flying rat

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3154744.stm

Promising new treatment for hard-to-heal wounds, including diabetic leg
ulcers

Ratty
--
http://www.flyingrat.net

julie bove

Cool! I need this stuff. Ah, but will it be available in my lifetime?
Hmmm...

--
Type 2
http://users.bestweb.net/~jbove/

And did you notice this little bit near the end?

"Currently, at least 9% of the NHS annual budget is spent on diabetes,
with the bulk of that estimated to cover "complications" of the illness
- often these are hard-to-treat wounds, which can often eventually
require amputation to be carried out."

So 9% of the NHS budget is spent mainly on treating diabetes
complications, but they don't want to help us prevent complications
which will cost even more in the future, (since the number of diabetics
is increasing) by giving us test strips?

fester

I think i'll print this out and take it with me when i get my flu jab. That
should raise a dark smile on the face of evil nursey

bob

Does anyone know the profit on test strips? They do seem awfully
expensive. Before I was dx'd, I bough a meter and some test strips,
they were about £25 for an box of 50.

--
Bob
Dx T1 4/4/2003, Insulatard & NovoRapid
(trying zeroish carb - kiddies, do not try this at home)

flying rat

Bob said this...


I do know that they are expensive to manufacture (relatively).

They have to be sold in those little airtight pots because the reaction
is extremely delicate when blood hits the test area. Organic chemistry
and electrical impulses are not natural bedfellows.

Still, when you think what the US mob pay for them (about a dollar each)
we get off bloody lightly, even if we have to pay the prescription
charge!

Ratty
--
Broadcast me a joyful noise

http://www.flyingrat.net

peter c

How are you getting on xenophil44 ?
Not heard much from you.
Are the numbers down, staying down ?
Are you still baking ?
Research does show that most diabetics do not do anything about their test
results.
Look at Fester, until recently he was testing 9.0 two hours pp but still
eating Shreddies till they were coming out of his ears.

Not too bad, although it could be better


I have cut down a great deal on carbs, as several posters have advised,
so they're getting better.


No, I haven't been baking, since I want to avoid more carbs.

I'm gradually finding out what suits me best. It appears that a very
low carb diet is the best for me, and it also seems to keep at bay the
worst effects of the daily 2000 mg of Metformin.

I've started having low-fat no-sugar yoghurt for brekkie, a small Burgen
bread cheese sarnie at lunch time with lots of lettuce, celery and
tomatoes, a small bag of crisps and a piece of fruit.

At about 5.00 I have a couple of small slices of malt loaf, and in the
evening I have a sensible dinner with very little carbohydrate and not
too much fat or protein, but lots of vegetables. Occasionally I follow
it with a bowl of vanilla ice cream with passion fruit or something
similar over the top, but more often it's the old low-fat no sugar
yoghurt.

Occasionally I have a glass of red wine or a small glass of beer, as a
diabetic friend assures me that it helps keep BG down!!

Snacks are macademia nuts or peanuts or a yoghurt, but I try to keep
them down. I allow myself a very small amount of 85% dark chocolate
each week, but in reality, I forget to eat it.

Drinks are water, black coffee without sugar, weak Earl Grey tea, no
milk, no sugar, and the occasional glass of Tesco's Hint of whatever flavoured water.

I've totally given up eating breakfast cereal. I'm sure it was what was
making my BG so high throughout the whole day, even though I only had
Weetabix without sugar. I didn't eat breakfast for most of my life, so
I find it difficult to get anything down, but I have to have something
before I take the Metformin.

It's a very boring diet, but I want to keep my toes and my eyes, both of
which are already compromised. Even so, my BGs are nowhere near as low
as those recommended by people on this newsgroup.

Recently my typical FBG is between 7.1 and 7.8, pre-lunch seems to be
round about the 6.5 to 6.8 mark, and 5.00 p.m. seems to be usually round
5.3, 5.4.

The best results I got were when I was on holiday in Scotland, and
eating lots of fresh fish, salads, smoked salmon, scallops, with
frequent all day breakfasts. I don't know whether it was just the food,
but I wonder whether it was also the absence of stress and hurry.

I must try to remember to start testing before I go to bed, but somehow
it always seems to slip my mind. I know I should be testing more often,
but it's difficult to find the time to do so at work; they keep my nose
pretty much to the grindstone.

I'm hoping that when I start my "diabetes education" course, and start
doing more exercise that may help bring the numbers down, but because I
also have arthritis and atrial fibrillation, I need expert assistance
with this. They sent me appointments for every Tuesday afternoon for 8
weeks, but not only did I have to take precious annual leave, but my
boss wasn't very thrilled, either, so I've managed to get an evening
class, but that's put it off by yet another month!

I have a very stressful job, or at least, a boss who makes it very
stressful, and I can't help suspecting that when I'm most stressed, the
BG goes up. Does anyone know whether this is true?

In any case, I'm hoping to get a more part-time job, so that I can fit
in more of my well-paid self-employed work and find time for exercise,
and helping my husband get more business in.

On the plus side, I also seem to be slowly losing weight, which I
seriously need to do, but without making any conscious effort.

Oh dear! Haven't I gone on a lot! You did ask!

--
e-mail me at geraldine(underlined space)ms(littlesnailything) bigfoot dot com
only without the spaces. If you e-mail me at hotmail, I may never see it, but,
if you must, take out the 25th. & 26th. letters)

peter c

Good to hear your latest. You seem to be doing ok or at least made an
excellent start on it. Your FBGs could be just the Dawn Phen.
Which Yogurt do you use ? Shape used to be great but St. Ivel Shape were
taken over by Danone ( oui Danone ) earlier this year and they seem to have
ruined the brand - just dumped their own high sugar muck in the Shape pots.
Weightwatchers seems acceptable and Lidl do a really low sugar / fat brand.

That's very encouraging.


How can you tell?

I've been buying Muller Lite[1], but I see that they use fructose as
well as sweetener. Unfortunately there's no Lidl near here, but I might
have a look at Aldi. Ideally I want something I can buy at Tesco's on
my Internet order.

The best thing is probably the 100% fat-free Greek Yoghurt, which I
usually put a little fruit into, but unless I also use a little Splenda,
it seems very penitential!

[1] on the recommendation of a diabetic friend, who I now realise isn't
being as strict with herself as perhaps she should be. She tells me
that it's OK for her to eat cakes, sweets, doughnuts and biscuits all
week at work, because she's good at the weekend. She also told me she
cleans up her act for a few weeks when she has a clinic appointment due.

--
e-mail me at geraldine(underlined space)ms(littlesnailything) bigfoot dot com
only without the spaces. If you e-mail me at hotmail, I may never see it, but,
if you must, take out the 25th. & 26th. letters)