Young, not long a diabetic, still lost half of foot

[NicoleC1971]

I wish there was more research done on this. There's more than just A1C levels at play here - it ticks me off when I see charts showing a correlation between A1C levels and complications. I used to teach stats in University and it's simple to show correlations between different factors but that does not necessarily mean that they are even related when there are so many other variables to account for and in this case researchers don't even know what those variables are. They just seem to present the black and white picture - there's no colour if you understand my analogy. I know people who have done everything right and lost their vision or had to undergo amputations and I know other people, myself included who have much looser control and have no complications - and I know for a fact that people like myself are not accounted for in these studies because we have never been approached by anyone. there are legitimate medical institutions like the Joceyln Diabetes Centre in the USA that have been trying to figure it out and haven;t come to any conclusions as of yet.. Christ almighty - I've crushed my toe, I've stepped on nails, I continually get jabbed or bitten by my cats/dogs, jabbed by barbed hooks when fishing and I've never experienced an infection from these mishaps - I take 4 shots a day - been living with type 1 for more than 50 years - I'm hardcore diabetic and I don't know what it's like to have an infection other than maybe a soar throat once or twice in my life - I had pink eye once too. I feel so bad for those who struggle with complications when the answer may be more simple than A1C levels - unfortunately no one has the answers yet in my opinion.

Sorry for the rant but it has bothered me for years!

Interestingly whilst there was a strong correlation with complications and hba1c s in type 1s in type 1 diabetes trials done in early 2000s, This did not prove true for type 2s (Accord trial 2008 and Advance) if the method used to bring down blood sugars was insulin or sulphonyureas. In other words our clinicians and we are concerned with blood sugars because that is what is easily measured but insulin in excess is toxic too and in the ACCORD trial showed increased mortality when more insulin was used to lower HBA1c (type 2) e.g. heart attacks and strokes. We probably should all try to keep insulin as low as possible by use of diet/exercise and as a type 1 I don't want to get insulin resistant by over using insulin to keep my bgs low.
As type 1 my only experience of complications since 1980 was retinal bleeds in 2003/4 which left me blind until I had a vitrectomy in both eyes which left me with a useful leve of sight though I can't drive anything other than a pedal bike! I had averagely good control but had roller coaster blood sugars following my 1st pregnancy (tight control to lax control with a new baby).
I am glad to have flash monitoring (fsl) because I think 'time in range' might be a better indicator of risk than the mean average of the HBA1c.
Totally agree that we need to know more about who is vulnerable to complications whether macro aor micro vascular and why because it is clearly not just high bgs.

 

[Member496333]

According to Jason Fung, keeping blood glucose in control isn’t enough if it’s being achieved by hypoglycaemics that simply move the glucose somewhere else. They treat the immediate symptoms but not the disease, and have little or no impact on the prevention of long term complications. In fact they make the disease worse. The real treatment is to stop ingesting glucose and purge it out of the body with fasting, not put more in and use pharmaceuticals to sweep it under the carpet.

This is the view of Jason Fung, not my own personal research, but I think he’s right. Others are free to disagree

 

[Mr_Pot]

According to Jason Fung, keeping blood glucose in control isn’t enough if it’s being achieved by hypoglycaemics that simply move the glucose somewhere else. They treat the immediate symptoms but not the disease, and have little or no impact on the prevention of long term complications. In fact they make the disease worse. The real treatment is to stop ingesting glucose and purge it out of the body with fasting, not put more in and use pharmaceuticals to sweep it under the carpet.

This is the view of Jason Fung, not my own personal research, but I think he’s right. Others are free to disagree

You are assuming that everyone has enough insulin in the first place. Clearly Type1's don't and some Type 2's might not have.

 

[Member496333]

You are assuming that everyone has enough insulin in the first place. Clearly Type1's don't and some Type 2's might not have.

You’re right. Sorry, I was commenting more on type 2. I should really get out of that habit. Thanks for the correction!

Although regarding type 2 and exogenous insulin, that really is a slippery slope if the patient is using it to force ingested glucose out of the blood. One could even level this argument toward some type 1s, as they can also become insulin resistant if ingesting too much glucose.

 

[NicoleC1971]

You are assuming that everyone has enough insulin in the first place. Clearly Type1's don't and some Type 2's might not have.

Type 1s CAN become insulin resistant (double D) and type 2s who are extremely resistant can recover beta cell function. It just seems that focus on blood sugars leads doctors to opt for insulin as a final resort to get bgs down but according tot he afore mentioned Fung, this increases the underlying problem thus may not actually help. It would be great if there was a reliable way to check insulin levels as reliably as we check bgs!

 

[Spirit01]

That's ok, i like being in the minority.

Sure diabetes has its place, but in my opinion it shouldn't be as high up on the list of priorities as it currently is, not when there are babies and children dying of cancer and other horrific conditions before they even get a chance at life.

Diabetes is just a case of being sensible, so you have diabetes, so what! It's not the end of the world, it just requires a bit of lifestyle change and education.

Maybe I'm biased after spending my entire childhood on a children's cancer ward and being the last of my circle of friends who is still the right side of ground level.

We all have different thresholds I guess.