OK, I almost don't know where to start with this, but you know what they say ........ you have to take the first step !
My apologies if this ends up being a long thread, and a little bit weird, but it's been a very long journey to get here. And I could really now do with some help from anybody who is interested, and is willing to look a bit closer when their blood readings seem to be going in the wrong direction.
My T1 Diabetes has been way out-of-control now for over 7 years (since March / April 2016), when I first started noticing that finger prick blood glucose readings were not going up and down the way they used to. So I'd add a compensatory injection dose, but when I tested later on, the readings were often even higher, with no food in the equation. I have plenty of years' experience of T1D, so I knew this was different to the norm. And I experimented over the weeks and months with all possibilities - dietary food changes, injection sites, even trialled new insulin, anything and everything that I thought might be involved. Got some blood tests in case there was anything else happening in my system, but nothing showed as relevant.
Then I got onto the CGM programme with Freestyle Libre - now let the games begin !!!
I can't recall now exactly what I began to notice first, but at some point I began to detect that there was mostly (not always, but mostly) a correlation between the blood levels rising, and what I'll call 'nasal rhinitis' - i.e. that nasal blocked up feeling. Not sure whether it actually is officially 'rhinitis', but I'll call it that for now, and although there are different classifications of rhinitis (i.e. allergic & non-allergic), I'll hold off from defining them just yet, as I'm beginning to think they might all be connected to the same things.
Then, with more observation, and research, I began to think that somewhere in the picture, dust mites were probably involved. Now, every home has dust mites, but the trouble is, you can't see them, so you don't know what the population numbers are. Now looking back, I realise we'd possibly grown too large a population of them, partly because of a number of practices that encourage humidity (over filled kettles, soaking dishes too long etc.), and dust mites do like humidity. But also, I think, because a few years previous, I'd bought some of the modern battery powered podiatry tools, to help look after my Mum's feet - the great little gadgets that use sandpaper type attachments to grind away hard skin, and / or file down toenails. And thinking back, after we'd use them, we'd get nasally blocked up about 15-20 minutes afterwards. Actually, I think there was a clue in that - if it had merely been the skin / nail dust that was blocking us up, it would have been more instant, but the fact that the nasal blocking was 15-20 minutes afterwards, was probably the time taken for the dust mites to find the material and start feeding !
I have to say though, all the above is still theory, and I could be wrong in my thoughts. Only time will tell.
So the vacuum cleaner started to get used even more frequently and I also got hold of any and every tool that might keep the bed sheets clean, eventually deciding on the regular use of a lint roller, for bedsheets, clothes, even carpets etc. etc.
Now, once I was armed with a lint roller (or several !), I began to notice another correlation - it seemed that most of the time, whenever I could find loose body hairs (stuck to the lint roller), the feeling of nasal rhinitis would reduce, and the bloods would start to drop - again, thanks to the 5 minute granularity of the CGM, which makes this kind of analysis possible.
Now, I don't think it's only hairs that are involved. I think it's possibly all the human body material that dust mites would be interested in (hairs, skin, sebum, etc. etc.). And there does seem to be something, which I have yet to pin down, which causes what I'd call a massive blood sugar spike, larger than other spikes. On too many occasions, I seem to have noticed eyelash hairs, on pillows / bedsheets / carpets, when the BG levels were heading seriously vertical. But I don't know if that's my imagination. It may simply be a large collection of material occurring at the same time that causes the really vertical rises, but I do suspect that there might be one material / item (more than others) that causes this stratospheric rise. It needs more exploration, more time.
Once I had begun to pay attention to all this, I started looking around for possible solutions, and found that dust mites don't like a number of 'essential oils', such as Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, and Lavender. And interestingly, I also saw some articles mentioning some 'unknown' connection between Diabetes and Eucalyptus around this time !
So I started using sprays, and found that on a number of occasions, spraying before bedtime gave fantastic flat reading through the night, although ........ word of warning to those who are on higher basal levels ........ sometimes too low ! So you'd need to go careful if you start to experiment with spraying using 'essential oils'.
But, the more I read about dust mites, the more I realised that they are almost the ultimate 'scavengers' - I believe they will eat other dust mite carcasses (hey - these guys will eat worse than that, but I'll let you do your own reading on that subject !!!). Which means, that if I employ a spray to kill them, I'm probably just providing food for the next generation of dust mites. So, I would guess that you probably want something that will discourage them without killing them. I did try some tests using Rosemary oil, but there's just too much going on, so I wasn't able to make any conclusive judgement on the results so far.
If I'm right, and dust mites are involved, then what is it that they are doing to trigger our auto-immune switch in this way ? They apparently release enzymes to break down their food. Is the enzyme too powerful, or is it causing some bad bacterial mix which is dangerous for us ? I don't know - over to the professionals on that one ?
I'm definitely of the opinion that somewhere in the mix, dust mites are involved, if only because of the BG improvement that e.g. Eucalyptus spray can have.
But I also now believe that Demodex mites could be in the mix, more because of the link to hairs. Demodex mites - again, we all have them apparently, and as we get older, we apparently have more of them. But they seem to live down the hair follicles. Conjunctivitis sufferers might already be more familiar with the concept of Demodex mites (living in the eyelashes), and apparently, it is now considered that there is a direct link between them and Rosacea sufferers.
If Demodex mites are involved, is there a possible link between Demodex mites and dust mites - either predator / prey, if the dust mites are feeding on demodex mites still attached to a fallen hair follicle, or even a symbiotic relationship, where demodex mites are helping cause the shedding of hair to provide food (possibly attached sebum) for the dust mites ?
Again, this is all theory, because the fact is, I can't actually see any of this, it's only some thoughts based on what I think I'm observing.
But there definitely seems to be some correlation between the nasal rhinitis, and the escalating blood levels.
And there also seems to be a correlation between finding and removing shed hair from the pillow / bedsheets / furniture / carpets, and a reduction in nasal rhinitis.
Also, I am fairly sure I'm noticing a correlation between the elasticated collars / cuffs on e.g. coats and clothing, so now, when I arrive home, one of the first routines (I can tell you, life has become very painful these days !) I have to do is take the lint roller across any clothing which may have attracted hairs, which includes the part of elasticated collars / cuffs which are in contact with neck hair / wrist hair etc. Basically, the elasticated clothing seems to be acting like a concertina, and grabbing hairs, and I have to assume there will be dust mites within the fabric. Stretch jeans ! You name it ! Once you head down this route, life becomes a nightmare.
Also, when folks talk of bloods rising during and post showers, my guess would be a combination of at least two things - the level of body debris which will be shed in the bathroom area, and particularly hair during towel drying etc. - hair on carpets, hair on towels. And also the humidity level increase during a shower or bath, which mites are known to favour.
And then somewhere in all of that mix, I believe we may also find what we think of as the Dawn Phenomenon / Foot-on-Floor, which we tend to associate with the Liver dumping.
If I have nasal rhinitis on wake up, I now immediately get the lint roller to see if there are any loose hairs on the pillow or bedsheet. Although, in the case of Dawn Phenomenon, I think we would need to follow the trail right from rising up from the bed, and follow the path wherever you go through the house.
Life becomes a nightmare of cleaning in a rather obsessive way, which is quite exhausting. But hopefully, most of you are not suffering this in quite the extreme way I am, and can cope with a modest BG rise.
Also, I am fairly sure I'm also seeing a pattern in nasal rhinitis increasing and bloods escalating, if you happen to bring in garden earth or plant life on the soles of your footwear, when you arrive home. I keep getting caught out if I forget to clean the shoe soles, and vacuum the hall carpet after getting home. Now, not everyone will notice this, but that's possibly because you haven't managed to grow the same population numbers of dust mites !!!
Part 1 (too many characters !)
