Dr. Farah Ghori was our special guest. She has come to McAllen after her fellowship training in Endocrinology at the Baylor College of Medicine/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Her residency was completed at The Chicago Medical School. She is one of our newest Endocrinologists in the area, and we felt privileged to have her speak about the latest health treatments available for diabetics. She shared the fact that there is such a high incidence of diabetes here in South Texas that she could be most effective here in the treatment of diabetes and the whole population who have been diagnosted with it.

Some of the things that we were able to discuss were some of the newest issues/treatments for diabetics.

1. There is now a lower treshold for diagnosing
2. Type 1 is caused by one of two reasons..immune type (antibodies present) or idiopathic in which they don't know why.
3. My idea is that diabetes comes about due to an emotional or physical trauma or a viral infection.
4. Types of insulin are various...from fast acting to lengthy hours with different peak times.
5. The newest type of insulin that will be abailable to us is Glargine (Lantus). It should be available in May of 2001. This insulin has no peak time and crystalizes under the skin and lasts up to 24 hours. This insulin cannot be mixed with humalog or regular.
6. Two new methods of insulin delivery are the insulin pump already in use and the inhaler that should be available some time next year.
7. Some of the complications of insulin therapy were discussed.

Our next meeting will be held at the same location and time on March 15, 2001.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Unland Quinn
Founder of "Insulin Survivors"