here in Los Angeles there is a radio ad for a clinic or some type of “program” to cure diabetes but you have to attend a seminar. During the ad the narrator tells of his father’s diabetic history and that he had to get injections in his eyeballs. Of course this is never fully explained. What condition must you have that involves eyeball injections? I have been tempted to go to one of these seminars but the times haven’t matched up. Any ideas?
I’ve never had it done, but it’s used to treat diabetic retinopathy (and some other non-diabetes related eye conditions, like macular degeneration). Here’s a short webpage about it.
Some ophthalmic issues that occur as complications of D require injections directly into the eyeball. Not a comforting image, is it? Tamra on our Forum could tell you all about this. Fortunately these types of procedures are often very effective in halting or slowing the damage caused by long periods of time with elevated BGs.
I would never consider attending any kind of a seminar or program that claims to cure diabetes. If it sounds too good to be true, it more than likely is. These people take a lot of your money (because what they do is not covered by insurance) and perform procedures that are dubious at best and may very well result in harm at the worst. There is no solid scientific evidence that what these sorts of clinics do offers any long-term benefit whatsoever. Many have been shut down by the FDA and other regulatory agencies. And their victims do not get their money back. Beware!
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Does it involve cinnamon? My feeling is that all diabetes-cure scams should involve cinnamon. Standards, people, standards!
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Lady in the store yesterday told me that “Turmeric and B Vitamins from natural sources” would cure her nephews Type 1 but he wouldn’t listen to her. She followed me around three aisles trying to convince me to head back to the spice section to get more Turmeric. I mean, I love a good curry, but come on now.
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I’ve had run-ins with nutritional evangelists as well. Had one in the choir I sing in. Really tenacious even though 1) she didn’t grasp the difference between T1 and T2; and 2) was completely resistant to the concept that fruits, starches and grains also fall in the category of Stuff That Sends BG Through The Roof, not just refined sugar.
“But honey is ok, right? Honey is natural!” Rrrrrrg.
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Injections in the eyes are a standard treatment for various conditions (some mentioned above), but to “cure” diabetes? Nonsense! Double nonsense!
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It’s probably Avastin or the like—I’ve had several Avastin injections for retinopathy. The drug has a number of different uses, and for me it was used to help shrink up the new/leaky vessels. It worked very well! It sounds much much creepier/more awful than it is, since they give you numbing drops first, and then the injection is done to the side or bottom of the eye, so it’s not like you’re watching it happen/can see the needle. While it’s not fun by any means, I actually found it much less aversive to the laser treatments I’ve also had, which hurt considerable more as they go on (they take a while and the pain builds, and my dr said they tend to be much more painful for younger diabetics like myself vs her many senior patients).
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Shots in the eyeballs is creepy…I don’t care how you dress it up.
David49, if turmeric and B vitamins haven’t already cured your D, then she’s right, it’s because you don’t take the kind from natural sources. And you’re not adding cinnamon or utilizing healing crystals or sitting inside a pyramid-shaped enclosure. You hopeless newbies still have so much to learn…
ETA: Forgot to add that DrBB is right, you also forgot the honey. You could always substitute bee pollen for that or even make 5 or 6 bees sacrifice their lives to sting you because bee venom cures D, along with chemical imbalances in general, and strengthens your immune system. 
I had a laser treatment for a spontaneous retinal tear. The anesthetic injection was pretty awful. Long needle inserted through my lower eyelid straight back into my brain (at least it felt like it). Seemed to take forever. I said the “F” word very loudly multiple times. Embarrassed myself.
You forgot vinegar, and okra. Aren’t you supposed to be a doctor?
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These injections are not fun but they are not as bad as one would imagine. The preparation for the shot is worse than the actual shot.
[quote=“rgcainmd, post:3, topic:57890, full:true”]
I would never consider attending any kind of a seminar or program that claims to cure diabetes. If it sounds too good to be true, it more than likely is. These people take a lot of your money (because what they do is not covered by insurance) and perform procedures that are dubious at best and may very well result in harm at the worst. There is no solid scientific evidence that what these sorts of clinics do offers any long-term benefit whatsoever. Many have been shut down by the FDA and other regulatory agencies. And their victims do not get their money back. Beware!
[/quote]Again, beware.
What I am about to say doesn’t necessarily apply in general, but it most certainly does for all widespread, well-known serious illnesses: News of a cure for Diabetes will not arrive at your attention through some seminar.
Rather, it would be some of the biggest news in modern history. On the same level as curing
Alzheimer’s. Discovery of aliens. It would be that big.
It would be impossible to maintain any conspiracy to suppress such a revolutionary development. Think about it for a moment: How would a real, true, bonafide cure stay suppressed after people attended just the first session of this seminar? How does the pharmaceutical industry then keep all those that attended in line, keeping the conspiracy (and the suppression of the miracle) intact?
Finally – Rose can speak to this too but I know a little about it having spent a life with an Internist for a father – physicians WANT to cure their patients. Any industry conspiracy to suppress an actual cure for something like diabetes would have doctors on the front lines of the protests.
Anyone who has had actual involvement with Health Care from the provider side knows how silly and ridiculous conspiracy theories are regarding suppressing treatments or cures. This is not to say some things aren’t view skeptically by health care providers, when the data (rigorous OR social) is ambiguous. Doctors, for obvious reasons, stick to things that have some determinism to them.
Regardless, if diabetes is ever cured, most likely the first place you hear about it will be on the news, or from another diabetic linking the news.
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Creeps me out too. But then, there are other locales on my body that I would find injections to be less than “ho hum” as well.
In the end, it’s all just meat. 
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Diabetes: The disease cured at Christmas.
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Yeah, I had to leave a community for people with Graves’ disease because, according to a lady in that group, I could cure all my allergy/autoimmune problems through diet and supplements. I just had to try harder and “believe” that it was possible, and it wasn’t working for me because I didn’t believe it could… 
I had four laser treatments (two in each eye) for retinal issues related to my ROP. During the first treatment, the doctor had to stop about three times to put more eye drops in my eye, because I kept flinching involuntarily from pain each time he fired the laser. For the next three treatments, I swear the nurse emptied the entire bottle of eye drops into my eye! She had a tissue that she put under my eye, and pretty much just squeezed the bottle till my eye was being irrigated with drops. I’m not sure if the doctor put a note in my file or what, but it certainly made the next three treatments a lot more comfortable (and easier for him without me flinching, I’m sure!).
I did have one close encounter with a shot when I had a glaucoma procedure done. The doctor was worried I wouldn’t be able to hold my eye still enough (since I have nystagmus), so talked about possibly having to inject medication behind my eye to paralyze it. Luckily, I was able to hold my eye still for two seconds, which was enough time for the doctor to fire his laser. 
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Jen, Tinkerbelle just died because you don’t believe in fairies.
Okay, well, that makes me kind of sad… (Makes me think of Hook, which was one of my favourite movies as a kid!!)
That was a terrific movie, wasn’t it?