rfinney:

They once said that my body is acting like it is in the intensive protocol. This is a study in preventing heart disease in diabetic women.

They initially told me that the goal was to get my blood sugar to 170 after dinner time. That was some kind of goal to reach.

Well, I went to a nutritionist, we cut out absolutly anything that should not go into our bodies. And I changed from 8 oral meds a day to the Lantus and only two metformin a day. Then, afer a while, no more metformin. Only the one shot of Lantus in the morning.

And the blood pressure information they gave me is absolutely fascinating.

And Alan's visiting nurse and I were talking about blood pressure and she completely agreed with everything Cornell said about blood pressure.

See, when you watch tv and see a medical show and the guy goes "oh, you're pressure is 120/80, that's perfect!!!. Well according to Cornell, that's an idicator of pre-hypertension. I am on zestoretic 20/12.5. That's what I am on now.

When I initially started Cornell, I was on Zestoril, 10 mgs. Ever since I'm 26, I've been on a pill ending with prill. Monopril, ...whatever, they all ended with prill. So my pressure was not bad, it was never high at Cornell but they added a water pill to it and then put me on Zestoretic. I used to take Zestoretic 20/25. Then my pressure got low and they reduced it to 20/12.5 and they think it's perfect.

When I go there, they put my arm in this machine gadget and it takes my pressure 3 times. They write absolutely everything down.

I will never forget the first time I saw the numbers reading 102/62 and they were beaming and somone said "wow, look at those numbers". I said "look at those numbers??, I'm gonna die, are you crazy, they are low". And that's when they explained the whole new thinking process about what a person's blood pressure number really indicates. They said "when you have these kinds of numbers, you are much less of an indicator for having a stroke". So I said 'well, indicate away, I don't want any stroke".

But I do have a question about blood pressure numbers. Yesterday, my friend went to her doctor. She's obese, type 2 diabetes and takes a lot of blood pressure medicine. All her life and she's now 63. She was telling me that when the doctor took her pressure, it was 103/68 and he goes, "oh my god, it's so low". Then he took it again and it was 120/80 and he goes, "now you're perfect".

So who is right and who is wrong about this? By the way, the guy who took her pressure is a cardiologist. So do cardiologists think differently about blood pressure than endocrinologists? Very confusing.


They do have many people in the protocol. I see them outside in the waiting room. Many are obese, all are diabetic and all are on some forms of insulin. I sit with them and talk sometimes. I don't preach because what they do is none of my business, but I do listen when they talk about food.

They all love to eat and they go 'Oh, I can't give that up, and I can't give this up". Then they go in and come out with bottles and bottles of insulin and they take 3 or more shots a day (not Lantus) but stuff like humalog.

These people with the type two, well, they just can't change their eating habits. It's just too hard. So they are in the protocol too. I have no way of knowing who is intensive or who is standard. I guess the computer knows.

I just hope this protocol, well, I hope they extend it. It's nice getting all the meds, testing stuff, and blood pressure meds for nothing. It's also nice to get the exams for neuropathy, and she tests my feet. And I've been to the top eye guy at Cornell who tested me for Diabetic Retinopathy (negative).

So the care is exceptional and I was lucky to get in this protocol.

Oh, today, they reduced my Lantus. My a1c is 6.1 so now I'm down to 30 of the Lantus. When I began the ACCORD program, I started with 46 of the Lantus and two metformins a day.

So going from 46 to 30, well, that tells me that if I lose 25 more lbs, maybe I can go down to 10 of the Lantus some day. Wouldn't that be a hoot!!!

Oh, and this is funny. Dr. Fred's office once had a special meeting with the people who make Lantus. They invited all the diabetics (I wasn't even a patient of Dr. Fred's yet), but because Alan was, Dr. Fred said "Melody, come to the office on Wednesday, and you'll meet the Lantus people, they want to do a demonstration). This was last year. I am now Dr. Fred's patient also.


So I go to this meeting with the Lantus people and there are two other people there who have diabetes. What was the meeting about?? It was for the Opti-click Diabetes pen. Let me tell you something. No matter how many times, they can show me how to use this thing, forget it.

It looks like a bigger version of a ball point pen, and you have a cartridge, and you have to prime it, and turn it for the number of units. I just gave up, I thanked the people, and I said "believe me, giving myself an injection is a whole lot easier than learning to use this gadget.

I could give myself an injection in my sleep. I hope to god, I never have to switch and use this opti-click thing. It was so many steps.

Maybe someday, my body will respond even better and maybe I can even go off diabetic medicine altogether???? Now that would be something.

bye for now. And be assured, if there is any news about any PN drug, my doctor will inform me.

Melody