Cataracts

A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye. People who have diabetes are 60 percent more likely to develop this condition than people who don't. People with diabetes are also more likely to develop cataracts at a younger age, the ADA says. Cataracts in someone with diabetes tend to progress more quickly than in someone without diabetes. Symptoms of a cataract are blurry vision and glare from oncoming headlights at night. If cataracts are severe enough to interfere with vision, they can be treated by surgery.

Glaucoma

Diabetes can lead to glaucoma. Glaucoma is a condition in which the optic nerve is damaged, leading to vision loss. It is caused by a poorly understood group of diseases. Most, but not all, of these diseases cause an increase in intraocular pressure, or pressure inside the eye ball. People with diabetes are about 40 percent more likely to suffer from glaucoma than people without diabetes, according to the ADA. The longer a person has diabetes, the greater the risk for glaucoma. The risk for glaucoma also increases with age. Usually, the damage to the optic nerve that occurs with glaucoma does not cause symptoms. High intraocular pressure can be treated with medicine, usually eye drops, to prevent damage to the optic nerve.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is damage to the retina, the light sensitive area at the back of the eye. The damage is caused by changes in the blood vessels that supply the cells of the retina with oxygen and nutrition. In the first stage of retinopathy, called background or nonproliferative retinopathy, the blood vessels develop small balloon-like swellings called microaneurysms and leak fluid and blood, or become clogged. When these changes happen to enough of the blood vessels, the cells of the retina are deprived of their blood supply. In response to the lack of blood, new blood vessels grow.

These new blood vessels are abnormal, fragile and leak blood. The result is loss of vision or blindness. This phase is called proliferative retinopathy. Usually, diabetic retinopathy progresses from nonproliferative to proliferative over a period of years. Most often, there are no symptoms of diabetic retinopathy. In some cases mild-to-severe blurring, seeing "strings," "cobwebs" or specks floating in your visual field, or vision loss may be symptoms. Retinopathy can be treated with photocoagulation, laser treatment that stops blood leakage and shrinks blood vessels.

Your retina can be badly damaged before you notice any change in vision, and most people with nonproliferative retinopathy have no symptoms, the ADA says. Even with proliferative retinopathy, people sometimes have no symptoms until it's too late to treat the condition. That's why it's crucial for people with diabetes to see an eye care professional every year for eye examinations.

Diabetes vs. an Eating Disorder is a Deadly Combination!

Fusing type 1 diabetes and an eating disorder is a dangerous combination. In order to lose weight, some individuals have realized that a “diet” of skipping their insulin shots while suffering from bulimia can lead to weight loss. The grave dangers of these actions, of course, are not taken into consideration. “Diabulimia” is becoming more common as people become increasingly obsessed with diabetic weight loss.

 

It is estimated that 450,000 American women with type 1 diabetes have either skipped or reduced their insulin in order to lose weight. This is one third of the total number of women with diabetes.

A few studies have shown that people with diabetes are twice as likely to develop an eating disorder, which can be deadly. There is a thin line between watching your blood sugar levels, carbohydrates and diet in general, to an unhealthy relationship with food.

 

"Diabulimia"

Although the term “Diabulimia” isn’t recognized as a medical condition, the American Diabetes Association has known about the behavior for years.  “Diabulimics” have the same fear of insulin as the anorexic has of food. They know they must inject/eat in order to survive, but the terror or gaining weight overpowers all rational judgment.

The Risks of Type 1 Diabetes and Weight Loss

To skip or decrease insulin without a Doctor’s approval can result in falling into a coma or death. The consequences are serious and the need to lose weight can heighten the eating disorder behavior. In the long term, there are a myriad of complications that can arise: blindness, the need for an amputation, and kidney failure are the most critical.

How can you tell if someone is “Diabulimic”?

·                       they have type 1 diabetes

·                       a change in eating habits, a new diet or an obsession with food

·                       trips to the bathroom after meals to purge

·                       low energy and high blood-sugar levels ation

·                       a refusal to take insulin at the appropriate times

·                       chest pain, heart palpitations

·                       muscle cramps, lower back pain

·                       frequent bacterial infections

Getting "Extra Help" with your Medicare Prescription Drug Plan

The Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are working together to get you Extra Help with your Medicare prescription drug plan costs. If you have limited resources and income, you may qualify for Extra Help with the costs—monthly premiums, annual deductibles, and prescription co-payments—related to a Medicare prescription drug plan. To find out if you qualify, Social Security will need to know the value of your savings, investments, and real estate (other than your home), and your income. If you are married and living with your spouse, we will need information about both of you. By filing an Application for Extra Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Costs (Form SSA-1020), Social Security will determine if you are eligible for the Extra Help. Most of the questions on the application deal with resources and income. Social Security will not ask for documentation initially to support the information you provide, but will match your information with data available from other Federal agencies.

New Blood Test May Become Cancer Detection Tool

New Blood Test May Become Cancer Detection Tool

Written By Elizabeth Price on 05 January 2011.    

Johnson & Johnson announced they are joining forces to bring a blood test so sensitive; it can distinguish a single cancer cell in the midst of a billion healthy ones. This announcement means the test is closer to being used by your doctor as an early diagnostic tool.

Dr. Daniel Haber, one of the test’s inventors and chief of Massachusetts General Hospital’s cancer center, describes the test as a liquid biopsy. The blood test eliminates the need for agonizingly painful tissue samples and it offers an alternative to repetitive body scans for monitoring. In due course, researchers hope the blood test will become an alternative method of screening, reducing the need for mammograms and colonoscopies.

Four of the nation’s largest and most prestigious cancer centers will join forces with the Boston scientists who invented the tests and Johnson & Johnson in a multi-million dollar experimental project later this year. The project will incorporate experimental studies in order to ready the test for the market.
Use of the new blood test would allow doctors to monitor a patient’s response to a drug regimen more efficiently. The doctors would quickly be able to find out if the current treatment is working, ultimately lengthening life spans of cancer patients.

Other Injectable Medications from the ADA

Besides insulin, there are two other injectable drugs used to treat diabetes.

Pramlintide

Pramlintide (brand name Symlin) is a synthetic form of the hormone amylin, which is produced along with insulin by the beta cells in the pancreas. Amylin, insulin, and another hormone, glucagon, work in an interrelated fashion to maintain normal blood glucose levels.
Pramlintide injections taken with meals have been shown to modestly improve A1C levels without causing increased hypoglycemia or weight gain and even promote modest weight loss. The primary side effect is nausea, which tends to improve over time and as an individual patient determines his or her optimal dose.

Because of differences in chemistry, Pramlintide cannot be combined in the same vial or syringe with insulin and must be injected separately. Pramlintide has been approved for people with type 1 diabetes who are not achieving their goal A1C levels and for people with type 2 diabetes who are using insulin and are not achieving their A1C goals.

Exenatide

Exenatide (brand name Byetta) is the first in a new class of drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes called incretin mimetics. Exenatide is a synthetic version of exendin-4, a naturally-occurring hormone that was first isolated from the saliva of the lizard known as a Gila monster.
Exenatide works to lower blood glucose levels primarily by increasing insulin secretion. Because it only has this effect in the presence of elevated blood glucose levels, it does not tend to increase the risk of hypoglycemia on its own, although hypoglycemia can occur if taken in conjunction with a sulfonylurea. The primary side effect is nausea, which tends to improve over time.

Like pramlintide, exenatide is injected with meals and, as with pramlintide, patients using exenatide have generally experienced modest weight loss as well as improved glycemic control. Exenatide has been approved for use by people with type 2 diabetes who have not achieved their target A1C levels using metformin, a sulfonylurea, or a combination of metformin and a sulfonylurea.