Re: Hypoglycemia / Insulin

[Guest guest]

Mark,

Lately I have had trouble maintaining any stability. You asked how low my

blood sugar went. Yesterday it started out at 104, and throughout the day went

from 458 to 44 to 298 to 58, etc., until it finally settled down. By then, my

body feels like it has been thrown in a dryer, beat up, banged around. Blood

sugar changes don't bother non diabetics, because their bodies compensate, I

don't and immediately experience side effects. The blood vessels in my eyes

swell

and my vision becomes blurry. I also see little bright flickering lights. The

blood vessels in my kidneys swell and occlude glomerulus filtration. My heart

becomes tachycardic, I become diaphoretic, my speech becomes intelligible and

soon I am completely aphasic, unable to speak at all. I have confusion,

fatigue, & loss of coordination. The amazing thing for me is that sometimes I

don't

know what is happening until I realize I have been staring at something unable

to make a decision. Every time I get fussy or irritable, Tull will tell me

to go check my blood sugar, and I am usually low.

I used to be able to treat it with sugar packets because they are 4 carbs

each and they are pre-measured. It used to take quite a few to bring it up, and

I

would only overshoot to ~142, and then take 1/2 unit Humalog to bring it back

down. Recently I have to be real careful and only take what I think I need,

because the introduction of glucose into my system is like hitting the upside

of a seesaw, immediately sending my blood sugar flying high. to 250 - 375.

Then I have to take another dose of Humalog; it is a viscous cycle.

The problem is that there are so many factors affecting blood sugar, internal

and external. I don't respond to the same dose of carbohydrates the same way

each time. And, there are a host of factors affecting insulin absorption.

One reason I feel so terrible when I become hypoglycemic is due to the large

amount of insulin I end up having to take. Insulin is a hormone and has its

own set of adverse side effects, other than lowering blood sugar. Insulin is

essentially a storage hormone, evolved to put aside excess carbohydrate calories

in the form of fat in case of future need. So the insulin that's injected

because of the high blood sugar aggressively promotes the accumulation of body

fat. It also tells the body not to release any stored fat, because the body uses

carbohydrate energy before fat energy.

High insulin levels also suppress two important hormones: glucagon and growth

hormone, in addition to the fact that the Pancreatitis has callcified the

cells that produce them. Glucagon promotes the burning of fat and sugar. Growth

hormone is used for muscle development and building new muscle mass. Insulin

also causes hunger. As blood sugar increases following a carbohydrate meal,

insulin rises with the eventual result of lower blood sugar. It is even a

sharper

rise and fall with injected insulin. This results in hunger, often only a

couple of hours (or less) after the meal. And, lord forbid I eat again.

Usually, as soon as I get stable, Tull says, " Okay, nothing more to eat. "

Karyn E. , RN

Exec. Director, PAI

Indianapolis, IN

The PAI serves as a means of support, information, and advocacy. The PAI

cannot offer medical advice or direction nor substitute for your health care

provider.