Floating on the river Denial

Many of us have been in denial over one thing or another. You think, "Maybe if I ignore it then it might go away." That is denial. Or maybe this one, "I don't know what you are talking about officer. That light was green." Okay maybe that is just a touch of color blind.

I have talked with many diabetics over the years. Most seem to agree that at some point in their lives they have been in denial about their Diabetes. Especially while going through the teenage years. Being a teen can be difficult all on it's own. Add a disease to the mix & it can get crazy. Teen's are trying to find themselves & find a place to fit in. They don't want their peers to see them as different or strange. Some will hide their diabetes from their friends. Not test their blood while they are around others. I asked my daughter Ashley if I could share her recent experience of denial with you. She has given me permission.

A few months ago I decided to let Ashley have more control over her diabetes. Normally I would look over her shoulder when she tested her blood. Harass her about bolusing for carbs she has eaten(she is on an insulin pump). So I decided she needed to have more responsibility. Although I was still testing it in the morning while she was still asleep. I have a habit of checking her before I do anything else. After that I was trusting her to test on her own. Although she had to tell me what her dinner time number was. Well, one night a few weeks ago she told me her number & strangely enough it was the exact same number as the night before. I believe it was 102. Great number. It made me a little suspicious. So I asked her to bring me her glucometer & started scrolling through the memory. I found that the only numbers in the meter were from the morning checks. Although as I searched two weeks before I found a couple evening checks that were over 400. I was so upset. It really scared me. We had a very long talk & I asked her why? Some of it was laziness but, most of it was she thought it might go away. She was tired of dealing with it all the time. She was tired of being different. She thought if she just didn't know what her blood sugar was then it would be alright. We talked a long time about how much she meant to me. How I wanted her to outlive me. How devistating it would be to me if she didn't. We talked about dialysis . I explained in detail what it was. Before that it was just a word to her. We actually discussed her going to a dialysis unit & she cried. She doesn't want to see it. I don't blame her. I don't want to see it either. We just talked about all the things that can happen to her if she doesn't take care of herself. I know you can understand how difficult this was for me. I am crying right now telling you about it.

We then went in for a checkup with her doctor. Her A1C was 12.5. She went from 7.4 to 12.5. I think that really hit home with her. Her doctor talked with her for a long time about it. He was really upset. But, he turned to me & said, "You knew this was coming." I said, "Yes I did & I thought I was ready for it." But, the truth is it is just something you can't be ready for. She is my child & I love her. I want only the best for her. I want her to live long & healthy. It scares me to death what this disease can do to her body. So I will be the controlling & nagging Mother. Even after she leaves my home.

I had to share this experience with you. Because maybe your child has not gone through this & I want you to be prepared. Maybe you are an adult with diabetes & your just tired of it. But, even if you are tired & you are going through a period of denial don't take it out on your body. Take care of yourself. Just remember it could be worse. There are definately so many things worse that diabetes. Diabetes is managable. It's expensive & a nuisance but, you can live with it. You are worth the effort!!!

Take my Poll & let me know what you think. I will give you the results in the next Newsletter.
The question is Have you ever been in Denial?
by Kimberly Advent - kimberlydadvent@aol.com

This Newsletter we will be reviewing the Gluco Check Meter.

Finally a high quality, low cost Glucose monitor and Test Strips. These monitors sell for $10.00 and the test strips for $ 11.95 (box of 50). This monitor takes only one microliter of blood and it take only 15 seconds for a reading. Also, the monitor has a memory of 1,000 tests. They also have low cost lancets and lancing devices. Features include: Large Screen Quick Testing Time Easy to Use Proven Accuracy Capillary Action Small Blood Sample Saves Test Result (for up to 1,000 test with time and date. Check them out at Pharma Supply To order the Gluco Check Meter go to Enroll Now.

Brain Stem-Cells can produce Insulin April 27th, 2005 MyDNA.com

With careful coaxing, stem cells from the brain can form insulin-producing cells that mimic those missing in people with diabetes, according to a paper published in the April 26 issue of PLoS Medicine.

Although the work is not yet ready for human patients, Seung Kim, MD, PhD, the lead author and assistant professor of developmental biology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, said it could lead to new ways of transplanting insulin-producing cells into people with diabetes, eventually providing a cure for the disease.

In past work, Kim and members of his lab enticed mouse embryonic stem cells to transform into insulin-producing cells. When transplanted into diabetic mice, these cells effectively made up for the lost insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, called islet cells, and treated the diabetes. However, embryonic stem cells are difficult to work with in the lab and most existing human embryonic stem cell lines are contaminated and can't be transplanted into humans.

Kim thought that human neural stem cells may be one way to sidestep the more problematic embryonic stem cells. The study shows that his intuition was correct. "When you look at islets cells you realize that they resemble neurons," Kim said. Like neurons, islet cells respond to external signals by changing their electrical properties and releasing packages of proteins. In the case of islets, that protein is insulin.

What's more, some neurons in mice and humans take the first steps toward producing insulin. In insects such as fruit flies, the cells that produce insulin and regulate blood sugar are, in fact, neurons. Taken together, this evidence suggested to Kim that neural stem cells may be able to produce insulin. Despite Kim's informed hunch, the fact that it worked is a bit surprising.

Until recently, people had though that stem cells taken from the brain would only be able to transform into brain-related tissues such as nerves and support cells. But a group at the Salk Institute in San Diego recently published a report in which neural stem cells transformed into cells that line blood vessels—a far cry from a neuron. "That work gave us confidence that these cells could become more than neuronal cells," Kim said.

Working with the cells in a lab dish, Kim and postdoctoral fellow Yuichi Hori, MD, PhD, now an associate professor at Kobe University in Japan, added a cocktail of chemicals in a sequence that they knew might prod the stem cells to mature into insulin-producing cells. After some trial and error, they found the right combination and sequence. The end result was a dish full of cells that could produce insulin and release it in response to sugar added to the environment. These cells don't perfectly mimic human islet cells. Kim's cells made some, but not all, proteins normally made by islet cells, and they continued to make some proteins found in neurons. Nonetheless, the fact that they could respond to sugar by producing insulin was exciting.

Kim's next step was to find out if the cells could perform the same feat in a mouse. The group transplanted the cells into a cavity in the kidney where other types of insulin-producing cells have been found to survive. When the blood sugar went up in these mice, the cells once again released insulin. After four weeks the cells had survived, continued to produce insulin and had not changed into other cell types or formed tumors.

Kim noted that the amount of insulin produced wasn't enough to effectively treat diabetes. Still, the work is a first step towards that eventual goal. It also hints that neuronal stem cells have many potential uses beyond treating brain disease.

He thinks this work has additional value because the method used to produce insulin from neural stem cells is completely new. "The more ways we discover to form insulin-producing cells from stem cells, the more likely it is that stem cells can be used for islet replacement," Kim said.

Kim hopes this work, or related work with other sources of stem cells, could one day replace human islet cells in people with diabetes. Right now, people with diabetes face a lifetime of insulin injections. In rare cases, some patients can receive cell transplants from cadavers, but that source of cells is far smaller than the total number of people who could benefit.

Other Stanford researchers who contributed to this work include research assistants Xueying Gu and Xiaodong Xie. The work was supported by grants from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Riva Foundation, and the Hillblom Foundation. StemCells, Inc., a Palo Alto-based company, was the provider of the human neural progenitor cell lines that are the subject of the study.

Reviewed: April 27, 2005 Rick Nauert PhD
Source: Stanford University
Copyright: ©Stanford


Stem Cell updates come from The Stem Cell Information Newsletter run by Steve Meyer.

S'more Brownies
Makes 16 servings

1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup SPLENDA®
1/4 cup All purpose flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
3 Eggs
1/4 cup Vegetable oil
2 tsp Vanilla extract
3/4 cup Marshmallows miniature
6 Graham crackers, broken into small pieces

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 8" square baking pan with foil large enough so that the ends extend on two sides. Coat with cooking spray.
• In a large mixing bowl stir together the cocoa, brown sugar, Splenda®, flour & baking powder. Beat the eggs, oil & vanilla together in a separate bowl.
• Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until blended.
• Fold in 1/2 cup each of the miniature marshmallows and the graham cracker bits. Spread evenly in the prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes.
• Sprinkle with the remaining marshmallows and graham cracker bits. Press gently to partially submerge into the batter. Continue to bake for 20 minutes longer, until top marshmallows are golden. Cool completely in pan.
• Lift foil by ends onto a cutting board, peel off foil, and cut into 16 squares.

Links to Web sites for Kids!! If there is anything special you would like to see in this area don't hesitate to write to Kimberly.

Books for Diabetic Kid's Looking for a great Diabetic Book to read? Only the best books for Diabetic Kids.

It's time to start thinking about Diabetes Camp. Check out Ashley's adventures at camp 2004 There is also a link towards the bottom of the page where you can find a Diabetes Camp in your area.

Pump Expeditions for Kid's. Now you can explore insulin pump therapy with Zack through Pump Expeditions, a fun and educational game for people of all ages living with diabetes. Brought to you by Medtronic Minimed.

Hey Teens!!! Here is a site that is geared toward Newly Diagnosed Teens with type 2 Diabetes.

In this area you will find tips that should be helpful to Diabetics. If you have any good tips or tricks please send them to me Kimberly.

Tips for People with Diabetes
Have you ever gone to a restaurant & ordered a Diet drink. You take a sip & think, "Is this diet? It doesn't really taste diet." Sometimes servers will make mistakes. You may not know there was a mistake until later when you check your blood & you are high. A great tip that was given to me is to carry Keto Strips with you. You can dip them into your drink & it will tell you if sugar is present. It really works. I've tried it myself.

Summer is on the way. Pump users might have a problem keeping the tape of their infusion set in place. You may have noticed when you sweat that it doesn't stick too well. Take spray on unscented deoderant & spray it on the place where you will insert your infusion set. Let it dry & then insert. The deoderant will keep you from sweating under the tape.

Do you have an emergency kit in your car? I know I have talked about this before but, I just can't stress enough how important this is. We go up in the mountains a lot. We are rock hounds & gold panners. In order to keep my daughter Ashley safe I have a box in the back of our 4x4. It is just her supplies. There is a box of crackers, several bottles of water, juice packets, two glucometers & extra strips (you never know when one will just stop working), pump supplies (enough for a week), & a first aid kit. I check it every week. I think even if you are just driving around town you should have extra supplies in your car. You just never know when you will need them.

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Kimberly Advent
Ashley's Diabetes Information Center
kimberly@elviradarknight.com
Copyright 2005 Kimberly Advent