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Letter Re: My Preparedness Plans Just Took an Unexpected Turn

Jim:
I am home after spending several days in the local Children's Hospital. In short, my toddler was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes after admittance to the ER and subsequent stay in the ICU and diabetes wing. This came as somewhat of a shock but not completely so due in part to a family history of the same. What it has done, however, is caused me to re-evaluate my preps entirely, particularly food and
medical.
1) The foods that I have acquired must now be truly accounted for in the carb department. I had never given that any thought for preps issues.

2) My medical must include all sorts of things related to diabetes that I did not have before. This includes lancets, cotton balls (still in diapers and the cotton balls allow for urine test strips), blood and urine test strips, needles, epipen parts and insulin (humalog and lantus) in general.

3) All emergency kits now have to have glucose tablets or gluco paste.
Also sugar free drinks/mixes like Crystal Light.

4) Far more careful monitoring of my daughter for any crashes or issues related to her disease. This includes detailed records of diet, blood tests and insulin intake.

I've learned that even on-line, the stuff isn't cheap so it will put a hole in my finances to get things added to the preps. I'm hoping that you will post this so I can hear (via the blog) of how other survival oriented persons manage and prepare for family members with Type 1 [Childhood onset] diabetes.

Update: Today, my daughter was [also] found to have Celiac Disease [(aka gluten-sensitive enteropathy)]. In short, this disease makes it difficult if not impossible for someone to eat wheat and gluten products. Wow. My already altered preps were happening but now I have to maintain a whole separate line of wheat and gluten free items to help out her diet.

So I'm hoping you can add that to my original question and I hope some readers out there can weigh in and offer their real world advise on how they handle it for themselves or for their family members and loved ones. Thanks, - MP in Seattle (a contributing subscriber)

JWR Replies: My heart goes out to you! I've addressed both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes briefly before in the blog. As you adjust your family's diet, try to minimize your intake of aspartame-based artificial sweeteners (like Benevia, Canderal, Equal, NutraSweet, Equal, Splenda, and Spoonful) They have some profound negative health effects that are just starting to be revealed. I predict that in the long run, aspartame will have a reputation as bad as Red Dye #2.

I'm not sure about the shelf life of blood sugar and urine test strips. Perhaps a SurvivalBlog reader can let us know. Once that is established, stock up, and then rotate them
consistently.

Since you will need at least a small insulin refrigerator, move up the priority of getting a modest-size photovoltaic power system. The folks at Ready Made Resources can help you size and spec the system. (They offer free consulting for SurvivalBlog readers.)

The good news is that because gluten-sensitive enteropathy is so common, there are a wide range of gluten-free foods on the market, and their are a wealth of gluten-free recipes available online. Needless to say, to start, you will want to adjust your food storage program to have a much higher ratio of corn and rice to wheat.

I would appreciate comments from readers that are gluten intolerant about how they have adjusted their food storage programs.

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