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Mary Ann and list friends: I may be wrong in this but I dont believe the severity or the impact of diabetes is any where near that of Parkinson's.However, I could be mistaken due to my OWN experiences with PD and lack of knowledge of diabetes. Bill At 07:01 AM 12/17/98 -0500, you wrote: >Bill wrote: >>>Hello, gee I just got back and I'm already MAD > >I'm glad that you're bad - mad or not. > >. Diabetes "the 4th leadinf cause of death >>can also cause blindess and liver" To say it ranks above Parkinson's >>shows you are blind and death. With PD you get DEAtH, that is your future. > > >Sorry Bill, you're way off on this one. Not only is Diabetes more >destructive than PD, but the Type I disease strikes its victims earlier and >leads to life-long *severe* health problems. These are the folks who die in >their 20's, or lose their vision and kidney function in their 30's, or die >of heart disease in their 40's. Unlike PD sufferers, they frequently don't >make it to their 50's. > >As a medical nurse I've dealt with many chronic diseases. While PD patients >are rare visitors to my clinical division, I can always count on at least 2 >out of my 8 patients having diabetes (and frequently the numbers are >higher). The medical cost of maintaining diabetics is substantially greater >than the cost of PD, while long-term care difficulties are even more >monumental. Diabetics with no home care support are brought to the hospital >DOA more than any other patients, in my experience (and I'm including >victims in their early 20's in that number). > >PD does need more funding, but we're not going to advance our cause in >Congress if we suggest that PD is more worthy to receive research dollars >than other far more catastrophic illnesses. >------- >Regards >Mary Ann Ryan RN (CG Jamie 59/19) > >