Re: Re: Good News & Bad News

[Guest guest]

Em:

Thank you for the wonderful news. I do keep my sugar

levels under 150 (usually more like 120-130) so I have

been trying to do the best I can. Unfortunately

whenever I have an Asthma attack they put me on Pred.

and then my suger skyrockets for the week to 10 days I

have to take that.

I guess I just keep thinking of my Aunt (mother's

sister) who went blind from it.

Well I will keep my chin up as I can't change what

will happen in the future I just have to take

everything one day at a time and deal with the daily

pain for now.

Bless you Em for the encouraging words.

Tina

--- janissa@... wrote:

> Tina, blindness isn't a foregone conclusion here.

> If you take care of

> yourself and your diabetes, and see your

> opthalmologist regularly for

> checkups, there is no need for you to completely

> lose your sight, at least

> not for QUITE a while. I worked for a retinal

> surgeon, and we saw patients

> for diabetic retinopathy checkups who'd had it for

> fifty years. They

> weren't blind; they just had to be careful. Now I'm

> not saying they had

> perfect vision! But they were not completely blind.

>

> Of course you must go with what your specialist

> says, but remember, if you

> take care of yourself and your disease scrupulously,

> you can at the very

> least postpone this sort of thing for quite some

> time. Laser procedures

> are helping tremendously here, too.

>

> Best,

> Em

>

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> It is the tale, not he who tells it.

>

> I no longer need to punish, deceive or compromise

> myself.

> Unless, of course, I want to stay employed.

>

> Broccoli is bigger than all of us.

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

>

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

At 05:11 PM 12/29/2001 -0800, Tina Westphal wrote:

>Unfortunately whenever I have an Asthma attack they put me on Pred.

>and then my suger skyrockets for the week to 10 days I

>have to take that.

I guess what I'm saying is that I have learned from working for a retinal

specialist and two ERs that it is those patients who *don't* do their best

to keep their sugar under control who have the worst long-term problems.

Again, I can't say you will NEVER have problems. I can't say that you will

NEVER lose your sight.

But in this case the old saying is VERY VERY true: An ounce of prevention

is worth a pound of cure. Until we have a cure for diabetes, vigilance is

your best friend. There isn't anything you can do about the occasional

prednisone necessity, that I know of, but don't sweat that one -- I mean,

we control what we can, and what we can't control we deal with. Or do our

best to, anyway. *smile* So learning what triggers asthma attacks is part

of the diabetes vigilance project, if that makes sense. Avoid asthma

attacks as much as possible --> less need for pred --> more stable sugar

levels --> better control over your disease.

I'm not saying everything's coming up roses. Diabetes is a very, very

serious disease. But you have a lot of say in what happens, and it is

people like you who are careful, who watch their levels, watch what they

eat, who do the best with it.

>Bless you Em for the encouraging words.

And HUGS right back to you, sweetie.

Best,

Em

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is the tale, not he who tells it.

I no longer need to punish, deceive or compromise myself.

Unless, of course, I want to stay employed.

Broccoli is bigger than all of us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Guest guest]

Tina Westphal wrote:

> Em:

>

> Thank you for the wonderful news. I do keep my sugar

> levels under 150 (usually more like 120-130) so I have

> been trying to do the best I can. Unfortunately

> whenever I have an Asthma attack they put me on Pred.

> and then my suger skyrockets for the week to 10 days I

> have to take that.

Hi Tina

Have you tried Singulair (montelukast sodium) yet? It is one of the newer

asthma drugs. It has helped me immensely and has cut my need for prednisone by

tenfold. It also is good because it doesn't have as many contraindications as

some other asthma meds do. Accolate is a slightly heavier duty leukotriene

receptor antagonist than Singulair, but it is contraindicated with more things.

http://asthma.about.com/library/weekly/aa052598.htm?terms=singulair

http://asthma.about.com/library/weekly/aa051198.htm

Lyndi