The D-Log Cabin: complications

Showing posts with label complications. Show all posts

Thursday, June 19, 2008

More Notes from Psych Class

Overheard:

Professor: And in anorexia nervosa, the individual slowly wastes away until they-??

Student: Disappear?

I think the entire class cut loose on that one. Though in a sense that's correct, there's not much left of the individual even if they don't die. Diabetes and several other chronic diseases that make losing weight dangerously easy are powerful weapons, one that most physicians will never know about because even if you don't have diabulemia + to the best of your ability try to do it right, highs and elevated a1cs plague most of us.(so health care professionals can only guess) Unless the individual is made (self) aware of/gets help for their disorder things won't go very well for them.(even worse then normal eating disorders)

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Choices & Craigslist

Well, I did it, I sold something on Craigslist. It is a whole other game from Ebay, because you have to go out and MEET the person somewhere. You don't know if they're a mass murderer or what. I wish I knew karate, or something.(if I'm going to be doing this on a regular basis)MD is one of those "May (not) Issue" concealed weapon permit states, vs VA(one of those "Shall Issue to every Joe Blow under the Sun" states). Fortuantly, the person didn't do any of that, but it was a very anxious half hour. A gun,(in the vehicle) would give me so much more presence of mind.(I'm a
5"2 petite gal, do you blame me? it wouldn't take much to do me in) Met in a very public place(to attempt to be as safe as possible).

The recent news RE immunosuppressive free transplantees is extremely interesting to me. For many people with diabetes, this could be BIG. (if they could get it to work with the pancreas/islets)Knock off the nasty drugs, and wouldn't a transplant do more good then harm? Obviously, so people have transplants and have nothing but problems(from acne to Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome)but most people do pretty well. Why they can't predict any of this is frustrating. This is the 21st century, The Golden Age of DNA Research- and the secret of the cell lies just as locked as its ever been. Why they can't they run a test and tell you what kind of drug you need(based on how your DNA is) instead of trying them all out.

Personally, I have no problems with people getting pancreas + islets transplants. More power to them, they know what they're getting into(and what they're trying to leave behind) They've lived a life of diabetes, and are exhausted by it(body and soul)The chance to start clean is either necessary(for survival)or very much longed for. They're not "failures" or "weak." Alot of people with diabetes seem to have this idea that a transplant is a copout,(some of those people could really use a transplant themselves, have horrible hypo unawareness) but man, these people are just trying to make it. If I were in that situation(kidney failure, retinopathy, severe hypo unawareness with no CGMS, other complications) you'd better believe I'd want a transplant. There is a limit to my macho-ness(see below!)
KF=need for immuno drugs anyway,retinopathy= going blind(high probability + I do not handle blindness well), and hypo unaware=gambling with your life on a regular basis.
Right now I am blessed to be in (relatively) good health but the day may come that I go down that road myself, and its not as scary to me as the never ending list of things that diabetes can do to one.