Blood Sugar

Candy canes, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, oh my. Holiday treats can wreak havoc on anyone's diet plan, but for the approximately 23.6 million Americans with diabetes who are trying to maintain good glucose control, the festive season can be particularly difficult to navigate. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean that diabetics can't join in the festivities, says Michelle Bravo, a dietitian and certified diabetes educator at the Johns Hopkins Diabetes Center. There are steps that can be taken to help maintain good health.

On his best days, Orioles fifth starter Jason Johnson carries what his manager describes as an "electric" fastball plus an obedient breaking ball and a developing changeup. Johnson also possesses the potential that the club sees in Sidney Ponson and Matt Riley, arms projected as the backbone of their rotation for at least the next four seasons.Johnson also lives with diabetes, a disease so intrusive he often carries a syringe with him to the bullpen. He is never far from the kit that tests his blood sugar level every two or three waking hours.

Taking a brisk walk five times a week is a surprisingly powerful way to extend life, according to a study reported today by the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.The finding came from a survey of elderly Americans that found 20 factors -- some medical, others social -- that independently or together heighten a person's risk of dying over a five-year period. The factors include hypertension, elevated blood sugar, earning less than $50,000 a year, lack of physical activity and being a man."

I spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer. I love working in my flower garden and tending to the shrubs around the house. But I am extremely sensitive to chiggers, and we have lots of them. When I get bit the spot gets very itchy and red. Then it turns into a blister. The darn bites look ugly and last for weeks. My legs are covered with red spots.My husband says that when he was a Boy Scout they covered chigger bites with clear nail polish. It's not working. Do you have any other suggestions?

Since I have no history of diabetes, could you explain why my obstetrician measured my blood sugar after his nurse had me put some sugar in my mouth?During the 24th to 28th weeks of pregnancy, the vast majority of obstetricians now order a test of the blood sugar (glucose) level one hour after oral administration of 50 grams of glucose. The test is carried out to detect the presence of gestational diabetes, which is defined as an abnormality of sugar metabolism that begins or is recognized during pregnancy.

We just brought our first baby, a boy, home from the hospital. I noticed now that he has several small scabs on his heels. My wife said they needed to draw blood, but she doesn't remember why. Do you know why? Will the marks go away?There are at least five tests on capillary blood that can be obtained from a "heelstick." Most newborns have more than one of these, but let's start with one all babies should have.After a baby is feeding, but before leaving the hospital, all babies should have blood drawn for a "hereditary metabolic screen."

Biospherics Inc. of Beltsville has new evidence that its research-stage sugar substitute may also be a leading edge treatment for the most common form of diabetes, a researcher from the University of Maryland told an American Diabetes Association conference in San Francisco yesterday.The evidence is a small study based at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, the first human study aimed at discov- ering whether Biospherics' sugar substitute -- D-tagatose -- may also control the negative effects that diabetics experience from eating many carbohydrates and complex sugars that remain even on diabetes-restricted diets.

Is it true that there is a new medication for the treatment of diabetes?Q: At the end of December 1994, the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug metformin (Glucophage) for the treatment of diabetes. This drug, useful primarily for patients with type II, or noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), will be available in pharmacies within the next few weeks.Although approved only recently in this country, metformin is not a new drug. In fact, it has proven to be effective and safe during its use in large numbers of patients in many other countries, including Canada, Britain and in Western Europe, for almost 40 years.

Q: My diabetes was discovered 15 years ago, and my blood sugars have been well-controlled on two doses of insulin a day. Are there any other steps I can take to avoid the complications of diabetes?A: Diabetes can cause excessive urination, increased thirst and weight loss as the result of high blood sugar (glucose) levels. These symptoms are usually easy to eliminate with a reduction in blood glucose with diet, pills or insulin.The greater concern for people with diabetes are the late complications of the disorder.

As it turns out, grazing wasn't just another faddish way to munch through the self-absorbed '80s.Increasingly, research shows that eating several small meals a day may be better than three squares.* It lowers cholesterol.* It smoothes out blood sugar peaks and valleys.* It may make weight loss easier."It may have great importance for heart disease," says Dr. David Jenkins, a University of Toronto researcher who has done extensive work on how nibbling lowers cholesterol."The fiber story has linked up with the nibbling story," he says.

Question: : I have type 2 diabetes, and I have recently started taking cinnamon capsules to help control my blood sugar. I have been extremely pleased with the results so far. The metformin I was taking was never as consistent at controlling my blood sugar as the cinnamon has been. Are there any negatives to taking cinnamon? Answer: : Although cinnamon may work more consistently for you, there is much more research supporting the beneficial effect of metformin on blood sugar. You should make sure your doctor is aware of your regimen, so you can work together to control your type 2 diabetes.

New once-a-day medication helps control Type 2 diabetes People with Type 2 diabetes may soon get a very different treatment approach: A drug that helps control blood sugar via the brain - an idea sparked, surprisingly, by the metabolism of migrating birds. The Food and Drug Administration approved Cycloset, maker VeroScience Inc. announced last week. It's a new version of an old drug called bromocriptine, used in higher doses to treat Parkinson's disease and a few other conditions. But unlike its older parent, Cycloset is formulated to require a low, quick-acting dose taken just in the morning - no other time of day. That timing provides a bump of activity in a brain chemical that seems to reset a body clock that in turn helps control metabolism in Type 2 diabetes, said VeroScience's Anthony Cincotta, who led the drug's development.

Epilepsy drug during pregnancy bad for IQ Toddlers of moms who took the epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy had lower IQs than the children of women who used other anti-seizure medicines, according to a new study. The valproate children had IQ scores six to nine points lower by age 3, said the study's lead author, Dr. Kimford Meador of Emory University. The drug, also sold as Depakote, had previously been linked to birth defects. Women of childbearing age have long been advised to avoid it. In the study, researchers followed pregnant women in the U.S. and United Kingdom between 1999 and 2004.

Candy canes, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, oh my. Holiday treats can wreak havoc on anyone's diet plan, but for the approximately 23.6 million Americans with diabetes who are trying to maintain good glucose control, the festive season can be particularly difficult to navigate. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean that diabetics can't join in the festivities, says Michelle Bravo, a dietitian and certified diabetes educator at the Johns Hopkins Diabetes Center. There are steps that can be taken to help maintain good health.

In 2001, I had a very strong urge to chew on ice. After reading in your column that this could be a sign of anemia, I told my doctor about it. The blood work showed anemia, and I was advised to get a colonoscopy. This test showed cancer in the colon. I had surgery and received six months of chemo. The operation removed 10 inches of my colon. Testing the lymph nodes showed that the cancer had spread to three out of 15 tested. I wouldn't have mentioned the craving for ice cubes had I not read about it in your column.

About a month ago, my son-in-law started taking one regular Bayer aspirin each morning and one Bayer PM before going to sleep. Two weeks into this regimen, he started bleeding from the mouth while he was sleeping. He stopped taking the aspirin, and the bleeding stopped as well. Is this a possible side effect? Aspirin can thin the blood by interfering with the sticky part of blood called platelets. Some people are especially susceptible to this effect, so even a standard dose might trigger bleeding.

Federal researchers who tried to reduce heart attacks among diabetics by driving their blood sugar to low levels found that more patients were dying instead. The finding, announced yesterday, prompted officials to halt part of a major study of diabetes and heart disease. Researchers said they don't know what caused the spike in deaths but said it can't be blamed on Avandia - a diabetes medication linked last year to an increased risk of heart attacks - even though some volunteers were taking the drug.

Medicine has made life-saving advances in treating and preventing heart disease, the major killer of people with diabetes, yet female diabetics are dying at higher rates than three decades ago, researchers reported this week. "There's good news here; we are making progress," said Dr. Deborah Burnet, a diabetes expert at the University of Chicago. "The bad news is it appears to be limited to men." The trend has ominous public-health consequences, experts note. Diabetes is growing more common in the U.S. as the population gets older and fatter, and elderly women are the fastest-growing segment of society.

What can you tell me about medication used to fight alcoholism? How would I get it, and how much will it cost? I don't have much money. The prescription medications used to treat alcoholism work best in conjunction with counseling and social support. ReVia (naltrexone) has been available for some time and takes away the pleasurable feelings associated with alcohol. Sadly, the drug is quite expensive (more than $200 for a month's supply), and there is no patient assistance from the manufacturer.

This concern has bothered me for 21 years, and I need to know whether I can stop worrying. My son is 27 years old; when he was about 6, he had a fever, and while I was taking his temperature with an old-fashioned mercury thermometer, the bulb tip broke and he ingested the mercury. He's grown into a fine, normal young man with no obvious problems. Can I assume no damage was done and nothing will surface down the road because of this incident? Swallowing a small amount of mercury from a broken thermometer does not pose a poisoning problem.