Posted by Solstice on January 26, 2011, at 11:42:13
In reply to Oh my goodness. This might explain a lot., posted by Dinah on January 26, 2011, at 10:03:07
> If my body responds to adrenaline by by my liver pumping out glucose, that would explain why I wake up at three am (with the cortisol surge that people get around that time) yet can't wake up in the morning and take forever to become functional (because my glucose level is high).
>
> And my involuntary naps when I'm upset could be partly because of the adrenaline causing my blood sugars to rise. It does feel very physical.
>
> I wonder if that's possible?
Yes! I was planning on giving you some details about the myriad ways blood sugar levels affect us, and how blood sugar levels are affected.So yes - those of us who are prone to over-sensitive parasympathetic reactions to stress (i.e. frequent adrenalin spurts) are certainly subject to our liver converting glycogen back into glucose in preparation for a survival effort :-). In addition, those with Type II diabetes have cell receptors that are not accurately recognizing insulin, which is the 'key' to opening the door to the cell to accept the glucose. I'll have to look at it when I have more time - but there's a mechanism involved in Type II whereby a cell receptor of some type decreases in number in response to being trained by frequent elevations in blood sugar due to frequent simple sugar intake. That's where pills for Type II come in - they help increase sensitivity to available insulin. But over time, the problem with sensitivity gets worse and pills just aren't enough. This same mechanism comes into play with gestational diabetes - which usually occurs (when it occurs) in the last part of pregnancy and is not so much diabetes, as it's 'insulin resistance.' Type II is like a magnification of 'insulin resistance,' and women who develop gestational diabetes during their pregnancy/s in their 20's and 30's are highly likely to develop Type II as they age.
But yes - blood sugar levels affect emotional state, and emotional state affects blood sugar levels. This seems to be more true for Type II than Type I, since Type I's like me don't make insulin in the first place.
Type II's and hypoglycemics have issues with insulin production and glycogen conversion mechanisms being under-over sensitive. Type I's simply have no beta cells to produce insulin. Type II's have working beta cells that produce insulin, but it's either under- or over-activated, and/or cell receptors are not functioning properly.
A lot of people don't understand that basic enormous difference between Types I and II. They mistakenly think Type I = anyone who takes insulin, and Type II = anyone who doesn't take insulin.
The newest pumps are very, very cool. I have never wanted to go the pump route myself (which drives my endocrinologist nuts. I've been seeing him for going on 30 years. He's watched me grow up, have babies, and my babies grow up - and I've watched him grow from an arrogant genius specialist into an old man who wants to retire :-). Anyway, I am, though, looking at a cool thing that is an implanted glucose monitoring device. Wireless. totally cool.
Solstice
poster:Solstice
thread:977627
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20101228/msgs/978010.html