Category: Health and Wellness
Diabetics turn to 4-legged friends By Kellie Applen STAFF WRITER Program trains dogs to alert people when their blood sugar levels drop CONCORD - When Mark
Ruefenacht traveled to New York on business six years ago, he rought Benton, a 1-year-old black Labrador retriever training to become a seeing-eye dog.
Ruefenacht, a volunteer th Guide Dogs for the Blind, knew flying on an airplane and staying in a hotel would be good practice for Benton. hat the Pittsburg
resident didn't know -- bringing the pooch would save his life. It was their second night in the hotel. uefenacht, who has diabetes, felt fine when he
went to sleep. But later that night his blood sugar dropped to a dangerously low level. He had no idea anything was wrong, but Benton did. The pup pawed
frantically at Ruefenacht, he became vaguely aware of what was happening. "I was trying to wake up but I was having difficulty bringing myself out of it,"
said Ruefenacht, 44. Benton persisted until Ruefenacht stumbled out of bed and ate something to raise his blood sugar. "I could have died that night,"
he said. The experience with Benton made Ruefenacht think it might be possible to train dogs to detect low blood sugar levels. He was right. After testing
his theory on another pup, uefenacht in 2004 launched Dogs for Diabetics. Since then, volunteers at the nonprofit group in Concord have trained and placed
three dogs with adults who have Type-1 diabetes, said Carol Edwards, program director. Type-1 diabetics roduce no insulin and are more likely to have low
blood sugar events, said Jeannie Hickey, a registered nurse and certified diabetes educator, who also works with the program. Eight more dogs are being
trained, some to be placed with teenagers.
>> The goal of the program is to work predominately with youngsters
>> because they have more trouble regulating blood sugars. Parents of
>> diabetic children often check on them two or three times a night, Ruefenacht said. A diabetic who sleeps through "a low" could have a seizure or possibly
die.
Most of the dogs in Dogs for Diabetics come from Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael. Those who don't make it in that program often do well in this one.
"They just might be too sniffy or active to be a guide dog. But that's perfect for what we are looking for," Ruefenacht said. Trainers work with the dogs
for about a year, teaching them to detect the differences between low and normal blood sugar levels. If the levels are low, the pups are taught to alert
the diabetic. If the diabetic doesn't respond, they alert someone else. That persistence is a key part of training. Four months ago, diabetic Devin Grayson
was matched with Cody. The golden retriever alerts Grayson's upstairs neighbor if she gets into trouble. The dog is a new safeguard in an illness she has
been dealing with for 20 years. "At the end of the day, no one is responsible for it but me," said Grayson, a 35-year-old Oakland resident who has Cody
with her everywhere she goes. "I feel like it's less of a burden now." The dogs aren't the only ones getting some training. diabetics are taught to listen
to their four-legged companions, who usually detect low blood sugar levels before they do, Edwards d. "I don't even notice until it's dangerously low,
and then I don't have time to react. That doesn't happen with this guy around," on said, looking at Cody. That kind of security lowers stress, which is
also good for diabetics -- and their loved ones. "My parents are sured all the time there is someone there watching me," said Ruefenacht, whose only roommates
are his two trained dogs, Armstrong and Danielle. "We're best buds."
This is wonderful, it's amazing the things we have learned to teach dogs.
I agree. Dogs are amazing creatures.
They wouldn't have to be amazing creatures though if you knew you had diabetes and you ate regularly, sorted out your insulin regularly, exercised regularly Etc. Regular routines, surely mean that your blood sugar levels shouldn't ever drop if you stick to your guns, wear a wrist watch or have a timer to hand, and you actually set the wrist watch or timer to go off when your next insulin injection or Metformin tablet's due. I may not have Diabetes myself, but I had bloods drawn a while back and the results came back borderline diabettic. Only just this year though, we realised I had Polycystic ovarian syndrome (not the fatal Ovarian cancer BTW for those who may mistake it for that) and either a strict GI (Glycaemic index) diet or Metformin Diabetic medication're two of the best things for it. My insulin for example, is let's just say, a bit buggered as a result of PCOS, so I find it increasingly impossible to lose as much weight as I'd like, diet as I'd like to diet or just make myself a normal 24-year-old woman who'll hopefully have years to live, because I have all the same cravings for sweet sugary foods/drinks which some Diabetics are also prone to. Only just recently, Omega 3 fatty acids have been found to aleviate the symptoms, similar to those of a diabetic, but minus the coma and death, unless you develop Lactic Acidosis as a result of taking Metformin. My point being, for heavens sake, those of you without watches, they only cost a couple of dollars or £5 from all good retailers, wear it and remember to set the alarms. Those Diabetic dogs're now going to be so bored out of their minds, wandering around with people all day just on the off chance they could become hypoglycaemic as a result of low blood sugar. Those dogs're basically being used as an excuse for people, especially the youngsters, not to inject regularly, eat and drink regularly and check their bloods regularly. They'll be using dogs to detect heart attacks, strokes, cancers, they're already being used for the profoundly deaf and for people having fits/seizures, why not For heavens sake, why not just replace all these exottic doctors, nurses and surgeons in all the hospitals in the world, with four-legged man's best friends? That's what the world's coming to, really it is. They're already using computers to perform mild to moderately complicated operations in a couple of general hospitals here in Britain, so why not get a load of dogs scrubbed up, aprons on and ready to go, for goodness sake?
Jen.
O and er, I guess someone's been watching too much Peter Pan, lollol.
Jen.
Lol, good one.
You can't keep track of your blood sugar while you're sleeping. even if you are watching your diet and giving yourself regular shots of insulin as needed, can't you still have fluctuating blood glucose levels? lucky htis guy had the dog, or he wouldn't be here.
Yeah, well t"this guy had the dog" Joanne, because it was a guide dog and it'd probably been working with its owner for some considerable time and it'd got used to its owners' routines, habbits, sleeping patterns Etc. That does not mean though, that everyone woule put their health and wellbeing in the hands of "nanna the nurse" does it? I mean, they'd probably be very foolish to routinely trust any dog to tell them their blood sugar levels had dropped dangerously low when they did. I'm really not sure diabetic dogs're a good idea on the whole.
Jen.