Hypos are not caused by diabetes but......

[catherinecherub]

Hypos are not caused by diabetes but the treatment of it.

A good article here from I.D.D.T. about hypoglyaecemia including,
.....Causes and treatment.
.....Warning symptoms.
.....Loss of warnings.
.....Is hypoglyaecemia dangerous?
.....Hypoglycaemia and Alcohol.
.....Living with the daily risk.


http://www.iddtinternational.org/health ... caemia.htm

 

[cugila]

Essential reading for all Diabetic's I think. Thank's Catherine.

 

[noblehead]

Catherine,

Interesting article and very informative! I have already seen this before as I get the newsletter from I.D.D.T. What I find quite alarming is the possible long term damage hypos have on the body, mainly the brain.

The article does cover cognitive brain function, moreso the damaging effect in children. I was told by my own diabetes consultant recently to try to avoid frequent hypos, as this can lead to loss of awareness syptoms, but also there are some concerns in the medical profession regarding the long term effects on brain function. What led to this conversation, was I had reduced my hba1c from 8.1 at the start of the year, down to 6.7, and said that I would like to get it down further to around the 5.5-6 region. His concern was, as I was a type 1 on insulin, that the lower I run my bg's, the more I was at risk of hypos, which as I have explained should be avoided where possible.

Now I know that good control in diabetes is paramount, and the lower the hba1c, the less likely the risk of developing complications. Now I am unsure what to do for the best. I don't have as many hypos then I did, but when I do they seem to drain the energy out of me and leave me quite lethargic all day, like a hangover from the night before. I hate having hypos (nobody does) and it would be something else should science find a way to stop people having hypos altogether. Needles, injections and testing I can live with.

I am looking at getting my hba1c down to 6 and no-less.

Regards

Nigel

 

[phoenix]

I quite agree with you that severe hypos can be dangerous and frequent hypos are likely to lead to a spiral of more hypos, in turn increasing the risk of severe hypos.
My doctor was very concerned with a low HBA1c .I didn't really mind hypos.. I can treat them easily even at quite low levels and to me it didn't feel much different to pre diabetes when I missed a couple of meals. Subjectively I didn't feel that I was any the less functional even on the couple of occasions the meter said 'lo'. When I thought about it rationally though it was clear that I no longer experienced any symptoms until very low. That's when I decided to raise my average glucose levels.

However I still have some hypos and fortunately it seems that for those of us past childhood and not into old age hypos shouldn't kill off too many brain cells.

No evidence of substantial long-term declines in cognitive function was found in a large group of patients with type 1 diabetes who were carefully followed for an average of 18 years, despite relatively high rates of recurrent severe hypoglycemia. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00360893.) Copyright 2007 Massachusetts Medical Society.
N Engl J Med. 2007 May 3;356(18):1842-52.
Long-term effect of diabetes and its treatment on cognitive function.

Despite relatively high rates of severe hypoglycemia, cognitive function did not decline over an extended period of time in the youngest cohort of patients with type 1 diabetes
Impact of Diabetes and Its Treatment on Cognitive Function Among Adolescents Who Participated in the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial Diabetes Care October 2008

But there is some evidence that very severe/recurrent hypos might effect the developing brain ... one of the reasons that attempting tight control is not normally avoided with the very young. Similarly severe hypos may effect brain function in the elderly (though the evidence is from type 2 subjects)