Ashley is in the TEDDY study at the Joslin Diabetes Center here in Seattle. TEDDY stands for The Envirnmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Youth and we had her first appointment on Saturday. Can you guess how she did? Perfect. We were there for an hour answering questions about my diet during pregnancy and her diet now, any stresses that may have occurred during the pregnancy, if she's had any stresses since she's been born, if we drink filtered or tap water, etc. They had to take some blood though, and this I had major anxiety over. The lady was so good and only had to poke her once. She was distracted by a toy horse that made noise and when it was all over she didn't even produce one tear. She was more upset that she had someone restraining her arm. That makes it a lot easier to go back. The study is testing kids because they believe that type 1 diabetes is caused 50% by genetics and 50% by environment. When Ashley was born they took some blood from her PKU test (when they prick the heel) and found that she had a 3% chance of getting type 1 diabetes compared to the average population which is .3%. 3% is still really low, but it was enough that they asked us to be in the study. I think it's a really important study and if by chance Ashley does develope the disease we would be able to start treatment really early. So, the study is designed for 15 years, but they take it one year at a time for now knowing that 15 years is a long time. For the first few years they see her 4 times a year and she gets $40 for each visit. At those appointments they take blood to look for antibodies linked to the disease and ask questions about her diet and new things that she's been exposed to. Then every month they want a stool sample, and the only reason I'm writing this is because I thought it was very interesting. Every 30 days our bodies get rid of any viruses that we may have had, so they test the stool to see what viruses Ashley has been exposed to and see if maybe that may be a determinant. Oh, and she gets $10 for any sample. Anyways, we just thought it was an important subject and hopefully this information can lead to some answers and maybe a cure in the near future.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
TEDDY
Ashley is in the TEDDY study at the Joslin Diabetes Center here in Seattle. TEDDY stands for The Envirnmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Youth and we had her first appointment on Saturday. Can you guess how she did? Perfect. We were there for an hour answering questions about my diet during pregnancy and her diet now, any stresses that may have occurred during the pregnancy, if she's had any stresses since she's been born, if we drink filtered or tap water, etc. They had to take some blood though, and this I had major anxiety over. The lady was so good and only had to poke her once. She was distracted by a toy horse that made noise and when it was all over she didn't even produce one tear. She was more upset that she had someone restraining her arm. That makes it a lot easier to go back. The study is testing kids because they believe that type 1 diabetes is caused 50% by genetics and 50% by environment. When Ashley was born they took some blood from her PKU test (when they prick the heel) and found that she had a 3% chance of getting type 1 diabetes compared to the average population which is .3%. 3% is still really low, but it was enough that they asked us to be in the study. I think it's a really important study and if by chance Ashley does develope the disease we would be able to start treatment really early. So, the study is designed for 15 years, but they take it one year at a time for now knowing that 15 years is a long time. For the first few years they see her 4 times a year and she gets $40 for each visit. At those appointments they take blood to look for antibodies linked to the disease and ask questions about her diet and new things that she's been exposed to. Then every month they want a stool sample, and the only reason I'm writing this is because I thought it was very interesting. Every 30 days our bodies get rid of any viruses that we may have had, so they test the stool to see what viruses Ashley has been exposed to and see if maybe that may be a determinant. Oh, and she gets $10 for any sample. Anyways, we just thought it was an important subject and hopefully this information can lead to some answers and maybe a cure in the near future.
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3 comments:
Thanks for posting that. I am very interested in that program. Mike had type 1 diabetes and so did his uncle. My cousin had it and so does one of my cousins chidren. So, I know my girls are probably at a higher risk. I would love to be involved in a study like that. Kendall
WOW!! I knew our granddaughter was special but the medical community willing to pay for her poop! Lock up the dirty diapers - they're worth some dough!
Seriously, this sounds like a very worthwhile study to be involved in. I'm proud of you for helping to further the education of Diabetes and its causes. Hopefully the study will help contribute to a cure.
Wow, that is an awesome study. I'm still involved with the Seattle Social Development Project. Anything to help the development of science is great.
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