Mel
 

It's all over the news I thought it might be your program but wasn't sure.
The one part was lowering the insulin level and caused some to died
from heart problems. Just like when I was on Advanta for a shoet time,
I called my dr. told her hold my insulin level had dropped to 60
she got me right off and had me keep eye on blood pressure. They had
the Dr. over the program,he said well we learned something,we were doing
this wrong.but he are the program would not name the meds not on the
show I saw. There was a patiient hhe name was Williams ,who was in the
group where some people died,they said everybody would be on the
program tha had no problems..When it drops that low you can feel it.
Sue

It was on local news,we have a big diabetic testing center here. But
it's on cnn,fox and msmbc..I think they said something about cho med
I won't take that crap. When I had that advata thing believe I knew
it,my heart was fluttering..Sue

Reading this stuff a bit more carefully--
 

--I realized that this is coming from a statistical comparison more than anything else; 257 people died over the course in the intensive treatment group compared to 203 in the standard treatment group. As the second article says, this amounts to 0.3 more deaths per 100 people in the study.

I'm assuming that whatever statistical analysis they performed here reached the level of statistical significance in order for this to get this much play, but I'd like to see that analysis (I haven't seen it in anything I've Googled up yet). Considering the many different mordities and mortality factors associated with diabetes, I wouldn't be convinced yet that this difference is not caused by chance factors (or lack of randomness in the study, such as there being higher incidence of morbidity factors in the "intensive" group to begin with).

New York Times article has more
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/he...rssnyt&emc=rss

These subjects took cholesterol drugs, too, according to it.

This is what I think:

It is time for doctors to understand what drugs DO. They deplete substances from our bodies, and change us. Some do alot this damage others less (or still unknown factors).

Statins damage mitochondria in cells. You cannot live when that happens.
Statins prevent the body from making CoQ-10 which when lost damages the heart. Metformin depletes B12 and folic acid.
ACE inhibitors (used in this study) deplete Zinc.
Diuretics deplete magnesium. Low magnesium causes heart arrhythmias.

Melody, did anyone at your appointments try to cover these bases?
I suspect not, since the most important one for diabetic neuropathy would be the B12.

So like many things in medicine today, it shows how smart and how stupid smart people can be. Doctors need to take a serious look at how medications affect people. ALL of the effects.

Not surprising...
 

...at all. I'll be damned if these doctors are'nt absolutely obsessed with numbers..the lower the better. Until all your numbers are zero and you are taking a dirt nap. Because everyone should have a BP of 110/70. -an a1c of 5.0- and cholesterol of 100! A year ago I felt fine . I built a backyard deck ,put up a fence with post hole diggers ,planted a rose garden for the wife...well..you get the idea. Now I cant do crap, my wrists hurt ,my ankles hurt, hell, my whole body hurts! But boy am I healthy ..just look at my labs ,thanks to statins, bp meds,metformin etc I will probably be miserable all the way till 90 ! Last March I was sitting in the doc's office holding a ziplock bag of ice cubes in my hands because of pn and all the doc and RNP could do was pat themselves on the back about my LDL of 50 ! I haven't had a LDL of 50 since I was a teenager! And my glucose was down from an a1c 0f 9 to a 6 ! Now, I'm not nearly as smart as some on this site and damn sure no doctor but lowering lipids that fast ( 1 month ) has to radically change the environment of your periphial nervous system. Oh well..dont mind me doc, I'm just a patient. My apologies for the ramble and I will get off my soapbox now....Tom..ps;I stopped the damn statins!

You are expressing very accurately what is happening today in medicine.
Quality of life, is not considered. These studies become like bibles to these doctors. And in many cases the studies themselves are flawed in some way.
It took about 6mos or more before much of the data from the HERS study was released. And that data was OPPOSITE the data supplied by drug companies themselves for 20 years to doctors, about estrogen replacement therapy, based on drug companies funded studies.

I'd like to know who funds the ACCORD study.... drug companies perhaps? I am going to look around for that info.

Low B12, low folate cause increased homocysteine. Homocysteine damages blood vessels. So patients receiving metformin should be taking both of these vitamins to replace what is lost. This is not a "secret" or made up in any way.
But for some reason doctors won't pay attention to these facts.

Funding for ACCORD:
 

Here we go folks:

http://www.accordtrial.org/web/publi...TOKEN=69922238
More data here:
http://www.accordtrial.org/web/public/index.cfm

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof...d/q_a.htm#cost

I guess I'm very lucky then.

They can't make you take any meds you don't want to take. This I know. And way back when I was on the vytorin, as soon as I got the muscle aches and I told them, they immediately stopped. I might be luckier going to Cornell than others who went to other places for the study. And I am lucky that I was not in the intensive group.

I just did basic common sense. Good eating habits, tried to walk as much as I could and paid attention, and took my B-12.

I'm much luckier than other diabetics. Some people can do everything right and nothing changes. I'm aware of that.

But my diabetes was because of my obesity. I finally got the lightbulb moment. A bit late in life, that's true, BUT THE BULB GOT LIT.

I'm keeping it lit, if you get my drift.

I shall be talking to them tomorrow. Let's see what they say about the letter I got from the Accord Program.

Will update. Oh, I'd like to add one more thing. We all know that STRESS exacerbates our PN. That's a no brainer. Don't know if stress raises our sugar reading, but it definitely impacts the PN.
I found this out personally, every time my son called. Not that he's verbally abusive, or anything like that. He just is who he is, does nothing all day long, stays in his room, is 26 years old and does not work and is on SSI and gambles whenever he can and has been diagnosed with Aspergers. So essentially I have a son in another state who never gives us a second thought. Alan is emotionally distraught by this, and while I have had my moments, I also have spoken to professionals, I run my own Asperger forum, and I put up boundaries. I had no choice.

But once in a great while (like yesterday), when speaking to a friend who is going crazy with her own alcoholic son, it brings up feelings, and I said to myself "my god, I don't know if my son is alive or dead, we haven't heard from him, blah blah, you know, the mother heartstrings get tugged". My feet started to burn. I went over to Alan and said "how are you coping with the Frank thing (we call it the Frank thing). Alan said "how do you think I'm coping, I gave up, my son doesn't call, doesn't care about our health, how do you think I'm doing?"

My feet were burning like crazy. (I'm telling this story because there's a point at the end of it). He doesn't answer his phone so there was no point in calling him.

Before I emailed him I said 'let's see if he is in Second Life". I went into Second Life (my feet are still burning and my whole body is burning". I know his account, I looked for him, and found he was not online in Second Life.

So I said to myself "I'll email him, and if he answers at least I know he's alive".

I emailed him asking him how he was doing, how his thyroid levels were and if he still goes into Second Life??

In 10 minutes I got a reply. "Yes I go into Second Life, I have 3 accounts, I took down my website, I'm building a new website for people to play games and have fun on the internet. I'm also moving into my former housing development (he was initially kicked out for gambling the rent)."

Well, you should have seen my face. I immediately got up, walked over to Alan and said 'he's alive and he's moving back to his former apartment". ALL THE BURNING STOPPED.

Alan said 'so he's fine, he hasn't called us since January 1, just to see how we are, he didn't ask about us??" I said "no, get it through your head, he has Aspergers, he only cares about himself, but he's got a roof over his head and he's not living at home stealing from us".

Alan said: "you know, you're right"

So in my case, when I concentrate my feelings about my son, and they are negative mommy moments, m whole body reacts with the PN.

When I realized he was perfectly fine, I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off of my shoulders.

It's amazing what the mind can do to the body, isn't it???

Mrsd I could of guessed that,when I was young and thin I had prediabtes
Mel but when I gained when to debectics 2 ,I was told don't go over 180
I think went to that from 80,90 and very avtive. Lost the weight but
still take 2 metformin..My Dr. always tell me of Vits to take,that's GP
the other Dr.I check or ask Gp. Glen was right on nose about deaths. But
should have listing meds. I'm not as active as i was,Mrs d you stopped
treadmill because of you knees,what was it you switch to? I saw som kind
of chair for all kinds of stretch and a petals for legs,at bottom,I miss
dancing with my walker.

Mel did you have to sign any papers like you do before sugery,if anything happens do to this trial ect.. I wasn't surprised a pharma..was involved.
And the Cholestorol pills just make PN worse eat oatmeal or plain cheeriors
My 91 yr. aunt eats very well is very thin,still puts in a garden cleans
her house,but has high cholestorol like the rest of the family.My grandmother
cooked everything in Lard I still can taste it.. I sorry this happened Mel
and for those peoples family..

I did a spine trial and was allergic to the med. they were trying,they shut
that one down. Damm I wish we would get a better health care system..
Hugs to all Sue

Sue;

In your post your doctor told you not to go over 180. Is that your weight or your sugar reading??

And yes, when I joined the ACCORD program, you sign a bunch of papers. You agree to let them do all their testing. I believe I even agreed to let them do DNA testing with my blood.

I was given memory testing (I passed, can you believe that). all kinds of testing, initially. Then I was able to be examined by the top eye specialist at Cornell (as part of the protocol). Very impressive. I remember the doctor telling me "you are not a candiate for Lasik surgery". Forgot the reason (and I actually passed the memory test).

They would ask you "repeat after me", and give you 12 words" Then you give them back to them in any order you could remember". Then they would give you another 12 words, then ask you "give me the names of the first 12 words". I never laughed so hard. This was about 2 years ago.

I wonder how many times they give you that memory test. I have no idea.

Anyway, I have a cold.

Just had some soup. The weather is absolutely bonkers here in NY.
Yesterday it broke an all time record. Got up to 68.
Right now it's freezing.

Holy Moly