For the past 15 years, my wife was a type 2 diabetic, and that was controlled by diet..(I often doubted the diagnosis since the glucose test involved drinking a 5 gallon drum of sugar and watching what happened). I often refered her "bad days" as a sugar day, and blamed her symptoms on menopause, blood sugar problems, etc. I wonder how many people have had sugar testing and were considered diabetics...
There is much research now that links diabetes to Alzheimer's Disease. There is one study that is even calling Alzheimer's Disease "Type 3 Diabetes." For more information, go to my home page - www.thealzheimerspouse.com -, and scroll down to "Articles of Interest" on the left hand side. In that section, under "General Articles of Interest", you will find at least 3 articles related to Diabetes and Alzheimer's Disease.
My husband was just dx'd with Diabetes today after consistanly have Fasting Blood Glucose Levels of 200. I Googled "Dementia and Diabetes" and was shocked to see how much info was there.
Can Elderly Men and Women Diabetics Help Their Uncertainty Of Dementia? And Can Changing The Diabetes Diet Help Reduce the Causes and Symptoms of Dementia?
Diabetes can affect the cognitive function in older men and women. In a recent issue from the Journal of Nutrition, Health And Aging (Volume 10, No. 4, 2006), researchers did reveal that postmenopausal women with markers for blood sugar that were 7% or higher, (meaning poorly controlled diabetes) had a fourfold greater peril of having mild cognitive impairment or dementia over four years compared to women with lower levels of all those markers.
Diabetics should keep their blood sugars less than 6% with the Hemoglobin A1C in order to help save conceptual dysfunction.
A possible justification for this kind of Proliferated Danger for dementia may be inflammation. People with diabetes and excessive abdominal fat may have more compounds that can cause an inflammatory response in the body.
Persons with dementia also show signs of inflammation in their brains. While it may be too soon to say that cutting inflammation will take from the Probability of dementia, you do want to consider the diet as an important part of diabetes. Cutting down on carbohydrates may lower this inflammatory response.
Diabetes and cognitive decline are well thought-out major health issues among the Older even in diabetic subjects without dementia, in cognitive domains, such as memory, attention and frontal lobe function (diabetic conceptual dysfunction).
Recent epidemiological: studies seem to suggest that diabetes heightens the exposure of vascular dementia, as well as Alzheimer's disease.
There appears to be building up evidence that indicate biological links between brain glucose metabolism and cognitive decline. Once elderly diabetics had severe conceptual dysfunction, reversing it may be much extra tricky. Therefore, diabetic cognitive decline should be well thought-out in the long-term management of hyperglycemia.
Some diabetic patients that I have come in contact with that are older patients that have decreased cognitive ability usually have a direct correlation to not having their blood sugars under control.
Diabetic patients I do see that already have conceptual dysfunction are usually put on dementia medications Namenda and/or Aricept. New drugs are always being developed to help patients with dementia or Alzheimer's whether related to diabetes or heart problems.
Good controlled blood sugar parameters are 80-120 mg/dl for FBS and 140-160 mg/dl for a Random Blood Sugar. But always consult your doctor as to what parameters he or she may suggest. Recognize it is carbohydrate foods, juice and junk foods that raise the blood sugars.
If you would like to learn how to control your blood sugar and symptoms of dementia, please go to http://www.onediabetes.info
I pulled this from the official seroquel site: High blood sugar and diabetes have been reported with Seroquel XR and medicines like it. If you have diabetes or risk factors such as obesity or a family history of diabetes, ask your doctor about checking your blood sugar before starting Seroquel XR and regularly throughout treatment. If you develop symptoms of high blood sugar or diabetes, such as excessive thirst or hunger, increased urination, or weakness, contact your doctor. Complications from diabetes can be serious and even life threatening
Twenty years ago, my dw was diagnosed with hypoglycemia, and she had several tests (5 hr sugar test) and she controlled it primarily with diet, and avoiding sugar. I have always thought that there was a direct link to alzheimer's because many of the symptoms (early) are identical. It would not surprise me that the inability to produce insulin naturally could definitely lead to eoad. Unfortunately, we wasted probably 15 years chasing the "hypoglycemia" cure, instead of concentrating or accepting eoad as a possibility. We even had consulted with the Watson Clinic and their top doctor insisted that anyone who was given the sugar test would have some form of reaction simply because of the amout of glucose that was introduced into the body...He had sent us away, stating that there was no such thing as "hypoglycemia", and that it was not a serious issue......How I wish now that I would have researched this more, and found a link to eoad.... I am somewhat convinced that without the proper glucose reaching the brain cells, this certainly can cause the "running out of fuel" for the brain and lead to symptoms very similiar to eoad.... I wonder how many on here have had issues with "sugar" problems.... For years, I guaged my dw's temperement by "a sugar day", or a good day.....the sugar days were just awful..
phranque your lack of research didn't cause your wife's decline. 15 years ago their was no suspected link between blood sugar abnormalities and dementia.
The theory of "chronic brain starvation" or "type 3 diabetes" is behind Dr. Newport's experiments with medium chain triglycerides, and the regimen she developed for her husband. There is much more information about these ideas on her blog and web page: http://coconutketones.blogspot.com http://coconutketones.com
My DH is a diabetic ( exposure to Agent Orange). Since his TIA ( a lacunar tiny stroke in the pons) two years ago he has been on insulin. Recently there have been articles on the suspected connection of diabetes to AD. Additionally, diabetes has so many additional complications attached to is such as vascular, vision, renal function etc that there are studies in connection with that as well. Cardiac issues may play a part in one article I read somewhere..my mother had sick sinus syndrome and also years later developed AD. Her brother, younger by 11 years, had cholesterol issues I think it was and he too went on to develop this disease. I have read that studies are underway related to the lieseions (sp) in the white matter of the brain as well. It would not surprise me to learn eventually that there are as many different kinds of AD as there are say for certain cancers of say the colon. There is just too much yet to discover. And I can't spell tonight!
My dh is also diabetic. It is sufficiently controlled by diet and meds, so that he has not yet had to resort to insulin. He would not do well with that. With his lack of insight (he does not believe that he has either diabetes or AZ) and his increased appetite it is very difficult to stick to a reasonable diet. After all, food is one of the few pleasures left to him. I feel terrible denying him what he wants to eat and wish I had more certainty about the effect of high glucose levels on the decline of cognition. I am not worried about any of the other symptoms. In fact, he has never had any symptoms and had himself checked for diabetes early on because it runs in his family.
From the information that well meaning people send me, almost everything is linked to AD! We had low blood sugar, we had high blood pressure, and she grew up on an orchard where the sprays were pretty intense. Stuff happens. dave
Yes and luckily I don't get people sending me a lot of info on what causes AD. I wish I could say my DH had been dedicated to keeping himself in tight control with the diabetes but he was in such denial about it. I remember when he was more than just borderline and was urging him to see the doctor. He would not do it. He lost wt and looked terrific BUT he was running to the loo a lot, up at night too and he was drinking water like it was as normal as breathing that much air. Finally I got a book on the subject, opened it up to the section on symptoms and left a strong message to the effect if he died of complications of diabetes that could have been avoided had he taken this seriously, I would not come to his funeral, the daughters could bring me his flag! And I set off for my Marine Corps weekend drill ( I was a reservist after 11+ yrs active duty). When I got to my duty station I called to let him know I was there and he told me he got my note and did I really mean that? I said I was serious. He did go to the doctor then but he still persisted in going his own way about this. So I don't know if his following health problems are a result of that or if it would have happened anyway. And there is no use going back, it won't change the now of it all which is reminding him to take the insulin at noon, dinner time and bed time..he remembers in the morning because I set the kit on the table..shrug!