Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida • Page 86

FLORIDA TODAY ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT, MONDAY, JULY 18, 2005 9 What Is Diabetic Retinopathy? HEALTH TIPS DINING OUT When dining out, consider asking questions about how entrees and side dishes are prepared. Knowing the lingo of food preparation can help you avoid unhealthy, often unnecessary fats and calories. Menu descriptions that indicate high saturated fat meals may include au gratin, Alfredo, car-bonara, tempura and croquette, bearnaise, creamed and parmigiana. For generally lighter choices, look for the words grilled, baked, broiled, marinara and steamed. WALK THE COURSE Just 30 minutes of golf (when walking the course) can burn about 165 calories.

Exercise doesnt have to be vigorous to provide benefits. So whenever possible, ditch the cart, bring plenty of water and enjoy the outdoors. BALANCE Did you know that Americans eat 23 percent more produce today than they did in 1970? However, 77 percent of Americans still aren't eating the recommended 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruits daily. Up your intake today by choosing fruit as a snack and adding a small side of salad or cooked veggies to a meal. from hemorrhaging in the eye.

An estimated 12,000 to 24,000 diabetics lose their sight each year in the U.S. from this disorder not because of an inability to treat their disease, but rather due to a delay in seeking medical attention. When caught in its early stages the damaging changes in retinal blood vessels brought on by diabetes can be stopped -and in some cases even reversed using laser therapy. Timely laser intervention can prevent blindness in up to 90 percent of such cases. If you have an eye physician and diabetes you should have a yearly dilated eye exam and if you have diabetic retinopathy you may benefit from an exam with a retina specialist.

Continued blood sugar control remains the key to preventing and slowing many of the changes of diabetic retinopathy. In the 1960's you might have lost your eye and a bit of your brain from diabetic retinopathy but nowadays with the achievements of modern medicine you need not lose a thing. (Saad Shaikh, MD, Consultant, Vitreoretinal Diseases Surgery, Central Florida Retina) BY SAAD SHAIKH, MD The role of insulin in diabetes mellitus was discovered in 1921 by Frederick Banting and Charles Best who demonstrated that removing the pancreas from dogs made them diabetic and that fluid containing insulin from healthy dog pancreas' when injected it into the diabetic dogs restored them to normalcy. In January 1922, a diabetic teenager in a Toronto hospital named Leonard Thompson became the first person to receive an injection of insulin and with his dramatic improvement news about insulin spread around the world. Banting received the Nobel Prize in Medicine the next year.

Although the cause and treatment of diabetes was discovered managing the related complications remained a difficult and sometimes futile task. Many of us who have lived through the post-World War II era and the early decades after can remember friends and family who were diagnosed with diabetes whose lives were made difficult by their premature loss of vision. Physicians and researchers did not have an adequate grasp on the pathogenesis of diabetic eye disease and even in 1968 the Journal of the American Medical Association printed a series of articles that studied removing the pituitary gland, or. brain surgery, as a treatment for severe cases of diabetic retinopathy. But by the 1970's National Eye Institute sponsored studies demonstrated that laser therapy was effective in preventing the severe visual loss seen with diabetic retinopathy and medical science and the care of patients with diabetes and diabetic retinopathy was forever altered.

Nowadays the risk of severe visual loss is less than five percent in patients with diabetes but despite this diabetic retinopathy remains the number one cause of new blindness in most industrialized countries. In diabetics, poor blood sugar control results in the premature closure of blood vessels in the retina, the critical seeing portion of the eye, and the secondary development of abnormal blood vessels which have a tendency to cause swelling or bleeding in the back of the eye. In some cases the ability to read is lost and in severe cases a retinal detachment can develop resulting in complete loss of vision. Early symptoms include blurred vision from swelling of the retina and floaters Back or neck pain, head injury and other neurological disorders can rob us of our quality of life. But today, treatments are available that offer people safe, fast and effective relief.

Parrish Medical Center helps people who suffer with disorders of the neck, back, head and nerves. Our state-of-the-art neurosurgery techniques and equipment like the Stealth Station that uses the same technology found on Stealth planes provides pinpoint precision. Our technology is complemented by a leading-edge team. PMC's experienced and talented neurosurgery team is led by neurosurgeon Ara Deukmedjian, M.D. Prior to joining PMC, Dr.

Deukmedjian was on staff at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He earned his medical degree, with a "Highest Distinction" award, from the University of Southern California. He specializes in microsurgical approaches to the brain and complex spine procedures. For an informational brochure about the neurosurgical services offered at Parrish Medical Center, call 321-268-6110. Ara J.

Deukmedjian, MD Neurosurgeon Florida Neurosurgical Spinal Rehabilitation Center 494 N. Washington Titusville 321-383-8092 www.flneurospinecenter.com PARRISH MEDICAL CENTER I.