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Permalink Reply by M on February 22, 2008 at 1:54am

I used to hear that too Hannah - but these days people are saying that's a load of **cough**

Apparently there was even a study that says we're fine. There's short term stuff going on - the discomfort, the annoyances, the disruption... but supposedly no need to worry about long term damage.

This does of course depend on how low you go! If you're seriously low, passed out for hours, and take a long time to recover that may be a different story. But for your average low - even if you do pass out but recover quickly - it's no big deal. Or so I'm told... and I tend to believe it. Unless the brain is truly starved I doubt any damage could be done.

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Permalink Reply by Anna on March 26, 2009 at 2:06pm

No! No! Do not tell me this. Shoot. Now I don't have a reason anymore to stop giving myself massive amounts of insulin. (I mean, except for the massive headaches and the bruises I give myself...and the broken bones...and the near drowning...you know, I should really give myself less insulin.)

But, seriously? I've always been sure that, because of all the lows I've had, I was going to get alzheimers when I was about 35.

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Permalink Reply by Jenny on February 22, 2008 at 5:37am

There was some study published in the past year that seemed to show that the idea that lows cause brain damage was wrong. I'd go to http://diabetesincontrol.com and search their newsletter to find the report. They cover all the diabetes news.

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Permalink Reply by Bill on February 22, 2008 at 3:49pm

Unfortunately, my CDE is so afraid that my lows will cause me to have... umm... brain... ummm... (sorry, couldn't resist).

I don't think the occasional low will cause brain damage. My CDE wants me to run high for 3 (or more) weeks because of my Hypoglycemic Unawareness, but I test so often that I catch a low as soon as I get into the sixties. Now when my blood sugar hits 120, I feel like I am running high (fatigue, muscle pain, thirst, etc.)

I have been running in the 70 to 90 range (and dropping to 60 something) on a fairly regular basis, and my CDE keeps going on about the brain damage stuff. My last 6 A1c's have been in the 5.something range and I feel great, but she wants me to run higher and I am against it. Thank you soooo much Jenny for pointing me to that study. I sent my CDE the link, and hopefully it will quiet her down (because I am not going to change how I am keeping my blood sugars).

Karen, I met a a gentleman in his early eighties, who told me he was diagnosed type 1 when he was 7. He said he had no complications from his diabetes. I asked him how he did it, and he said he worked most of his life doing very physical work (State Department of Transportation, and continues to stay active now) and had frequent lows, but doubted he hardly ran high at all ("doubted" because there was hardly a way he could tell when he was young).

Now, I have had some pretty bad things happen to me when I went low (before my frequent testing that I do now). I have several scars from bad lows, have lost some friends over bad lows (when I said something I really shouldn't have), and destroyed property (mostly my own). I guess the scars are the only thing I can think of that would answer the what can happen to our bodies question.

It's a tough balancing act... constant highs almost guarantee complications, and lows can cause immediate bad problems as well. My present choice is to keep a constant watch on what the scale (my blood sugar) says.

-Bill

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Permalink Reply by Toni Crebbin on February 22, 2008 at 5:54pm

I had asked my endocronologist this when I was pregnant, as I was worried about the harm to the fetus. He said other than the immediate possible harm to myself, there were no complications to the fetus. I would assume if it wouldn't harm a babies brain, it wouldn't harm mine!

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Permalink Reply by Richard157 on February 22, 2008 at 7:03pm

I found this article

http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.asp?docID=603550

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Permalink Reply by Bill on February 22, 2008 at 8:09pm

Hey,

I'm not a rat Richard! (that was supposed to come off humorously)

This article is about an extreme low, where a coma is involved. If the symptoms apply to humans (which hasn't been proven in the article), then giving glucose to reverse a hypoglycemic induced coma might be bad. Thanks for pointing that out... although I'm not sure how I could put it to use if I was the one coming out of a low blood sugar coma.

Peace,

-Bill

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Permalink Reply by Steve R on February 22, 2008 at 8:21pm

I do hear about type 1s who died in their sleep after a bad low. That scares me. Bad low -> heart attack?

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Permalink Reply by Steve R on February 22, 2008 at 8:31pm

A legal case I found on the net: California - a type 1 diabetic on his way to an early morning dialysis. He did not eat before the appt (to help avoid the nausea that can occur with dialysis) He was killed when he had a low and ran head-on into another car. Several in the other car were killed and/or injured; I don't remember. The relatives and/or survivors sued the deep pockets (the kidney doc who treated the man..
The suit maintained that the doctor was negligent by failing to report the type 1 to the state for being a potentially dangerous driver. The relatives and/or survivors' won in the law suit against the doctor.

No winners here, sad for everyone. Stuff like that does potentially hurt the whole type 1 population.. I found that case googling about 4 years ago, but haven't been able to find it again.

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Permalink Reply by Domo! on April 4, 2009 at 9:23am

i need one of these alarm cats! I love cats and one that helps would be superb!

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Permalink Reply by Cathy on March 25, 2009 at 7:43pm

I always thought so, my memory has gotten so horrific..I sometimes can remember complete conversations, and I have noticed, starting about 5years ago, that my brain is slower, it just like a delay, it takes me longer to process information, My daughter even made me ask the Dr. to test for early Alzeihmers. I failed the office quick test, he sent me for a CAT scan, and he said it showed nothing wrong. I did have some serious lows the first 10 years of my Diabetes. Two or 3 times couldn't be woken up and 991 was called. The worst one I had to have been out for hours, because of the rug burns on my legs (fell on the floor going to get orange juice) were so bad and noone knew I was there til my daughter got up for school. Also have become a little dylexic around 40 years old. I have always thought it was from the lows, but I don't know how that would show on a CAT scan. Like to hear if anyone else has similar experiences.

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Permalink Reply by Gerri on March 26, 2009 at 1:50am

My endo told me that diabetics, as a general rule, have very poor short term memories. Can't find it now, but I did read some studies about this. If I'm remembering this correctly (who me--memory loss!), it didn't have to do with lows, but with highs.

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