Diabetes Pharmacist : Diabetes Pharmacist Blog : Focus Express Mail Pharmacy : Insulin Pumps, Diabetes Supplies and Information

     My wife and I are both "dog people". We have three Airedale terriers, all of whom were "rescued". But as much as we love our dogs and think that they're special, there is another class of  dogs who perform some very important and possibly life saving functions.

We all have seen dogs who have been trained to help people who are blind or dogs who help those who have lost their hearing. Now there are specially trained dogs who can identify low blood sugar in humans. According to the website www.dogs4diabetics.com, these dogs can detect "subtle scent changes that hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) creates in body chemistry, changes undetectable to their human companions."

Hypoglycemia can have some very scary consequences. Our brain needs a steady supply of sugar (glucose), because it doesn't  store or manufacture its own energy supply. If glucose levels become too low, as occurs with hypoglycemia, the following symptoms  can occur:

• Confusion,abnormal behavior, or both, such as the inability to complete routine tasks.
• Visual disturbances, such as double vision and blurred vision.
• Seizures or loss of consciousness can occur but are uncomon.

Another program, www.allpurposecanines.com , trains dogs who can detect  BOTH low and high blood glucose levels. They say that "a strong team concept is essential to the success of a service dog  partnership. Parents, family members, healthcare professionals and educators all have important roles to ensure the team's success." Is their program successful? They are "especially proud of the 100% success rate with this program."

In an article in the March 2008 issue of Diabetes Forecast,  "what is uncanny is the reliabilty" of these dogs. Trainers at Dogs for Diabetics in Concord, California say that these trained dogs are "right 90% of the time".And what's more, some have "the ability to sense a dangerous drop in blood glucose BEFORE the drop occurs."

From my  years of helping people who have diabetes, I think  the most important and critical time to know when a blood sugar drop occurs is during sleep. For example, If too much insulin is given before bedtime, a hypoglycemic event may occur during sleep, and the person with diabetes would not be awake to react and treat the symptoms. A Diabetes "Scentry" Dog could save this person's life.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In a given day:

• 4000 new cases of diabetes will be diagnosed.
• 600 people will die from diabetes complications.
• 200 people will undergo an amputation due to diabetes.
• 100 cases of kidney failure will occur due to diabetes

These statistics were grimly uttered by Ann Albright, Director of the Division of Diabetes Translation for the Center for Disease Control (CDC).Additionally, she said that "of the children born in America in 2000, one in three will develop diabetes in their lifetime."

In addition, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), there are 21 million people in the United States who are diagnosed with diabetes and if something dramatic does not occur in the next 20 years, this number will double! The costs for diabetes will exceed $174 billion dollars in 2008.

• $116 million on medical expenditures
• $58 million on reduced national productivity

"We are spending $174 billion dollars each year on diabetes, just imagine what that will be like when the number of diabetics double" says former Acting US Surgeon General Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu.

The ADA further states that "individuals with diabetes have medical expenditures at about 2.3 times higher than those without diabetes. The average cost incurred among individuals with diabetes is $11,744 per year with $5,649 attributed directly to diabetes."

This has gone from being a serious problem to one that will soon affect every person in this country! Why you ask? Here's why:

• Insurance companies will be paying more for medical costs which will raise EVERYONE'S insurance premiums.
• There will be lower productivity in the workplace which will hurt these same employers who will be paying the higher premiums.
• There will be reduced earnings for individuals and families.
• There will be higher taxes for us all as a portion of the burden of increased health care costs will affect the government and guess who has to pay for that?
• All of this combined means a lower quality and standard of living.

These statistics do not lie. They're getting worse every day. Something has to be done NOW to help everyone who has diabetes but even more let's do all we can, as individuals,  to PREVENT diabetes (Type II)  from occurring in ourselves, our families, and our friends.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

According to Dr. Gabe Mirkin, exercise helps to prevent and treat diabetes by increasing the number of enzymes that transport fat from fat cells to muscle cells where it can be used for energy by the muscles. Before insulin can do its job of removing sugar from the bloodstream and putting it into cells where it can be burned for energy, it must first,,MORE

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

David Mendosa says "this device, which you can wear on either your wrist or ankle as you sleep, sounds an alarm when it detects one of the signs of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)..... It will beep repeatedly if hypoglycemia causes your skin temperature to drop or your skin to perspire.......The Sleep Sentry will not work for everyone. Extensive testing indicates that users may experience some false positives or false negatives. "

Dr. Julio Santiago, professor of pediatrics at the Washington University in St. Louis, says that before you decide one way or the other, consider this:
“Patients with past episodes of severe hypoglycemia must decide if an 80% to 90% chance of a ‘true positive’ alarm is worth the inconvenience of an occasional (1 to 2 per month) ‘false positive’ alarm…There is no perfect device to eliminate the danger of severe hypoglycemia. Patients who take insulin and have a history of past episodes of severe hypoglycemia should be considered candidates for the Sleep Sentry. Patients without a history of severe nocturnal hypoglycemia may also benefit from the Sleep Sentry, depending on the personal inconvenience associated with false alarms.”


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A new study shows that diabetes and Alzheimer s diseases are more related than everybody thought. According  to Suzanne M. de la Monte,a Rhode Island Hospital neuropathologist and professor of pathology at Brown University Medical School ,insulin disappears early and dramatically in Alzheimer's disease and many of the unexplained features of Alzheimer's, such as cell death and tangles in the brain, appear to be linked to abnormalities in insulin signaling. MORE......

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link