Who to trust...... Not the medical Industry.....

It appears that Neil's wife provided these comments:

We as a family have researched the behavioral issue regarding diabetes. Of course it varies from obesity caused by oevereating to too little insulin. The. We have seen behavioral issues with obesity and that is not limited to diabetes. But in the case of diabetes a lot of factors can come into play. If it is truly lack of insulin and not obesity, then once the diabetic has adequate insulin and monitors the bloood sugar to keep the blood sugar normal the behavioral issues will go away and the sense of joy will return to his or her life. Too little insulin can alos lead to depression, but insulin can pop the diabetic right ouot of depression. You will not see this immediately but given six months great changes will take place. Too little insulin will have an impact on the frontal lobe that helps control things like anger.

One day Neil decided what the doctors had been telling him represented nothing but hogwash. He spent four years studying every day about diabetes from a pure scientific standpoint as oppposed what makes the drug company, the hospitals and the doctors the most profitable. Neil discovered that only a very small percentage are like him where virtually no insulin is made. neil has been a diabetic for 40 years and tells every diabetic that lots of exercise and a good nutritional diet will go a long way toward improving the diabetic condition, which in turns brings greater happiness. When he sees someone that is diabetic and weights 100 pouhnds too much he just shakes his head in despair. Neil did not run into trouble because he ate too much or did not monitor his blood sugar and take insulin properly, he ran into trouble by allowuing a doctor to give him an injhected drug. He passed out in 15 seconds. He then went on a tail spin ride that ended up nearly destroying his kidneys because of the drug, he had dementia symptoms and serious ones for several weeks, and his his heart was in major trouble. Anyone who really knew him pretty mch agreed the drug must have caused some brain damage too. He went completely blind for quite some time, and now is left with very blurry vision. How is sopposed to do custer servoce work if he can not read the computer screen. His vision can seem to improve then can switch back to a blur within an hour or less. He can go to bed seeing clearer and then wake up to a complete blur. We have found studies of children who have had brain damage due to an accident or disease, and they experience the same thing. We believe the drug caused brain damage. On the other hand, we are seeing a steady improvement with many set backs. We hope for his full recovery. He jokes the doctors did this on purpose to shut him up because he is so critical about the care of diabetics. His Niece died from diabetes and so did his mother. Those two deaths lit his fire, and he believes too little is done for diabetics. In many cases, diet, exercise and the forgotten element counseling should all be part of diabetic treatment. I hope you enjoyed these comments.

Thank you, Neil's Wife. No one is more suspicious of the Medical Industry than I am. What happened to Neil is horrible and goes to show how we -- as spouses -- cannot ever let up our vigilance if we want to keep our diabetics alive.

I'll provide my little story -- not nearly so dramatic -- but also a lesson about not trusting "medical professionals" Tom went to the hospital for shoulder surgery. This was quite awhile ago and he was very healthy and had really prepared for the surgery in terms of making sure that his diabetes was in control before the surgery. (good for him!)

But after the surgery, he was in a great deal of pain and they were giving him morphine (of course). The surgeon wanted to send him home because this was supposed to be out-patient surgery; but his endo-doc had requested it be overnight because of the diabetes. So they had put him in a room somewhere while they decided and hooked him up to an I.V. I asked what the IV was and the nurse said glucose.

WHAT!!!!!!!! I asked if they had tested his glucose since he had diabetes and she looked at me as if I was speaking in a foreign language that she didn't understand. She looked at the chart and said "Oh, I have to go ask the doctor" and left the room.

they had to get a "tech" to come in and test his sugar! who said it was around 500 but that was normal after surgery. I demanded that they take him off the glucose and the nurse said she would have to ask the surgeon. The surgeon had left the hospital by this time.

Needless to say, I was very upset by this time. I called his endo-doc and asked him to intervene. He called and got things worked out. Got Tom off of glucose, onto Saline, got him checked in for overnight and everything else. At around 11 that nite, they insisted that I leave. I have to tell you that I didn't want to go -- I was certain he would die in that hospital where nurses didn't even know what diabetes was. But I left, he was ok, and we learned a lot.

But it is a warning - as if you needed another one -- that you need to take control. You can't trust, you know what's going on. You live it every day - they don't.

Good Luck,
Tom's Wife