Humulin or Lantus, Which Insulin For Your Child?

Humulin or Lantus? When my daughter, who was 8, was first diagnosed the Children's Hospital that was treating her put her on an insulin program of short acting Humalog NPH and long acting Humalin N. You should have seen me that first day of training after a long night in the emergency room where she was diagnosed. I was a raving lunatic to begin with so my brain was mostly mush at that point. Add to that everything began with "H". Mix this "H" with that "H" but first charge this "H" with air, then draw this "H" first followed by that "H" but make sure you roll this "H" between your palms and for crying-out-loud don't shake that "H". Anyway I guess osmosis worked and all of that information finally seeped in. We were officially diabetic now.

For those of you who may not be familiar with it, Humalog and Humalin (short and long acting insulins) are mixed in the same syringe and injected 3 times a day usually before meals. Your child is allowed a certain amount of carbohydrates for each meal that the doctor figures out based on age, weight, etc., and that's your number. My daughter's was 65 carbs max per meal and 35 max per snack. However your child hits their magic number that's it. Whether it's 65 slices of ham or half a pop-tart. Plus she had to eat 6 times a day at certain times everyday.

Well the time came when she decided she wanted a little more freedom of choice and asked me about trying Lantus. My first thought was if it's not broke don't fix it. But I can have a cupcake whenever I want so I decided my opinion was secondary. So we looked into it. Lantus is a long lasting insulin. One shot at night and she had a 24 hour basal dose of insulin. "One shot" I'm thinking to myself "that's great". But wait, you also have to take a shot of short acting insulin (a bolus) everytime you eat. 10 meals 10 shots, 3 meals, 3 shots. Even I could figure that out. You base the amount of short acting insulin on the number of carbs you are about to eat. Talk about freedom! Compared to what she had been doing it was like being re-born. she didn't care that it would mean more shots. All she heard was she could eat what she wanted when she wanted. Birthday cake, pizza parties, popcorn at the movies, boy she was ready to go. The first thing she wanted to have was a Blizzard from Dairy Queen. I looked at the chart on the wall and it read 125 carbohydrates. That was half a days carbs in a paper cup! After a couple of days of gluttony things got back to normal pretty quickly.

Remember that freedom I mentioned, it came at a price. This insulin regime is a lot of shots. Add those to the required blood tests and your talking about a lot of holes per day in a little girl. One more thing, her nighttime Lantus shot was 19 units. that's a lot of insulin all at once. In her case it went in like battery acid. These shots are no fun. However, after several months on the Lantus regime her life and the rest of my family's lives are pretty close to pre-diagnosis normal. All in all it was the right thing to do. If your doctor is suggesting Lantus or your child is asking about it, consider all of the above. We're glad we did it.

By Russell Turner

Raising Happy Diabetic Kids

This is the first in a series of articles I am about to embark upon concerning this subject. As my family gets older and matures with this disease I think back to the early days and wonder why aren't we all on medication for depression? Why don't we have standing twice a week appointments with a psychiatrist? How did we end up so normal?(whatever that is) As I look back this didn't happen by accident, nor am I Super Dad, and I didn't plan it out step by step. It was mostly just paying attention, luck, and decent communication between my girls and me, granted sometimes at the top of our lungs.

The first thing I suggest you do is very important. Remember, our children are who they had in mind when they coined the phrase "monkey see monkey do". Trust Yourself! It's okay to do it your way. There're three components to raising happy kids, diabetic or not. They are Self-Confidence, Self-Reliance, an Self-Control. The more of these components your monkeys see in you, the more of these components you will see in your monkeys! I'm going to put out some ideas here but you're the boss of your situation. Do it your way.

Upon reading the three components you might ask "but where is self esteem?" I'll save that particular ramble for another day. Let me just assure you that if your child has self-confidence, self-reliance, and self-control then self-esteem comes naturally.

What is Self-Confidence? Self-Confidence is:

Trusting your ability to form and sustain relationships

Trusting your ability to complete various tasks well, knowing that others value your abilities

Trusting your ability to manage new siuations

Trusting your own judgements and common sense

As you can see trust is a key element of self-confidence. When our children don't have that measure of consistency and predictability in their lives it becomes difficult for them to gain the necessary trust either in themselves or in others to become self-confident. So if our children see that the people who are most important to them (us as parents) trust them and will provide them with a consistant environment, they will begin to trust themselves, their judgements, and those of the people around them. This is the beginning of common sense.(Yahoo!)

How do our children acquire Self-Confidence? Self-Confidence comes from:

Being accepted for who you are

Having someone show confidence in you

Knowing there is something you are good at

Having firm expectations of other people's behavior

Not being afraid of failure

Developing competence with the saftey of a parent close by

Seeing others you admire and copy, being confident and happy

It seems so easy when you write it down. When you think about it three main components have to be in place: Trust and Predictability, competence, and sociability.

Trust and Predictability - We all know that routines are important for developing feelings of trust and security. Think about the routines and relationships between you and your family and friends. How much do they keep to a pattern? Will your child begin each day with a reasonably clear idea of what will happen and when?

Competence - Being good at things. We all have different talents and abilities. We need to help our children identify the things they are good at and encourage them. These skills fall into a couple of different catagories.

Practical: Seeing how to make or mend things, and build things

Physical: Good at sports, kicking or catching a ball, swimming, running

Mental: Good ideas about things, good at solving practical problems, good at schoolwork

Social: Good at playing with others, kind and considerate, good at making new friends

Process: Being good at tying new things, sticking with difficult tasks and so on

Sociability - Trust and develope their social skills. Involve them moderately in your social life. If we have our children with us it shows not only are we happy to have them with us but also that we trust they will behave appropriately. Getting used to being in new situations, and learning to talk to different people will increase our children's confidence considerably. Here's one that took me a while to figure out. Give your child advance warning of your feelings, of short temper, tiredness, sadness, or whatever. "I've had a lousy day at work and I'm very crabby. It might be smart to keep your head down and your mouth shut." Or "I've had an argument with so and so and I'm feeling hurt. If I'm short with you I'm sorry." This not only teaches them techniques for managing their own feelings, but gives them a chance to learn sensitivity to the feelings and moods of others. These are essential social skills not only for now but for later on in life.

Our children will develope self-confidence only if we have first shown trust and confidence in them and have given them an environment where they can predict and trust. Diabetes and all of the unpredictability, feelings of powerlessness, and exclusion that sometimes go with it just make this process that much more difficult. I look at it like if it was easy any idiot could do it. Well, we're not just any idiot. We're special idiots. We have been entrusted with the care and upbringing of a diabetic child. So remember you are a special person entrusted with a very special task. Trust yourself. It's okay to do it your way.

In the next issue I'll take a look at Self-Reliance.

By Russell Turner

Improper pH Balance Increases Risk and Damage of Diabetes

THE RISK

Blood sugar balance is critical to your body's proper functioning. Blood sugar (glucose) is the primary source of fuel for the body's cells and is particularly critical to the brain and the eyes. When glucose isn't regulated properly through the bloodstream, the body's cells don't obtain the energy they need. Excessively high blood sugar (hyperglycemia, or diabetes) or excessively low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) prevents organs from working properly and leads to a decline in health.

The body's blood sugar level is regulated primarily by the pancreas and the liver. The liver stores excess glucose and releases it when needed. The pancreas secretes insulin that helps carry glucose into the body's cells, and it secretes glucagon that triggers the release of stored glucose in the liver. When either organ fails to function properly, blood sugar becomes excessively high or low and the cells begin to "starve."

A highly acidic pH level puts the pancreas, liver, and all the body's organs at risk. Because of the important role played by the liver in removing acid waste from the body, liver function is particularly at risk when acids accumulate. When acidity prevents the liver and pancreas from regulating blood sugar, the risk of diabetes increases.

THE DAMAGE

Not only does high acidity make you vulnerable to diabetes. The impact of diabetes on the body increases the level of acid waste. Therefore improper pH balance puts diabetics at greater risk for complications such as kidney failure, gangrene and blindness.

A diabetic suffers from an excess of glucose in the bloodstream - glucose that cannot be delivered properly to the body's cells due to lack of insulin. As the liver absorbs more and more of the excess glucose, its ability to remove toxins from the body becomes impaired. As the toxins multiply, the acid level in the body increases.

Because glucose is not delivered properly to the body's cells, the cells start to malfunction. They expel increasing amounts of acid waste. Some of the excess acid filters through the kidneys, causing damage that can lead to kidney failure. Some of the acid accumulates in the liver, further damaging the liver's ability to remove toxins.

Acid that is not filtered out or stored can attach to and harden the cell walls, further preventing the cells from absorbing nutrients. Eventually the cells die, starting with the glucose-dependent eyes and the extremities where it's more difficult for nutrients to reach. Blindness and gangrene can result.

THE BENEFITS OF A BALANCED pH

Fortunately, a significant reduction of acids in your body can lead to organ regeneration and improved health. A diet that's more alkaline can help you reverse the damage caused by acidity and diabetes.

The right combination of fresh vegetable juices, for example, can help your body break down and destroy excessive acid waste. For a doubly positive impact, eliminate sugars and refined carbohydrates from your diet. Not only do sugars and refined carbohydrates make it difficult to control your blood sugar balance, but they also increase your body's acidity. Vitamin and mineral supplements specially formulated to balance pH are an important part of your strategy as well.

If you start to balance your pH level through supplements and easy-to-learn diet and lifestyle changes, you will reduce your vulnerability to diabetes and its complications. You can look forward to a healthier life.

If you truly want to change and help your body heal itself you need to take a proactive approach. Don't expect to feed your body processed foods, not exercise, then pop a pill and be all better? it just doesn't work that way. If you want to bring your body into pH balance then you need a complete approach.

Raising Happy Diabetic Kids Part II

This is the second article in a series I am writing about how to raise happy diabetic children. You can find the first article titled Help Your Child Develope Self-Confidence in our article archives.

Sometimes the phrase "happy diabetic kids" seems to be an oxymoron. Often it seems all of the dark powers of the diabetes universe are aligned against you. You wonder if there isn't some evil house elf behind the scenes just making everyone's life miserable on purpose. Not being graduates of Hogwarts School Of Magic we can't just wave a magic wand and make it all better. We must prepare for life with diabetes and we must prepare our children. Self-Reliance is a critical skill for diabetic children to master. Think of all of the responsibilities that go into daily diabetes care. We all realize that we must keep the responsibilities we put upon our children age appropriate. Non the less, in most school aged children the ability to take some responsibility for their own care goes a long way in giving them some feelings of control over their diabetes. Last month I mentioned there are three components to raising happy children. Self-Confidence, Self-Reliance and Self-Control. No I still haven't forgotten Self-Esteem we'll get there. I'm still of the opinion that with these first three components your child can't help but develope Self-Esteem.

What is Self-Reliance?

Self-Reliance is the ability to manage on your own: to know how to manage your time, to function and think independently, combined with the ability to solve problems. With self-reliance, there is no need for other people's approval before moving forward or doing something new. It's also un-neccessary for constant guidance on how to achieve a goal. you can rely on yourself. Self-reliance is about tasks and skills -- knowing how to do things, how to achieve things or how to manage things. It also includes the ability to be alone and to think things through on your own. Self-reliance is broader than self-confidence. Self-confidence relates to what we can do, to specific skills. Self-reliance is about being independent, creative and self-sufficient; having confidence in our inner-selvs to enable us to adapt and manage on our own.

Self-Reliance helps us become:

Self-reliance is also having confidence in your own ideas. It is about being able to see things through to completion. It is about not being afraid of setting goals, and not being stopped by fear of failure. There is a common belief that the world is made up of three diffrent types of people:

those who make things happen;

those who watch things happen;

those who notice nothing until after then ask, "What happened?"

Those who have good self-reliance (and self-confidence, and self-control) develope self-esteem and make things happen. If we want our children to be able to make things happen, we don't have to think on a grand scale. It doesn't mean we all should want our children to be like Bill Gates, or Nobel Prize winners. We don't need to have our children achieve on a scale that makes a difference to others, We should aim to give our children a measure of self-reliance that allows them to keep better control of their own lives and keep choices open for them.

Self-Reliant at What?

We can encourage self-reliance in our children from a fairly early age. As soon as your child shows they can manage things for themselves, however slowly or clumsily, we should allow them to do so. Self-reliance is best introduced and experienced stage by stage, starting early and building up slowly as they become more more competent and responsible. When children are very young they have this almost unstoppable drive to become independent. Before they learn adult concepts of failure, they are willing to try over and over until they master whatever they are trying to do. This is especially true if they have older brothers or sisters. They desprately want to do what the older kids can do. If we stand in the way of letting them try or show disapproval when they don't do it quite right we can damage their belief in themselves. The more we do for them the more we prevent them from developing the ability to make judgements and decisions for themselves. The stages of self-reliance are fun to watch. The first time your baby grabs a hand full of baby food and finds their own mouth with it. When they learn to "go potty" all by themselves. When they put their own shirt on, usually backwards after wrestling with it for ten minutes. When they pick up their own room. When they start to earn an allowance. When they do their homework without you holding a gun to their head. When they go off on their first baby-sitting job. When they show you their first apartment, where you should promptly go through it turning on and leaving on every light in the place, leave the refridgerator door open and put your feet up on their new furniture. These stages progress until they present you one day with a grandchild. Clearly you cannot encourage self-reliance in your child if you are not prepared to stand back and progressively let go. Doing that in the right amounts and at the right times is hard to judge. Add the dangers of their not managing daily diabetes treatment into it and you realize just how careful you need to be. Giving them responsibility and independence depends on the age and personality of your child and on your own particular circumstances. Children can become self-reliant only if we have encouraged their independence, given them practice in making decisions that concern themselves and their health, and shown them that they can be relied upon.

We have been given a special task, raising a diabetic child. This makes us special people. If we weren't up to it we wouldn't have been entrusted with it. Self-reliance is a critical part of raising any child, diabetic or not. Diabetes just makes it more difficult and more important we help our children develope this skill.

Next month I'll talk about Self-Control.

By Russell Turner

Diabetes Awareness: The Downside... a New Wardrobe?

Here is some commonsense thinking:

I can't understand why anyone who has diabetes wouldn't exercise and watch what they eat.

The down side is that you may have to get an entire new wardrobe since exercise and healthy eating causes weight and size reduction.

When it happens, people tell you how great you look and that motivates you even more.

Other side effects: you'll also sleep better and feel more rested than before you started walking and eating better.

I prefer walking outside, especially when the weather is nice. I even designed a walking path about 2.5 miles long around my neighborhood; part flat and part hilly.

You'll find that a walking program helps more than your body.

"For me, walking time is good thinking time. Nobody is there to interrupt my thoughts. And even when I walk on the treadmill in front of the TV, I find it helps me get ready for the day."

Exercise and healthy eating.... A powerful duo for diabetics!

Ask your doctor about diabetes and have your blood sugar checked several times a year.

For more information about diabetes, including a Diabetes Quiz and a Free booklet, visit our website at:

http://hope4diabetes.com/info

This 20 page FREE booklet will provide you with in-depth information on comprehensive diabetes care. The 7 principles, or steps, will help you to understand, manage and diagnose your potential diabetes risk.

It could help you live a longer and more active life. The booklet is Yours absolutely FREE - No Risk! Share it NOW with the people you love and want to Keep alive!.

By David Anderson

Pre-Diabetes - The Calm Before the Storm

Remember when the medical world identified pre-hypertension to better monitor your blood pressure? The new buzz: Pre-Diabetes concerns a similar condition pinpointing people who are at severe risk for getting diabetes. Because diabetes silently invades your body, early detection and corrective action are critically important.

The goal with identifying pre-diabetes is to prevent the onset of diabetes from ever happening.

How do you know if you need testing for pre-diabetes? Good question. The truth is- You may not know. It's our human nature to wait until our body produces a pain or ache before we visit the doctor's office. With pre-diabetes, noticeable symptoms like frequent thirst and urination may not occur until the disease has progressed and is already causing considerable damage to your body. Most Type 2 diabetics don't have symptoms because the onset of diabetes is so slow.

Your physician can determine if you have pre-diabetes with two common tests. The fasting plasma glucose test (FPG) and the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Both require an overnight fast.

The good news is that you can likely prevent diabetes with early detection and proper care.

Don't wait 'til it hurts. Ask your doctor about diabetes and have your blood sugar checked several times a year.

For more information about diabetes, including a Diabetes Quiz and a Free booklet, visit our website at:

http://hope4diabetes.com/info

This 20 page FREE booklet will provide you with in-depth information on comprehensive diabetes care. The 7 principles, or steps, will help you to understand, manage and diagnose your potential diabetes risk.

It could help you live a longer and more active life. The booklet is Yours absolutely FREE - No Risk! Share it NOW with the people you love and want to Keep alive!

By David Anderson

Pre-Diabetes Awareness: Gamblers Understand the Odds

Do you gamble? Play Texas Hold'em poker, casino games, or lotteries? Then understanding your odds of winning is part of the challenge.

Are you planning on living a long and healthy life? A life free of aches and pains? A life full of excitement and adventure? Great, then understanding the odds of developing diabetes will surely cause you to take immediate action.

It is estimated that one in three Americans born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes. Those are terrifying odds.

Already, more than 18 million Americans live with diabetes and that number is growing. What is even more alarming is the fact that 5 million people don't even know they have diabetes.

A new buzz in the medical community calls it- Pre-Diabetes. Today, roughly 41 million Americans have pre-diabetes which left undetected and untreated, progresses into full-blown diabetes.

The challenge with pre-diabetes is the fact that the condition doesn't like to reveal itself with noticeable symptoms. Because there are few, if any symptoms, most people will not bother having screening tests performed. With pre-diabetes, noticeable symptoms like frequent thirst and urination may not occur until the disease has progressed and is already causing considerable damage to your body. Most Type 2 diabetics don't have symptoms because the onset of diabetes is so slow.

Don't gamble with your health. The odds of developing diabetes are stacked against you.

The goal with identifying pre-diabetes is to prevent the onset of diabetes from ever happening.

Your physician can determine if you have pre-diabetes with two common tests. The fasting plasma glucose test (FPG) and the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Both require an overnight fast.

The good news is that you can greatly improve your odds and likely prevent diabetes with early detection and proper care.

Don't wait 'til it hurts. Ask your doctor about diabetes and have your blood sugar checked several times a year.

For more information about diabetes, including a Diabetes Quiz and a Free booklet, visit our website at:

http://hope4diabetes.com/info

This 20 page FREE booklet will provide you with in-depth information on comprehensive diabetes care. The 7 principles, or steps, will help you to understand, manage and diagnose your potential diabetes risk.

It could help you live a longer and more active life. The booklet is Yours absolutely FREE - No Risk! Share it NOW with the people you love and want to Keep alive!

By David Anderson