Phil Marlowe wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:



> There was some thought of the possibility that it may have been 
> provoked by other medication that was being taken at the time. That 
> it was coming for that long is a bit of a surprise to me. (Pause for 
> a bit of conversation on the issue...) No, apparently there was some 
> particular blood pressure medication that was being given at the time 
> that was _not_ a good plan for someone who was borderline -- it 
> provoked absurd blood sugar levels, and things have not been the same 
> since then. A real idiot for a doctor, there.  :-(

PM> Yah, the side effects of medications are a whole other can of 
PM> worms. And the lack of knowledge on the part of many doctors about 
PM> those side effects is another one... that leads to the absence of
PM> follow-ups necessary to keep careful tabs on what the meds they 
PM> prescribe are doing [other than what they're supposed to be doing, 
PM> that is].
PM>
PM> But it's no use saying the doctor was incompetent after the fact...
PM> diabetes is such an insidious disease that can lead to so many 
PM> other problems that it's worthwhile learning about it on your own, 
PM> merely for self-protection and prevention. I've seen first hand the 
PM> end results of lazy or incompetent doctors... not pretty.

Well,  there were other issues with that doctor,  and we've since changed
to somebody completely different,  somebody who's handling things a while
lot better than they were being handled before.

PM> It's better to just take it as a given that there are plenty of dud 
PM> doctors out there, and check things out on your own. A lot of the 
PM> standard medical texts are on the inet, as well as pharmacopias to 
PM> check up on meds, and there are 2 or 3 diabetes newsgroups as well. 
PM> In fact -- my memory has just kicked in -- the last time I looked 
PM> [about a year or so ago] the subject of discussion on the 
PM> newsgroups was about recent medical research on how far back the 
PM> onset of diabetes really goes and some sort of pre-diabetic state 
PM> [Syndrime X?] that has its own dangers.

I will pass this along.

PM> And a lot of people have diabetes without knowing it, the eye 
PM> symptoms being the first sign.

> Hm.

>> Fortunately the situation has been brought under control, and it's 
>> much better now.

PM> Good to hear. The retinopathy can be controlled by controlling the 
PM> diabetes, and keeping blood pressure at normal levels.

> That was another issue here as well, with her. And it's also being 
> treated.

PM> Another well known connection: diabetes and heart disease.

There are other risk factors for that as well.

PM> In general, people with diabetes should have annual eye exams and 
PM> watch carefully for any eye symptoms. You don't want to ignore 
PM> something like this; after awhile the damage is irreversible.

> Good point.

PM> Sorry if I sound like I'm preaching in the the above, but some of 
PM> the volunteer stuff I do sort of makes you slip into that mode.

I can relate...

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