Blood thickness (Viscosity) vs Blood Sugar

[MunFred]

Hi -
I have been type 1 insulin dependant diabetic for nearly 40 years -
My major problems have been severe hypo's, and after the 2nd time these nearly cost me my life when I was in my 20's, and after havivd severe night time hypo's which put me into hospital in my 30's, I decided to ignore the recomended blood sugar demands of my doctors and set my 'baseline' a lot higher - my baseline has been about 10 for the last 20 years.

Setting my baseline higher solved my hypo problems - I started to feel hypo when my bs dropped below about 7 (rather than below about 3) and I was able to fix hypos before they really started. My eye tests showed no problems, and I was able to live a good healthy life for 20 years.

This year that all changed - I suffered cardiac failure and other complications started in force.. But that is a story I wont go into now.

I am on medications for my heart - but even with these I sometimes feel my heart struggling (pulse rate goes up abruptly, massive ectopic beats, feet start swelling etc - I have taken to just lying down and waiting for these episodes to pass -

One time this happened there was no reason that I could see - I thought it may be bs related, and was tested - to my horror my bs was 29! - Further to this I monitored my bs on every event, and it was always high (>18) when my heart was playing up... I thought there must be a connection, and wondered if extra glucose in the blood makes it thicker.

Searching for data online, I found a few papers which had some correlation between blood viscocity and sugar levels.. Having been involved in medical instrumentation / physics, I was able to extrapolate this data, and what I found shocked me..

As far as I can see, and based on limited data, I calculated that for every 1.0 mmol/dl increase in blood sugar there is a 1.3% increase in viscocity - so when my bs was 29, my blood was about 30% more viscous (thicker) than my blood would have been if my bs had been 5.0

What annoys me about this more than anything is that I have asked many doctors to explain why keeping my bs at 'normal' levels was important - I wanted to know what mechanism there could be to explain complications - I wanted to understand so that I could choose an optimum level for me which took my requirements into account.. No one ever mentioned a link between blood sugar and blood viscocity - It seems to me that thicker blood could explain a lot about diabetic complications!

Fred

 

[phoenix]

It's far clearer in mg/dl.
A normal glucose level is say 5mmol/l (90mg/dl) that is 0.9g of sugar per litre of blood.
A gluocse reading of 22mmol/l (400mg/dl) is 4g of sugar in a litre of blood.
I once did a blog post where I weighed an photographed these amounts, 4g is rounded teaspooonful. High glucose readings also lead to dehydration which would exacerbate the problem

However, I think that there are also other factors in play.
How about your own control now, have you had some help to bring your levels down a bit ?
edit 2 years later as noticed an extra 0!

 

[MunFred]

It's far clearer in mg/dl.
A normal glucose level is say 5mmol/l (90mg/dl) that is 0.9g of sugar per litre of blood.

True - this is a lot simpler!

A gluocse reading of 22mmol/l (4000mg/dl) is 4g of sugar in a litre of blood.
I once did a blog post where I weighed an photographed these amounts, 4g is rounded teaspooonful.

I would be interested to know what your conclusions were / are - Do you think that my hypothesis regarding the extra viscocity affecting cardiac function (extra loading) could be relevant?

High glucose readings also lead to dehydration which would exacerbate the problem
However, I think that there are also other factors in play.

Certainly there are - even temperature affects viscocity.. I am on drugs to dilate my blood vessels (particularly coranary) and on asprin. I suspect that there are a large number of other variables as well.

How about your own control now, have you had some help to bring your levels down a bit ?

Help is not easy to get - my GP practice has about 8 doctors and one "specialist" diabetic doctor who should, in my opinion, be struck off - I now refuse to be seen by this "doctor". There is only one doctor I have seen at this practice who is good (I had all the classic symptoms of heart failure for several days, went to the surgery, was examined by one doctor, came back the next day and was examined by the diabetic "specialist" who simply lectured me about controlling my blood sugar - never even took my BP - a few days later I went back half dead, and the one GP took it seriously and took an ECG which showed severe cardiac failure - but at this point I was hardly able to breath) - and to see him I must often wait a week or more.

I have also been suffering from skin infections (boils / absesses) which mess my control up completely - Again, getting a GP who bothers to look at my notes and precribe the correct antibiotics is rare - so I now buy my own antibiotics on-line.

When I have my infections under control I have managed to lower my baseline bs to about 8 average - but I have suffered some moderate hypos as a result - bs dropping below 2 is not uncommon.

 

[LancsCarol]

Hi
I have posted an item about blood viscosity from high BG or dehydration (the byproduct of high BG ) being coincidental or causative in my angina pains. Every time carbs kick in before insulin deals with it, the angina starts. I can now tell from the specific type of angina pain I get that my BG has inadvertently gone too high.
Your forum thread is the only place I can find someone making this BG/viscosity/coronary pain connection.