Diabetes and Pot
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Lifestyle, Drugs, Opinion, Support
A new study found smoked marijuana to be safe and effective at treating peripheral neuropathy, which causes great suffering among diabetics. Diabetic nerve disease, or "peripheral neuropathy," is the most common complication of diabetes, affecting up to 62% of Americans with diabetes.
This type of pain is caused by damage to the nerves and can make patients feel like their feet and hands are on fire, or being stabbed with a knife. This type of pain responds poorly to conventional pain medications -- even addictive, dangerous narcotics. In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, a majority of patients had a greater than 30% reduction in pain after smoking marijuana. For many, that level of relief means having a significantly improved quality of life and for some it actually permits return to careers cut short by debilitating symptoms of neuropathy.
Our government spends a lot of money campaigning the "War on Drugs" to convince us that marijuana is an addictive and dangerous drug. When the US Government assumes the responsibility to make my mind up for me - sometimes I fear the decision is made from a capitalist perspective and not entirely with my best interest in mind. There is nothing fair about taking away someone's ability to decide for himself. Everything about federal medical policy should be reconsidered, based on science, common sense, and simple human decency.
Diabetes Health TV introduces Neuragen
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Events, Products, Magazines, Allie Beatty, Complications, Personalities
Creator of Diabetes Health Magazine, Scott King, has been a type 1 diabetic for over 34 years. Needless to say, he knows diabetes, and he is doing a remarkable job of introducing cutting-edge treatments for diabetics. In the first Diabetes Health TV broadcast, he shared interviews from the recent AADE Conference. A really exciting product he featured is called Neuragen - a topical treatment for diabetes neuropathy.
With diabetes neuropathy, people experience pain due to damage to the peripheral nerves. Neuropathic pain is often characterized by burning sensations or shooting pain, or may occur as numbness or chronic itching. Clinical trials have shown Neuragen to be effective in 70% of patients for the pain associated with diabetes. The ingredients are pretty kosher, too. Neuragen is made of a proprietary blend of essential oils from special species of geranium, lavender, bergamot, eucalyptus, and tea tree.
The Neuragen rep was blunt when he described the effective nature of this all natural product - using more does not make it any more effective! You have to admire his refreshing honesty. But like I said upfront - if Scott King is willing to spend the time getting the scoop on this product - it's probably worth your time using it. For more interviews, checkot the full coverage of the AADE Conference on Diabetes Health TV!
[RESEARCH] Changes in child exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (CHETS) study after implementation of smoke-free legislation in Scotland: national cross sectional survey
Objective To detect any change in exposure to secondhand smoke among primary schoolchildren after implementation of smoke-free legislation in Scotland in March 2006.
Design Comparison of nationally representative, cross sectional, class based surveys carried out in the same schools before and after legislation.
Setting Scotland.
Participants 2559 primary schoolchildren (primary 7; mean age 11.4 years) surveyed in January 2006 (before smoke-free legislation) and 2424 in January 2007 (after legislation).
Outcome measures Salivary cotinine concentrations, reports of parental smoking, and exposure to tobacco smoke in public and private places before and after legislation.
Results The geometric mean salivary cotinine concentration in non-smoking children fell from 0.36 (95% confidence interval 0.32 to 0.40) ng/ml to 0.22 (0.19 to 0.25) ng/ml after the introduction of smoke-free legislation in Scotland—a 39% reduction. The extent of the fall in cotinine concentration varied according to the number of parent figures in the home who smoked but was statistically significant only among pupils living in households in which neither parent figure smoked (51% fall, from 0.14 (0.13 to 0.16) ng/ml to 0.07 (0.06 to 0.08) ng/ml) and among pupils living in households in which only the father figure smoked (44% fall, from 0.57 (0.47 to 0.70) ng/ml to 0.32 (0.25 to 0.42) ng/ml). Little change occurred in reported exposure to secondhand smoke in pupils' own homes or in cars, but a small decrease in exposure in other people's homes was reported. Pupils reported lower exposure in cafes and restaurants and in public transport after legislation.
Conclusions The Scottish smoke-free legislation has reduced exposure to secondhand smoke among young people in Scotland, particularly among groups with lower exposure in the home. We found no evidence of increased secondhand smoke exposure in young people associated with displacement of parental smoking into the home. The Scottish smoke-free legislation has thus had a positive short term impact on young people's health, but further efforts are needed to promote both smoke-free homes and smoking cessation.
Surgeon Urges Diabetics to Take GABA
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Lifestyle, Products, Support
Dr. Daniel Johnson has been working to prevent lower limb amputation in diabetics and strongly urges all diabetics to start taking a nutritional supplement, GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) twice a day. The supplement has clinically proven to prevent and improve diabetic vision loss as well as peripheral neuropathy that can lead to amputation.
Researchers discovered that the cells in the pancreas that make insulin also make GABA. When the body produces less GABA, the GABA C receptors in the retina of the eye and in a part of the pituitary gland are impaired from maintaining cell health. With GABA supplementation, the improvements were seen in the vision of patients with diabetic retinopathy and in restoration of feeling in the feet of those with diabetic neuropathy. Awaiting clinical trials by the FDA to provide reversal of complications from a naturally occurring enzyme is simply unnecessary.
The problem in taking GABA by mouth, Dr. Johnson advised, is limited absorption from the digestive tract. He has found that people who take 375 to 500 mg. of plain GABA twice-a-day with an acid-containing beverage (like grapefruit juice) get the best results. If the diabetic patient cannot drink orange or grapefruit juice because of the sugar content, he recommends that they take the GABA with a dose of ascorbic acid -- Vitamin C.
While he would not give an endorsement, Johnson did say that his colleagues had found that Source Naturals 750 mg. tablet form of GABA (half a tablet twice a day) or Solgar's 500 mg. capsule form, also twice-a-day seemed to work best. Please note that the results from Dr. Johnson's use of GABA in the treatment of peropheral neuropathy and diabetic vision loss were clinically recognized but not FDA verified.
[RESEARCH] At what age can schoolchildren provide effective chest compressions? An observational study from the Heartstart UK schools training programme
Objective To determine at what age children can perform effective chest compressions for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Design Observational study.
Setting Four schools in Cardiff.
Participants 157 children aged 9-14 years in three school year groups (ages 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14).
Interventions Participants were taught basic life support skills in one lesson lasting 20 minutes.
Main outcome measure Effectiveness of chest compression during three minutes' continuous chest compression on a manikin.
Results No year 5 pupil (age 9-10) was able to compress the manikin's chest to the depth recommended in guidelines (38-51 mm). 19% of pupils in year 7 (age 11-12) and 45% in year 9 (age 13-14) achieved adequate compression depth. Only the 13-14 year olds performed chest compression as well as adults in other reported studies. Compression depth showed a significant relation with children's age, weight, and height (P<0.001). Multivariate analyses showed that, if the age and weight of the children were both known, the height (which is closely related to both) was no longer significant (P=0.95). No association was found between pupils' age, sex, weight, or height and the average rate of chest compressions over the three minute period. Similarly, no relation was found between year group and ability to place the hands in the correct position. During the three minutes' compression, compression rate increased and depth decreased.
Conclusions The children's ability to achieve an adequate depth of chest compression depended on their age and weight. The ability to provide the correct rate and to employ the correct hand position was similar across all the age ranges tested. Young children who are not yet physically able to compress the chest can learn the principles of chest compression as well as older children.
[RESEARCH] Preventive strategies for group B streptococcal and other bacterial infections in early infancy: cost effectiveness and value of information analyses
Objective To determine the cost effectiveness of strategies for preventing neonatal infection with group B streptococci and other bacteria in the UK and the value of further information from research.
Design Use of a decision model to compare the cost effectiveness of prenatal testing for group B streptococcal infection (by polymerase chain reaction or culture), prepartum antibiotic treatment (intravenous penicillin or oral erythromycin), and vaccination during pregnancy (not yet available) for serious bacterial infection in early infancy across 12 maternal risk groups. Model parameters were estimated using multi-parameter evidence synthesis to incorporate all relevant data inputs.
Data sources 32 systematic reviews were conducted: 14 integrated results from published studies, 24 involved analyses of primary datasets, and five included expert opinion.
Main outcomes measures Healthcare costs per quality adjusted life year (QALY) gained.
Results Current best practice (to treat only high risk women without prior testing for infection) and universal testing by culture or polymerase chain reaction were not cost effective options. Immediate extension of current best practice to treat all women with preterm and high risk term deliveries without testing (11% treated) would result in substantial net benefits. Currently, addition of culture testing for low risk term women, while treating all preterm and high risk term women, would be the most cost effective option (21% treated). If available in the future, vaccination combined with treating all preterm and high risk term women and no testing for low risk women would probably be marginally more cost effective and would limit antibiotic exposure to 11% of women. The value of information is highest (£67m) if vaccination is included as an option.
Conclusions Extension of current best practice to treat all women with preterm and high risk term deliveries is readily achievable and would be beneficial. The choice between adding culture testing for low risk women or vaccination for all should be informed by further research. Trials to evaluate vaccine efficacy should be prioritised.
The pharma water cooler
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Drugs, Opinion, Blogs, Support
The CafePharma message boards are for pharmaceutical sales professionals and those interested in the pharmaceutical industry. A former Lilly sales rep started a thread about Eli Lilly and the lies they've told over the years. Pro Lilly responses flooded in, as did the anti-Lilly responses. Yesterday, however, two comments seemed to hit the message board with a vengeance.
Comments #23 and #24 epitomize the anatomy of a good old fashioned debate. Comment #23 is an Eli Lilly sales rep who claims to have helped with the successful launch of rDNA insulin, and the conversion of patients on pig and cow insulin to Humulin. He remarked from the perspective of a salesman that it was a successful venture resulting in unilateral domination. In response to his yesteryear achievement - commenter #24 raised some wonderful counter-points for modern day consideration. The following paragraph summarizes the results 25 years after the market saturation of Humulin and genetically modified human insulin.
The adverse events include: (1) Complications of diabetes are increasing. (2) Dead-in-bed syndrome is up over 300%. (3) Traffic accidents caused by people using rDNA insulins are increasing (especially in Type 2). (4) rDNA insulins are producing immunogenic responses in the same manner and numbers in the diabetic population as did pig and cow insulins. (5) No long-term studies have ever been conducted to define the dangers of the synthetic insulin hormones relative to cancer and other diseases.
Of course my favorite point is the fact that recent studies have shown that the culprit in many Type 1 diabetics may actually be the human insulin antibody produced by the diabetic. This may be self-serving beyond Type 1 diabetics needing insulin - it's giving Type 2s the very same problem.
[RESEARCH] Effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity in children and adolescents: systematic review of controlled trials
Objective To review the published literature on the effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity in children and adolescents.
Design Systematic review.
Data sources Literature search using PubMed, SCOPUS, Psychlit, Ovid Medline, Sportdiscus, and Embase up to December 2006.
Review methods Two independent reviewers assessed studies against the following inclusion criteria: controlled trial, comparison of intervention to promote physical activity with no intervention control condition, participants younger than 18 years, and reported statistical analyses of a physical activity outcome measure. Levels of evidence, accounting for methodological quality, were assessed for three types of intervention, five settings, and three target populations.
Results The literature search identified 57 studies: 33 aimed at children and 24 at adolescents. Twenty four studies were of high methodological quality, including 13 studies in children. Interventions that were found to be effective achieved increases ranging from an additional 2.6 minutes of physical education related physical activity to 283 minutes per week of overall physical activity. Among children, limited evidence for an effect was found for interventions targeting children from low socioeconomic populations, and environmental interventions. Strong evidence was found that school based interventions with involvement of the family or community and multicomponent interventions can increase physical activity in adolescents.
Conclusion Some evidence was found for potentially effective strategies to increase children's levels of physical activity. For adolescents, multicomponent interventions and interventions that included both school and family or community involvement have the potential to make important differences to levels of physical activity and should be promoted. A lack of high quality evaluations hampers conclusions concerning effectiveness, especially among children.
Blood thinner-statin combination may be safe after all
When it comes to prescribing medicine to someone with more than one medical condition, I'm certain that physicians must be very careful to prescribe right combination of medicines and to be sure that those medicines don't interact with each other. Until recently, it was thought that when heart patients took the anti-clotting drug clopidogrel with a statin to lower their cholesterol, they increased their risk of a dangerous interaction. But recent studies have been leading researchers and heart doctors to believe that the danger isn't significant after all. This is a relief to patients and those who treat them, because many who need anti-clotting drugs also should be taking statins.To hear more about the study's specifics, read this article from HealthDay.
Benfotiamine's Shield from High Blood Sugar Toxins
Filed under: Type 1, Type 2, Childhood, Adult Onset, Lifestyle, Research, Products, Support
Benfotiamine can help diabetics protect delicate microvessels. Much of the damage of diabetes is caused when glucose-derived compounds, called triosephosphates, accumulate in small vessels. Transketolase, turns these toxic compounds into harmless chemicals that can be removed from the body. benfotiamine increases transketolase activity, thus reducing or eliminating the complications associated with diabetes.
Administration of benfotiamine helped to prevent retinopathy in test subjects with diabetes. Study subjects who received benfotiamine for 36 weeks demonstrated completely normalized levels of damaging toxins in the retina, preventing or delaying the onset of diabetic retinopathy.
In a 24-week study, benfotiamine was shown to improve kidney function. This was shown by a 50% reduction of toxin levels in the kidneys, and a reduction in oxidative stress associated with diabetes. Subjects exhibited a 70-80% inhibition in the development of microalbuminuria, protein in the urine that serves as an early sign of kidney dysfunction.
Benfotiamine mitigates oxidative stress in the eyes, the kidneys, the heart, and even the brain that typically occur with diabetes. Researchers conclude that benfotiamine may offer critical protection for the delicate nerves of the eyes, the kidneys, the peripheral limbs, the heart and the brain by shielding them from damage caused by diabetes.