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Way Back Wednesday: Diabetes Math Still SUCKS


I originally wrote the following post back on December 4, 2007- when Diabetesaliciousness was just under a month old. I'd just hung up the phone after a maddening conversation with my insurance company regarding my insulin RX coverage (or lack there of,) and my head was about to explode!

Unfortunately, not much has changed (except for the fact that my price for insulin has gone up) and "Diabetes Math" still infuriates me on EVERY level- be it financial or carb related.
And with Health Insurance being in the news- I thought it was appropriate to repost~


Diabetes Math When It Comes To My RX Bills....OR I Will Work For Insulin

So I was on the phone with my insurance company this morning trying to figure out why they won't let me order my insulin from a medical warehouse in 3 month quantities, like I do with my pump and blood testing supplies. By doing that, they would cover 80% of my insulin as a opposed to the mere 40% they cover for monthly non-generic Rx's.

I asked my insurance rep why they would cover 80% of my pump supplies and not my insulin when in actuality I wouldn't need my insulin pump if I didn't require the insulin (which fills said insulin pump) on a daily basis. Are you following? She had no real answer for me - besides the fact that those were the rules of my policy.

Let me just share the fact that I am charged $124.00 for two bottles of insulin per month - out of pocket -sometimes more, depending upon how generous they are feeling. I'm reimbursed exactly 40 %, $49.50 to be exact. At this rate, my credit card will never see a zero balance.

I explained to her that insulin doesn't come in a generic form and never has. Then I explained the "Diabetes Math" to her and asked her if she thought that was fair.
To my surprise, she said: "No Kelly, I don't think it's fair." I have to give her street cred for being honest and stating the obvious. But anyway you look at it, Diabetes Math still sucks.

Sacred, Cynical, & Protective Of The Diabetes Holy Grail

Sacred, Cynical, & Protective Of The Diabetes Holy Grail

When I hear the term “diabetes cure,” I think of eradicating diabetes off the face of the earth for all people who live with diabetes, and preventing those who don’t from ever having to. And I will craw on my knees through crushed glass in order to support any person or organization that is working to make that happen.



So when you tweet me the word “cure” and then tell me that by cure you mean “managing diabetes and that I’m getting caught up in semantics re: the words cure vs. managing and Dr. Speak in general, and that endos and CDEs don't know anything about diabetes, and that your an @cardiologistswife & that together, you write diabetes cookbooks.” Don’t be surprised if I take issue with what your saying; tweaching (tweet preaching,) or selling. And don't be surprised if I have questions for you.


Don't be surprised that I'm concerned that you tell some folks you have one type of diabetes and other people that you have a differnet type.


Be it your sincerity or your brand,I'm going to question both!


BOTTOM LINE:


Insulin is not a cure for diabetes, neither are oral medications.


A no carb diet is not a diabetes cure. It absolutely helps with blood sugars and weight loss, and I know a thinner waistline is better for our diabetes hearts, but it's not a cure.


Same goes for electrolyte waters that cost $100 bucks a case.


Prayer is not a diabetes cure. I’m not against praying, but it’s not a cure. Nobody prays harder than the parent of a chronically or terminally ill child. If all it took was prayers to cure diabetes, this disease would have been cured long ago.


Dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight while naked doesn't = a cure either, but it’s damn fine visual.


I look at the term “diabetes cure” with a mixture of sacred (like it's the diabetes holy grail) and cynicism – and cynical or not I’m very protective of it.


How you treat "your diabetes" is up to you & if it works for you, GREAT. But please don’t throw the term cure around and not expect others to question it.


When I was first diagnosed. I sat in my endo’s office and listened as he told me that science was 10 years away from finding a cure. I was so excited! My 8 year old self looked at my mom smiling, ready to say "IT"S GOING TO BE OK," until I saw her face and heard her words.


Mom: They told me the same thing 10 years ago when my other daughter was diagnosed, we’re still waiting- Your no closer now than you were then, are you?


I realized then and there that I would most likely live longer as a person with diabetes, then a person without.


That would be the exact moment that "Kelly The Cynical," came to be.


10 years later, as I blew out the candles on my 18th birthday cake, I didn’t think about being legal or voting, those thoughts weren't in my head at that moment. No, I thought about the cure conversation from 10 years earlier. And yes, it really did put a damper on the celebration.



Years later, sometime in the mid 1990’s - before the DOC and broadband, back when the Internet was in it’s infancy, I sat my old Gateway computer and “dialed – up” the AOL so I could participate in a diabetes chat room.



There was lots people with and or affected by diabetes in that room – and there was also a snake oil salesman preaching a cure for diabetes courtesy of Taro Root juice - a magical elixer that had cured the ancient Hawaiians of diabetes.


Me being me, gave the taro salesman verbal smack down. I told that all the taro juice in the world wouldn’t cause my Islet of Langerhans to be produce insulin – if indeed they still existed at all.


I chided him for trying to make a profit off other peoples heartache. Eventually he left the chatroom and everyone was glad. A few hours later I received an email from a mother whose 18-month-old daughter had been recently diagnosed with type 1. She was willing to forgo her daughters insulin regiment for the taro juice/ battery acid/ voodoo if it meant her daughter would be cured.



We IM’d all night and I was really scared. I begged this woman to find a support group and to speak to a therapist. I told her that daughter would live a great life and that insulin, while not a cure, was a godsend.



This poor woman was so depressed that she was actually willing to harm her child if it meant curing her.



I felt helpless and was afraid for her little girls well being, and her own. The only thing I could do was listen and talk.



Finally, around 4 am, she agreed that she needed to seek therapy in order to accept her daughter’s diabetes. She promised me that she wouldn’t try any miracle cures – and to the best of my knowledge, she didn’t. I received a few more emails from her, telling me that her daughter was doing well on insulin therapy and that she herself was doing well since seeing a therapist.



In her last email she wrote that she was closing her AOL account and staying off-line for a while - at her therapists suggestion. I never heard from her again.



The memory of that woman and her daughter have haunted me everyday since.



I think about that woman and her daughter every single day and every single time I hear the words “cure” used in an egregious manner regarding diabetes.



Ever time I talk to a parent whose child is newly diagnosed - I think about that woman and her little girl, and yes, I also think about my eight year old self and my own mother.



So if your going preach a diabetes cure through a product or lifestyle, don’t be shocked when I have questions – I’m not just being a bitch or bully, and I'm not starting an argument for shits and giggles.



And I’m NOT just doing it for me.

Depression and Homeopathy

Depression and Homeopathy
Dana Ullman has published another of his articles in the Huffington Post, this time on the homeopathic treatment of depression. In it he compares the safety of homeopathy with the obvious dangers of ConMed drug treatment. You can read it here (and it is worth the effort).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-ullman/healthier-ways-to-treat-d_b_740720.html#comments

ConMed drugs cause disease-inducing-effects (DIEs). Whilst the drug companies call these 'side-effects',  diseases, and indeed the death of a patient, is NOT properly described by this term! The issue Dana raises through his article, because it is dealing with depression, is an interesting one.

Depression is an ailment that focuses on the brain, the most sensitive of all our organs. Therefore, if ConMed drug cause disease, it is quite likely that ConMed drugs will cause more diseases of the brain than anything else. And this, indeed, is what we find. The epidemic levels of dementia, autism, depression, ADHD are without parallel, and have probably been largely caused by ConMed drugs.

The message for anyone who feels depressed is simple; they should spend time studying and comparing the outcome of ConMed drugs used for depression (drugs like Prosac, once a wonder drug, now known to cause many chronic diseases), with the safety and effectiveness of homeopathy.

Dear Diabetes - I NEED A VACATION

Dear Diabetes - I NEED A VACATION

Dear Diabetes-

I NEED A VACATION.

I need a vacation from you, and all you entail.

I need a vacation from the blood sugar testing; the carb counting, the bolusing, the temporary basal rates of it all.

I need a vacation from blood sugar testing- Oh wait, I already mentioned that. But since I test my sugars between 10 and 15 times a day- I’ll mention it again.

My fingers and I need a break from the continual blood sugar testing!

I need a vacation from my infusion set’s getting caught on doorknobs.

I need a vacation from the unexplained highs and the unexplained lows.

I need a vacation from the stares….and the glares from the Food Police.

I need a vacation from the anxiety you bring with you to my world every single day your in it.

I need a vacation from the planning you require of me- every single time I walk out the door.

I need a vacation from continually having to consider you, whenever I try and plan my day-to-day living.

I need a vacation from the quadruple checking to make sure I have all your Diabetes paraphernalia including but not limited to: spare batteries, testing supplies, backup testing supplies, backup infusion sets, insulin, glucose tabs, & extra food “just in case” you decide to head south.

I need a vacation from being “tethered” to my plastic pancreas.

And damn if I don't need a vacation from my faulty pancreas!

I wonder what it would be like to spend even 1 day with a pancreas that was fully functional?

I need a vacation from you Diabetes.

And I can never take one, because you are with me - ALWAYS.

I accept that- because ignoring you won’t make you go away.

Ignoring you would mean you’d win- and that will never happen.

I own you- and I’m in charge of our day to day of it all- NOT YOU.


BUT, I can take a break from writing about you- even if it’s just for one day.

And thanks to Ninjabetic's super delicious ideal, my blog will be sans Diabetes for October 1, 2009. Because that day has been created and christened by Ninjabetic as "NO D-DAY."

I'm SO down with that!

All the Diabetes blogs will be chock full of all sorts of interesting stuff that day- and none of those posts will have anything to do with you!

On that day, maybe I’ll write about my love of water sports and the ocean.

Maybe I’ll write about my first job out of College- A freelance Features Writer at Atlantic City Magazine.

OR maybe I’ll write about How much I love cupcakes (wait a sec, scratch that,) been there, done that!

Maybe I’ll write about my fabulous nieces and nephews, all 12 of them.

And how they are ALL amazingly talented on all levels and how they make me so proud and happy.

Or maybe I’ll write about the day I broke like 10 EPA laws (unknowingly of course,) by swimming with the manatees in Key Largo- and how I fed the baby Manatee (I named him Scaboo btw- and even wrote a children’s story about him) with a fresh water hose and cradled him in my arms. Maybe I’ll write about how he grabbed my hand with his flipper (did you know that they actually have fingers under their flippers? Yeah, neither did I) and how he curled his flipper around my hand and held it. Maybe I’ll write about how that single act made me cry happy tears.

Honestly, I don’t know what I’m going to write, but I'll figure it out.

Diabetes, while I may not be able to take a true vacation from you, for one day, I’m not going to write about you!

Snap!

Kelly K

There's Nothing Diabetesalicious About Another Family Member Getting Diagnosed

There's Nothing Diabetesalicious About Another Family Member Getting Diagnosed
"It's not true that life is one damn thing after another; it is one damn thing over and over."
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
I’m really angry at Diabetes right now. Not my diabetes, just diabetes in general.

I’ve accepted mine, I have issues and it’s annoying at times, but I find the humor and live my life. I barely remember my life sans diabetes. It is what it is, and it’s a part of me.
But my mother, that’s another story entirely. Is it not enough that 4 members of my immediate family are or were type 1’s, plus 2 Aunts, a nephew a cousin, and a great grandmother. Now type 2 decides that perhaps my mom hasn’t dealt with enough diabetes in her life, and has decided that she should be forced to join the club.

My tiny little 119 lb 4’11 mother who is one the strongest women I know, has recently been diagnosed with t2. I’M PISSED. She was diagnosed a few weeks ago and has just gotten around to sharing this information with my sister. She hasn’t told me yet because she knows that this past month, and this upcoming week are crazy for me regarding work and life. Knowing her, she wants to wait until things are calmer before she'll causally mention it in passing and crack a joke. This is the same woman who 12-hours into visiting my brother in California, broke her hip in his living room. She dragged herself out of the living room, through dining room and kitchen, where she propped herself up against the stove and took a breath. Then she pulled herself up to the oven range and managed to turn off the tea kettle. She sat with her back against the stove & patiently sat on the floor and waited for my brother to get back from his run. When he walked in the door, she comely but firmly told him to call the 911 because she was pretty certain she'd broken her hip. Two days later she was the Queen of the physical therapy room.
I knew this diagnoses would happen, I knew this for a very long time and I’d even said it out loud.
I’ve accompanied my mom to many Dr’s appoints over the years. When her GP told her she was “pre diabetic” and had neuropathy in her feet a couple of years ago, I knew it then, that very moment, even if the Doctor didn’t.

My mom’s this strong woman, little in size but strong in spirit who’s had her share of health problems over the years. Pace Maker/ Defibulator; broken hip, Cardio Version, and most recently, a torn meniscus that she can’t get operated on due to her hearts “unique” rhythm. She’s bounced back from almost of her issues, and her social life is busier than mine. Her knee hurts every day, but she just ices it, takes tylenol and goes about her day.
Her fasting b.s is about 35 points higher than it should be; the Dr. wants to start her on Glucofauge. So now, it’s official, she’s a diabetic.

God, ENOUGH ALREADY DIABETES. LEAVE MY FAMILY ALONE. I don’t care that you and I work as a team, but can't you just leave them out of it!

Marge, (mom) is making the best of it because my mother always sees the glass half full.
No matter what obstacles come her way, she’s always been able to pick herself up by her bootstraps and continued on her course. It’s one of the things that I’ve always admired about her. My sister said she refused to order dessert at dinner last night. She didn’t take a handful of lifesavers, let alone one when they left the restaurant either. Normally, my mother grabs a handful. She has a bit of a sweet tooth.

Her love of chocolate is legendary, and she’s cutting it all out - COLD TURKEY.
This is the same woman who 25 years ago not only decided to quit smoking cold turkey, but also decided that she was going to loose 30 lbs at the same time. Why? Because she wanted to be healthy and fit for her daughter's wedding 3 months down the road. She did it, and people could not believe that she could lose weight and quit the cancer sticks at the simultaneously.

Me, I will see the glass half full because I am my mothers daughter. I will be positive and proactive in her healthcare, and will crack jokes about diabetes and nutrasweet every chance I get – LATER. Today, I have tears in my eyes when I think about it. She’s my mom, my light, the one who believes in me and amazingly thinks that I can do anything. The one who loves me unconditionally no matter what. I want to protect her.

I want her to be here on this earth for as long as possible because I’m selfish. I don’t think I could handle being an orphan in my late 30’s. I’m just not ready for that.


To quote a family saying regarding diabetes, “IT’S IN THE GENES.” And as of today, there’s nothing I can do to change that.

Red Donut Rising...Or...A Carb Free Donut Is Not Necessarily A Good Thing

Red Donut Rising.........


This weekend turned out to be interesting on all fronts. Including diabetes.

It started Friday afternoon after I went to the Dermatologist's office to have some “Beauty Marks” looked at. After a complete body scan/ body map- I was told that my beauty marks were just that- but that I needed to come back in 6 months- and just in case I wasn’t already aware of this fact- I was incredibly full of freckles- even though I am a freak about sunscreen. Thanks Dr. – just want I wanted to hear…on all counts.

ON the positive- nothing needed to be removed- which was great, since I had plans to spend Saturday and in NYC and didn’t feel like going there with a face full of stitches.

Then I got a phone call from my friend who I supposed to be having dinner with.He and his significant other were sick (like in bed with fever sick) and were canceling.

I was OK with that. I still had plans to take the train and go to the American Diabetes EXPO at the Javitz Center. I was hopping to meet up with some DOC friends, maybe meet Charlie Kimball and see both his super cool car and tricked out juice helmet, and get all diabetes Diva-fied with the Divabetics.

MY train ticket was already booked and lets face it, a day in NYC is never a bad thing.

I tweeted about being in NYC contacted a few folks about going. I updated my new iphone with old DOC numbers from my old phone and new ones from email. For the peeps I hadn't contacted- I planned emailing them from the train.

Cut to 7:12 a.m.Saturday morning and me running down the steps. OK – I wasn’t running- I didn’t get the chance to. I literally air stepped (if there is such a move) off the first step and my legs flew up towards the sky, my wrist hit the railing and my butt slammed against the edge of the first, then the second steps. I saw stars.

When I got my baring straight I immediately noticed to things:

  1. I could move my arms and legs- which was a good thing.
  2. MY ASS WAS KILLING ME- which was not such a good thing.

I got up, with tears streaming down my face and walked slowly down the steps shaking like a leaf. I tried to get a feel for what had happened and what it meant. My left wrist was bleeding and if I had been a better frame of mind- I would have grabbed my monitor and tested- Why waste the blood?

I tried sitting and winced in pain- I stood up and tried sitting again- and felt a dull pain where my coxsix bone met my posterior and my legs felt like Jell-O. I knew I had to go to the Dr. I texted a few people in NYC, some got the texts, and some did not. Which meant in my rush to text them the news about my sore ass, I’d texted to the wrong numbers- which meant a complete stranger got the news of my bruised ego and ass- instead of Stacey from ACT 1.

As I was about to get in the car and drive to the ER, my neighbor (who was a nurse) saw me crying and walking like a duck. She asked me what happened and I told her. She shooed me in her house and said: You’ll be in the ER all day, let me take a look.

I weighed my choices.

Choice A: Me in the ER until sometime after lunch, (It was already close to 9) if I was lucky. I’d most likely leave with a large ER bill,an over priced donut ring, and maybe an RX for Tylenol 3, which I already possessed.

Choice B: Let my neighbor Lynne see my coccyx bone in all it’s glory and possibly prevent an excruciating long and drawn out visit to the ER.

I went with B and put my pride in my pocket and dropped my pants to my knees. No external bruising- which was good. Severe tenderness, slight swelling and redness. Lynne suggested I go buy a Donut Ring to sit on, ice for 20 minutes 4 to 6 times daily,lie on my stomach whenever possible, and walk when ever I could to keep the muscles stretched. I was also to avoid sitting and long car rides for at least 3 to 5 days- Yeah, no problem there Lynne!

Advil and or Tylenol were suggested to ease the aches and tenderness.

If I really felt the need to go see a Doc, she could recommend

several.

Actual Aeriel footage of Kelly's Carb Free Donut~

So I bought a “carb free donut” at Rite Aide that only came in one color: FIRE ENGINE RED. Yes, REALLY. Not the color for calm and soothing, and definitely not the color of being subtle and blending in. I paid for it and blew it up in the parking lot because at this point I had no shame and didn’t give a crap who saw me.

I iced, I took my Advil and by 1PM I was going STIR CRAZY from lying on my belly and watching mindless television on such a gorgeous day.

My friend Cathy picked me up and we went to a near by street fair, where we saw this guy standing around and I have to admit- he made me smile- and laugh- which really helped! And it also made my butt hurt so yeah- everything is connected!

Who you gonna call? Ass Busters!

My blood sugars ran slightly elevated Saturday evening ( which may have had to to with the chicken Gyro I ate at the fair) but were fine yesterday.

So what did I learn from all this?

1. The first step is indeed a doozy.

2. My Asno Redondo (my fine round ass) is not quite as round, or as cushioned, or as fine as I thought.

3. And having to have a carb free donut is not necessarily a good thing. I'll take an RX for a fully loaded carb-filled cupcake any day ~

Dearest Pancreas

Stop by iHeartGuts & get yourself a plushy pancreas!


Dearest Pancreas –

Hey, how bout those Islet of Langerhans???

OK, my apologies, it just that every time I get uncomfortable or nervous I tend to crack inappropriate jokes.

And as of late, I've come to realize that I’ve never really acknowledged you since the whole Islet of Langerhans fiasco.

Except when I refer to you as broken and imperfect.

I’m sorry.

We’ve never actually talked. OK, you’re my pancreas, you can’t talk, but you know what I mean.

I do think about you, and yes, I refer to you as broken and unfixable. I’m sure that hurts to hear, but I have to be honest; it hurts to say it.

And yes, a big part of my wonders what caused you to go all-medieval on my Islet of Langerhans all those years ago.

Did I do something to piss you off? Seriously, what could an 8 year old do to cause you to react in such away??

Did my DNA’s double helix sound a death knoll that was only meant for your Islets?

I'll answer my own question: YES it did, but why?

Did God have a different plan for others and me like me?

I stopped asking those questions a long time ago, and got on with the business of living.

But even though I stopped asking WHY, I was still scared of what my future might hold, and yes, that was directly because of you.

But after what seemed like forever, I got tired of holding a grudge against our combined imperfections and embraced them instead.

I’m over the blame game, you and I are on the same team, and together we make up part of the wonderfulness known as Kelly Kunik’s imperfect endocrine system.

You’ve taught me to see the beauty in nature’s imperfections, and by doing so; you’ve allowed me to see the beauty in my own imperfections. THANK YOU.

There are plenty of times when I wished you worked, but because a part of you doesn’t, I’ve learned to become attuned with my (our) body’s own idiosyncrasies.

At times your lack of insulin production has caused me to work harder to just “be.”

I wish science would find away to make us become whole once again.

But we are Team Kunik and I love and respect you.

Thank you for doing the very best you can 24 X 7.

Thanks for hustling and working with what you got.


And thanks for teaching me to do the same.

Love,

Kelly K

Scientific Research in Homeopathy

Scientific Research in Homeopathy

The best evidence for homeopathy are the many millions of patients who were ill, and have been treated successfully.

In comparison, these 'double-blind randomised placebo controlled trials are of minor significance, not least because homeopathy denialists and homeophobes will just dismiss them out of hand. They will continue to say - "there is no evidence base for homeopathy" - quite regardless of the growing size of that evidence.


Ah well! At least you know they are lying!

There are around 150 studies in support of homeopathic medicine published in 45+ peer-reviewed international journals out of which 45+ are FULL TEXT and can be downloaded.

Find it at by clicking here.


Antipsychotics. Unfit for human consumption!

Antipsychotics. Unfit for human consumption!
A study has indicated that atypical antipsychotics are 'unfit for human consumption'. This is perhaps no different to most ConMed drugs, but they have been found to be killer drugs.


The study revealed that use of antipsychotic drugs posed an increased risk of blood clot:

    * Use of antipsychotics during the previous two years was associated with a 32% increased risk.

    * Use of antipsychotics over the previous three months was associated with a 56% increased risk.

    * Starting antipsychotic drugs within the past three months was associated with a twofold increased risk.

The combination of multiple, potentially lethal risks that these drugs pose, suggests that atypical antipsychotics are unsuitable for human consumption.

Yet, as the study says, "instead of withdrawing them from the market where they are harming ... those who ingest them, these toxic, defective drugs have become industry's most profitable blockbuster drugs".

http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/727/9/

So as they are a very profitable drug for Big Pharma, they will continue to be prescribed to humans, few if any of whom will know that they are dangerous. No difference there either, then.

And I suppose government, the NHS, GPs, and the mainstream media will now bother to mention it. Well, no change there, either.

Parents call for ban on family of antibiotics

Parents call for ban on family of antibiotics
I bet most of you thought that antibiotics were entirely safe! Well they are not (several antibiotics have been withdrawn or banned in the past because they have been found to be dangerous. This blog is taken from the aptly named magazine, "What Doctors Don't Tell You". This is a valuable source of information on what we, as patients, are never told by the ConMed Establishment, and I certainly recommend that you take out a subscription for this magazine.

"Patients are pressing for a complete ban on a family of antibiotics that can kill or cause blindness and heart disaese. Yet, despite these alarming - and well-known - reactions doctors continue to prescribe them every day.


Fluoroquinolones or quinolones - which include antibiotics such as Cipro, Legaquin, Avelox, Tequin, Trovan and Raxar - arre the most toxic and dangerous drugs on the market today, says David Fuller, who runs a website to support others who, like himself, have been harmed by these drugs. He was been left with partial vision and permanent damage to his joints after taking one of the antibiotics for pneumonia in 1986.


Fuller says that no one is recoding the numbers of deaths and serious adverse reactions caused by the drugs, and he believes the problem is far worse than regulators are admittin. So far, five fluoroquinolones have been taken off the market after they were found to cause fatal heart problems.
www.fqresearch.org

Please go to the website for more horrifying details on what Big Pharma, and ConMed is doing to us - and not telling us!

For more information about the dangers of ConMed drugs and vaccines, and the Failure of ConMed, click here.

Walking In Elevated High Blood Sugar Shoes As Of Late

Walking In Elevated High Blood Sugar Shoes As Of Late
Like many in the DOC, I've been experiencing seasonal high blood sugars as of late. Not super spastic, crazy sugars that cause me to feel like I'm perpetually walking through J-E-L-L-O while switching to decaf.
No, I'm talking sight and or higher than normal elevations that require a temporary bolus rate, an extra shot of caffeine (and or B12) and more patience than this Diazon is known to have.

I first noticed the continuous, slightly elevated bgs a few weeks ago, and thought I'd discovered a new dead spot (always a delightful a-ha moment,) but after changing my infusion set several times, I realized it was me, not my site. So in actuality, yours truly had two a-ha moments occurred that day - Oprah would be proud!

The temporary bolus rate stays for a few days I run normal. Then I give my old basal rates a try, and for a few days all is well, then the elevated blood sugars start again.

I swear it's like I'm wearing elevated blood sugar platform shoes (which bring to mind all sorts of funky visuals) as if late, even when I'm in my comfy asics gels.

This is also the time of year when my first diabetes symptoms started to appear all those years ago. I've been thinking a lot about that time of my life as of late, I always do - the reminders are all around me.

The Indian summer days, the crisp start if fall nights, watching the kids in the neighborhood trek off to the first day of school. I think about the little girl long ago who started third grade filled with excitement and extreme thirst all those years ago. The same little girl whose new clothes started to hang on her and who wanted to sleep after school more than she wanted to play with her friends.

Anyway, enough about memory lane and my diaversary - I'll be writing about both soon enough.
Back to the issue of the pain in the ass known as seasonal high blood sugars.
Are you experiencing seasonal high blood sugars and if so, how are you handling them? When were you diagnosed with diabetes? Do you think there two are connected?

And The Heavens Have A Bright New Shining Star........

Marjory - Ice Capade Starlet

On Friday night, September 23rd, surrounded by her family, my mom went to heaven.
The world is a much less beautiful place without her presence but the heavens have a bright new shining star.
I was lucky enough to have been given the gift of Marjory as my mother, and I am incredibly lucky to have had so many years with her.
She taught me laugh and smile and to look at the glass "half full" instead of half empty.
She taught me that sparkles and red lipstick were a must, and should always be accompanied by a smile.
Marjory believed in eating dessert first whenever possible and that being stuffy wasn't a good look for anyone.
My mother was classy and street smart all rolled into one, with a great attitude and a good sense of humor thrown in for good balance.
My mother found religion in her garden and talked with God daily, and one on one.

She drank her tea from china cups, poured from a china teapot and liked her beer ice cold and in a bottle.
Mom lived to have fun - She'd had a lot of tragedy in her life and she knew heartache.
She'd lost both her parents, her brother and little sister, and her daughter Debbie, who died from type 1 diabetes. Most people would have understood if she became bitter and mad all the time, but my mother was strong minded and strong willed, and she refused to let the sadness overwhelm her.
Instead, she learned from heartache to appreciate all that life had to offer.

My mother was saucy, fun, sweet, funny, tough as nails, and ferocious when it came to protecting her loved ones.
She was proud of her children and in awe of her grandchildren.
She was a loyal friend and her "happy go lucky" attitude was infectious.
My mother always left her attitude at the door and taught me that the most beautiful woman in the room could also be the most kind and loving.

Mom, I love you more than words can and express and I miss you so much that my heart literally aches from the loss.

But I know that you are at peace and out pain and with Daddy and Debbie and your parents, Uncle Roy and Fern, Mark & Tommy and the rest who passed before you.
I know that your up among the stars, sipping Pino Griglio and wearing a kick-ass pair of platform wedge shoes or maybe those custom Stanzione Ice Skates and having a blast up in heaven.

I told you on Friday that it was all right to go home and I made you a promise that I'd be OK because I am my mother's daughter.
And I won't go back on my promise to you - No matter how much I hurt or what obstacles come my way.

I love you with all of my heart and It was truly the greatest gift of my life to have had you as my mother.

Thank you for that gift and all your love!!


Mom & I at a Pink Hat Tea

CHEERS MOM

Mom's obituary:

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Marjory's name to the following Diabetes charities:


Conventional Drugs and Vaccines. The problem is a lack of honesty and transparency

Conventional Drugs and Vaccines. The problem is a lack of honesty and transparency
Most people accept conventional drugs and vaccines because they believe them to effective for the purpose they are being taken, and also safe.

By and large patients believe them to be safe because each drug, and each vaccine, has gone through a process that has found them to be effective and safe. The logic, for most patients, is simple:

"We are not medically trained, so we trust what our doctors tell us. We trust them because they are assisted and guided by the NHS. And in turn, the NHS is funded by the Department of Health, and the Government. 

"Surely, we reason, this is assurance enough that the medication we are given by our GP is both effective and safe".

We are further assured that conventional drugs and vaccines go through a process of testing and monitoring which is designed to ensure that they are suitable for us.

In the main, it is on this basis that we, as patients, give our consent to conventional medical treatment.

Yet is this trust well placed? Is the Conventional Medical Establishment one that can be trusted with our health, and our lives? Can we rely on it to protect us from dangerous drugs and vaccines?

Or has the Conventional Medical Establishment placed itself entirely in the hands of the big, profitable and highly influential drug companies? Have financial and economic interests perverted conventional health care, and removed the central focus from patient safety to the viability of Big Pharma?

Lucija Tomljenovic, in her paper, "The vaccination policy and the Code of Practice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI): are they at odds?" certainly suggests that our trust is misplaced. In summary, the transcripts of the JCVI/DH meetings from the period from 1983 to 2010 appear to show that:


  • Instead of reacting appropriately by re-examining existing vaccination policies when safety concerns over specific vaccines were identified by their own investigations, the JCVI either a) took no action, b) skewed or selectively removed unfavourable safety data from public reports and c) made intensive efforts to reassure both the public and the authorities in the safety of respective vaccines;
  • Significantly restricted contraindication to vaccination criteria in order to increase vaccination rates despite outstanding and unresolved safety issues;
  • On multiple occasions requested from vaccine manufacturers to make specific amendments to their data sheets, when these were in conflict with JCVI’s official advices on immunisations; 
  • Persistently relied on methodologically dubious studies, while dismissing independent research, to promote vaccine policies; 
  • Persistently and categorically downplayed safety concerns while over-inflating vaccine benefits; 
  • Promoted and elaborated a plan for introducing new vaccines of questionable efficacy and safety into the routine paediatric schedule, on the assumption that the licenses would eventually be granted; 
  • Actively discouraged research on vaccine safety issues; 
  • Deliberately took advantage of parents’ trust and lack of relevant knowledge on vaccinations in order to promote a scientifically unsupported immunisation program which could put certain children at risk of severe long-term neurological damage; 

Notably, all of these actions appear to violate the JCVI’s own Code of Practice 

But this should come as no surprise, as drug after drug, vaccine after vaccine, passes through testing, through drug regulation, as medication that is safe and effective. Then, in time, each of these drugs and vaccines are found to be not only unsafe, but ineffective.

Why this consistent failure?
Why this ongoing acceptance of consistent failure

Time after time, drug companies are taken to court, and fined heavily for not testing drugs properly, for not releasing key drug information, for the harm and damage drugs have caused patients. And each time the fine is paid, and the drug companies continue 'business as normal', and we are either not told about it, or we assume it is a one-off error.

There is something rotten within the Conventional Medical Edifice. 
The rot is harming and killing us. 
And we have to begin to demand more honesty, and more transparency.
And we have to insist on safer medicine.







Flu Vaccine. Is it worth the serious risks involved?

Flu Vaccine. Is it worth the serious risks involved?
Many people, young and old, healthy or not, will be under pressure to have the flu vaccine. It happens every Autumn. Conventional health authorities, including our own trusted GP's, will imply that the vaccine is effective, and they will tell us that it is safe. Other organisations, even your church, may also join in the promotion! So what is the evidence?

First. How serious is influenza? And do we really need protection from it?
Influenza used to be a killer disease, particularly in times when poor housing and poverty reduced our resistance to it. The Conventional Medical Establishment still believes that the flu is a major killer, particularly when they want us to have the flu vaccine!  So the dangers of influenza are massaged: we are subjected to a kind of 'dodgy dossier', Iraq style!

Influenza Deaths: The Hype vs. the Evidence. This article outlines how selling big flu mortality numbers assist in selling the vaccine. It asks whether there are 200,000 or just 30,000 hospitalisations in the USA through flu. It shows how flu deaths are inflated by including many other conditions in the figures. And it shows how deaths through influenza have been dropping for many decades now.

This article examines similar information - and concludes that the threat of influenza is not as real as the conventional medical establishment wants you to think! The CDC, accused of lying here, is the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, based in the USA. This is what they say about themselves.

"For over 60 years, CDC has been dedicated to protecting health and promoting quality of life through the prevention and control of disease, injury, and disability. We are committed to programs that reduce the health and economic consequences of the leading causes of death and disability, thereby ensuring a long, productive, healthy life for all people.

Noble aims indeed, but 'lying' about the seriousness of influenza is not mentioned as part of their task. So if they have, why have they done so? The CDC are just one of those supposedly 'independent' health organisations that actually speak with, alongside, and always in harmony, with the Big Pharma companies, and promote their values and objectives.

What official government, and supposedly independent health bodies say, therefore, cannot be trusted. We first need to know their links with Big Pharma, both in financial and personnel terms.

Second. Is the flu vaccine effective?
Even if the threat of influenza is not as serious as we are usually told, it is still an unpleasant disease. So does the vaccine reduce the risk of suffering serious influenza? It would appear that only the Conventional Medical Establishment believes this. Most evidence points in quite another direction!


This study published in the Cochrane Library found no evidence of benefit for influenza vaccinations. It also damns the quality of flu vaccine studies by saying that the vast majority of trials were inadequate.


This study refers to 'authoritative reviews' that reveal there is a 'conspicuous absence of conclusive evidence' about effectiveness of influenza vaccines in the following groups: 

  • children under 2, 
  • healthy adults, 
  • the elderly, 
  • and healthcare workers who care for the elderly.



The flu vaccine is worthless. This article brings together a large number of statistics, studies and observations about the lack of effectiveness of the flu vaccine. It also looks at some of the dangers of the flu vaccines.

What is probably equally alarming is that the Medical industry has admitted that current flu shots are useless - so despite their sales pitch promoting it, at least parts of the industry itself, perhaps the more honest parts, admit that the flu shot is useless. The article states that the flu vaccines currently used "do not actually promote natural immunity", and asks the important question: "if current flu shots do not boost the immune response, then what, exactly, are they good for"?

"Not much, according to a recent study published in The Lancet. Though the mainstream media widely reported that the study's findings showed an effectiveness rate of 60 percent for flu shots, actual data in the study reveal that flu shots help about 1.5 out of every 100 adults. This, of course, translates into a measly 1.5 percent effectiveness rate".


Yet there is another issue. The value of flu vaccines is not just a matter of whether they are effective, but do they actually make matters worse!


Does the annual flu vaccine increase your chances of getting flu? This article actually examines this question. It found that the vaccines actually compromised natural immunity, and can double the chance of actually contracting 'another type of flu'.

This article confirms this finding, Flu Vaccine INCREASES Risk of Serious Pandemic Flu Illness, focusing on information from the Canadian media. This article, Study finds flu shot really did make people sicker, goes over similar information.

And finally, when there is an epidemic of flu, this study indicates that it is those people who have been vaccinated who are struck down by it! In what they call 'the dirty little secret of the vaccine industry', "most people getting the flu right now are the same people who were vaccinated with the flu shot".

"The CDC refuses to release any statistics on this, of course, because then the total hoax of the flu shot would be exposed. But I've been making phone calls to a large network of friends and professional contacts, and they're all telling me the same thing: Of the people they know who are getting sick, about two-thirds routinely get flu shots!
Reading all this evidence together strongly suggests that the flu vaccine is, indeed, useless. Yet, if the vaccines were just useless that would be bad enough. However, what is becoming increasingly clear is that they are also extremely injurious to our health.

They can, and do, cause serious disease.

Third. What diseases can the influenza vaccines cause?
The Conventional Medical Establishment will not tell us about any of this. Take a look at the NHS Choices website on Influenza, which, quite remarkably, does not say anything about the side-effects, or adverse reactions to the vaccine! Yet, as the following articles indicate, the flu vaccines appear to be one of the most dangerous being offered to us.


Children’s flu vaccine weakens immune system. Our immune system is central to the maintenance of our health. Even conventional medics know this - but here they are promoting a vaccine that has been linked to weakening it - thus leaving us more vulnerable to all kinds of illnesses and diseases.

This article outlines a study that found that the flu vaccines triples rates of hospitalisation of children in the USA.

This article covers research that found the Flu Vaccine caused 5.5 times more respiratory infections - yet was still able to find that the vaccine was effective!


Narcolepsy: I have recently dealt with the problem with the disease - already admitted by our government, and announced in the British Medical Journal. Narcolepsy is becoming a serious problem, which looks likely to produce a serious epidemic of this previously rare disease, if the vaccines are not withdrawn or banned soon.

This article focuses on a study that found that flu vaccines can damage your heart, as well as fetus' and infants, and asks whether the "theoretical benefits really outweigh the known harms".

This article says that Americans who had flu vaccine ran risk of developing 'paralysis disorders'. This refers mainly to Guillain-Barre Syndrome, or GBS - widely and increasingly linked to vaccines.


".... researchers found that among the 23 million people who were vaccinated during the scare, an additional 1.6 cases of GBS were observed per one million people vaccinated".


Febrile convulsions have also been linked to one flu vaccine in Australia.

"The rate of febrile seizures following Flavax ..... was estimated at approximately 1 per 100 doses administered among children aged six months through four years old."

As a result of this amazing rate of harm, the Australian government (who in recent years have supported mandatory medication) withdrew the vaccine - but only for children under 5 years old!



Fourth. Death?
There appears to be little doubt that the flu vaccines can cause death, and indeed, it can almost certainly cause death to a greater degree than influenza itself!

This article sets the scene about the 'deadly risks of the flu vaccine. Flu shots are medical procedures that come with deadly risks.


"In searching the year 2011 on the CDC Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System website - (http://vaers.hhs.gov/index) - it was found that 51 deaths were caused by the flu vaccines, along with 232 life threatening events, 116 permanent disabilities, 739 hospitalizations, 109 prolonged hospitalizations, 4,039 ER visits, and 6,221 "not serious" reports. According to the National Vaccine Information Center, fewer than one percent of all adverse vaccine reactions are ever reported. If this is true, you can add two zeros to any of the above figures to be closer to actual numbers..... Flu shots kill and maim. As stated above, 30% of flu vaccinations come with adverse reactions, and about 6% of all adverse reactions bring with them serious health events - including death". 

Yet rather than making this a matter of stark and impersonal statistics, these following examples demonstrate the more human aspects of these 'deadly risks'.


Death by Flu Shot. 7 Year-Old Receives Flu Vaccine; Dies 4 Days Later. Here is an alarming story, and a deep family tragedy from the USA.

Healthy 7 Year Old Girl Dies in Mother’s Arms After Flu Shot.

Three deaths linked to flu vaccines in Ireland

But perhaps the most frightening statistic relating to deaths caused by the flu vaccines is the 4,250% increase in fetal deaths reported to VAERS after the Flu Vaccine was given to pregnant women. You will see that on the NHS Choices website there is some mention of pregnant women. But they do not make any mention this awful statistic.

The duplicity of doctors and other health professionals.
So have you made up your mind? Do you think having the flu vaccine is something worth doing?

Well, doctors and other health professionals appear to have made up their minds - and most of them, two-thirds, are actually refusing the vaccine - despite frantic efforts to 'encourage' and cajole them into doing so. Most UK medics refusing flu vaccines - Medical Officer resorts to bullying.

So doctor's the very people who are encouraging us to have the vaccine, are not prepared to have it themselves. You may ask why this is!

Perhaps they know something they are not telling us!

Except, of course, you have now read about some of the evidence that suggests it is not a good idea. You can make a properly informed choice.