Hounds Of Love: how support Dogs Can Help With Everything From Diabetes To Autism

Hounds of love: how support dogs can help with everything from diabetes to autism

Coco, a chocolate-brown cocker spaniel puppy, had been living with her owner for just three days when it is likely she saved her life for the first time. Now, six months later, it happens daily. Millie Law, who is 12, has a complex form of type 1 diabetes, which gives her no indication when her blood sugar levels are dangerously low or high. Coco, who can use her powerful sense of smell to detect changes on Millie’s breath or sweat, is one of about 7,000 dogs in Britain offering life-changing – and sometimes life-saving – support to children and adults with a growing range of medical conditions and disabilities.
As well as guide dogs for the blind and hearing dogs, specially trained dogs can provide practical support to those with conditions ranging from multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy to the effects of stroke and autism. Others can alert to dangerous situations in type 1 diabetes, epilepsy, Addison’s disease, nut allergy, narcolepsy and some cardiac conditions.
“Coco is a guardian angel,” says Millie’s father, Graham. “Before she arrived, Millie didn’t feel safe. She had several frightening emergency hospital admissions. Now she knows Coco is looking after her wherever she goes.”
Coco is in the process of becoming an accredited diabetic alert dog through the organisation Hypo Hounds. Unusually, this new charity works with and trains pet dogs rather than by matching people with pre-trained dogs. Coco is now eight months, and her training should be complete – with her identifying 80% of Millie’s hypos (blood glucose lows) and hypers (highs) – Continue reading

Rate this article

Total 1 ratings

Some statins 'raise diabetes risk'

Some drugs taken to protect the heart may increase the risk of developing type-2 diabetes, according to researchers in Canada.
Their study of 1.5 million people, in the British Medical Journal, suggested powerful statins could increase the risk by 22% compared with weaker drugs.
Atorvastatin was linked to one extra case of diabetes for every 160 patients treated.
Experts said the benefits of statins still outweighed any risks.
Statins are a group of commonly prescribed drugs that lower the levels of bad cholesterol in the blood. This reduces the chances of a heart attack or stroke.
All drugs come with side-effects, but a team of researchers from hospitals in Toronto said there had been controversy around the risk of diabetes with different statins.
They looked at medical records of 1.5 million people over the age of 66 and compared the incidence of diabetes between people taking different statins.
Their report said: "We found that patients treated with atorvastatin, rosuvastatin, or simvastatin were at increased risk of new onset diabetes compared with those treated with pravastatin.
"Clinicians should considers this risk when they are contemplating statin treatment for individual patients.
"Preferential use of pravastatin... might be warranted."
Benefit
Commenting on the study, Prof Risto Huupponen and Prof Jorma Viikari, from the University of Turku, in Finland, said: "The overall benefit of statins still clearly outweighs the potential risk of diabetes."
However, they said, the different statins should be targeted at the right patients.
They said: "The most potent statin Continue reading

Fr Muller Medical College Observes World Diabetes Day with Contest/Workshop

Fr Muller Medical College Observes World Diabetes Day with Contest/Workshop
Fr Muller Medical College Marks World Diabetes Day with Contest/Workshop, and with this year’s theme- “Women and diabetes – Our Right to a Healthy Future”
Mangaluru: World Diabetes Day seeks to raise awareness about the way the health problem affects people on a global scale. November 14 serves as a platform to promote the efforts of International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and also brings to the fore the importance of taking actions to combat diabetes as a glaring global health problem. Each year, World Diabetes Day focuses on a particular theme pertaining to diabetes. This year, the day concentrates on the effects of diabetes on women. Every year on November 14, different countries observe World Diabetes Day. Started by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1991 as a reactionary measure against the rise of diabetes around the world, the day seeks to create awareness about the way diabetes affects people on a global scale. It focuses on diabetes mellitus.
The day became an official United Nations Day in 2006 when the United Nation Resolution 61/225 was passed. The day also marks the birth anniversary of scientist and Nobel Laureate Frederick Banting, the co-discoverer of insulin. World Diabetes Day serves as a platform to promote the efforts of IDF and also brings to the fore the importance of taking actions to combat diabetes as a glaring global health problem. Each year, the day focuses on a particular theme pertaining to diabetes. In 2016, Continue reading

How to Prevent Prediabetes from Turning into Diabetes

Jeff Novick has an interesting article on the Principles of Calorie Density which may be of help…….
CAN I EAT ALL I WANT TO AND NOT GAIN WEIGHT?
Unlimited does not
mean unlimited in the sense that you can eat all you want of anything.
What it means : If you follow the principles of the program, especially of the
Maximum Weight Loss program, you will be able to eat all you want of the
recommended foods, until you are comfortably full, NOT STUFFED and still lose
weight.
The reason is due to calorie density. Many many studies have been done in the
last few decades confirming this. If you allow people to eat “ad
libitum” or all they want till they are comfortably full, from low calorie
dense foods, they will lose weight, not be hungry and do not have to count
calories.
Of course, calories still count, but it becomes almost impossible to over
consume calories from the foods you choose if you follow these recommendations.
These are averages for each category of food.
Fresh Veggies are around 100 cal/lb
Fresh Fruits around 250-300 cal/lb
Starchy Veggies/Intact Whole Grains around 450-500 cal/lb
Legumes/Cooked Pasta around 550-600 cal/lb
Processed Grains (even if they are Whole grain) around 1200-1500 cal/lb
Nuts/Seeds around 2800 cal/lb
Oils around 4000 cal/lb
(***According to
Jeff Novick in his full Calorie Density video, cooked pasta is the only
processed flour product that is NOT a high calorie density food. Cooked Whole
Wheat pasta comes in at about 560 calories per pound. Regular pasta about 590
calories a pound.)
Food choices are based on where you are at and what
yo Continue reading

The Rise of Juvenile Diabetes

Juvenile diabetes, long regarded as extremely rare, has recently rocketed up the list of autoimmune diseases affecting children. In fact, according to The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the incidence of this disease increased 23% between 2001 and 2009, with no known explanation.
Juvenile diabetes, now called Type I diabetes, is unlike Adult onset or Type II diabetes in that it is completely unrelated to weight or diet. This type of disease occurs when the immune system turns on the pancreas, attacking and destroying the insulin-producing cells. This autoimmune response can begin at any age.
There is currently no known cause or cure.
Most research to date suggests that Type I diabetes likely results from the combination of genetic susceptibility and exposure to environmental triggers. However, because of the slow pace of genetic change, environmental risk factors appear to be the de facto reason behind the recent increase in disease.
One widely accepted theory is that Type I diabetes may be triggered by a viral infection, such as a stomach virus or the flu. The basis for this explanation is the ‘molecular mimicry’ theory. In the simplest terms, the virus looks like the body’s own insulin-producing cells, so the immune system attacks them along with the infection. Without those cells, no insulin is produced, and insulin-dependent diabetes is the result.
Viral infections, however, are not new to the environment, and therefore, do not fully explain the recent jump in numbers.
Another emerging hypothesis takes molecular mimicry one step further and includes Continue reading