Family support makes all the difference...I hope you have support too..

Tonight my husband told me to check out my mother in laws blog ... what a surprise, but I wanted to share it... here is the link as she has other valuable articles of course... but here is the link and the article about diabetes, a whole family diagnosis :

But also a 'thank you' to our family... for being such a great support.. with out all of you ... who knows if we could even sail this ship!


Diabetes-a whole family diagnosis
It’s been said that it’s not just a child who gets diabetes, it becomes a whole family diagnosis and as a grandparent we had to deal with the same emotions and educate ourselves quickly with the whole diabetic process. We learned to deal with our emotions from anger, frustration to acceptance in knowing that for now this is his life so we provide him with all the love and support to helping him maintain good blood sugars.Some days are emotional rollercoaster’s where my husband and I cry, laugh and hug each other and feel helpless in watching our children go through the “diabetic ride”.

Emotions for not only our grandson but for our son and daughter in law who face challenges everyday with their precious son. Equally important is the sister who is not a diabetic and making sure that she is emotionally looked after as well. Then there are the other grandchildren who need to be educated about diabetes and helping them understand what is happening to their cousin and how they can all help each other. We are all very much in each other’s lives and diabetes is part of our family, for now… we pray and just believe that the cure is coming soon….Educating ourselves with diabetes gave us the tools to provide the best care requirements for our grandson and understanding that this education has to be ongoing. Just as things can change quickly, what worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. We were taught how to do the testing, injections, about low sugar reactions and what to do if one occurs.We learned that at meal times it is important that he eat a consistent amount of food at each meal and snacks which all should be on a schedule. Since there are 3 other grandchildren all with different eating preferences this was easy to do, the only difference being we now count carbs and measure everything, this is leading to us all trying for healthier eating.

As grandparents we want to reward our grandchildren with special treats, often “goodies.” We have learned that special treats can be in the form of games, toys and family trips. One treat that all our grandchildren love are backrubs, we call them “bunnyrabbits”. This is quality bonding time that I can spend alone with my grandchild. talking to them, find out what they are feeling, what happened that day etc. Often sharing some of this information with their parents will give us a clue as to what could be going on inside their little body. It is all about trying different methods that could work and sharing this information with the family.

Our diabetic grandchild needs our love and support as he adjusts to having diabetes. He continues to be very active with his friends and family (diabetic or not) just as he was before his diagnosis. This has encouraged us as a family to become more active as well.As a family we all strive to treat each other with respect and normalcy.It is all about changing our mindset to make better choices for all our grandchildren.We are so proud of our son and daughter in law, they have been the keystone to helping the whole family come together and become an even stronger family unit.
Please check out the invaluable blog that my daughter in law has for her diabetic experiences, she would love to share them with you and hear from you.She is not a doctor but a wonderful intuitive person who makes our diabetic grandson’s life so much richer with her insight.Check out her site; working together in sharing information will benefit not only the diabetic child but the whole family unit.

Love and hope to every diabetic child and their families
Posted by frances bergen at 10:28 AM

Lets 'Conquor' Diabetes...

So I am reading the book Cheating Destiny (you can see the cover and buy a copy at any bookstore, or from the link above or on the left) and it talks about this concept.. of Conquoring diabetes rather than always trying to cure it. It was a startling moment for me.. profound.. but I needed to read further to really understand why he was saying what he was saying, and it totally makes sense. After all these years of promising our children a cure, it is seeming lofty. Trials and unfortunate lack of success in reversing the attacked pancreas has gotten many generations down about the prospect. Not to say there have not been highs, or that we should give up hope. but two things:
1. What if we could prevent diabetes from occuring all together? Stop the epedemic and conquor what is attacking the pancreas to help prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes all together? ( Great side note and tip on prevention I got from someone elses blog: Omega 3 Might Help Prevent Type 1 Diabetes
This was reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, so there's probably some validity to it.Researcher Jill Norris studied 1770 children who were at high risk for developing type 1 diabetes (because of genetic testing or because they had a close relatives with diabetes).From 1994-2006 she took surveys about their dietary intake and tested their blood for islet cell antibodies every year.The researchers discovered that the at-risk children who ate a lot of foods rich in omega-3 were 55 percent less likely to have pancreatic islet autoimmunity."This is the first study to show this," Norris said. "This is all omega-3 fatty acids, not just the kind that are found in fish. It is certainly not time to make any recommendations until we can see this in other populations," but added that it is a very promising result.I guess it's time to bring on the fish, flaxseed oil, walnuts and soybeans! Let's see if I can get my non-diabetic daughter to get more Omega-3 in her diet.

The next point is: 2. Talk about always replacing islets, but really and truly if the antibodies attacked it.. it is likely to attack again unless we find out why those buggers head for the pancreas!! So I am no researcher, but the cause is just as important as the cure.

I know it sounds harsh, because where does that leave our loved ones with type 1 today? well, I think knowing why the pancreas is attacked would really solve the whole conundrum since the pancreas has been proven by scientists (yay a women scientist in this case) to regenerate.. if we can stop the attack, perhaps our little ones pancreas can regenerate and reproduce islets! ahh a prospect almost as exciting as grandchildren ;) (okay bad analogy, but cute ;)

Thoughts?

Also, I hear talk from time to time of cure presentations to the ADA etc and then don't hear much after that.. how can we find out status of the quest for the cure.. or conquoring diabetes?!?!? Comment if you know please. Thanks.

Laugh, cried and wanted to share it..

So I really like the Youtube video of the mom's song to the classical Bach overture... but this one caused me to smile, but before long, I had tears and wow.. maybe I am just feeling emotional today, but thought it was worth sharing for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDATgiMwRNA

Thanks to the mom who did this, great work!

My favorite line in the video which I may just start using is: "And if all your friends ate 1000 carbs, would you eat too???" LOL

Made me feel a little less lonely :) And a little more normal :) Cheers to Pancreas Parents everywhere!

Is ther a connection between Lead, Toxic Plastics, and Artificial chemicals to our children who have diabetes?

So shortly after the self blame game subsides, we look outwards, or atleast I did, I started to look at the environment and the world around us to see what could be contributing to this disease, what the common thread is that makes it an 'epidemic' espicially in the state I live in (WA)( I hear Norway is the second biggest hotspot)

I decided that I would make changes where I could. We were lucky that we already were quite 'healthy' eaters and had the whole grains and lower fat diet... but now, the house hold needed a 'scrub'.

I did my research online and through discussions with knowledgable sources and I compiled this list. ( I will also try and touch on the theories that have been pointed out to me, and reference them when available)

First point of attack:
PLASTICS
We cleaned house.. no more sippy cups, damaged plastic plates and unmarked plastics in general if we could not identify the types of plastics they were... It was brought to my attention that some types of plastics were ultimately poison. But when 'activated' they really became hazards to our health. What do I mean by 'activated?' well... My friends father in Switzerland is a scientist who did a study on plastics and how they affect our food and beverages when consumed using plastics as the vessel (cup or plate) and this was his statement generally... Plastics were created as a convenience but for use for a short period of time, for example, put your juice or water into the plastic cup and consume within 10 minutes 30 minutes tops, but with today's busy society we leave sippy cups and plastic kids cups and even plastic waterbottles and nalgene hiking bottles filled with liquids that we revist and drink even days later if they have been refridgerated.. or in the case of waterbottles in the car, yikes even weeks .. according to him, this begins the leeching process. The beverage or contents begin to absorb compnents of the plastics never meant to be absorbed. Had we consumed them within the reasonable time frame, problem reduced... save it for later... and we are putting toxins into our bodies. Plastic Plates for kids are somthing similar.. kids don't often use knives, but when we use knives on thier plates to cut their food (rather than on a cutting board or cermaic or porcelain plate) we open up the platic coating and now allow the toxic plastics exposure to our childrens foods. To make matters worse, we use the micowave.. but that is a whole other 'point of attack comment' ;)

MICROWAVE
So, call me crazy, but when we make tea for ourselves we have a few choices, microwave the water, or boil (or hot tap for some with the ultimate convenience). I always choose to boil my water, because when I microwave my water, the taste changes... DID You notice that.. the TASTE changes.. would one say that water is a flavored liquid.. not really.. so WHAT does the microwave do to water that it ultimately changes its molecular structure that it can change the taste of water?!?!
I rest my case.. can microwaving be all that good for what nature intended to be ??
But we do need to eat and drink warm things, but think about defrosting.. when we microwave meat to defrost it it changes color, taste and sometimes texture... so what are our options? (For those that don't plan in the morning and take out frozen meats to defrost or buy fresh from the market each day for each meal?? You can actually use your oven or toaster oven for defrosting... I have started, and wow, the color, texture and taste stay in tact.. imagine that!
saran wrap and platic seals in general (not brand related).....

LEAD
Okay so the big Fisher-Price recall was the beginning of a new attention to lead, not only was it now important for people whose walls were painted pre-1978 to worry, but for anyones whose kids were into dora and diego (loosely speaking) hey even the sesame street characters were dragged into the lead mess! Cheap manufacturing shortcuts are costing our children brain cells and health (and this is before they have to deal with the other known factors for such they may face in thier lives)
But how can we overcome the whole industry and be more aware of what can poison our kids... I haven't..if you have, please post.. I would love to hear from you :)

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
So as I prepare this the first thing that comes to mind, which is not really 'environment'al but rather in our living enviroment.. I think about powerlines over our kids schools, and factories and working plants near our watersources and farms. Pesticides and all other things kind of fit into this factor.. things that we hope are washed away, not included in or a part of our lives, but make its way in...when possible, I try and avoid them.

FOODS
I have been compiling this list from various sources for various reasons.. and I will do my best to explain each one, but if I am not clear, comment and I can go into more details on any one of the reasons I have found.
A few of the changes we have made include:
Making the switch from iodized salt to natural sea salt is an easy and in the long run not expensive trade off... I have heard that there are parasites that live in the pancreas called 'fluke' and these buggers like to eat iodized salt and also artificial sweeteners, both of which we try and steer clear of when possible, but life happens and so we do what we can when we can (which means in our house)
No antibiotic meats and milk products are a big one, but more for general than diabetes based reasons, although the parasite theory (search: Hulda Clark for more details)also relates to the meats and milk products since some belive the parasites that live and feed off the islets in the pancreas stem from cattle and their products. (I have not decided if I fully belive this one or not.. I believe the theory, I am just not sure of they hypothesis that if one rids the parasites from the pancreas one can become less insulin dependant (Hummm.. parents, jump in here... would love to hear your thoughts on this one)
Artificial food colorings have shown in studies to cause almost ADD like sypmtoms in kids.. so for a child who stuggles with ups and downs due to glucose levels, why add more chaos to the list?!?
Vegetarian fed eggs, and meats Just a personal choice I made, also not to long after the whole Pickton Farm fiasco this one just became obvious to me (google pickton farm BC Canada if you wish for some gory details of a farmer who fed his pigs people parts this decade)

Well if I have not overwhelmed you with this list, I am beginning to feel overwhelmed myself. We do the best we can, and like quitting smoking or dieting if we go cold turkey or restrict EVERYTHING all at once, we are more likely to rebound or feel overwhelmed... So take it slow and we do what we can.. after all we have a lot to focus on ;)