Diabetes Talking

Question:

Hopefully you are amongst the fortunate many who will never be bothered by unawareness.  Why you and others keep assuming facts not in evidence is beyond me.  The jury was convinced that Justin was NOT hypo at the time of the accident.  That is how they meet the degree of recklessness needed to charge homicide instead of the lesser charge of manslaughter or lesser still of accidental killing.  The jury used his very conscientiousness to hang him.  I don’t mind your calling me a twit, but if I am, there are a lot of really well qualified diabetes experts out there who are greater twits than I am and I find your defensiveness a bit frightening. 1941 By 1941 it is noted Lawrence(1) that the early warning symptoms as weakness, faintness, tremors, sweating, hot or cold feelings, palpitations appear to be similar to the symptoms of a dose of adrenaline, and that additional symptoms of hunger, visual disturbance, diplopia and tinglings also give advance warning of hypoglycemia onset in the 50-70mg/dl blood sugar range. It is further noted that should such symptoms go unrecognized or unnoticed, they are followed by mental confusion exactly simulating alcoholic intoxication, muscular twitchings, convulsions, epileptiform seizures, transient hemiplegias, and complete coma. Finally, this article notes the first reference to a condition now called "hypoglycemic unawareness" (HGU) and notes, "The same patient may at one time experience early premonitory warnings and at another be quite unaware of an impending[sic] attack. It is obvious that these are serious dangers." This is nothing "new" it’s been "textbook" for many years.  It was hoped when home testing became available, that these serious dangers would be mitigated. In fact, the reverse has proven true.  Clearly testing has NOT caused this problem to increase.  DCCT, Lilly and Novo all admit that taking 3 or more injections per day is a major factor.  Lilly and Novo admit that for some diabetics it is caused by human insulin.  I am NOT against human insulin, I am NOT against profits.  I do concur with the aforementioned experts. Dave Groves – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’ve read the ongoing debate over hypoglycemic unawareness, Justin, and driving related issues, and admit to being quite baffled. Driving a car is an inherently dangerous thing, no? Scooting along a piece of concrete and 88 feet per second in a 3000 pound steel box has a host of inherent risks. I do NOT suffer from hypoglycemic unawareness. I do however, test my bg BEFORE I get into my car, and AT LEAST once per hour thereafter. I carry candy in the center console in case I need it, and always pack food in an accessible location when I take long trips. For me the onset of hypoglycemia is spectacular, unpleasant and unmistakable. Yet I take what I deem to be reasonable precautions anyway, because I will NOT add to the risk of driving a car, because I am not willing to rely upon physical symptoms to detect and avert hypoglycemia. It is my opinion that we should all take these simple precautions. But then, I’m sure the twit at diabetes_world will have statistics showing that testing blood sugar is not a good way to detect hypoglycemia. Or that balding diabetics from Minnesota (me) have never been shown to have reasonable opinions. Or something idiotically similar.

Response:

I’ve read the ongoing debate over hypoglycemic unawareness, Justin, and driving related issues, and admit to being quite baffled. Driving a car is an inherently dangerous thing, no? Scooting along a piece of concrete and 88 feet per second in a 3000 pound steel box has a host of inherent risks. I do NOT suffer from hypoglycemic unawareness. I do however, test my bg BEFORE I get into my car, and AT LEAST once per hour thereafter. I carry candy in the center console in case I need it, and always pack food in an accessible location when I take long trips. For me the onset of hypoglycemia is spectacular, unpleasant and unmistakable. Yet I take what I deem to be reasonable precautions anyway, because I will NOT add to the risk of driving a car, because I am not willing to rely upon physical symptoms to detect and avert hypoglycemia. It is my opinion that we should all take these simple precautions. But then, I’m sure the twit at diabetes_world will have statistics showing that testing blood sugar is not a good way to detect hypoglycemia. Or that balding diabetics from Minnesota (me) have never been shown to have reasonable opinions. Or something idiotically similar.

Response:

 balding diabetics from Minnesota (me)

Oh, no, not one of them! have never been shown to have reasonable opinions.

Well, we don’t much cotton to reasonable opinions ’round here…. regards m

Response: