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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Diabetes / December 2006I don't understand something
HI I have a friend who was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and I was doing some research on the subject to support her. One thing I don't understand. A lot of places I have read about having something handy in case the blood sugar goes down too low. How does this happen? Isn't diabetes the fact that the insulin in the blood system can't deal with the blood sugar so you are always too high? I just don't get it. How can the blood sugar level get so low that there would be problems? Thanks > I have a friend who was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and I was > doing some research on the subject to support her. One thing I don't [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > with the blood sugar so you are always too high? I just don't get it. > How can the blood sugar level get so low that there would be problems? It's primarily an issue with insulin and some of the oral medications (not all, many oral meds do not cause hypoglycemia). Basically, if you take more of a bg-lowering medication than you need, the bg can go *too* low. In a way, it's a question of aim, you're aiming to lower, but if your aim is off, you can go too low. In other words, you're right that diabetes doesn't cause hypoglycemic directly; it's the treatment of diabetes that can cause it. If your friend is not on insulin or on any oral meds that can have this effect, then he/she is unlikely to need to worry about this. > > I have a friend who was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and I was > > doing some research on the subject to support her. One thing I don't [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > If your friend is not on insulin or on any oral meds that can have this > effect, then he/she is unlikely to need to worry about this. Except that a very common phenomenon in type 2 diabetics is reactive hypoglycemia. That's when the blood glucose goes very low after going very high. Many of us have lost our phase 1 insulin (the insulin that waits around for something to work on) but still have phase 2 insulin (the insulin that's sent out in response to eating) -- and a broken "off" switch on the phase 2. So when we eat something that drives our blood glucose way up, our phase 2 insulin kicks in with a vengeance and drops it way low. If then, instead of eating just enough to get us back to normal, we eat something which sends us back too high we're off on the roller coaster of diabetic blood sugar. That's why many of us try to keep our blood glucose within tight control, eating and exercizing and taking meds so that it will stay in a narrow range, because going too high may send us too low. It's hard to get off the roller coaster. Priscilla [Default] On Tue, 19 Dec 2006 12:04:32 -0500, Jackie Patti <jackiepatti@gmail.com> Giggled into the madness of usenet: >> I have a friend who was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and I was >> doing some research on the subject to support her. One thing I don't [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >If your friend is not on insulin or on any oral meds that can have this >effect, then he/she is unlikely to need to worry about this. you also forgot that many type 2s were and still are, reactive hypoglycemics.  SignatureMâck©® Deltec CoZmore Pumper Type 1 since 1975 http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org http://www.diabetic-talk.org http://www.insulin-pumpers.org http://www.pandora.com enter "Jason & Demarco" "To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." ...Theodore Roosevelt (o ô) --ooO-(_)-Ooo-------------------- "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve." ....Bilbo Baggins DISCLAIMER If you find a posting or message from me offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it. If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... . On Tue, 19 Dec 2006 08:55:13 -0800, newsmonger5 wrote: > HI > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Thanks This is primarily an issue for folks who take insulin - a lot of type 2's don't, so is most likely not an issue for her. If you take insulin and inject too much, or do more exercise than you had figured on, or whatever, then you can indeed burn off the excess sugar and some of the non-excess - driving your glucose level too low. There are also some type 2 drugs which can cause hypoglycemia, but they are not generally prescribed for newly diagnosed folks. >I have a friend who was just diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and I was >doing some research on the subject to support her. One thing I don't [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >with the blood sugar so you are always too high? I just don't get it. >How can the blood sugar level get so low that there would be problems? Please do yourself, and your T2 friend, a huge favor and go find Gretchen Becker's "Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year" and read it. Also, please read Jennifer's periodic post in this forum for newbies. Those two items, in my opinion, are among the best resources a brand-new T2 should start with. It's all pretty overwhelming, and advice is all over the map, honestly. Even some doctors can cause more confustion than they clear up (e.g., two weeks ago, my doctor told me that my 6.1 A1C means that I'm "almost a non-diabetic"...I understand what he means, but that statement taken at face value is completely wrong!). The CDE I talked to...she didn't even know about Gretchen Becker's book, and honestly, I think every CDE should give their charges a copy (the way that some OBs or medical plans give expecting mothers a copy of "What to Expect..."). Both she and the nutritionist she works with swore that I needed to increase my carb consumption (I was at 120 to 150 gr/day). |
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