Comments on: Severe Hypoglycemia Linked to Dementia and other Big (Bad) JAMA Diabetes News

By: Doris J Dickson

Doris J Dickson — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:15:57 +0000

Amy … don’t get depressed about this topic (hypglycemia, elderly and dementia). Get angry. Write; write hard, get loud and make a difference.

This theory is plain bologne! I spent a week after reading about this study calming down enough to write my blog intelligently. Were they using their brains when they developed this study?

So .. here’s the link to my take on the issue (http://www.diabetes1.org/blogs/Doris_Blog/2009/4/20). I could have said a lot more but this was even more words than “the Web” prefers.

I feel very passionately about very shoddy elder care … I’ve seen too much (with family members) and had too many arguments in nursing homes and hospital environments with inept, shoulder shrugging staff. t (huge blood sugar swings) doesn’t have to happen. They should stop scaring people and figure out how to do this correctly.

Oh … and I don’t know about you but at 32 years and counting I have not had any “severe” hypoglycemia incidences. I will continue to work hard for the rest of my life to prove them wrong too!

Doris J. Dickson

By: Jacey

Jacey — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:29:05 +0000

I don’t think we should be worrying about this. Obama says he will cure diabetes and I believe him. Yes he can! Now if we can just redestribute all the new tax dollars to diabetes care and cure.

By: Diana Molino

Diana Molino — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:07:07 +0000

Well! This is a wakeup call for me. I don’t have diabetes but a close friend of mine does. I have thought about it, because I am overweight. I know I would hate having the disease, and especially the needle sticks. Hypoglycemia does run in my family, and we can get shaky going without a meal. The study should announce the side effects, too. These sound like a pretty bad set of side effects. Over half of the patients in the study developed some bad side effects. It’s like telling a patient about to go into surgery that he/she has a 45% chance of surviving the surgery. Then ask yourself, would you go for it? Not me, I don’t like the odds. They are against me. I wish you all good luck, love, peace and wisdom.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:26:21 +0000

And as for the above comment about doctors suggesting that the best way to reduce problems related to diabetes is to avoid hypo and hyperglycemia — just unbelievable that doctors think this way, but they do. That’s like saying the best way to avoid death is to not die. Well, duh — but easier said than done.

I have met a handful of physicians who are type 1 diabetics, as well as two type 1 diabetic nurses now. They get it. I will listen to those people because their advice is practical and reality-based and most of all comes with empathy and a sense that we’re all in the same boat. I won’t listen to a world-class endocrinologist who has no real idea what living with type 1 diabetes is about.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:21:01 +0000

Yeah, I agree about the immunosuppression problem. There’s got to be a way to get around that for islet cell transplants to be successful. Come on researchers, we are counting on you.

By: Lee Ann Thill

Lee Ann Thill — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:30:25 +0000

Unless they think they can ever do transplants without using immunosuppressive therapy – like using your own stem cells – I wish they’d stop pouring so much research $ into that. I’d rather take insulin than be on immunosuppressive therapy. From what I’ve read, that’s not any better than diabetes management, and to call it a “cure” seems pretty far-fetched to me – cured of one ailment, but constantly battling to keep dozens of other ailments at bay? No thanks!

By: Paul Patten

Paul Patten — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:23:56 +0000

The most disturbing thing in a report last night about this research that appeared on CBS news is the doctor they interviewed about what the research means for diabetics is to suggest what is impossible to avoid both hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. If I who has had type 1 for more than 50 years (diagnosed in 1958) could prevent both extremes I would have to be ble to precisely control glucose metabolism like a normal person. We don’t have the tools that can do that — not even the best in cgm and pumps.

By: AmyT

AmyT — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:53:32 +0000

Funny, I was going to put a warning at the top of this post with the term: Bahumbug! Thanks for handling that for me, Frustrated.

By: Frustrated

Frustrated — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:31:51 +0000

Just wanted to apologize for my horrible syntax and also point out that from what I know, the ’stem cell’ transplant did infact require immune suppression, presumably to ‘reprogram’ the immune system and halt the autoimmunity.

By: Frustrated

Frustrated — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:27:59 +0000

Hey, this is stuff that most of us ‘lifers’ already know. Diabetes affects absolutely every part of the body. Type 1 I consider more so because of the added duration (*most* are diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or as teens), the inability to completely replace your pancreas with injected insulin in any form, the severe swings in BG levels, and all of the issues with autoimmunity (autoimmune complications, other comorbid autoimmune diseases, and inflammation from autoimmunity on top of damage from hyper/hypoglycemia. Let’s stop kidding ourselves and atop allowing ourselves to be ‘guinea pigs’ and ‘lab rats’ who eagerly lap up whatever bogus ‘cure progress’ and devastating obvious research that gets thrown at us. Note that the only “positive” research here is useless for anyone who is not in early stage Type 1 (pre-DKA), and it is nothing more than using toxic drugs to simply prolong a honeymoon state.

Ick. We need a cure, and believe me, it’s not going to come from any of the disillusioned diabetes bigwigs out there. They’ve been barking up the wrong tree for so long that even if they grabbed a clue and banded together, it’s too little too late.

Talk to any endo and you’ll realize that they only see you as a mathematical equation (perfect insulin and food in=perfect BGs out=hogwash) that they can write scripts/prescriptions for. You’re fun to study with a curious eye. It’s good for research funding, keeping these scientists/MDs employed. How does diabetes affect x, y, z? What about if the diabetic person stands on their head…hmmm…how does that affect blood flow if BG is >x?

Stupid….and sick…we are lab rats for career researchers. We KNOW diabetes (especially Type 1) is a terrible disease, cure it already. Why waste precious money on these pointless and obvious studies when we can’t derive any tangible outcome from them!?

It’s diabetes Christmas, where we get more unwated gifts from the gift that keeps on giving. Bahumbug!