I so needed a good sleep tonight! It's been a long week of late nights, and I finally succumbed to that numb grumpiness that eventually hits me in these periods of bad sleep. I managed to get myself into bed before 1am... well it's better than 2am, right? I dozed off pretty quick, with the cats snuggled up against my legs. All was well until we had an earthquake just as I was off to noddy land.
I normally don't give a hoot about earthquakes - I'm used to them. This one managed to rattle & shake me fully awake, so here I am, back on the computer, now 2:20am and I'm blog-surfing (and obviously, blog posting).
A little tid-bit I found tucked off to the side on diabetes mine caught my attention. A study of tightly controlled and averagely controlled diabetics, and the results say: Diabetes treatment said no threat to mental skills. In other words, those of us who are trying for tighter control, and often experiencing more lows (and for some, seizures and hospitalisation from more serious lows) don't seem to suffer from mental troubles in the long term.
This has never been a serious worry for me personally - my lows have never been that serious (so far, touch wood...) but it has stuck in my mind that a lot of people warn against lows in case of brain damage. It struck me as possible, but unlikely for the average diabetic. I did wonder if it was different for those who end up having seizures or a coma though. We diabetics have enough to worry about, thank you very much.
There may, of course, be studies that came up with the opposite result - never can trust just one study to have all the answers - but I'll trust my instincts on this one. I'm much happier aiming for tight control and avoiding the dangers of those highs. Sure, lows can be a problem, sometimes scary, sometimes troublesome, always annoying, but I don't have many and I don't think they're much to worry about next to the fear of going blind, losing my kidney function, losing a foot - the sorts of things we can look forward to from allowing our blood sugar to get high. Icky.
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7 comments:
Wow, 5.4-That's a pretty good shake indeed.
And I agree, despite possible increases in low BG, tighter control is reassuring that future issues won't arise.
DIONYSOS said...
Don;t worry,be healthy.I am IDDM 17 years I am surgeon on duty and go on,life is good, My site is in greeks but I have good links
14 May 2007 09:58
But M somehow managed to post 'Did the Earth move for you' twice, so M now has to move DIONYSOS's comment and put it here so she can delete one. Duh @ M. DIONYSOS can be found here for those who like to blog-surf through links in comments (like me! Have you tried it? You can get lost in the blog world for hours)
Scott, yes I suppose it is a pretty good one, though nothing serious for us here - everything in NZ is built to handle earthquakes so it really takes a biggie to shake us up ('scuse the pun). Turns out I slept through another 2 earthquakes after that one. NZ is in shake, rattle & roll mode!
The irony about T1DM(Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus) is that you can have "great control and numbers", but still be subjected to awful Complications because of the Disease. It is the very nature of the Disease that creates these problems. Yes, of course, having high glucose numbers will be responsible for expediting these Complications and in my opinion, they just bring it on earlier.
Everyone must/has to find what works best for themselves. It was a bad idea to remove C-peptide from the manufacture of Insulin, since it has been shown to have qualities that are cardio, neuro, nephro protective in patients with Diabetes. It is more than a biomarker for insulin availability.
I'm not sure I agree there - though perhaps the issue is what we consider to be great control? If the damage is caused by thick sugary blood stuffing up our bodies ability to do what it does, then keeping our BG down has got to be the key.
I can't imagine that a truly well controlled diabetic (better controlled than I am!) could get complications if they stay within a healthy BG range almost all of the time.
Of course, then we get into the quality vs quantity argument... is it worth eating lower carb meals, with no 'treats' unless low, and balanced exercise without missing a day, strict routine, lots of BG tests etc... to add a few years life expectancy?
In my opinion, yes (mainly for the day to day benefits and feeling of well being) - but not entirely. There's got to be a balance there.
Anyhoo, I don't believe that T1D's have to accept complications as a fact of life. If we can stay on top of that balance between food & insulin, exercise & stress etc, then we have a brilliant chance of success.
These days with our always improving knowledge of carbs, insulins, and methods of treatment, I don't believe there's any reason for any of us to suffer.
Ok I've been thinking about this since I left that message - and I just have to add: the c-pep thing bothers me too, (as I wrote in an earlier post). I'm in the process of researching all this, and have contacted novo about it too. More on this another day, but just wanted to make my comment: "I'm not sure I agree" into "well maybe... but I hope not!!
..m.. I also believe in doing "all the right things", to make sure that the body does not leave an open field for Complications to begin in T1DM. However, since I have had T1DM for such a long time(since I was 6), I have come to the conclusion that it is a Disease that involves more than Glucose Numbers. Of course, if the Glucose is high throughout the day/months/years then it is inevitable that Complications will begin. In my opion, they just begin earlier.
I have examined a huge Bibliography of C-peptide that go back to the 1970's and do know that after reading many of these Research Studies, that C-peptide has many beneficial things associated with protecting people w/Diabetes against the ravages of related Complications.
I have blogged an Entry on my Site pertaining to a Study which is worth a read.
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