Comment

Comment by Helmut on September 30, 2011 at 3:58pm

I prefer to believe that high BG is worse than low BG. To no big surprise there is an expert out there who shares my belief. I know that I am the victim of confirmation bias. I hedge my bet by trying to stay in the normal range.

Hyperglycemia not hypoglycemia alters neuronal dendrites and impair...

Comment by FatCatAnna on September 30, 2011 at 3:38pm

So far I don't have any probs with memory after 44 years of T1 - judging from your comment Ette that keeping tighter control on our BG's might be the culprit (haven't had time to read your links yet - will read them later). I don't have hypos too often - which I hate with a passion (I'm not me). I also am wondering if having high episodes of high blood sugars aren't good either. What do you think?

Comment by Chaplain ET on September 21, 2011 at 9:58pm

What memory? And I'm not kidding!

Comment by etta amy on September 13, 2011 at 6:13pm

Mike, thanks for your comments.

It is definitely a personal choice as to where to set your target. My A1c has been about 7 for quite awhile...although in the past, it was a reflection of extreme lows and highs. Now, it's 7 with a target to stay under 200 and above 70. I realize this isn't "tight" control but I trust my endo that I can preserve my brain health, and avoid complications (which have not developed over the course of 22 years with diabetes) with this level of control. I think we can both agree that we love our CGMs!

Comment by Mike W on September 13, 2011 at 5:42pm

P.S. I'd rather suffer some memory loss that make my bg target 120 and risk other potentially worse complications down the road but this is a very personal choice. I strive for tight control and will continue to do so until they wrestle my CGM away from me....

Comment by Mike W on September 13, 2011 at 5:39pm

This is a very interesting topic. I have thought a lot about memory and brain function issues especially having spent time in the 25-35 bg area for some of my more severe hypo's. There is no question that my memory has deteriorated and that I have more fogginess but this is an unscientific observation (plus might be from aging etc vs Type 1). The current research you referernced should help clarify the situation - particularly if they can nail down an understandable answer (the research currently is focusing on the hippocampus which should be interesting). In short I don't have much to offer the group right now but I will be following with interest and looking out for other research material. Thanks. Mike.