Thursday, January 03, 2008

The how...

But first, on a diabetes related note:

Has anyone heard of Monogenic Diabetes? A client's father just recently came to the office with an article from a People magazine about this. I'm unbelievably skeptical. I think it comes with the territory-- you know loads of pills to reverse diabetes, that don't reverse diabetes. But, they seemingly have a legitimate website and JDRF's support? So, check it out, let me know if it's bogus, etc.

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One day at a time. What does that look like? For me, right now, it's making one change at a time. I started yesterday and for the next week and a half or so (depending on how well I do, I guess) I'll be cutting out all eating after 8pm. I don't think I really ever thought about what time it was when I wanted a snack. I am hoping that this will teach me to be more aware of that and to really cut back on some of those calories and carbs that slip in after dinner. Exceptions will have to be made. For instance, yesterday I didn't really manage to get dinner or lunch, but instead three small snacks leaving me somewhat unsatisfied when I got home around 10, so I had a small piece of chocolate before watching an hour of tv. This wasn't a failure to me. So, I'll be taking things into consideration and of course, being reasonable where diabetes is concerned (Last night, I did end up low in the middle of the night).

This is my strategy. Small changes; one at a time. Other changes will include portion sizing and types of food that I'm eating as well as packing lunches and eating more veggies, BUT now is not the time to think about those things.

One thing that I am trying to curb right from the beginning is to eat when I'm hungry and not just because it's lunch time or dinner time. I think having this attitude towards food throughout, will really help me in the long run.

3 comments:

Shannon said...

I've heard of monogenic diabetes, but I don't recall the term "monogenic". I just remember reading years ago when Brendon was first diagnosed about a baby that was diagnosed with Type 1 because her pancreas wasnt' producing insulin, but then it started making it a few years later. It's like her pancreas needed a kick start or wasnt' mature enough at the time to produce insulin.

It's type 1, but not an autoimmune version of it.

I remember thinking that maybe Brendon had that kind of diabetes, but you know how wishful thinking goes.

Too bad I didn't keep the story on file.

Lili said...

Yep, it's real. They are genetic beta cell defects that can in many cases be treated without insulin. I've heard it's very unlikely for a child to have it instead of Type 1 if they were diagnosed after 12 months of age.

MODY, on the other hand, is usually mistaken for Type 2 because people tend to have normal or near-normal fasting but somewhat to totally out of range postprandial numbers depending on what kind of MODY they have. Here's another website:
http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/diabetesgenes/

Anonymous said...

Good news! Monogenic diabetes is real. It sounds unbelievable I know. Lilly Jaffe is the little girl who is mentioned in the article in People Magazine. My son was also diagnosed with monogenic diabetes. It’s seems unreal and impossible to go from being insulin-dependent to taking just a couple of pills a day…but, somehow it works.
The University of Chicago Hospital appears to be a research leader in this area in the United States. If you have questions regarding who should be tested and how the testing is done I would suggest contacting their staff.