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Long-term effects of high bg on mind and spirit. Newly diagnosed Q

Totto

Totto

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,831
Location
Gotland
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I had been soo very tired, listless, lacked initiative and the ability to get going for a long time.I got hand tremors and tinnitus. I also lost short term memory and my ability to concentrate. Being hypothyroid I checked my bloods and they were very good, top range as I want them so I got my GP to do liver panel, kidney tests, CBC and irons, everything fine and fair but still as if there was no life in me, very much as before I started on thyroid meds. I even went to the a&e as suggested by a nurse as I was utterly exhausted without cause. Nothing wrong with me at all. I asked for a print-out of the test they had done and found a glucose reading of 8.2 and the test was taken several hours after I had anything to eat. Now that made me think as I had made my GP to test my HbA1c recently and it came back at 46. As I already was lowcarbing in a leisurely way I found it strange, insisted on an OGTT and was diagnosed diabetic with a reading of 14.

Diagnosis was 10 days ago and since I have done low carb including grain free. I want my bg to stay normal and if I am strict enough with carbs it works.

My life has changed in so many in the last week and I don't know if it is strict low carb or just going off grains but I feel different. I feel as I used to feel. I found myself again, lost for half a year or maybe two.

I have feelings and feel them again as I used to, and it makes me so very happy. I felt so empty without this. Is loosing your inner feelings a common symptom of diabetes?

I also have so much more energy in my body again and it feels great.

My initiative and mental energy along with memory and ability to concentrate are still as bad. I suppose it takes time for the brain to recover but I see no reason why I wouldn't regain these, too.

Sorry to waffle on but what I wanted to ask is if anybody else has had this experience of being cut off emotionally while bg was high? I felt so insensitive to everything, including the world, my family and myself. I had to manage by intelligence and sense and that was hard work without the guidance of feeling. Now that feelings are there again it so much easier. I can let them flow through me as I used to. It makes me so happy to have them back. And I dont have to stop all the time to think about what I might be feeling and search, they are there with me again.

Could this really have to do with bg? I do find it strange but I have no knowledge as to what high bg does to mind and spirit long-term.
 
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I very much liked reading what you wrote.

And I wouldn't be at all surprised if you're right in your suspicions. Though I don't recall noticing it myself.

True, I am a bloke. But the greatest feeling I have by far is my feeling for the significance of feeling itself.

And seeing as how I've just expressed that feeling in words, here's a suitable quote from Klein's Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language: "Language is a mirror in which the whole spiritual development of mankind reflects itself."
 
True. I quote you: But the greatest feeling I have by far is my feeling for the significance of feeling itself.

Don't fool yourself to believe there is a difference between women and men in feeling. There isn't.. There are cultural beliefs about what constitutes male and female but in the end we are what we are as individuals. And to be guided by feelings that you know and acknowledge makes your life easier than to be guided by feelings you actively try not to acknowledge. In this there is no difference between men and women.

Feelings are of the greatest importance. Without them we are empty as humans. How would we relate to each other without feelings? Or to ourself?
 
Okay, so you don't have a feeling for my sometimes blokeish sense of humour.

I have in the past written on this forum that I believe humour is intrinsically something feminine.

But what I should have added is that also, and crucially, the best humorists have a definite masculine edge. (I love Jo Brand.)

I also wrote previously that aggression, par excellence, is something intrinsically masculine.
 
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You are right. I am not very funny at the moment, a common aliment in times of crisis. I may be in a funny mood due to my recent diagnosis though. I started the thread to share something important to me and not as a joke.
 
I did say that I enjoyed reading that first post. And I wasn't joking.

Thank you very much for coming out with it.

I too aim to share something ... and it's more than just words. (Clearly, I'm obsessed with language.)

So I do hope that we're both left feeling a bit more fulfilled.
 
what the hell are you guys talking about? i kind of like it but i must be too shallow to get it :confused:

weird youve only been here that long totto it seems like you been here all along :)
 
Totto said:
My initiative and mental energy along with memory and ability to concentrate are still as bad. I suppose it takes time for the brain to recover but I see no reason why I wouldn't regain these, too.


Could this really have to do with bg? I do find it strange but I have no knowledge as to what high bg does to mind and spirit long-term.
Click to expand...

Now, could someone more experienced in the field of diabetes and low-carbing tell me if my brain has any chance of recovery any time soon? Being self-employed I don't have the time to be as lethargic as I am.

I would appreciate feed back on what I wrote on regaining feelings as well.
 
I shall watch Horizon tonight, on BBC2, with interest: "Daniel Kahneman explores the conflict between intuition and logic ... ." (I have read about his book, which sounds interesting.)

I am confident that, in my case, an inner conflict between thought and feeling resulted in my becoming diabetic. (This effect was perhaps exacerbated by a poor diet.) I was certainly experiencing a highly stressful 'relationship' at the time.

I have no particular reason to think this may have any bearing on your complaint. But my instinct won't allow me not to post this message!
 
Kahneman is a great guy. I read most of Thinking, fast and slow last year. That was before I got ill. Maybe I will have a go at it again soon, if my brain picks up a bit.
 
It was feeling as you have described that lead me to go to see thee doctor in the first place, Totto, which resulted in me being diagnosed with T2. I have found that if my BS goes above about 8 those feelings return so, I do think it is caused by a higher BS than my body wants/needs. It's like trying to cope with life while under sedation! But I'm starting to think it may be because of a certain type of carb so, it will be trial and error to find which one!
 
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