wendy82551's Comments (629)

“(cont.)
In my despair, I went to the Joslin (I'm lucky to live in the Boston area) and met with my diabetes doc, who happens to be a national expert in this field. (I won't mention his name for fear he'd be inundated with new patients!) He explained to me basically what you're saying, along with special information re my situation as a gastric bypass patient. He basically put me on a lowcarb eating plan and acarbose at meals. He also had me up my protein intake by at least 20 grams from the amount recommended by my bypass surgeon.

It's been a revelation. I'm getting my energy back; I'm losing weight a lot more easily than I ever did before (I could look at food and gain weight on insulin), my bgs, while not in the "ideal" low, are STABLE, between 80 and 130, for the most part. I can see very clearly that when I eat too many carbs (and for me, that means any complex carb other than veggies and fruits--even whole grain bread gives me trouble, and pasta and rice are just a no-no) the relentless rollercoaster of highs and lows and cravings and exhaustion starts up all over again.

For the first time in 20 years, I see a light at the end of the diabetes tunnel for me. I can't tell you how important it is for you to keep spreading the word. It will save lives and sanity.”

“Dr. Hyman, I almost got teary-eyed reading your blog. It reflects so TOTALLY my experience, that I am both upset that it took 20 years of diabetes to find it out and that I've finally been let out of the prison of those 20 years.

My path involved a downward spiral in everything except my weight. Vision problems requiring laser all the time, neuropathy that caused my toes to curl, relentless hunger, and bgs out of control, RELENTLESS EXHAUSTION, even (or especially) while on two different meds and four insulin shots a day. I was clear that if I stayed on that path, I'd be dead in 10 years, so I had gastric bypass surgery.

That resulted in the loss of 100 pounds and a remission of my diabetes. I managed to not gain back too much weight after the surgery, but the diabetes did come back, along with a nasty case of hypoglycemia. I could not eat any kind of simple carb--even half a bagel--without having a plummet in bgs that nearly resulted in unconsciousness. A new kink for a Type 2! I knew that was caused by too much insulin, but I didn't know how to keep it down AND keep my bgs down.”

“In Massachusetts, they've found that they can't really fine people who don't buy into the exchange because the health insurance companies were charging considerably more than they said they would before the exchange was instituting, making it unduly punitive to force people to buy insurance. Also, the "insurance for all" plan cost taxpayers more than anticipated because of the costs of subsidizing certain people. In other words, the insurance companies won again. We can expect that with this bill--without a public option or a regulated cap on premiums, the taxpayers and the people who need the insurance are the ones who will be paying the price. Nice job, Democrats.”

“You've done it again. Why aren't YOU one of the talking heads on MSNBC? It'd be a hell of alot more fun than SOME of them. Or, you could do this talk on Bill O'Reilly and watch his head explode.”

“Thanks for the info. I just went and wrote an email. It felt really, really good to at least say it.”

“What a monumentally arrogant S.O.B. He has absolutely no problem with thwarting the will of the American people. It makes me insanely furious. We as a nation are truly lost if we cannot stop one egomaniacal money-grubbing politician from controlling the debate on such a crucial issue. The Democratic Senatorial Committee sent me another email looking for money. I told them no one was getting a cent from me until the Democrats developed some spine and dumped Lieberman on his head.

The Democrats are operating under the delusion that Lieberman is the only thing that stands between them and a filibuster-proof vote, but if he's not willing to vote with the Dems, what exactly are they protecting? Are they so clueless that they can't stand back for a minute and say, hey Joe, wtf?

And the worst of it is, 4000 people a month die from lack of health insurance, and Joe Lieberman can still sleep at night. Un-frickin'-believable.”

“Nope, federal law trumps state law in this regard. You don't lose your civil rights because you live in a state that doesn't recognize them.”

“It's easy to confuse "acceptance" with approval. I was in a workshop once that met during the winter. The night before one session, we had a snow storm. During the workshop, one of the participants stood up and said, "As I scraped the ice off my windshield--cursing the weather the whole time--I realized that for my entire life, I've been resisting the fact that it snows during the winter in New England. Every time it snows and I have to dig out my car and scrape off the ice, I get mad. But the bottom line is this, I live in New England and it snows in the winter."

That sounds stupidly simple, but if you think about it, we all have realities that we're "resisting"--that we get angry at the way things are. That is not to say that you can't or shouldn't do something about the situation. If it snows in New England, and you really hate snow, then you should consider moving. Or maybe building a garage. Something. Just so, there is a recession going on. That's it, that's the reality, and pretending that it isn't happening renders us powerless. Another example--resisting the notion that you have a disease, like diabetes, leaves you powerless to deal with it. So acceptance is just saying, "This is the way things are and the way they are not." Once you do that, you can decide your course of action with a hope of success.”

“This is a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. What exactly is the point of taxing ANY health care benefit? Tax income and have done with it.”

“Why wouldn't they? What do they have to lose by caring for other workers who are in crappy situations? Should they give up their negotiated benefits because other people don't have them? That doesn't make any sense.

Do the CEOs care about former union members or any other Americans who no longer have jobs and can't afford health insurance? That's a more sensible question, given that they're in the position to actually do something about it.”

“Just more Americans demonstrating what short attention spans we have.”

“Jackie Ramo is officially my hero. And someone should make her the head of the corporation, because she obviously has more brains than the nitwit who fired her.

Look at the good will engendered by giving someone a chance to pay off the debt you owe them, work out a plan. Not only will you get the $6K back with interest, but you're going to earn yourself a whole lot of public good will.

I got in over my head financially at one point a couple of years ago. My credit card companies decided to up my interest rate to 30%, just to be miserable SOBs. I swear, they did it just so they could push me over the edge. By what logic do you take someone who's in trouble and give them MORE trouble and expect them to get out of it?

I finally ended up declaring bankruptcy. A guy from BoA called me to collect. I told him I had filed for bankruptcy. He said, "That's serious. Isn't there something we can work out? You've always been a great customer." I replied, "You should have thought of that BEFORE you raised my interest rate to 30% and told me to suck on it. It's too late now." So now they're getting 16 cents on the dollar, and I've learned my lesson: from now on it's "Cash or Crash."

So who exactly won in this pissing match?”

“What church do you go to? I want to remember not to go there.”

“This is meant to be ironic, right? Seriously. You aren't THAT doofy, are you? I mean, I know you have a close personal relationship with an imaginary friend, but heck, my son had one of those. Of course, he was three at the time, but be that as it may. But THIS is bizarre.”

“Well, my dad worked for a living. If mom had dad around watching the kids, maybe she woulda been governor of some random state.”

“How does anyone watch these people without laughing hysterically? What am I missing here? They're like a lame SNL skit.”

“As someone who's done both, I agree completely.

I think that antidepressant medication helps if you're so deeply into the cycle that you can't think straight. Then it's a good "bridge" measure to help you out while you do therapy but without therapy, you either have to stay on the antidepressants forever or you relapse constantly, as you repeat the same thought patterns and behaviors that got you depressed in the first place.

I decided that my last experience with ADs would be my last. I was on Paxil and it took me over a month to get over the effects of Paxil withdrawal, even though I had been very careful to do it gradually. Frankly, it's easier to stay on drugs than to do the actual work involved in CBT--thinking about how you think, learning to reframe things, being responsible for your well being, etc. But all drugs have their side effects. On the other hand, the "side effects" of CBT are all good.”

“I actually like the fact that I disagree with her on some things, and yet, she seems like the kind of person you could actually have a conversation with, minus any name calling or craziness. It gives me hope for the future that someone like this woman can disagree with the president and yet support him BECAUSE he is the president. I don't mean that as knee-jerk patriotism, but simply that she seems to understand what most Republicans don't--that if the president succeeds in solving a problem then, by definition, we all benefit, so it's in all our best interests that he succeeds.”

“Your mention of the benefits of drinking alcohol REALLY demonstrates the notion that "addictive" is socially determined. I mean, I think that, if something is biologically determined, you'd be able to say with a degree of certitude that if you introduce stimulant X, it works to activate dopamine receptor Y or whatever. What accounts for the fact that it does in some people and not in others? Perhaps there are genetic differences that determine dopamine sensitivity or whatever, but perhaps we have personality differences which determine how we RESPOND to that sensitivity.

I am reminded of a line from the movie, "House of Sand and Fog." Ben Kingsley's character says derisively to his son, "These people (Americans) are obsessed with the taste of sweet upon the tongue." That line haunts me, because it expresses that notion that "the taste of sweet upon the tongue" is just that, and what we make of it may very well be culturally based.

If you look at cultural studies of alcoholism, you see that there are different levels of "alcoholism" in different culture. It MAY be genetic, but it seems much more likely that it has more to do with cultural attitudes about alcohol use. Just so, you would never even imagine such a thing as "sex addiction" fifty years ago, but it seems to be everywhere nowadays.”

“All the more reason why they have to go. Elizabeth Warren OBVIOUSLY has a very clear picture of exactly what's going on in this country. I'm sick of "real" economists, who fancy themselves scientists of sorts when, in fact, they're priests at the money altar, plain and simple. More Elizabeth Warrens and fewer Larry Summers, please.”

“What is most disturbing to me about this whole controversy is the rejection of scientific evidence for the anecdotal: "Don't bother me with studies; I know what happened to me" (or my Aunt Suzie, or Phyllis down the road). We are really losing the ability to engage analytically with important issues. It's all emotion and paranoia: "Death Panels! Death Panels! They don't want us to have mammograms any more because of the MONEY!" And God help you if you suggest that there might be other reasons for recommending fewer exams.

I heard Whoopie Goldberg spouting off the other day about the issue. She spluttered, "Oh, and you know if it was about PROSTATES, there'd be screaming and yelling all over the place!" Well, the fact of the matter is that it WAS prostate screening, a couple of years ago--medical studies indicated that the PSA protocols were excessive, that men didn't need testing nearly as much as had been recommended before. For some reason, that escaped the public's attention. Perhaps that's because prostates don't come tied in pink ribbons--although the idea has its appeal.

I would like to see nearly as much attention paid to women's heart health. We're much more at risk of dying from heart attacks than breast cancer.

In any case, good luck with this article. I'm looking forward to the serious thrashing you're going to take for writing it! All those pink ribbons.”

“Just saw Mr. Keaton on a Law and Order rerun last night. I'm sorry; he's still a babe. If she doesn't want him, pass him over!”

“That's right, false nails = changing your sexual identity. Completely equivalent.

By the way, what exactly is fowl language? Cluck cluck cluck? Or--excuse any sexual inferences-- cock-a-doodle-doo?”

“The speech was completely substantive. It lacked the rhetorical flourishes that so many of us enjoy, but he was pretty clear on what he was doing and why.”

“My progressive friends suffer from the delusion that Obama was a progressive who agreed with them on everything. They are shocked to find out that they weren't listening. I believe Obama is always, always looking down the long road, not responding to the immediate whims of opinion polls. He's up/he's down. We love him/We hate him. I don't care any more. I care that he seems to be engaged in this issue in a thoughtful manner, that he's listening to EVERYONE, that he has a genuine concern for the wellbeing of our fighting men and women and would not be doing this if he thought there was another option, that he takes his commitment to our security seriously, that he also takes our role as partners (not rulers) in the world community seriously. I don't know if he made the "right" decision, and if we are completely honest, NONE of us know. I can only watch and hope. I can analyze as I go, and hold whatever opinions I have, but basically, I hope he's right. What's the alternative?”