Diabetes

[Mellowmarkman]

I got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last october when I went for a physical test for a paid on call department. Good thing they caught it, bad thing they didn't let me finish the fire academy. The doctor claimed that since I was a new diabetic, he wanted to see how the medication acted on me.
Well, one of the chiefs I talked to told me that I will have a hard time getting on a full time department due to my diabetes. He told me it does not fall under the ADA act. In fact he said he had to let one of his guys go cause of diabetes.
Is it true I will have a hard time getting hired because of it ?

[AKflightmedic]

Read this...

http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/diabetes.html


And generally, it depends on where you are applying. I know many guys that have diabetes and they are career firefighters. It is becoming too common of an illness to discriminate against. The same goes for asthma. I myself have it as well as several guys I know from different departments. As long as you can do your job and control it with meds, there is no reason you should not be allowed to do this job.

[CaptBob]

Type 2

Innovative Treatments Aim to Lick Diabetes

Source: USA TODAY
- RedOrbit Jul 16, 2006

David Anderson, 76, of Minneapolis has had diabetes for more than 20 years. He was taking two drugs to control his blood sugar, but the disease was progressing, and he and his doctor were discussing the possibility that Anderson would need to start taking insulin shots.

Then he decided to enroll in a clinical trial to test a new drug, one that contained a synthetic version of a hormone found in the saliva of Gila monsters, a kind of lizard that lives in the deserts of America and Mexico.

The drug mimics the action of a hormone in human intestines, called GLP-1, which helps regulate the body's response to sugar.

Anderson started taking it in twice-daily injections in January 2003. Within weeks, he says, he had stopped taking oral diabetes medicines and his blood-sugar levels dropped into the normal range.

He has lost 20 pounds and says he eats anything he wants. "Swedish meatballs, pork roast, beef roast -- I eat it all," he says. "My wife has fed me good for 57 years."

The drug, Byetta, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in late April.

It and several other drugs will be the focus of new studies presented starting Friday in San Diego at a meeting of the American Diabetes Association.

Diabetes is "a very terrible problem we have in the United States," Surgeon General Richard Carmona said last month during a meeting of the American Academy of Clinical Endocrinologists.

Its cost is measured in "thousands of lives and billions of dollars every year," he said. "We need to help Americans prevent diabetes, or we will be overwhelmed by the (health problems) that will ensue."

The growing concern has spurred a burst of scientific research into ways to prevent and treat the disease and its complications. Among research topics being presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting:

*New drugs. Researchers for Byetta's maker, Eli Lilly and Amylin Pharmaceuticals, will present data on the drug's safety and effectiveness when taken for as long as 82 weeks, including its effect on the risk for heart disease and a study comparing Byetta with insulin.

In addition, reports on clinical trials of drugs being developed by Merck and Novartis that enhance the action of the GLP-1 hormone and can be taken in pill form will be presented. The new drugs appear to help control blood sugars without the highs and lows associated with current therapies.

They also could help patients lose weight, and there is some evidence that suggests they might even prevent the progression of diabetes by preserving insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

*Insulin. Insulin shots are taken daily by people with type 1 diabetes because they no longer can produce the hormone on their own and by more than a quarter of those with type 2 diabetes because they can't use insulin effectively.

Drug companies are developing needle-free ways for people to take insulin, such as inhalers and patches.

At the diabetic association's meeting, reports on the Exubera inhaler, which has been developed by Pfizer, sanofi-aventis and Nektar and is under FDA review, will be presented, as well as data on an inhaled form of insulin in development by Lilly.

*The link between diabetes and other conditions. People with diabetes are more than twice as likely to have heart disease as non-diabetics and are at higher risk for kidney failure, blindness and amputation. New studies on how to treat or to prevent such problems focus on new drugs, combinations of drugs and the importance of early treatment to prevent long-term complications.

Studies to be presented in the next few days will show that "we're making inroads in keeping people alive and healthier," said the association's scientific director, Richard Kahn.

"But the rising incidence means that people are getting older, living longer, getting fatter and having more diabetes, and that takes its toll on illness and quality of life."

Source: USA TODAY
Innovative Treatments Aim To Lick Diabetes - RedOrbit Jul 16, 2006
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/...tml?source=247

I had a lot of odds against me because I am a type 1
Insulin dependent Diabetic. But learning how to take a firefighter interview, I scored very high in my interview scores to let me be apart of the 36 chosen candidates. I have been trying for 4 years now and have tested at 9 different departments over the years. After studying the techniques on how to take a firefighter interview and how to present my diabetes, the next department I tested at I got on! Thank you so much Captain! Dean