar II patients had migraines while only 14% of bipolar I patients had this headache, suggesting that different biologic factors may be involved with each bipolar form.
Hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism (low thyroid levels) is a common side effect of lithium, standard treatment for bipolar. However, evidence also suggests that bipolar patients, particularly women, may be at higher risk for low thyroid levels regardless of which medications they use. It may in fact be a risk factor for bipolar disorder in some patients.
6:37pm
Bipolar and Diabetes
People with mental illness have a higher incidence of many medical conditions, including heart disease, asthma and other lung problems, gastrointestinal disorders, skin infections, diabetes, hypertension, migraine headaches, hypothyroidism, and cancer. Bipolar patients are also less likely to receive medical care than people without mental disorders. Substance abuse, including smoking, alcoholism, and drug abuse, also contributes to many of these problems as well as reduced access to care. Medications used for bipolar disorder can also increase the risk for medical problems.
However, people with bipolar disorder and other mental illness have a higher risk for a number of these conditions independent of these factors.
Diabetes. Diabetes is diagnosed almost three times more often in people with bipolar disorder than it is in the general population. A 2002 study reported that 58% of bipolar patients were overweight, with 26% meeting the criteria for obesity. Being overweight is a significant risk factor for diabetes and so it may be the common factor in both diseases. Drugs used to treat bipolar also pose a risk for weight gain and diabetes. Common genetic factors have also been implicated in diabetes and bipolar disorder, including those causing a rare disorder called Wolfram syndrome and those that regulate carbohydrate metabolism.
Migraine Headaches. Migraines are common in patients with a number of mental illnesses, but they are particularly common among bipolar II patients. In one study, 77% of bipolar II patients had migraines while only 14% of bipolar I patients had this headache, suggesting that different biologic factors may be involved with each bipolar form.
Hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism (low thyroid levels) is a common side effect of lithium, standard treatment for bipolar. However, evidence also suggests that bipolar patients, particularly women, may be at higher risk for low thyroid levels regardless of which medications they use. It may in fact be a risk factor for bipolar disorder in some patients.
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