Diabetes Health Talk

Woke this morning and saw the time wa 6:30 and thought I had overslept, then rememberd Daylight Savings Time. Picked up my glucose monitor and discovered my blood sugar waws 144!

Now, I’ve already cut out carbs, sugars and starches and couldn’t figure out why it was so high. So, I tested my blood sugar with the free monitor I received from the giveaway on one of my other blogs, Freebies For Us. This time it tested 126. Still high from what it had been the previous week, at 110.

I thought of testing with my old monitor but there aren’t any more strips for it.

It made me wonder just how accurate are these portable blood sugar monitors? For weeks the first one was testing me in the high 120s, even though I’d cut out starches, sugars, severely limited carbs and was walking 3 miles a day.

Uptodate.com has this info on the accuracy of glucose monitors:

ACCURACY OF HOME GLUCOSE MONITORING — Accuracy refers to the ability of a system to report a result that reflects the actual blood glucose level. Accuracy can be affected by several factors, including the type of blood glucose strip and monitor.

Check the accuracy of a blood glucose monitor occasionally by bringing it to visits with a healthcare provider when blood work is done; use the home monitor to check the blood glucose at the same time that a laboratory blood glucose level is drawn.

Hospital or office laboratories report glucose levels in part of the blood, called plasma. Most blood glucose monitors also report plasma results (this should be stated on the test strip or glucose monitor packaging). Older meters reported whole blood glucose results, which can differ from plasma results by as much as 15 percent. When comparing glucose monitor results with those from a laboratory, there should be no more than a 15 percent difference; larger differences may indicate a problem with the monitor, blood glucose strips, or monitoring technique.

In a study performed by the Veterans Administration, closely monitored Glucose Levels do not hinder cardiovascular problems.

In the study, there was no statistical difference between the two groups: one that was closely monitored for glucose control and the second that was not. Each group had equal numbers that passed from cardiovascular disease at the same rate. According to the article, In fact, the number of sudden deaths in the intensive-therapy group was three-times that of the standard-therapy group, and more people who received intensive therapy experienced severe adverse events.

Intensive therapy had no significant impact on a patient’s progression to eye problems like diabetic retinopathy or macular edema, or on a patient’s development of neuropathy.

The study’s doctors state it is important to monitor your glucose and follow a regimen for diabetes.

By eating healthy, taking your medications, exercising, you can reduce your chances of cardiovascular disease caused by diabetes. Always ask your health care provider or doctor before undergoing any health care changes, such as medications (that includes vitamins, minerals, herbs and supplements), any exercise routine or monitoring device. Diabetes can be monitored so one can lead a healthy, productive life.

Another way to live a healthier life is to cut out bad habits, such as smoking, eating a high saturated fat and high carbohydrate diet and being sedentary. Reversing these lifestyle choices that lead to diabetes and cardiovascular failure will enable you to live a healthier life.

Always notify your doctor or health care provider if anything changes in your management of diabetes, such as a change in glucose levels, skipped or missing medication or a change in eating habits and exercise. These will help your doctor to better manage your diabetes and help you to avoid cardiovascular disease.

In people with type 1 diabetes, adequate control of blood sugar over the long haul helps reduce the risk of diabetes-related eye and kidney disease, new data suggest.

The findings stem from a look at 1,441 type 1 diabetic patients followed for roughly 9 years as part of the pivotal Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT).

By analyzing hemoglobin A1C levels over time — a standard indicator of long-term blood sugar control — the researchers observed that increasing variability in hemoglobin A1C heightens the risk of new or worsening diabetic retinopathy (damage to the retina) and diabetic kidney disease.

Specifically, for every 1 percent increase in hemoglobin A1C, they found that the risk of retinopathy increased more than twofold and the risk of diabetic kidney disease increased nearly twofold.

The findings suggest that the long-term stability of blood sugar, and not just the average blood sugar control, predict the risk of these complications, study investigator Dr. Eric S. Kilpatrick of Hull Royal Infirmary in Hull, England, noted in an interview with Reuters Health.

“It is probably another reason to aim for stable good glycemic control rather than only good glycemic control,” Kilpatrick said.

However, blood sugar management “is only part of the story,” he added. It is as important, he said, to ensure that blood pressure and cholesterol levels are “tightly controlled” in order to reduce the complications of diabetes.

Depression can cause diabetes patients to suffer from higher glucose levels over time compared to those who are not depressed, finds a study of older veterans with the disease.

Depression can cause diabetes patients to suffer from higher glucose levels over time compared to those who are not depressed, finds a study of older veterans with the disease.

“Our study shows that depression is a major and important comorbidity in people with type 2 diabetes,” said study co-author Leonard Egede, M.D., from the Center for Health Disparities Research at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Through a combination of diet, exercise and medication, people with type 2 diabetes work to keep their blood glucose levels within a certain range. Past research has shown that those who are also depressed have a tougher time doing so. About 30 percent of adults with diabetes have depression and the combination is linked to poor glucose control, higher complication rates, decreased quality of life and increased risk of death.

The current study appears in the November/December issue of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry.

Egede and his colleagues analyzed data from 11,525 veterans (98 percent men) with type 2 diabetes who received medical care at a Veterans Administration facility in the Southeast. The participants’ average age was 66 years and 48 percent were white, 27 percent were African-American and 25 percent were of other races.

Researchers evaluated each participant at three-month intervals from 1997 to 2006, with 36 intervals. At each 3-month interval, clinicians checked their HbA1c level, a blood test that measures long-term glucose control. Experts recommend a target level of less than 7 percent.

Six percent of the participants had depression, researchers determined.

They found that over the four-year period, the HbA1c values in the veterans who were depressed averaged 0.13 percent higher than the veterans who were not depressed. Egede said the difference is quite significant — enough to raise people with diabetes above the desirable range for glucose control, putting them at higher risk.

“The fact that the difference persisted over time and that the depressed group had higher mean HbA1c at all 36 time points was surprising,” Egede said.

The researchers also found that the change in HbA1c among the depressed participants did not differ based on race or age.