Presentations

• Dr. Diane Finegood will discuss changes in metabolism associated with midife transitions
• Dr. Jerilynn Prior will speak about what is new in our understanding of Perimenpause
• Yet to be determined 3rd speaker.

Panel Discussion Questions and Answers

• Sunday, November 4, 2000, 8:00 am
• Location: International Ballroom
  Delta Pacific Resort and Conference Centre
  10251 St. Edwards Drive

The post Upcoming Symposium appeared first on BC Diabetes Foundation.

Disbelief, shock, anger, and grief may best describe how we as parents and family members reacted to this unanticipated event. The following weeks entailed struggling with the right food choices and administering the insulin shots. Having to “pin-down” your child to be able to give the shot was heart breaking. Nicholas still three years later, cringes when we approach him to give him his insulin. We are very lucky as parents that Nicholas likes to eat and were thankful that he was not a picky eater as a toddler. Also challenging was developing a rigid schedule for meal times and snacks. Gone is the spontaneity of eating when convenient. Gone are the days when Nicholas could sleep in late in the morning. Gone are the days when he cannot go to bed early because he has to wait to eat a snack first. Gone are worry-free days for our son. Gone are the times where you could leave your child with others and not worry. Gone are the nights when you don’t worry about low or high blood sugars.

We are thankful Nicholas is a caring, easy going and courageous child who loves life, despite his diabetes. It is part of our daily routine to check blood sugars 4-6 times per day and give him insulin 2-3 times per day. It is part of our routine to always be organized and plan ahead as much as possible. To always have food on hand and think ahead about his activity level. To think about the weather that day because if it is sunny, you know he will be running more outside at school and could develop a low blood sugar. To have everything planned for the baby sitter so she knows exactly when to give him his snack and what to eat and exactly what portion size. To always wear our pager so the school can reach us if Nicholas is low.

Diabetes does not let your mind rest. We strive for normalcy as much as possible for our son to live a normal life, as he grows older. We also are very thankful that we have an extremely knowledgeable and caring health care team at Children’s Hospital Diabetes Clinic to guide us down this unchosen path. We hope for a cure every day. Most of all, we are thankful to have Nicholas as our son with or without diabetes.

His Mother — Susanne Burns

The post Small Blessings appeared first on BC Diabetes Foundation.

The morning was filled with a variety of events such as the Frisbee Toss and the Children’s Village. To keep all the participants walking, complimentary refreshments and a bbq lunch were on the menu.

JDRF Vancouver is one of thirty-six sites across Canada this spring that held a Walk for the Cure in an effort to raise $7 million nationally. BC Walks were also hosted in Kelowna on May 27, Fraser Valley & Nanaimo on June 3, and Cranbrook & Victoria on June 10. As a result, the current BC total stands at over $410,000.

To find out more information about JDRF, diabetes, or the Shoppers Walk for the Cure call: (604) 320-1937 or visit our website at www.jdrf.ca.

For More Information:
Shawn Leclair
Manager, Fundraising & Development
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
(604) 320-1937
(604) 320-1938
Email: sleclair@jdrf.ca

The post Shoppers Walk For the Cure appeared first on BC Diabetes Foundation.

These girls made a noodle 20 odd feet long and had some laughs doing it. Here is the recipe copied more or less literally.

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• water to make a dough
• 1 cup flour

Knead it and then put it through the noodle machine at 1 for a couple of times then at 2 and so on. Then after doing that you cut it in half and let it dry. You can use a noodle drying rack made out of wooden dowels. Then you put it in a pot with boiling water and let it cook. Then put it in lasagna or whatever you’re making.

Editors note — The serving size here is a little unclear and spinning this noodle using a fork and spoon has been shown to bend silverware.

The post N O O D L E S ! Yum m m . . . appeared first on BC Diabetes Foundation.

The post Mazes and Puzzles appeared first on BC Diabetes Foundation.

I’m Hayley. I’m almost 9. I’ve had diabetes for almost all my life. I got diagnosed with diabetes when I was 14 months. I’ve had many highs and many lows. Once I passed out on the risers in my choir practice. I didn’t know I was low until it was too late. When my blood sugars are high, I feel really thirsty, my stomach hurts and I feel cranky. When my blood sugars are low, I feel blurry, dizzy, tired, weak and cranky. Then I have to have juice whether I want to or not. That’s why there is a walk every year to raise money for diabetes to help find a cure so I won’t feel those bad feelings anymore.

Do your friends sometimes say “that was a good jump for a diabetic!” or do they ask, “is diabetes contagious?”. Well let me tell you something: IT IS NOT CONTAGIOUS AND BEING DIABETIC HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!

Did you hear about the insulin pump? Well I can tell you the best thing about it is it’s the second best thing to finding a cure for diabetes. Do you know that I used to have 100 shots of insulin a year and 1900 finger pokesa year? I just started on the Minimed pump and I feel great! I still need to do lots of finger pokes, but I don’t have to get 3 or 4 shots a day that I hated! Now, my blood sugars are perfect! My blood sugars are between 4 & 7.

I am used to diabetes but I don’t like it at all. Why do I have to be diabetic? Why can’t I just be like all of my other friends? I can’t enjoy my Halloween candy. I can’t go to other peoples’ houses for sleepovers. What’s your biggest wish in the whole entire universe? Well I can tell you mine. My wish is getting rid of my diabetes. You probably knew that was going to be my wish. Some people say “is insulin a cure?” Well to answer your question NO – INSULIN IS NOT A CURE. The only thing I want to know is “why can’t I be a normal kid?”

The post Hayley’s Letter appeared first on BC Diabetes Foundation.

In most pediatric endocrinology clinics, about 50% of all patients carry the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, previously called insulin-dependent or juvenile-onset diabetes. This condition occurs in about 1 in 500 children under the age of 18 years, although it can appear at any age. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which the body’s immune system mistakenly destroys the beta cells of the pancreas, which normally produce insulin. As a result, these children have little or no insulin to control their blood sugar. The only treatment is by administering insulin injections 2-4 times a day. As well, they must perform blood sugar testing 3-4 times a day by fingerpoke and pay careful attention to the diabetic meal plan and to their activity. It is hoped that in the future, beta-cell transplants or an “artificial pancreas” will be developed to offer affected individuals a permanent cure. In the meantime, these children live with a chronic illness that requires ongoing attention from the diabetes health care team (pediatric endocrinologists, diabetes nurse educators, nutritionists and counsellors). The Endocrinology & Diabetes Unit at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital follows some 1,000 children with type 1 diabetes.

A new challenge for pediatric endocrinologists is the epidemic rise in type 2 diabetes (formerly called non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset diabetes) in adolescents. In pediatrics, this condition occurs most commonly in obese teens of non-European background. In some centers in North America, up to one-third of children diagnosed with diabetes have type 2, compared with <5% ten years ago. In British Columbia, the affected populations are primarily of East Indian and Asian background, and these youth often have affected parents or other family members.

The rise in incidence of type 2 diabetes appears to parallel the very worrisome rise in obesity and decrease in activity that have been documented in North America and in other developed countries over the past decade or so. Unfortunately, type 2 diabetes is often associated with other adverse health conditions (e.g. high blood pressure and cholesterol) which significantly add to one’s cardiovascular risk. Efforts are underway by the federal and provincial governments to develop and implement programs aimed at preventing obesity and type 2 diabetes by promoting healthy eating and activity.

After diabetes, the next largest group of disorders followed by pediatric endocrinologists relates to abnormalities of growth and/or puberty. To grow normally, a child must have a normal skeleton, sufficient hormones, adequate nutrition, and emotional nurturing. Not surprisingly, a large number of health conditions can alter a child’s growth, including hormonal deficiencies; “systemic conditions” of the heart, kidneys, lungs or bowels which interfere with the absorption and delivery of nutrients to the cells of the body; skeletal problems, such as forms of dwarfism, which prevent bones from growing normally; and psychosocial factors such as abuse or neglect.

Fortunately, most children with “abnormal growth” are really just experiencing a variation of normal growth patterns. For instance, children who are “late bloomers” have a normal overall growth pattern and are normal-sized adults; they just develop physically 2-3 years later than their age peers. Moreover, many children are short because their parents are short.

One needs to remember that 5% of normal children will be below the 5th percentile on a growth chart. Nonetheless, pediatric endocrinologists do diagnose a number of hormonal deficiencies that affect growth. In younger children, these can be growth hormone deficiency (which affects about 1 in 10,000 children ) and/or thyroid hormone deficiency. Growth hormone is produced by the pituitary gland at the base of the brain, which also regulates a number of other important hormones in the body.Growth hormone treatment is given as a daily injection and is extremely costly (about $20-30,000 per year ). In British Columbia, as in the rest of Canada, the provincial government relies on pediatric endocrinologists to make the diagnosis of growth hormone carefully, to prevent its misuse and overuse. To answer a frequent question we receive: no, giving growth hormone to your otherwise-normal child will not make him or her significantly taller; in any case, growth hormone has not been licensed for this purpose in Canada.

A large number of children and teens are seen in our clinics for problems related to puberty-some too early and others too late. Again, these cases are often variations of normal developmental patters, but we do see sometimes see early puberty in 2 year olds and absence of puberty in 18 year olds. One can imagine that such conditions might raise a lot of anxiety in parents and teens. Puberty-related conditions are generally treated, if necessary, with medications.

Other conditions followed in our clinic include problems related to congenital syndromes (e.g. short stature in Turner syndrome and obesity and pubertal delay in Prader-Willi syndrome); to genetic and hereditary conditions predisposing to tumors in or failure of the endocrine glands; and to a variety of other common and uncommon hormone problems (e.g. thyroid, adrenal, and parathyroid gland disorders).

Pediatric subspecialty clinics pride themselves on providing not only medical care for affected children, but also social, emotional and educational support. We work closely with our nursing, dietitian, and counselling support staff, to ensure that patients “graduating” from our program at age 18 or so leave with a good understanding of their medical condition and any implications it may have for their vocational, reproductive and social futures. Our transition process also strives to ensure that these young adults have started to become health-care consumers, able to negotiate the health care system and to advocate for their own care. We are fortunate at British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital to have an extended team that is devoted to these goals and which has the resources to develop educational materials which are used throughout North America.

The post Children and Endocrinology appeared first on BC Diabetes Foundation.

Never did we imagine, when our daughter was born in 1992 that we would be out canvassing for money to help find a cure for diabetes. She was such a healthy baby, but she did go through a short period of time, just before her diagnosis of diabetes, when she wasn’t.

Hayley, at fourteen months, had always been a good eater, but suddenly she stopped eating after a bout with the flu.All she wanted was her bottle with milk. We put it down to teething as our son had gone through the same thing.

After three days of this behaviour, I made an appointment with our doctor.Looking back in time, I wonder why we didn’t realize something was wrong or perhaps we were simply ignorant of the symptoms of diabetes.

The day before her doctor appointment, Hayley became violently sick. She was screaming in my arms as the doctor at the local clinic diagnosed her with an ear infection. Medication was given and we were up with her until 5 am the next morning. After bringing up everything she drank, she eventually fell asleep from what we thought must have been pure exhaustion.

Now imagine walking into your child’s room in the morning to wake her up, only to find her limp as a rag doll! After being diagnosed with diabetes, Hayley was transferred to the Children’s Hospital. For the next four days the staff at the hospital taught us how to ensure a healthy and better life for our daughter. We will never forget asking the doctors what the future held for Hayley and her diabetes. At the time, in 1993, their answer was that there was nothing new on the horizon. That was very scary for us! Now, only seven years later, through research, we are coming closer to a cure.

Some of the recent developments have been watches that read your blood sugars, thereby avoiding thousands of finger pricks.In addition, injections are being slowly replaced by inhalers and islet transplants could mean an ultimate cure for millions of diabetics.

When your child is first diagnosed, so many things go through your mind. Firstly, you are in shock! It seems like the end of the world. Then you start blaming yourself and feel stupid – why didn’t you pick up on the symptoms and do something? We were first class terrible parents! Then, you are angry. Why our child? However, after spending only one day at the Children’s Hospital, I began to realize that I was actually lucky. After witnessing some of the terrible illnesses that other children have, diabetes is not so bad. Yes, Hayley has a chronic illness – but with a strict daily routine of times and quantities to eat, as well as proper administration of her insulin, she can still have a long and healthy life.

One of the blessings of knowing a child with diabetes is not only the empathy they seem to develop for other people, but also their simple understanding of life. It amazes me how Hayley expresses her feelings. She knows how wonderful life is and will always go out of her way to make others happy. She is so positive of everything in her life, knowing and realizing full well the extent of diabetes and its complications.

Since Hayley’s diagnosis in 1993, she has never experienced what some children call “the finer things in life”: sleeping in because you are tired, skipping a meal because you are simply not hungry, and eating earlier or later because of a soccer game. In other words, just being a normal kid. She knows that she is not the same as everyone else. She is her own person and this makes her special, irrespective of her diabetes.

Dealing with diabetes in our everyday lives has become relatively easy once we accepted what had to be done. Hayley has a regulated and healthy diet. Her insulin shots regulate what time we get up and what time we eat. As a result, our lives are very scheduled and they have been for the past seven years.

Unfortunately life can be very difficult as well. The hardest part is taking her to school and hoping not to have a call saying that she needs an additional injection because either her sugars are too high, or worse, that she has passed out because her sugars were too low. Thank God that has only happened once. Every night I tuck her into bed, hoping that she will get through the night without experiencing any lows. There isn’t a single night that I haven’t awakened to check on her and ensure that everything was fine.

Through all of our history with our daughter’s diabetes, I could not conceive of having gone through it without the support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. They have done, and continue to do, more than anyone could ever imagine. The JDRF, as we learned in time, was actually formed by a group of concerned parents of diabetic children. The organization has been excellent at informing the general public about diabetes and its complications.

Diabetes is a terrible illness that afflicts millions of people, children and adults alike. It does not discriminate against age, gender, or nationality. Today diabetes is at epidemic proportions. Prevention, as well as its treatment and finding a cure, has never meant as much to so many people.

As we are writing this letter, our daughter, Hayley, has gone on the insulin pump. Within the past four days, she has felt “almost normal”. We do keep our regular meal times because we know that it is healthy. We still count food groups because that too, is healthy. However, for the first time in eight years, she feels like she has never felt before – in charge of her life! Seven years ago, we wouldn’t have believed she could ever feel like that. Better yet she still dreams of a day when she will no longer need that tube or any device to administer her life line insulin. She dreams that terrible long term side effects such as blindness, limb loss and neuropathic disorders will be a thing of the past.

Please help Hayley and the millions of children like her to realize that dream by participating in events like the Walk for the Cure. The JDRF has worked tirelessly to get public awareness, raise funds, supply support and guidance. They cannot do everything they are expected to do without your support.

Lots of love,

Heather & Steve Frishling

The post A Family’s Story appeared first on BC Diabetes Foundation.

The post From the Guest Editor appeared first on BC Diabetes Foundation.

Alex summed it up so well; we can be much better friends when we take the time to learn a little. I learned plenty from this issue.

The post From the Editor appeared first on BC Diabetes Foundation.