7 Scary Things That Can Happen When You Don't Treat Your Diabetes
Swallowing pills, checking your blood sugar all the time, or sticking yourself with needles full of insulin probably doesn't sound like your idea of a good time. But taking steps to keep your diabetes under control is your best shot at preventing a slew of frightening complications. If you don't take care of yourself, "diabetes complications typically start within 5 years; within 10 to 15 years, the majority of patients will progress to have multiple health issues," says Betul Hatipoglu, MD, an endocrinologist at Cleveland Clinic. Fortunately, eating a nutritious diet, exercising, and taking your medication may not only stop complications from progressing, but can also reverse them, she says. Need motivation to stick to your treatment plan? Here's what can happen when you slack off. With type 1 diabetes, your body stops producing insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar; with type 2 diabetes, your body can't properly use the insulin you do produce. In turn, your HDL (or "good") cholesterol lowers, and your levels of harmful blood fats called triglycerides rise. Insulin resistance also contributes to hardened, narrow arteries, which in turn increases your blood pressure. As a result, about 70% of people with either type of diabetes also have hypertension—a risk factor for stroke, heart disease, and trouble with thinking and memory. (Add these 13 power foods to your diet to help lower blood pressure naturally.) Failing to control high blood pressure and high cholesterol, either with diet and exercise alone or by adding medications, accelerates the rate at which all your other complications progress, says Robert Gabbay, MD, PhD, chief medical officer at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. More than 4 million people with diabetes have some degree of retinopathy, or dam Continue reading >>
The High Price Of Insulin Is Literally Killing People
Diabetics stretching their doses should be scared of the GOP’s health plan. Micaela Marini Higgs Apr 5 2017, 12:00pm Image: JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER / Stringer / Getty Shane Patrick Boyle died on March 18th, 2017, from Type I Diabetes. Not from late-in-life complications from the disease, or from some unexpected situation—Boyle died because he was $50 short of reaching his $750 GoFundMe goal to pay for a month's supply of insulin, the drug necessary to keep diabetics alive. After presumably stretching the meds he had as long as they could possibly go, he developed diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a fatal complication that results from the body being unable to move glucose out of the blood and into cells, where it's needed. Advertisement Boyle had recently relocated from Houston, Texas, to Mena, Arkansas, so he could be with his ailing mother Judith, who died a week before Shane did. By crossing state lines, he lost his prescription benefits. The cause of his death, really, was complications from waiting for his new healthcare status to be approved. When you're on an ACA plan without an out-of-state network, you can only use their insurance for emergency or urgent care, not prescriptions, says Obianuju Helen Okoye, a public health physician and healthcare consultant in St. Louis, Missouri. Even when people think their plan has out-of-state coverage, that isn't always the case, since multi-state plans "don't necessarily have network providers or cover services in multiple states," according to healthcare.gov. In both of these scenarios, patients pay for prescriptions like insulin out of pocket. Type 1 diabetes, which according to the CDC accounts for about 5 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes, is an autoimmune condition in which the body attacks and destroys the insul Continue reading >>
Death By Insulin: How Sweet It Isn't!!
Case Study S. P. was a nurse who had a long history of depression. She had stopped her medication several months ago since her life had stabilized. However, with the discovery of her husband having an affair, a setback at work, and the terminal illness of her mother, she soon began to have feelings of unworthiness and hopelessness. She was working for a home health agency and was involved in the care of an elderly woman who had a heart condition brought on by her long history of insulin dependent diabetes. Her patient had just received her three month supply of quick-acting insulin. S.P. decided to take one of the bottles and in the privacy of her home she injected herself with the entire contents. Within several minutes she began to feel hungry, nervous, sweaty, shaky, and very weak. This rapidly progressed to her feeling dizzy, disoriented and confused, ultimately resulting in drowsiness, unconsciousness, coma, and finally death. Why did she die? Cause of Death? If your answer to this question is that S.P died from an overdose of insulin, I suppose you are right. After all that’s what I would put on the death certificate. But what I’m really looking for here is the mechanism underlying the cause of death. Only by understanding the pathophysiology of disease, dysfunction, and death, can one begin to appreciate the complexity of life and how easy it is for us to die and fall off the radar screen for the survival of the fittest. The strength of a chain is only as good as its weakest link. In the case here of S.P, most people who are familiar with diabetes and insulin realize that since insulin is a hormone that is needed to keep the blood sugar (glucose) from going too high, then taking too much of it can cause a person’s blood sugar to drop too low. That’s exact Continue reading >>
Diabetes In Cats
This article is about diabetes mellitus in cats. For other uses, see Diabetes (disambiguation). Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease in cats, whereby either insufficient insulin response or insulin resistance lead to persistently high blood glucose concentrations. Diabetes could affect up to 1 in 230 cats,[1] and may be becoming increasingly common. Diabetes mellitus is less common in cats than in dogs. 80-95% of diabetic cats experience something similar to type-2 diabetes, but are generally severely insulin-dependent by the time symptoms are diagnosed. The condition is treatable, and treated properly, the cat can experience a normal life expectancy. In type-2 cats, prompt effective treatment may lead to diabetic remission, in which the cat no longer needs injected insulin. Untreated, the condition leads to increasingly weak legs in cats, and eventually malnutrition, ketoacidosis and/or dehydration, and death. Symptoms[edit] Cats will generally show a gradual onset of the disease over a few weeks or months, and it may escape notice for even longer.[citation needed] The first outward symptoms are a sudden weight loss (or occasionally gain), accompanied by excessive drinking and urination; for example, cats can appear to develop an obsession with water and lurk around faucets or water bowls. Appetite is suddenly either ravenous (up to three-times normal) or absent. These symptoms arise from the body being unable to use glucose as an energy source. A fasting glucose blood test will normally be suggestive of diabetes at this point. The same home blood test monitors used in humans are used on cats, usually by obtaining blood from the ear edges or paw pads. As the disease progresses, ketone bodies will be present in the urine, which can be detected with the same urine stri Continue reading >>
Insulin Poisoning With Suicidal Intent
Go to: A 27-year-old paramedical personnel without any comorbidities, working as an assistant in the operation theater, was found to be drowsy and drenched in sweat with bradycardia (34 beats/min) and hypotension (80/50 mm of Hg). She was immediately shifted to ICU. She was pale and there was no cyanosis, icterus, clubbing, lymphadenopathy, or any evidence of external injury. Temperature was 99.0°F, with a respiratory rate of 20/min and cold peripheries. Pupils were bilateral 3 mm, reactive to light, and oculocephalic reflex was preserved. Deep tendon reflexes were brisk and plantars were flexor. Meningeal signs were absent. Her systemic examination was unremarkable. An electrocardiogram showed sinus bradycardia. Atropine was given intravenously and normal saline infusion started. Blood pressure remained low which prompted initiation of norepinephrine drip. Capillary blood glucose (CBG) was 35 mg/dL, hence 50 mL of 50% dextrose bolus was given and 5% dextrose infusion started. Her neurological status started deteriorating and she rapidly lapsed into coma, 90 minutes from her initial presentation. At this stage, pupils were bilateral 2 mm and nonreactive, with loss of occulocephalic reflex and dysconjugate deviation of eye. She continued to have bradycardia and hypotension. Repeat CBG was 32 mg/dL and bolus of 50 mL 50% dextrose was repeated. No history could be gathered regarding the preceding events. At this stage, in addition to malaria, encephalitis, cerebrovascular accident, exogenous insulin administration was considered as another staff detected one empty vial of insulin. Blood samples were drawn for glucose, insulin, and c-peptide. Patient had an episode of generalized tonic clonic seizure which was treated with intravenous lorazepam 4 mg. Again a bolus of 50 mL Continue reading >>
Woman Kills Herself By Insulin Overdose
“I LOVE you” were the last words a diabetic woman wrote in a suicide note to her step-daughter before killing herself with an insulin overdose. Andrea Smith had already tried to kill herself once with an insulin overdose in the months leading up to her death, aged 45, on August 8 last year, Aberdare Coroner’s Court was told. She had attempted to take her own life in May 2008 with insulin and tablets, which had led to her month-long admission to Royal Glamorgan Hospital’s psychiatric ward. In a statement read to the court, step-daughter Susan Davies said that on that occasion she had found her step-mother sitting grey-faced on the bed with eight empty insulin pens by her side. “She said that I had caught her in time but that next time I would not be so lucky,” said Susan. She had called into her step-mother’s home at Cae Glas, Penrhiwfer, Tonypandy, after concerned neighbours contacted her to say the cat was crying outside and had been there for some time, which was unusual. Andrea, a cashier at a local petrol station, was discharged in June and was under the care of a crisis team who made several visits a week. The court heard she had a history of depression for which she was receiving medication, and stomach problems and was receiving treatment for a hernia. She had become depressed following her mother’s death in 2005 and was also upset because her dog had died and she had taken it badly. Susan said she was in regular touch with Andrea. She said that her step-mother and father had not been getting on well and on the Tuesday before the death he had taken his wife to work for the night shift and by the time she returned, he was gone. Susan took her to work the following day. “She was laughing and joking and she said that she had to be strong,” said S Continue reading >>
35-year-old Bodybuilder's Sudden Death Raises Questions About Insulin Use
In December of last year, Ghent Wakefield was found dead in his home in Tunstall, England. The 35-year-old bodybuilder was an aspiring WWE performer, but a bicep injury some years before his death sidelined those dreams. Wakefield filed a claim against Britain's National Health Service alleging that his injury would have recovered with proper treatment, according to British tabloid The Sun. Now, an inquest into his death has left medical experts unable to determine an exact cause—but has nonetheless raised questions about whether the hormone insulin played a role. The bodybuilder was rumored to have used it in conjunction with steroids to rebuild muscle mass after the injury—a practice that can have dangerous side effects. “We don’t have a cause of death," North Staffordshire coroner Ian Smith said in the inquiry, according to the Sun. "I can’t say it was drugs or natural causes—it would be wrong to pick one. I think the strongest possibility is the abuse of insulin, but we will never know for sure.” Like in the case of Rich Piana, the beloved bodybuilder who died in August after collapsing during a haircut, Wakefield's story has raised questions about insulin and bodybuilding. The medical examiner could not confirm Piana's cause of death due to the sheer number of potential factors involved, but the celebrity bodybuilder had been outspoken about his use of the substance to achieve his goals. We'll never know with certainty whether insulin caused Wakefield's death. But the truth is that some bodybuilders use insulin to bulk up, and it carries some extreme health risks. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. It's typically associated with Type 1 diabetes, but it also helps build muscle—which is why some non-diabetic bodybuilders turn to i Continue reading >>
Death By Insulin Overdose
Pharmacy issued common syringe instead of specially calibrated syringe for administering insulin A woman diabetic patient died after an overdose of insulin which a government hospital had asked her to administer with a syringe purchased from a private pharmacy. It has transpired that the woman, who is illiterate, did not know the exact quantity to inject. She lay in a coma at the Intensive Care Unit of Mahiyangana hospital for about a month before she died. The overdose, doctors said, had caused hypoglycaemia or the condition that occurs when the blood sugar (glucose) is too low. Uva Province Health Director, Dr. Nilamani Hewageegana has submitted a report to the Health Ministry, following an inquiry into the death of the 38-year-old woman on March 17. The inquiry has revealed that the woman, a mother of three, had been given insulin at the diabetic clinic of Mahiyangana hospital and told to purchase a syringe and inject herself. Mahiyagana Hospital Medical Officer Dr. Y. Upasena said that due to a shortage of certain medicinal drugs and equipment including syringes, patients are directed to purchase these from pharmacies. “The hospital provides the patients with insulin and instructs them on how to administer it. The woman was found unconscious the morning after she had administered insulin before retiring for the night. She was treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for a month, for complications arising from insulin overdose, but she did not recover,” he said. Dr. Nilamani Hewgeegana said, “The prescription issued by a physician to the patient had mentioned the correct dose, it is the pharmacy that had given a large volume syringe,” she said. Dr. Prasad Katulanda, Consultant Diabetologist and Senior Lecturer- Clinical Science, Medical Faculty of Colombo Uni Continue reading >>
Diabetes And Seizures: What Are They? What Are The Symptoms?
Having a seizure is a very serious thing. It is dangerous for the person experiencing it, and it is also scary for those nearby. Seizures can be caused for several reasons. Some people have epilepsy, which is a disorder where seizures happen often. For those without epilepsy, they are often called “provoked seizures” because they were provoked, or brought on, by something reversible. Individuals with diabetes can experience these “provoked seizures” when their blood sugar drops too low. The following article explains the difference in these, how to prevent them, and how to care for someone that is having a diabetic seizure. The difference between epilepsy and seizures Epilepsy is a seizure disorder that happens because there is an electrical storm in the brain. People have recurrent seizures that involve loss of consciousness, convulsions, abnormal behavior, disruption of senses, or all of the above. Some have an “aura” before having a seizure and know when it is going to happen. Most causes of epilepsy are unknown, however they can be triggered by flickering light, loud noises, or physical stimulation. Treatment for this condition includes medications and sometimes diet changes. A “provoked seizure” happens because something abnormal is happening in the body. This can include low sodium, fever, alcohol, drugs, trauma, or low blood sugar. The same thing happens as with epilepsy, and there is unusual activity in the brain causing abnormal movements and behaviors. Unlike epilepsy though, where a seizure can happen for no reason, there is an actual cause for each one that occurs for “provoked seizure”. It is important to understand the cause of these so that preventative measures can be taken. There is no relationship between epilepsy and diabetes. One Continue reading >>
Studies: Diabetes Pills Better Than Insulin At Reducing Death Risk
For most people with diabetes, insulin is the most reliable way to lower blood sugar. But is insulin the best way to prevent death and heart disease in Type 2 diabetes? Recent studies seem to show that people with Type 2 treated with certain oral medications had less risk of dying than did people taking insulin. The insulin-users also had higher rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is disease of the heart and blood vessels. A study from Sweden followed over 20,000 adults diagnosed with Type 2. Half were starting insulin therapy; the other half started one of the newer oral drugs, either a DPP-4 inhibitor or an SGLT2 inhibitor. DPP-4 inhibitors help raise the body’s level of incretin hormones, such as GLP-1. GLP-1 decreases insulin resistance and promotes insulin production in response to glucose. SGLT2 inhibitors cause glucose to be eliminated in the urine, lowering blood levels. Subjects were followed for a year and a half. People using the oral drugs had a 44% decreased risk for all-cause mortality, and 15% less risk of CVD. The oral drugs also were linked with a 74% lower risk of severe low sugars (hypoglycemia). The SGLT2 inhibitor used in the study (dapagliflozin, brand name Farxiga) lowered the risk for death more than the DPP-4 inhibitors did, but the DPP-4 drugs were associated with a lower risk of severe hypoglycemia. Risk of hypoglycemia might be important, because hypos might themselves cause physical stress that could lead to earlier death. (By the way, you might be wondering what is meant by death rate or mortality rate. Isn’t everybody’s death rate the same: one to a person? It is, but the statistic “death rate” refers to the number of deaths in a given period, like five years, or whatever the study’s timeframe is.) A study from Wales las Continue reading >>
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Insulin Myths And Facts
If you have type 2 diabetes and your A1C is slowly creeping up despite your best efforts, insulin may be the next step in treating your diabetes. Many people struggle with the thought of insulin because of what they have heard about it. Some common myths about insulin and facts that may help you overcome your fears are listed below. Myth: Insulin means I am a failure. Fact: Needing insulin does not mean that you have failed to manage you diabetes well. Because type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease, eventually your pancreas is just not able to keep up with your body's need for insulin—no matter what you've done to manage your diabetes. When other medicines no longer keep your blood glucose on target, insulin is often the next logical step for treating diabetes. Myth: Insulin does not work. Fact: Although many people think of diabetes as a “sugar” problem, actually diabetes is an insulin problem. The insulins used today are very similar to the insulin that the body naturally makes. In fact, insulin is the best way to lower your blood glucose. Myth: Insulin causes complications or death. Fact: The belief that insulin causes complications or death often comes from seeing what happened in the past to family members or friends with diabetes. Although it can be hard to get past your fear, in fact, it is more likely that insulin might have delayed or even prevented these complications if it had been started earlier. Myth: Insulin causes weight gain. Fact: It is true that many patients who begin insulin gain weight. Insulin helps your body use food more efficiently. If this is a concern, ask for a referral to a dietitian before you start insulin. Myth: Insulin injections are painful. Fact: Although no one likes shots, most people are surprised by how little an insulin i Continue reading >>
Type 1 Diabetes Complications
Type 1 diabetes is complicated—and if you don’t manage it properly, there are complications, both short-term and long-term. “If you don’t manage it properly” is an important if statement: by carefully managing your blood glucose levels, you can stave off or prevent the short- and long-term complications. And if you’ve already developed diabetes complications, controlling your blood glucose levels can help you manage the symptoms and prevent further damage. Diabetes complications are all related to poor blood glucose control, so you must work carefully with your doctor and diabetes team to correctly manage your blood sugar (or your child’s blood sugar). Short-term Diabetes Complications Hypoglycemia: Hypoglycemia is low blood glucose (blood sugar). It develops when there’s too much insulin—meaning that you’ve taken (or given your child) too much insulin or that you haven’t properly planned insulin around meals or exercise. Other possible causes of hypoglycemia include certain medications (aspirin, for example, lowers the blood glucose level if you take a dose of more than 81mg) and alcohol (alcohol keeps the liver from releasing glucose). There are three levels of hypoglycemia, depending on how low the blood glucose level has dropped: mild, moderate, and severe. If you treat hypoglycemia when it’s in the mild or moderate stages, then you can prevent far more serious problems; severe hypoglycemia can cause a coma and even death (although very, very rarely). The signs and symptoms of low blood glucose are usually easy to recognize: Rapid heartbeat Sweating Paleness of skin Anxiety Numbness in fingers, toes, and lips Sleepiness Confusion Headache Slurred speech For more information about hypoglycemia and how to treat it, please read our article on hy Continue reading >>
Insulin As A Murder Weapon
Murder by insulin: suspected, purported and proven — a review. Marks V. Drug Test Analysis 2009;1:162-176. With the recent death following an unexpected hypoglycemic episode of a fifth patient at Stepping Hill Hospital in Greater Manchester (U.K.), this classic article on the forensic pathology involving insulin as a murder weapon has become even more timely. Dr. Marks is one of the foremost experts and expert witnesses in the field, having testified at the Claus von Bülow trial, among many others. Marks points out that: [Insulin] is an inefficient and ineffective weapon, largely because of the length of time it takes to cause death and the ease with which it can be diagnosed and treated. Through personal knowledge and review of both medical and lay literature, the author provides summaries of 66 cases involving persons who were alleged or known to have been poisoned by insulin. He makes the following points: Blood glucose measured after death is unreliable as an indication as to whether the victim actually died of hypoglycemia. In general, glucose disappears from blood after death. However, post-mortem blood collected from the right heart can be artifactually elevated, because of breakdown of liver glycogen. B-cells of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans produce proinsulin, which is broken down after release into equal amounts of insulin itself and C-peptide. Surreptitious insulin administration will cause elevated insulin levels but low or absent C-peptide. The differential diagnosis of hypoglycemia with extremely elevated insulin and C-peptide levels include insulinoma and poisoning with drugs such as sulfonylureas that stimulate insulin release. Other causes of life-threatening hypoglycemia include sepsis and alcohol-induced hypoglycemia. By the way, the Claus vo Continue reading >>
Beware The Perils Of Severe Hypoglycemia
Over 80 years ago, famed diabetologist Elliot Joslin said about the treatment of patients with type 1 diabetes: “Ketoacidosis may kill a patient, but frequent hypoglycemic reactions will ruin him.” Unfortunately, hypoglycemia continues to be the most difficult problem facing most patients, families, and caregivers who deal with the management of type 1 diabetes on a daily basis. Frequent hypoglycemia episodes not only can “ruin,” or adversely impact the quality of life for patients, but also, when severe, can cause seizures, coma, and even death. A Tragic Case Recently, our group published a case report in the journal Endocrine Practice describing a tragic death from hypoglycemia that occurred while the patient slept in his own bed. Our patient, a 23-year-old man with type 1 diabetes who had a history of recurrent severe hypoglycemia, was using an older model insulin pump and wearing a separate, non-real-time continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system. He was given the CGM in 2005 for the purpose of tracking his nocturnal (nighttime) blood glucose values and making further insulin pump adjustments. After he was pronounced dead in the emergency room, our diabetes nurse removed the pump and CGM to help us understand what happened. His insulin pump was found to have been working correctly. What we learned was that after supper, he had a heavy workout at a gym, followed by a late snack. Between 8 pm and midnight, he “stacked” five boluses of insulin, totaling 7.35 units (33% of his basal dose), in an attempt to keep his glucose values in “tight” control. The downloaded sensor demonstrated that his glucose values fell from about 200 mg/dL at midnight to under 50 mg/dL by 2:00 am, and to under 30 mg/dL by 5:00 am – three hours before he was found by his pare Continue reading >>
Fitness Expert Claims Rich Piana Died Do To Complications From Insulin Use
The bodybuilding world was shaken back in august by the deaths of both IFBB pro Dallas McCarver and Internet personality Rich Piana. Both men passed away under mysterious circumstances and it has left many fans scratching their heads as to the cause of death. Well, as far as Rich Piana goes, it seems that fitness expert Matt Fiddes is claiming to know the cause of death. Insulin. One of the premier bodybuilding drugs, insulin can take a bodybuilder’s gains to the next level. It’s long been referenced as the source for what made Dorian Yates into an absolute beast and the tradition still holds true today. But taking insulin has some major risks involved. When you inject insulin into your body you must take all the necessary measures to balance the sugar levels in your body. That means getting the right amount of food into your body within a certain period of time. In a way, it’s like playing Russian roulette and hoping to come out unscathed. In an interview with the Daily Star, Matt Fiddes said the following: “He would naturally take a pre-workout and then get to the photo shoot, do some press ups, some curls, get his body in condition and then come home,” said Fiddes. “They have to eat enough sugar to balance the insulin just like a diabetic would, otherwise they will go into a coma and die. If the photoshoot dragged on a little bit he may not have eaten enough sugars to balance what insulin he would have taken.” Matt Fiddes claims are unfounded at this point as no official cause of death has been determined at this time. But Rich Piana himself did speak about his insulin use openly as well as the dangers involved in taking the substance. For now we’ll all have to wonder what is truth and what’s fiction until the official cause of death is determined. Continue reading >>
