What I learned today will interest you.

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Registered: 03-25-2003
What I learned today will interest you.
5
Mon, 03-01-2004 - 8:39pm

Today I had my visit to the diabetes clinic to start on the Lantus. I was put in the 120 arm of the study which means that I will take whatever amount of insulin is necessary to get my average blood sugar to be 120. This shouldn't be too bad since my most recent average has been 146. Plus I shouldn't have too many hypoglycemic reactions.


But what I learned today really surprised me. First off if you have skin tag around the neck it is a sign of insulin resistance. There is a condition which in lay language is called dirty neck syndrome. It is found in darker skin people and it looks like a dirty ring around the neck but it can't be washed off. It is a sign of diabetes. I was going to write for you the correct name for this syndrome but I am not sure of the spelling and I can't find it when I need it! Acantosis nigrigans i think is the correct spelling!


The second thing that I learned was in type 2 diabetics by the time you are diagnosed 50 percent of your beta cells which produce the insulin have been destroyed and the remainder die off at a rate of 10 percent per year. No wonder more than half of type 2 diabetics are treated with insulin.


The final thing that I learned was that your brain is not symptomatic with hypoglycemia until your blood sugar is less than 50. You may feel the hypoglycemia and know that you need to treat the condition but your brain is still functioning okay.


I am sure I will learn more when I go to my class on Friday at the University of California. I always come back with information to share.


Enough of the science today from me!



Mary Frances


cl-maryfrances40




Edited 3/1/2004 9:03:41 PM ET by cl-maryfrances40
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Registered: 12-08-2003
Mon, 03-01-2004 - 10:55pm

^^^The final thing that I learned was that your brain is not symptomatic with hypoglycemia until your blood sugar is less than 50. You may feel

 

 

Avatar for happyscrapper40
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 03-02-2004 - 4:39pm
"""First off if you have skin tag around the neck it is a sign of insulin resistance. There is a condition which in lay language is called dirty neck syndrome. It is found in darker skin people and it looks like a dirty ring around the neck but it can't be washed off. It is a sign of diabetes. I was going to write for you the correct name for this syndrome but I am not sure of the spelling and I can't find it when I need it! Acantosis nigrigans """"

I had read about this on a Syndrome X group I belong too. I think I could have been diagnosed as IR when I was a child if this was recognized by medical personnel. How many years my mom lectured me to "go wash that dirty neck". The skin tags came after the birth of my children. I still think I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my first child. My ob/gyn did not routinely screen for gestational diabetes. My first child was 9 lbs. 10 oz. and I remember both of us having blood tests after she was born and being told it was a screening for diabetes b/c she was so big, but then they said the tests were 'normal'. I still wonder if that meant 'no one read the reports'!

Now I have a child in my class, age 8, that shows signs of the dark ring. She is hispanic and overweight for her size and height, but not obese. I am not a medical person, so saying something to her parent is wrong and stepping outside of my authority, but I can't help thinking that changes in diet and exercise now could help her delay or prevent the onset...what a dilemma! MH
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Registered: 03-25-2003
Wed, 03-03-2004 - 12:04am

Michelle,


Can you say something to the school nurse about this child? Since there are so few school nurses anymore she may not have seen the child or thought of this when she did see her. Diabetes is rampant in the Hispanic, American Indian

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Registered: 02-03-2003
Wed, 03-03-2004 - 2:28pm
Wow all great information MF - keep on teaching us what you learn - that is amazing about the beta cells - a little saddening - as you are going through - it means that I will most likely end up on insulin correct? Not that I care all that much I will do whatever I have to.

Smoochdog (aka Michelle)


Avatar for happyscrapper40
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 03-03-2004 - 6:03pm
We have school nurses, but I am sorry to say they aren't worth much to us. If we send a sick child to them, the child is liable to be back in our classroom in ten minutes b/c they don't want them out there with them! I am going to see this parent on Saturday, and if we have the opportunity to 'chat' I may talk about my diabetes with her- maybe let it slip that they could of diagnosed the insulin resistance when I was little if they hadn't missed the 'tell-tale sign'. Maybe? this could help? The parent would have to draw an inference... MH