[acb-diabetics] CGM, curse or blessing

Thu Jul 7 00:29:48 EDT 2011

Thankfully I am not in need of a Continuous Glucose Monitor. However, I can 
sympathize with Rachel as to its benefits and detractions. Thank god for the 
technilogical advances we have to help today. Now then, if I could only find 
some way of always exercising self--control as I know I should.

Thanks Patricia for all those good articles you post.

Grant

----- Original Message ----- 
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To: <acb-diabetics at acb.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 6:23 PM
Subject: acb-diabetics Digest, Vol 22, Issue 6

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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. CGM, curse or blessing (Patricia LaFrance-Wolf)
>   2. Cannabis (Patricia LaFrance-Wolf)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 09:23:33 -0700
> From: "Patricia LaFrance-Wolf" <plawolf at earthlink.net>
> To: "Acb-Diabetics at Acb. Org" <acb-diabetics at acb.org>
> Subject: [acb-diabetics] CGM, curse or blessing
> Message-ID: <43208C700B2A47AD898FDFD9605E9351 at Patwindows7>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
> Continuous Glucose Monitoring: The Joys and Pains
>
>
> Rachel Garlinghouse
> Jul 1, 2011
>
> "Good news," my diabetes <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/>  nurse educator
> says to me. "Your new insurance covers continuous glucose monitoring
> supplies!" I give her a half-smile as my brain screams at me, "CGM
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/products/cgms/> ? Really? Something
> else to deal with on top of this damn disease, an insulin
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/products/insulin-pumps/>  pump,
> exercise <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/fitness/exercise/> , and
> nutrition?" But I comply, and a CGM is added to the rest of my
> paraphernalia.
>
> A few nights later, I hear, BEEP, BEEP, BEEEEEP! The sound of failure 
> alarms
> me at 2:00 a.m. My blood sugar
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/monitoring/blood-sugar/>  is high.
> Again. I get up, test, inject, guzzle a glass of water, and flop back into
> bed. Thirty minutes later, my CGM alarms me again. And it continues every
> half-hour until my blood sugar returns to a normal range. I wake up for 
> the
> day already exhausted.
>
> Right after breakfast and before I head to the gym, my CGM beeps again, 
> this
> time alerting me to a low
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/complications-and-care/low-blood-sugar
> />  blood sugar. I look at my pump and it displays a threatening number, 
> 82,
> alongside two double arrows indicating that my sugar is dropping quickly. 
> I
> sigh, test, roll my eyes, and gulp down half a glass of grape juice. And
> then, every ten minutes for thirty more minutes, my CGM yells at me, 
> daring
> me to attempt to work out.
>
> CGM technology can be wonderful. I have avoided nights of extreme highs
> (sleeping in a comatose state of sugar-induced bliss) and driving my car
> during dangerous lows. I have been able to better control my diabetes. My
> A1Cs <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/monitoring/a1c-test/>  are
> usually better when I've been using my CGM. But, in all honesty, sometimes 
> I
> just don't want to know. I want to live in oblivion.
>
> The CGM also has what I consider to be a high rate of error. While my pump
> may report my blood sugar is 130, it could very well be 80 and dropping.
> Sometimes my blood sugar is normal when the CGM says I'm low. I might be 
> in
> the middle of an enjoyable moment, such as dinner
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/food/dinner/>  with friends, when 
> the
> BEEP, BEEP, BEEP interrupts the conversation to alert me that again, I 
> might
> not have great control. Stop. Test. Sigh. Correct (or not). Try to be 
> happy
> again. Try to be normal.
>
> Syringes <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/products/syringes/> , a 
> pump,
> a CGM---while these are all important to diabetes management, they are not 
> a
> cure. Not even close. I dare say that sometimes, life is harder rather 
> than
> easier with greater technology. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Of course,
> good diabetes management is important, and technology helps one obtain
> better management, but there is always a cost: a "BEEP" during a special
> moment, a bad pump set that prevents you from enjoying your own birthday
> cake, or the occasional sting of a syringe that reminds you that you are
> not, in fact, anywhere close to normal. You have diabetes. Your life is
> different---forever and always.
>
> I will only have peace when there is a cure---a cure that works and that
> doesn't compromise my ethics. I hope and pray for a cure, but meanwhile, I
> try to live my best life possible by doing what I know I'm supposed to:
> eating well, exercising, pumping, and listening and responding to the
> insistent beeps of my CGM.
>
>  _____
>
> Categories:A1C
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/complications-and-care/a1c/> , Blood
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/complications-and-care/blood-glucose/>
> Glucose,  <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/monitoring/blood-sugar/>
>
>
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 18:24:23 -0700
> From: "Patricia LaFrance-Wolf" <plawolf at earthlink.net>
> To: "Acb-Diabetics at Acb. Org" <acb-diabetics at acb.org>
> Subject: [acb-diabetics] Cannabis
> Message-ID: <56A106CA13324A609522C5B62CD37172 at Patwindows7>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
> Looking at Cannabis Based Type 2 Treatment
>
>
> Diabetes Health Staff
> Jun 30, 2011
>
> One of the classic effects of cannabis on people is raging hunger-the
> "marijuana munchies." The drug has been used to good effect on people with
> diseases that diminish appetite, helping them to regain a healthy interest
> in food. So it is a bit ironic that British drug maker GW Pharmaceuticals
> has created a cross-bred cannabis plant whose appetite-suppressing 
> qualities
> could be used to treat type 2
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/community/type-2-issues/> diabetes
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/> .
>
> The new strain contains an appetite-suppressing compound called THCV
> (tetrahydrocannabivarin), a cannabinoid* found in cannabis 
> sativa-marijuana.
> The company sees a drug that uses THCV as potentially useful in helping 
> type
> 2s <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/community/type-2-issues/>  and
> obese people control their appetites-a key to good blood sugar
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/monitoring/blood-sugar/>  control.
>
> In 2010, GW introduced a cannabis-based drug to treat the symptoms of
> multiple sclerosis. Already, the company has found 60 cannabinoids in the
> cannabis sativa plant. A company spokesman says that only 12 to 15 of them
> have been explored in any depth.
>
> *Cannabinoids are the active ingredients in cannabis sativa that create 
> the
> plant's physical and mental effects when it is ingested or smoked.
>
>  _____
>
> Categories: Blood
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/monitoring/blood-sugar/>  Sugar,
> Diabetes <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/community/diabetes/> , 
> Health
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/community/health/> , obese
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/research/obese/> , Type
> <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/browse/medications/type-2-medications/>  2
> Medications
>
>  _____
>
>
>
>
>
>
> <https://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2009/02/10/6087/you-can-help-support-di
> abetes-health/> Donate to Diabetes Health
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> Comments
>
>
> Posted by Anonymous on 30 June 2011
>
>
>
> The new strain contains an appetite-suppressing compound called THCV
> (tetrahydrocannabivarin), a cannabinoid* found in cannabis 
> sativa-marijuana.
> The company sees a drug that uses THCV as potentially useful in helping 
> type
> 2s and obese people control their appetites-a key to good blood sugar
> control. If the government would only allow research there's no telling 
> how
> many ,medicines could be made. Let's not forget that study that cannabis
> shrunk a brain tumor. unbelievable that cannabis is classified and no
> medical use.
>
> Posted by rosiolady <http://www.diabeteshealth.com/profile/755/>  on 5 
> July
> 2011
>
> After 40+ years of type 1 diabetes, I am currently using ingested cannibis
> (in the form of tea)for treatment of chronic pain due to fibromyalgia,
> osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. I can no longer use NSAIDS for
> pain relief because my kidneys are compromised, and opiates don't provide 
> as
> much relief and they also make me dizzy and fuzzy headed. The way I use 
> the
> ingested cannibis it does not do that. Also, even though I've always 
> fought
> with obesity (not so common in type 1s...) I find that the cannibis does 
> not
> give me the munchies or food cravings in a greater degree than I have them
> anyway. I keep cravings at bay with a low carb diet. I live in Oregon 
> where
> medical marijuana is legal and am lucky enough to have a reliable
> provider--not everyone has. It would be so much better for people with
> complicated medical problems, in my opinion, if medical marijuana could be
> legalized on a federal level and the study of it opened to researchers in
> the health care field. I believe it is a wonderful untapped resource for 
> us.
>
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