We have family members who are insulin-dependent diabetics. I read a reference to making insulin from rabbits and sheep in the sci-fi book "Lucifer's Hammer". Can this really be done? How do you get the right dosage? If insulin cannot be manufactured, is there a way to minimize the effects of the disease enough to keep them alive for a prolonged period of time?

-- Helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), March 25, 1999

Answers

1) the reference is valid but you have to find someone who is willing to give you the rendering formulae for rendering the sheep's pancreas of the one sheep per month you get to slaughter.

2) there are some interesting things being done with diet, but if they are ruly IDD patients, you will be hard pressed to find anything that works. The body needs the insulin to bring the glucose across the cell membrane barrier.

Sorry about this. Look in to the longest shelf life versions that the patients tolerate, and invest in the requisite refrigeration, either propane from a trailer/rv sales place, or kero from Lehman's.

Chuck, who has the direct opposite problem.

-- Chuck, a night driver (reinzoo@en.com), March 25, 1999.

Chuck, thank you. How will an IDD patient die?

-- Helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), March 25, 1999.

an insulin dependant person will generaraly die of a heart attack. my mother was a diabetic, and she had what the docs called, " a small heart attack, a little one". after a LONG time, she had a "code blue" and went on a ventilator. when she was on the vent, she would look at me and shake her head, as if to say, "I'm not gonna make it, or, I dont wanna make it, tell them to shut it off!' I was going out of my mind trying to figure out what to do. finaly, on her last day, she began having "grand malle seizures" and the docs told me she wouldnt last the day. they told me "we can put her back on the vent, but , at this point, it would be just keeping a dead body alive". I told them to let her go.

-- ed (edrider007@aol.com), March 25, 1999.

Helen and Chuck

This is directed at both of you as it is just as appropriate for a insulin dependent diabetic as it is for a hypoglycemic.

In 1977, my blood sugars were on a major swing with the highs being in the 180-190 range and the lows being in the 25-40 range. All this on a regular diet, watching my sugar and trying my best. A friend of ours (a osteopathic physician) put me on Chromium Picolinate 400 mcg (micrograms, not milligrams) daily. Within two weeks, my blood glucose had stabilized in normal ranges.

You have to remember, the oral glycemics did not exist at that time. Another friend (extremely insulin dependent) heard me talking to my wife about it and decided to try it. She reduced her insulin dose by 90%. Also ended up in the ER about a half dozen times for low blood sugar.

Here's the routine. Chuck, start taking Chromium 400 mcg per day for two weeks. Then reduce it to 200 mcg daily. This is the normal recommended dose for a reasonably healthy adult. Also does great things for appitite control.

Helen...Same thing but DO IT UNDER A DOCTOR'S SUPERVISON!!! YOU WILL NEED TO CHECK BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVELS 3 X A DAY.

In answer to you question how a IDD patient dies. They fall into a sleep, progresses into a coma and die from cerebral edema causing respiratory depression. From what I have seen with my 'no-code' patients, it seems to be very peaceful. Leska and her friend could probably answer that better than I. (My spec was ICU/ER).

Sorry for such a long post. Hope it answers your questions.

God bless.

-- Lobo (Hiding@woods.com), March 25, 1999.

hi, lobo. when my mom was having grand malle seizures, it looked scary. the doc said, when she does that, shes not feeling any pain. still, I feel knew she was dieing, and was VERY anxious. they would say, if your mom becomes anxious, we have xanax for her. I would go into her room and say, mom, they have xanax for you, but they wont give it to you unless they feel you REALLY need it, do youn want the xanax? she would say yes. I would then go out to the nurses station and demand that they give it to her. I think drugs are witheld, very un nessisarily so.

-- ed (edrider007@aol.com), March 25, 1999.

Chuck & Lobo: I talked about this before. I used to be reactive hypoglycemic. I too recommend the 400 mcg of chromium picolinate, but stay with it if you exercise (as you should). Once again I refer you to "Optimum Sports Nutrition", Michael Colgan, 1993(excellent for anyone interested in good health).

-- curtis schalek (schale1@ibm.net), March 26, 1999.

Curtis..

Thanks for the reference. After I read your post, I looked in my reference library and .... there it was. I have learned that you'd better have your data right if you post here and I was going nuts trying to figure out how to put out the flames. Thanks much for the assist.

-- Lobo (Hiding@woods.com), March 26, 1999.

My doctor, from Duke U Med Center, recommended chromium picolinate and evening primrose oil. I wouldn't take anything that hasn't been researched in a reputable study and these two supplements have gone through the double-blind, controlled thing. I'm a Type II diabetic and have reduced my daily med from 3/day to 2/day. Stress increases sugar levels, as you know, and there's a lot of it around me right now, not just Y2K. Once we sell the house/take it off the market, I'm pretty sure I can relax a bit more and concentrate enough on diet and exercise to reduce dependence on med even further. There's more info on these and other supplements at the American Diabetes Association page.

For those times when you exercise just a little too much and you feel hypoglycemic, those honey sticks are great for carry-around emergency use. Don't need refrigeration, very long shelf life, sturdy plastic tube (which can be bitten open in an emergency), and give just about instant results.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), March 26, 1999.

Thank you, everybody!

-- Helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), March 26, 1999.

I'm an insulin dependent diabetic and have lurked here since November, and I feel like I know several of you.

To buy in quantity, I recommend Fify-50 Pharmacy at www.fify50.com. They have that name because they send 50% of their profits to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.

I could not believe that with my coverage through Cigna and buying a quantity of 8 vials at once, the cost per vial to me was a whopping $4. Talk about a silver lining in the cloud.

My expectation is that things are going to an 8 on the Y2K scale, and sooner or later, when the gas for the generator is gone, I'm going to store the insulin in a waterproof fishing tackle box and submerge it in the small stream flowing from the spring on the property where I'll be at the time. If you need to, use the same strategy in any body of water, such as a lake or a pond, as the water 4 to 6 feet below the surface should keep the insulin preserved even during the heat of summer. And, the expiration date stamped on the vial is usually 2 years.

Finally, thanks to the above posters for your info on the chromium picolinate.

Best of luck.

-- David Waldrip (dwaldrip@aol.com), March 26, 1999.

Chuck: "Some interesting things are being done with diet."

http://www.survivediabetes.com

Politically-incorrect insights from a diabetic. Non-commercial site with extensive links and research. Good health to all!

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), March 26, 1999.

Chuck: "Some interesting things are being done with diet."

http://www.survivediabetes.com

Politically-incorrect insights from a diabetic. Non-commercial site with extensive links and research. Good health to all!

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), March 26, 1999.

Watch what you eat. Stay away from processed meats and foods. They contain BHA and BHT. These two perservatives are the major cause of a host of disease. The human body was not intended to run on imbalming fluid. This stuff coats the fat deposits in your arteries so it will not rot. Watch out for processed meats at all restaraunts. They contain MSG. For your own info on all the bad stuff. type in Yahoo, search for the following. Aspertame such as is in diet drinks. Glutanate, in hamburgers, BHA and BHT. Look it up. Then buy youself some minerals and B-vitamins.

-- (Boilerman7@powerhouse.com), March 27, 1999.

Daily use of turmeric (300 to 600 mg. 3 X a day w/ meals) potentizes your own insulin up to ten times. This w/ diet changes, the chromium p., exercise, etc. and you could not need insulin any more by 2000. Better all around.

-- Shivani Arjuna (S Arjuna@aol.com), June 05, 1999.