Purpose of this site:
First of all, I do not sell or train dogs for diabetics. I want to share my experiences and knowledge gained as I begin my journey down the path of finding a dog that will alert when I am hypoglycemic. I hope that many of you will share your experiences with me, be they good or bad in your search, purchase, training, and life with the dog. My goal is for those who come after me to not have as much trouble as I have had in finding useful information.
Who am I?
I am a middle-aged white guy diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in November of 1993. I would not say that I am a perfect diabetic, my A1C hovers around 7.0. I believe in living my life within reason and enjoying it as long as this world will have me. Since January of 2008 I have been hypoglycemic (low glucose) unaware. Quite honestly, I know nothing about dog training. Anything expressed on this site is my opinion based on my level of knowledge at the time, take it with a grain of salt.
Definitions:
Diabetes - This simple word is far too complex to answer here. It would take pages, but I will attempt to give a short answer. Type 1 (juvenile, brittle) diabetes and type 2 diabetes are different diseases with similar symptoms. It's like saying brain cancer and skin cancer are both cancers, but they are not the same. Type 2 can be managed with diet, activity changes, and maybe a pill. Type 1 requires an alternate source of insulin (shots or pumps). A type 1 can do the same thing two days in a row and have vastly different BG (blood glucose) levels at 5:00PM on each day. Plus a type 1 can have their BG fall as much as 200 points in a hour. Crazy scary, not fun.
Hypoglycemic Unaware - Many diabetics will experience hypoglycemia unawareness around 20 years after being diagnosed as a diabetic. The Joslin site says that it is not fatal, but can lead to seizures, brain damage, or passing out while driving (which could be fatal since you're operating a 2 ton projectile). I don't know about you, but it scares the hell out of me when it happens. The Joslin web site has a lot of good information.
Diabetic Alert Service Dog - Some dogs have shown the ability to notify diabetics when their glucose level is too low.
| Latest Forum Posting |
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03:15 11/21/2008
liz or somebody needs to write a book! |
| Latest Blog Posting |
11/18/2008
The Forum is openI have reopened the forum to new members. I added a little bit of security. I should not even call it security, it is more of a small hurdle. Hopefully it will be enough to trip up the bot spammers from filling the forum with things that even a dog should not read. |
Please be aware, you are never anonymous on the Internet. This is what your computer told me in less than a second.
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Site created: 03/12/2008