Allies Voice: When a Child (with diabetes) Can't Remember....
In the fall of 1985, a very scary thing happened shortly after I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. One morning I woke up and I couldn't remember things I would normally remember. I couldn't remember the name of my neighbor's dog. I had a fanatical love for Cookie. Of course I would remember Cookie! A diabetic child would never forget such a sweet name for such an adorable dog! One more thing -- I had a pounding headache.
My mom brought me to the hospital, where my endocrinologist met us. They ran test after test and nary could an expert explain my memory loss. They confirmed I was experiencing amnesia, which turned out to be temporary because I was back to normal the next day.
How many people have experienced this same phenomenon? I surmised that this was my body reacting to the Humulin insulin I had started only a month or so before. The insulin must have been competing with my body's own attempts to generate insulin thus thwarting my blood sugar down into a dangerous hypoglycemic state. A study published in 1991 confirms that hypoglycemia results in a lesion in the left temporal lobe. I have one of those lesions now, but it wasn't discovered until 2000. Oh yeah - and my peduncle is perfectly asymmetric. What does that mean anyway?
Why weren't doctors informed of this potential reaction to insulin in 1985? A study 6 years later is a few years too late. And how many more newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetics experience the same thing? My parents were scared out of their mind and nobody (including specialists) had any idea what to do with me.
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Allie,
Thanks so much for sharing! I believe this is serious and unfortunately, happens quite often. Recently, I no longer needed to take my NPH insulin as my body seems to be producing more insulin on it's own. After getting off of the NPH insulin I was dizzy for about a week. This whole time my blood sugars were in the normal range, but the side effect of getting off of it was unexpected. It is important to realize that when we put anything synthetic in our bodies, the outcome can be negative reactions and even differ from one individual to the next. Have a great week Allie!
My Best, Julie
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Hey Julie,
I'll bet your astute diet - eating foods based on your blood type - helped your body regenerate the beta cells, too.
Have you gone for a stimulated C-peptide test since lowering your dose?
Best,
Allie
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Hey Allie,
Yes, eating the right foods for my blood type has been great! This is just one of the many, many, pieces to the diabetes puzzle. As of yet, I have not had a stimulated C-peptide test.
Have a wonderful vacation!
Aloha, Julie
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I love yer Sweet Peduncles*****
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Billy you make me smile
Rock on!!
XOXO
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What therefore is the way forward. Should you take Amylin and push for c-peptides. Alle your thinking and comments are first class but what about some direction for solutions.
Thanks for the update on Dr Faustman. Are there any others out there involved in the trials.
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You write that the apparent memory loss was shortly after diagnosis. Let me tell you what happened to me:
I was diagnosed at age 14. Full-blown DKA coma, two weeks in the hospital, the first recovering from DKA, the second learning insulin and urine testing. Near the end of the two weeks the doc came in while my parents were visiting and gave me a little quiz: My teacher, my grade, my school, my classmates. I answered all of the questions pretty quickly and adeptly. Then the doc looked at my mom, and she explained that while all my answers were correct, they were correct for 5 years ago. And at that moment I realized that I had slipped up!
Now why the quiz and stuff: DKA, or rather the recovery from it, can cause cerebral edema. This can have some temporary effects on the brain including a loss of memory. In my case it was a temporary loss of memory, and in fact I "knew" the right current answers, they just weren't the ones I thought of first.
So... did you go through DKA before diagnosis? After diagnosis? How long after diagnosis was "soon"? I think within a few weeks I really was back to normal.
I've had many many hypos and some hypo unawareness over the past 26 years with diabetes but never associated any memory loss with them.
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Hey Tim,
That is amazing! Thanks for sharing your memory and recount of information. It sheds a lot of light on the strange effects we experience in a hypo, DKA and all the glucose fluctuations in between.
I was in DKA when I was diagnosed. The “shortly thereafter” was about a month of two after my diagnosis in July, 1985.
Again, thanks for sharing!
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This story tells that the absolute view of diabetes type 1 as a permanent condition requiring lifelong insuline supplement do not hold in all cases, and that the body can remend itself given the opportunity to do so.
There is a whole zillion dollar diabetes industry out there that profit immensely on diabetics, and they do not like diabetcs that heal from the disease.
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