Diabetes & Alcohol

I always write about something that is very personal to me. Let me tell you that we have had a difficult summer. Being Diabetic is hard enough on it's own. But, being a teenager who is diabetic can seem so much worse. At least to the Diabetic Teen. I knew this would be a difficult time for us. Thought I was totally ready for it. But, didn't know how wrong I was until I was in the emergency room at 10:30 at night worried sick about my Diabetic Teen. Oh yes she had Alcohol poisoning. She was helping her older brother move. He had a BBQ & there was alcohol present. She drank a lot of Vodka. We still don't know how much. But, her blood alcohol at the hospital was .28. Almost four times the legal limit. My husband & I drove her to the hospital at just after 10:00 PM. She was vomiting & She quit breathing on me twice. Just thinking about it makes me sick. She was given two bags of saline & a bag of potasium. Vomiting can make your potasium low. Her's was dangerously low. We were able to take her home just after 2:00 AM & I stayed up with her all night monitoring her blood sugar.

She is fine now. She remembers very little about what happened to her. She was sick for two days after. The whole thing was very scary to her & she says that just thinking about drinking again makes her sick to her stomach. I really hope so. She is really scared about the fact that she doesn't remember very much. Luckily her Father & I were able to get her to the hospital right away or she could have died. Teens die from Alcohol Poisoning!!!

Alcohol can do crazy things to your blood sugar. Especially excessive amounts. It reacts differently to everyone. Some people it will make really low & others very high. Ashley's was really high until about 8:00 AM when it was finally normal. The low potasium can effect your heart. Which is a scary thing.

Did you know that girls are more prone to Alcohol poisoning? It doesn't take that much either. This differs for each individual.

Heres some good information for you to know about your body & Alcohol.

Alcohol moves very quickly into the blood without being broken down (metabolized) in your stomach. Within five minutes of having a drink, there's enough alcohol in your blood to measure. Thirty to 90 minutes after having a drink, the alcohol in your bloodstream is at its highest level.

Your liver does most of the job of breaking down the alcohol once it's in your body. But it needs time. If you weigh 150 pounds, it will take about 2 hours to metabolize a beer or mixed drink.

If you drink alcohol faster than your liver can break it down, the excess alcohol moves through your bloodstream to other parts of your body. Brain cells are easy targets. When someone talks about getting a buzz from alcohol, this is what they are feeling.

If you are a teenager & are thinking about drinking alcohol I hope you won't. Ashley thought she could handle it. She was wrong. She could have died if we didn't get her to the hospital right away. I can't tell you how scary it was for me to have her quit breathing on me in the car on the way to the hospital. If she would have died it would have killed me as well. You have to realize how important your life is. Take care of your body!!!

by Kimberly Advent - kimberlydadvent@aol.com

This Newsletter we will be reviewing the book Conquering Diabetes by Anne Peters, MD

I have recently started reading this great new book called Conquering Diabetes by Anne Peters, MD. I just had to share it with you all. You can check out her website at http://www.conqueringdiabetes.com/ I think you will really enjoy reading this book. It was well written & is easy to understand. In part one Doctor Peters goes over Understanding the Diagnosis. In part two she talks about preventing Diabetes. Hitting on subjects like Hidden Disorders, hypoglycemia, Female troubles, Creating Healthy Habits, and Medications that treat Prediabetes. In part three Understanding and treating Type 2 Diabetes she touches on the stealth of the disease, Nutrition & Exercise, oral medication, insulin usage, preventing & treating type 2 complications. In part four Mastering Type 1 Diabetes Doctor Peters talks about the Other Diabetes, using insulin, pregnancy & treatement of type 1 Diabetes, the benefits of carbohydrates, excercize. If you are interested in reading a book that covers all the bases on Diabetes then I highly recomend reading Conquering Diabetes by Anne Peters, MD.

When an Embryo Isn't an Embryo By William Raspberry WASHINGTON POST Saturday, August 6, 2005; Page A19

Well, they've nailed Bill Frist. The Senate majority leader let himself get caught proclaiming both the sanctity of human life and his opinion that maybe we ought to expand embryonic stem cell research.

Whatever else you think of the Tennessean (and physician), doesn't his newest position -- that more of the embryos left over from fertility treatments should be made available to researchers -- paint him as morally inconsistent and perhaps even hypocritical?

For whatever comfort it may be for Frist, I say: me, too. Maybe most of us. Life's difficult questions almost always produce a measure of inconsistency -- otherwise they wouldn't be so difficult.

I'd like to have $100 for every American who espouses the sanctity of human life and still believes in the death penalty. Catch them in their little inconsistency and they'll say that embryonic stem cell research would destroy innocent life. So go ahead and ask them about their support of the war in Iraq, which, whatever its ever-shifting justifications, has taken uncounted innocent lives from the moment of the very first U.S. bombing raid.

Not for nothing did Emerson dismiss (foolish) consistency as "the hobgoblin of little minds."

Frist, to return to the issue at hand, found himself the darling of right-to-life advocates (and of the political right in general) when he took the position that the estimated 78 stem cell lines President Bush cleared for research in 2001 would be enough. The senator said last week that, since perhaps only 22 of those stem cell colonies have turned out to be usable for research, he had changed his mind. He would now support a House-passed bill that would allow research on stem cells from frozen embryos that would otherwise be discarded.

His critics now see him as a deserter -- and perhaps even a liar. Didn't he declare, when it suited his purposes, that life begins at conception? How can he also believe that it's okay to kill little children in pursuit of science?

But the science is tantalizing -- even, for some of us, irresistible. Stem cells, before they mature and become highly specialized, have the ability to become essentially any part of the human body. This fact has led scientists to hope that they may be able to use stem cells to regenerate spinal cords and portions of the brain and other bodily organs, thereby curing a host of irreversible afflictions, from paralysis to Alzheimer's.

Now, tell me you could perform these miracles if only you were allowed to raid the local hospital nursery for likely newborns, and I'll help hold you until the authorities arrive to lock you up. But tell me that there's a pretty good chance you can do it with frozen embryos that, realistically, will never grow up to become someone's little darling, and I want to think about it. Tell me that these frozen embryos are almost certain to be destroyed (or to become useless for either laboratory or nursery) and I'm all the way with Bill Frist.

Is it a foolish consistency to refuse to differentiate between toddlers and fertilized ova? Or is it hypocritical to imagine that those embryos, who are what you and I once were, only chillier, are something other than very tiny children?

Reaching the Frist conclusion doesn't end the issue, of course. Suppose it turns out that science is able to derive most of the benefits of stem cells from adult cells. Won't that mean they'll have sacrificed a bunch of babies for nothing? (Some scientists say that is unlikely, while others say we may learn from stem cell research how to make mature cells adaptable.) More realistically: Suppose stem cell research remains promising but turns out to be a longer-term process than we thought? Suppose, that is to say, we go through all the available stem cell lines without curing juvenile diabetes or Parkinson's. Where would we get more cell lines for research?

Would some future Bill Frist (or Bill Raspberry) countenance the deliberate production of embryos for research? Is there some bright- line ethical distinction that we can agree on? Or have we -- most of us, anyway -- already passed the point of no return?

Difficult questions -- unless you opt for consistency. Then you need only assert that, zygotes being human beings and killing human beings being unallowable, the seeming difficulties evaporate.

All that's left is to organize a posse to raid the local repository and free those pitiful children from their liquid nitrogen prison.

willrasp@washpost.com

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

Fudgy Brownies
Makes 16 brownies.

6 Tablespoons margarine
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup skim milk
1/3 cup apricot preserves with NutraSweet® brand sweetener or apricot spreadable fruit
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
10 3/4 teaspoons Equal® Measure or
36 packets Equal® sweetener or
1 1/2 cups Equal® SpoonfulTM
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Heat margarine, chocolate, milk and apricot preserves in small saucepan, whisking frequently, until chocolate is almost melted. Remove from heat; whisk in egg yolk and vanilla; mix in combined flour, Equal®, baking powder, and salt until smooth.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar to stiff peaks in large bowl. Fold chocalate mixture into egg whites; fold in walnuts if desired. Pour batter into greased 8-inch square baking pan.

Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven until brownies are firm to touch and toothpick comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes (do not overbake). Cool on wire rack. Server warm or at room temperature.

Serving size: One Brownie
Yield: 16
Exchanges: 1/2 bread, 1 fat
Nutrition: 99 Calories, 2 g Protein, 9 g Carbo, 7 g Fat
Recipe brought to you by E-Cookbooks library

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.

It's Back to School time. YEA!!! Make sure you know your Diabetic Child's rights. Check out Diabetes Children in School.

Halloween is coming next month. I just want to make sure you know that I have a page devoted to carbohydrates for some popular Trick-or-Treats. Check it out Halloween Candy at Ashley's Diabetes Information Center.

Did you go to Diabetes Camp this summer? Send me your camp story & pictures. I will put it up on my website for others to read. Help inspire a Diabetic Child to go to camp next summer. Send it to ME!!

Normally you will find tips that should be helpful to Diabetics. If you have any good tips or tricks please send them to me Kimberly. This issue we are looking at some web sites that offer real good diabetes information.

Information that all Diabetics should know.

  Sugar Free chocolate sounds wonderful. I know that when I first heard about it I was thrilled. But, for some this wonderful sugar free chocolate is full of some very uncomfortable side effects. Please read more about this problem at Marc's Corner

I thought this was something that many women with Diabetes should read. I have Diabetes can I take Birth Control Pills?

This is a great article Are Depression & Diabetes Linked?

Diabetes Can effect Women's Sexual Health

Another great article. How Diabetes effects Menstruation

Here is something for the Diabetic Man. Diabetes and Men.

Men & Diabetes from DLife.

Ashley & I are walking in America's Walk for Diabetes. Please support us in the this great cause!!!
I know that we can count on you to help us raise money to find a cure for Diabetes.
To support Ashley Click here.
To support Kim Click here.
We are making a friendly competition of it.

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