Female Speaker: I was diagnosed April of 2000.
Male Speaker: I was diagnosed in September of 1989.
Female Speaker: I was diagnosed with diabetic at the age of 7.
Male Speaker: These three patients are among 18 million Americans living with diabetes. Each year a million more added to the list, making diabetes one of the most widespread and expensive health threats. While the search for a cure is advancing, patients must manage their disease and its complications too.
Male Speaker: Diabetes needs the skill of a juggler. They must balance drugs, diets and exercise. The first job is to keep blood sugar in check. Drop one ball and you open the door to a long list of troubles.
Male Speaker: Diabetes can kill people. Heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, infections. It increases your chance of eye problems.
Male Speaker: Dr. Richard Jackson says, there are five tests every diabetic should have regularly. Test number 1, a Hemoglobin A1c, which reflects a patient's average blood sugar from the previous three months.
Dr. Richard Jackson: That's the test that most accurately tells you, are you going to have a higher or lower risk of future problems. This part is sort of like checking things.
Male Speaker: Patient should have the A1c four times a year.
Test 2, Blood pressure.
Dr. Richard Jackson: Blood pressure 130/80 is the highest even when people are stressed.
Male Speaker: Test 3, Cholesterol.
Dr. Richard Jackson: There is a bad kind of cholesterol called the LDL 100 or less. There is a good cholesterol and HDL that should be over 45. Triglycerides that should be under 200.
Male Speaker: Test 4, Microalbumin, which looks for every signs of kidney disease. And Test 5, An eye exam, which can detect early trouble. Five tests with one goal.
Dr. Richard Jackson: To get people's risk to be similar to that of people without diabetes.
Male Speaker: To meet the challenge day-to-day patients can seek help close to home from their pharmacists.
Larry Ellingson: He is the one individual that is often times the most accessible or seen the most frequently by a patient.
Male Speaker: This neighborhood drugstore has setup a diabetes shop whose staff trained in helping diabetics managed their disease. Patients learn about the technology and how to use their medications.
Lilla Roque: I take these much pills, now sometimes I don't know which one is for the eye and which is for this, and I want to know.
Male Speaker: Pharmacists can also inform the physician when they spot trouble.
Kathryn Wesling: We can't' change doses, we may see if somebody comes in with their meter. We see we kind of look at the memory and see that maybe their readings have been off for a while.
Male Speaker: Kathryn Wesling hopes by working with patients and the doctors, she can help diabetics live a more normal life.
Kathryn Wesling: It all works as a puzzle and we hope that by working as the team, they get all the pieces of the puzzle.
Male Speaker: But with one missing, the cure.
Betsy Ray: Can you buy enough time to get to the really good treatment.
Male Speaker: Betsy Ray has lived nearly four decades with Type 1 diabetes, her body can't make insulin.
Dr. Gordon Weir: One of our dreams for treating Type 1 diabetes and actually it might be useful for Type 2 diabetes also, is to replace the lost insulin producing cells.
Male Speaker: Dr. Gordon Weir says, researchers are closer to that dream. They are transplanting pancreatic islet cells that make insulin.
Dr. Gordon Weir: If we could put that back into person with diabetes, then we could really get rid of diabetes.
Male Speaker: The clinical trials are promising. The new report issued by the National Institutes of Health shows nearly 60% of patients are making their own insulin after one year, but not everyone who wants the transplant gets one.
Dr. Gordon Weir: We would be lucky to get 4000 pancreases a year to use for transplantation. Every year they are about 35000 new cases of Type 1 diabetes.
Male Speaker: Hotly debated stem-cell transplants could even up those numbers, islet cells from pigs are another possibility.
Dr. Gordon Weir: If this therapy is successful, it should get rid of diabetes.
Male Speaker: In other research scientist Jeffrey Bluestone is testing an antibody that can stop progression of Type 1 diabetes.
Jeffrey Bluestone: The majority of them 9 out of 12 ended up making more equal amount of insulin, they did at the start of the trial.
Male Speaker: The antibody must be given right after diagnosis and preserve what's left with the patients own insulin producing cells.
Jeffrey Bluestone: There is no reason why Type 1 diabetes shouldn't be cured. I hope, I am out of the job.
Male Speaker: Since Betsy's body no longer makes insulin, the antibody won't help. She is on the list for islet transplant.
Betsy Ray: I look at it as a way to perhaps be a pioneer to help others.
Male Speaker: And there is the personal reason.
Betsy Ray: It's away from me to perhaps gain a little more longevity, and I want to see my daughter get married.
Male Speaker: Researchers continued to monitor islet transplant patients to see how long they can remain insulin independent.
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