Diabetes Management

Let’s start by taking a look at life with diabetes and diabetes management.

Chronic incurable disease Blood sugar dysregulation due to inefficient insulin use, or insufficient insulin production in the body Treatment may range from diet & exercise to pills, injections and or insulin depending on the patient need and root cause of diabetes Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) can result in long term irreversible disabling complications, coma and even death. Short term feelings of lethargy, nausea, headaches and more Hypoglycemia (low blood sugars) can result in life threatening seizures, loss of consciousness and injury. Even mild low blood sugars can cause intense adrenal reactions that are very disruptive to daily life and emotional regulation.

 

Diabetes is a chronic and incurable disease state. Whether we’re looking at type 1 or type 2 diabetes, or any of the many subsets, once you are diagnosed with diabetes you have that diagnosis for life. The symptoms of diabetes may not be as present and apparent, but the underlying physiology and diagnosis remain.

Diabetes is a disorder of blood sugar dysregulation due to either inefficient insulin use by the body, or insufficient insulin production.

Treatment can range from diet and exercise to pills or injections, which can help the body to use insulin more effectively (or produce more of it), to injected or inhaled insulin, all depending upon the patient's needs and the root cause of their diabetes.

 

In diabetes we have two problematic states. The first is hyperglycemia: these are high blood sugars these can result in long-term irreversible complications, and even death. The most common complications are heart disease, retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy. We also see short-term impacts like elevated blood sugars which can cause feelings of lethargy, nausea, headaches, irritability, reduced academic abilities, as well as an impairment of athletic performance.

Then, on the other side, we have hypoglycemia (or low blood sugar) which can result in life-threatening complications such as seizures, loss of consciousness and the resultant injuries, and even mild low blood sugars which can cause an intense adrenal reaction that’s very disruptive to daily life and emotional regulation. As an example, if you've ever been in a near-miss car accident, then you know what I’m talking about. That sudden rush of adrenaline that sends your heart racing, the shortness of breath, sweating, tunnel vision, and your lips feel numb, your mind races, and you lose much of your ability to problem solve. And that high is sometimes followed by a depressed feeling where you might want to sit down and have a cry, a nap or perhaps even a sandwich!

 

That is what most people with diabetes feel when they have a mild to moderate hypoglycemic episode. And they may be experiencing that several times per week, or even per day!

 

So we can already see that on a physiologic level diabetes is going to leave us open to some significant psychosocial and emotional impacts.