Its a sad day CP

[nickerjones]

well i am diabetic, and today i had a battery of tests ran. I went to the hospital at 8 oclock this morn and i did not get home til after 2:30. Come to find out i am going to have be on an insulin pump!!! Is anyone on the pump or had any experience with it?? Please discus???

the sad part is im only 26 and i might also have some kidney blockage.... i had to have a renal ultrasound too so i hope that comes back good!!

[Wookie]

Don't know much about it - but good luck, sorry to hear that!

[nickerjones]

thanks.... oddly enough i watched the oilers/coyotes game the other day and they did an intermission story on one of the yotes players who wears the pumps... i wonder if the pump will give me a lil added hockey skill..... heres hoping lol !!

[Claeren]

That's crappy man...

May i ask, how did you know you were diabetic? Were you diagnosed as a child or a young adult? I worked with renal diabetics in a long term care facility once and i am now soo paranoid i am a diabetic...



Claeren.

[Kipper is King]

I was at the Coyotes/Flames game March 1st. In the game program, Nick Boynton discussed his diabetes and how he manages his insulin pump. PM me with you email, and I will scan the article into my computer and send it to you tomorrow, if you want.

[nickerjones]

ok .. ill tell ya the story but no laughing...

First off ill preface the story by saying my mom and dad are. and my grandmother was a diabetic. Now they are not overweight but when i found out i was diabetic i was weighing 308 pounds... now i weigh 223 ... anyway

I was married before ( my first wife passed in a car wreck) but anyaway i was at her grandmothers house for american thanksgiving of 03. I was 21 at the time. Well i had been struggling with being thirsty and having urinate frequently. I kept complaining to my parents that i should go the doctor and they said they would send me when they got back from their thanksgiving cruise. Well the night before thanksgiving, at my granny-in-laws house i woke up in the middle of the night 9 times to urinate and then peed in the bed. SO i knew there was something wrong. I went to the doctor the monday after the holiday and they told me i had a prostate infection. they gave me meds but it never got better. Over the course of 2 weeks i had 3 prostate exams, i finally said check my blood sugar and they did and it 516. Normal is 120 so they said well it looks like your diabetic. So it went from there, i was diagnosed as a young adult.

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by fotze

Well look on the bright side, you could be stricken with a hickey. Just trying to lighten the mood, hopefully it goes away or becomes so manageable you barely notice it.

wheeewww i have had my share of hickeys and they are alot worse ... mostly because i got alot in high school and usually they were from girls that were not my significant other... but i dont think it will ever go away , but will become manageable. I have been diabetic for 5 years and it has been ok.... apparently my body just said, well i dont think we are gonna accept this old insulin we want something new.... So now its trying to get the blood sugar back under control and then on the pump to keep it regulated

[BuzzardsWife]

Hi nickerjones, I am also diabetic, I was diagnosed around the same age that you were. I understand the part about getting the sugar under control, but why the pump? I don't know much about it. Does it really help keep you regulated more than self injection? Diabetes is a real pain, and it's very scary too. I guess alot of people don't understand that it completely takes over your every waking moment. The first thing you think of when you wake up and the last thing you think of at bed time. My little sister was diagnosed at 12, so it was alot harder on her even. Good news is, they are much more advanced in treatment nowadays. My Dr. tells me that there will be a cure in my lifetime, too late for me to benefit, but I am also 43 years old, so on the upside for you, there is a very likely chance you will be cured one day. I can only hope and pray that is true. I say every day, well thank god I have diabetes instead of cancer, or being deaf or blind, or disabled in another way. So cheer up and remember, it's only diabetes and you will have a good long life! Have a great long weekend!

[nickerjones]

ohh, im not down i just didnt know much about the pump. The reason my doctor says pump is because then i wont forget injections and since i am an active person playing baseball, weightlifting, and now trying hockey it would be easier to regulate cause when i work out i obviously dont need as much insulin so i can dial in less or what not.. And on the topic of the cure, what i have beeen hearing is the are injecting pancreas cells from a pig into humna pancreas' and its starting to produce insulin again... so i am hoping a cure comes quick...

Well thank you for your kind words... and i hope you continue to do well

[Ice]

My husband is diabetic and was offered the pump. He ended up choosing the insulin pen. It was more convenient for him. Even though its more injections, he takes insulin every time he eats so he doesn't feel as restricted as when he had to eat certain things at specific times.

The father of friend of mine got put on an insulin pump because he wasn't managing his blood sugar very well. He didn't like it at first, but his health is so improved it has been totally worth it for him. I think he thought it was going to self regulate and was a bit disappointed that he still had to be involved in managing his sugars. Its been two years since his last angioplasty so that's improvement.

My husband was diagnosed as a child and has been dealing with it almost his entire life. So far he has no negative medical side effects. It is critical that you do everything in your power to manage your blood sugar. I see diabetics who are in their 20's and showing signs of kidney damage and heart problems, and diabetics in their 60's who are as healthy as those without the disease.

Good luck to you, make a difference with your disease while you're young so you can go on to live a long and healthy life.

[Deelow]

Here's a Sportsnet piece on former MacT darling Toby Petersen who is on the pump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxlIf3pusKM

[killer_carlson]

good luck dude.

[Acid Rush]

I am diabetic. Was diagnosed in 2001. I'm not really that big but I have a sweet tooth and sodas (at that time). So far, I've controlled it by eating healthy and exercising. Recently, my sugars have been spiking again and the doctor told me that if I can't keep it low then I have to have insulin. Well, sticking needles is something that I don't look forward to (but I do check my blood sugars with a glucose meter almost everyday). So, I tell myself that I need to diet and exercise to keep my sugars down or else it's going to be a whole lot difficult for me. Good luck!

[nickerjones]

So acid you are a type 2? regulating with a pill?? i used to take insulin and a pill but i guess it has progressed cause they said a pill will not help me anymore

[BuzzardsWife]

Just a little note on pills and insulin. I was first misdiagnosed with type2 so they put me on pills and a strict diet..until I went down to 86 pounds on my 5'2 frame. But what did happen to me for a while was my pancreas would all of a sudden to shoot out insulin, until one day it just stopped functioning altogether. So people on pills still have some functioning, but when that stops they have to be on insulin, forever. There is no going back unless you are a type 2 and are on it temporarily or pregnant. Good luck and I hope you stay on the pills, lose the weight and you won't need insulin.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by BuzzardsWife

...

Locke needs to see this!

[Locke]

Originally Posted by SebC

Locke needs to see this!

You could have picked your own username you know, it was just a suggestion.

But I think this is great. Its the Buzzard Tag Team. Its really interesting to get a different perspective.

Just wait until you guys have your first inter-thread fight. I shall mediate.

I have nothing to say regarding diabetes as I know little about it save that my boss and a good friend of mine have some version of it and that its not really a joking matter.

I dont have much to add to situations that have no comedic potential whatsoever and that I have little knowledge of.

Best of luck to you.....

Friendo....

BTW, thanks for the heads up SebC.!

[nickerjones]

Buzzards Wife........... i have lost 86 pounds.... but i was on insulin only when i was first diagnosed. After i lost 50 pounds i went to less shots and the pill avandia, now i have lost 36 more the pill and the shot apparently stopped working so im not on novalogue and lantus . ( 2 different shots)

[NuclearFart]

I think everything has been said about the pump already, but alot of young people are quite preferential to it for convenience reasons. It's so much easier to just push a button than stick a needle into yourself. Not to mention the micromanaging and timing your life around your injections, the pump is very liberating in this aspect.

If you're really bold, you can look into hematogenous islet cell transplants. The technique used worldwide was actually extensively developed in Edmonton, and it involves taking ground up pancreas from cadavers, injecting it directly into the blood vessels feeding the liver, where upon the islet cells (they make insulin) will seed into the liver. It's not perfect by any means as you'll have to be on immune suppressant drugs thereafter, but when faced with incessant needle poking and the complications of diabetes, its the lesser of two evils.

[nickerjones]

i thought cp'ers were against everything edmonton...... i think the responses are gonna be something like this

"there is no one in edmonton smart enough think something like that up"

but i have also heard they are transplanting cells from a pig pancreas into the human pancreas and its starting to produce more insulin...