with the computer threatening to drop dead any minute, I'm grateful it is hanging in. If I suddenly disaappear you'll know why.

Yesterday was yet another day of revelation! Yes Wendy glucose readings are where you have the little hand held gizmo and have to prick your fingers for blood. I know in Canada and probably elsewhere you can get a glucometer free when you buy 100 test strips. If youwant a coupon for a good free glucometer and pentlet go to www.accu-chek.com and root around untill you find the coupon, print on adobe acrobat and your off to the pharmacy. A friend told me all the companies give away their glucometers with an order of test strips. (sounds like a hamburger with a side order of french fries!) The catch is the test strips are fairly expensive I paid $88. for 100

Yesterdays monitoring indicated that the onset of dyskinesia comes when you have a drop in blood sugar levels after you have taken meds. If your dyskinesia is slow to occur, your blood glucose levels are probably moving slowly down...please note: the drops do not have to be very significant. Yesterday I had quite a dramatic effect of dyskinesia onset, just dropping from 7.8 to5.5. (a slower drop would explain end of dose dyskinesia very nicely.) I'm also beginning to suspect that protien foods are not the issue we thought they were, but rather it is how they affect our blood sugar as they are a slow burn food. I agree with the trail mix suggestion that Rick calls "Gorp" ... a good mix would be almonds/raisens/dehydrated apples/little pretzels Another good carry around food is Triscuits, small cubes of cheese and apple. Snack lightly about every hour...you'll be amazed. You need the combo of:1) slow burning foods like low Glycemic indexed foods like whole grains/beans and pulses... and/or protiens, 2) medium burning foods: mid range glycemic index carbs and 3) a little bit of the faster burning...most crackers fit into this catagory. This is a diabetic diet.. the difference is you have to watch how much of this stuff you eat..a little goes a long way unless you are burning it (exercise). Please note: Stress will cause a sharp rise in blood glucose levels...thereby causing your meds to cut out on you. Are you beginning to see a pattern here?

Everett is such a good example of how little your BS readings have to move to affect your PD. He would not test positive for diabetes is my bet, because the tests are not attuned to that low a fluctuation, and in the average non PD person there is no notable effect...but not the case with PWP's

Back to the lab...I just got my BS down to 5.5 which seems to be where my balancing point is and I've taken my regular med dose, and I have an apple, a bit of cheese and 3 Breton crackers. I believe the ratio for a balanced snack is 10% protien/70% low to medium GI carbs/20% high GI carbs Fats will slow everything down and alcohol will throw you for a quick off or dyskinesia because the body has no place to store it and must burn it first and its a fast burn. (when I use the term "burn" I am talking about how our body uses food as fuel to run on) With PD something has been tampering with our fuel pump

P.S. can any of you math heads out there give me a formula for converting imperial to metric and vice versa that I can do on the calculator. Having to flip to the converter site is a pain. Thank you in advance