Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by ultravires on July 21, 2011 at 2:11pm

My understanding is that those complications are due to the secondary complications of severe hypoglycemia (seizure, coma, or other events that interfere with the cardiovascular and nervous systems), not hypoglycemia itself.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by MossDog on July 21, 2011 at 2:17pm

I haven't seen any studies or actual research but had heard (can't even remeber where so take it for what is is worth) that hypoglycemia is proposed to hasten the development of dementia but until I see some research it is not something I put a whole lot of stock in.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on July 21, 2011 at 2:26pm

One doctor mentioned once that it kills brain cells, sort of like drinking too much. I didn't look it up or research it or anything like that.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kelly WPA on July 21, 2011 at 2:29pm

I have heard that it can cause memory problems & such, but I have never seen a study showing that it actually does.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by srfitzger on July 21, 2011 at 2:47pm

Here's come recent research

Hypoglycemia was long considered to kill neurons by depriving them of glucose. We now know that hypoglycemia kills neurons actively from without, rather than by starvation from within. Hypoglycemia only causes neuronal death when the EEG becomes flat. This usually occurs after glucose levels have fallen below 1 mM (18 mg/dl) for some period, depending on body glycogen reserves. At the time that abrupt brain energy failure occurs, the excitatory amino acid aspartate is massively released into the limited brain extracellular space and floods the excitatory amino acid receptors located on neuronal dendrites. Calcium fluxes occur and membrane breaks in the cell lead rapidly to neuronal necrosis. Significant neuronal necrosis occurs after 30 min of electrocerebral silence. Other neurochemical changes include energy depletion to roughly 25% of control, phospholipase and other enzyme activation, tissue alkalosis and a tendency for all cellular redox systems to shift towards oxidation. The neurochemistry of hypoglycemia thus differs markedly from ischemia. Hypoglycemia often differs from ischemia in its neuropathologic distribution, a phenomenon applicable in forensic practice. The border-zone distribution of global ischemia is not seen, necrosis of the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus can occur and a predilection for the superficial layers of the cortex is sometimes seen. Cerebellum and brainstem are universally spared in hypoglycemic brain damage. Hypoglycemia constitutes a unique metabolic brain insult.


Another...

The normal range for blood glucose concentrations is 3.9–7.1 mM (1 mM = ∼18 mg/dL), and hypoglycemia is broadly defined as blood glucose concentrations below this range. Studies using mice and rats indicate that brain injury does not generally occur unless blood glucose concentrations fall below 1 mM and the cortical electroencephalogram (EEG) is isoelectric (silent) for at least 30 min (Auer et al. 1984a, b; Auer et al. 1985a, b; Suh et al. 2003).

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by srfitzger on July 21, 2011 at 2:49pm

Another done in rats in 2011....very interesting..basically states if you are hypo all the time you are less likely to lose brain cells then one server hypo every once in awhile

Antecedent recurrent moderate hypoglycemia preconditioned the brain and markedly limited both the extent of severe hypoglycemia–induced neuronal damage and associated cognitive impairment. In conclusion, changes brought about by recurrent moderate hypoglycemia can be viewed, paradoxically, as providing a beneficial adaptive response in that there is mitigation against severe hypoglycemia–induced brain damage and cognitive dysfunction.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kelly WPA on July 21, 2011 at 2:52pm

Where is the link to the actual study? I like to see who does it, whether they are studying 10 people or thousands of people.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by srfitzger on July 21, 2011 at 2:53pm

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=hypoglycemic+brain+da...

Every scholarly article on the subject since 2009

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kelly WPA on July 21, 2011 at 3:04pm

Can you actually cite a real study? I clicked on several – there were studies on rats, one was for elderly Type 2 people, one was one man had brain problems after being low for a prolonged state … nothing what I would consider “proof.”

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on July 21, 2011 at 3:10pm

I would suspect that there aren't any studies proving the damage either, because there's no one with "the right stuff", willing to "light the candle" and study people with hypoglycemia, because it is so dangerous, cough cough. During the recent cardiac scare I had, it made perfect sense to me, given my history uh, partying, that getting loaded out of my gourd on insulin might make my heart beat a bit strangely. Everyone would say "maybe, but you could go see a cardiologist for another $15K, just to see if there might be something that the first $15K worth of tests didn't find...".

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kelly WPA on July 21, 2011 at 3:30pm

I don’t think they actually induce lows though. The one I looked at with the elderly T2s, they tested memory before the start and after they were done. It was more like they said they had lows – I don’t think they were actually encouraged to go low.

With a lot of studies, I wonder what is the control like for these people? Since most people don’t manage to meet the goals, is it high blood sugar causing the problems?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on July 21, 2011 at 3:49pm

Gen. Chuck Yeager didn't break the sound barrier by saying he broke the sound barrier!

• ▶ Reply

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page