We have waited through a long winter but finally spring has arrived and is starting to win over with warmer temperatures and longer days. Soon summer will fill the sky with bright sun and sunglasses will be daily eyewear.

But for those with diabetes, sunglasses may not be enough protection against the damaging effects of the sun’s rays.

The Joslin Diabetes Center Beetham Eye Institute offers these tips:

* Diabetic eye disease can be painless until it reaches very advanced stages, and the earlier you can catch it, the more likely you can preserve your sight.

* You can have perfect vision and still have diabetic eye disease.

* An annual dilated eye exam can identify eye complications early on.

* If your doctor finds early signs of diabetic eye disease, a number of treatments may be recommended, including laser eye surgery, contact lenses, glasses and medications.

* Keeping your A1C (an average of your blood glucose levels over a couple of months) on target, controlling blood pressure and quitting smoking also can help preserve vision and prevent vision loss.

If you suffer from sleep apnea, it may be doing more than causing you to feel sleepy during the day, it may be affecting your heart health.

OSA or obstructive sleep apnea causes a person to repeatedly stop breathing during the night, disturbing sleep. Recent studies link sleep apnea with cardiovascular disease.

Sleep apnea is associated with a 45% higher risk of hypertension. In addition, sleep deprivation is linked to weight gain and diabetes, which are risk factors for heart disease.

Ralph Downey III, PhD, of the Sleep Disorders Center at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, California explains:

“It makes not only scientific sense that such a relationship exists, but common sense as well,” said Downey. “If someone were to suffocate you with a pillow several hundred times a night, you would call the police. In the case of patients with sleep apnea, the airway blocks off due to obstruction and they stop breathing for 10 seconds to a minute, which is repeated hundreds of times in a night. The body, in essence, is being assaulted by the damage done from intermittent lack of oxygen to the heart, brain and other important organ systems, and yet such an assault goes unreported. That is, patients who have these symptoms don’t always have their sleep apnea corrected. Perhaps in the light of a metaphor such as the one of being assaulted by our own sleep disorder, people would take more care of their sleep. Their hearts will thank them.”

Medical News Today

American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Human growth hormone has been marketed widely as an anti-aging treatment. Although the FDA has repeatedly taken regulatory action against certain distributors, unsubstantiated claims for HGH treatment continue to be made and it continues to be sold illegaly.

Now a Stanford University report published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine says that there is no proof that human growth hormone prevents aging but there is proof it can cause some serious side effects.

Use of human growth hormone could cause joint swelling and pain, carpal tunnel syndrome and increase your risk of developing diabetes. In studies, HGH did not increase bone density or lower cholesterol and use of HGH treatment resulted in an increase of less than 5 pounds of muscle mass and a decrease in the same amount of fat – results you could achieve through regular exercise.

HGH is prescribed by doctors for only two conditions: the wasting syndrome caused by AIDS and growth hormone deficiency.

For more information:

Researchers: No Proof That Human Growth Hormone Extends Life Span

Growth Hormone Schemes and Scams

Medicare will expand coverage for preventative care including diabetes screening starting January 1, 2007.

The expanded coverage will include diabetes outpatient self-management training and medical nutrition therapy.

Medicare will cover tests to check for diabetes without coinsurance or copayment or Part B deductible for people with the following risk factors: high blood pressure, dyslipidemia (history of abnormal cholesterol and triglyceride levels), obesity, or a history of high blood sugar. Medicare also covers these tests if people have two or
more of the following characteristics:

• age 65 or older,
• overweight,
• family history of diabetes (parents, brothers, sisters),
• a history of gestational diabetes (diabetes during
pregnancy) or delivery of a baby weighing more than 9
pounds.

Based on the results of these tests, people may be eligible for up to two diabetes screenings every year.

For more information visit Medicare Partner Tip Sheet