Diabetes question what does this mean?
What does it mean for a diabetic to become “brittle”? I have heard this phrase used several times but don’t quite understand it. Do all diabetics eventually go “brittle”?
What does it mean for a diabetic to become “brittle”? I have heard this phrase used several times but don’t quite understand it. Do all diabetics eventually go “brittle”?
not all diabetics become brittle. at all.
I was considered brittle for a couple years.
A brittle diabetic is essentially a diabetic who cannot control they’re blood sugar readings. There is no rhyme or reason behind any of the readings, and no matter what they might do, things never go as planned. Something might be working great for a day, even a week, and then all of a sudden it’s all wrong. ups and downs all the time. It was really bad for me for a while. I would exercise and it would make me go low so I would adjust my life for that, and then the next day exercising would make me go high, but I’d already taken the steps for a low blood sugar. It was impossible.
Usually there’s nothing you can do. You have to make do with what you have, and it won’t get better.
I went on a pump, and that saved me. Having an easily adjustable and constant insulin flow made it easier to control. I haven’t had any major problems in years.
Not everyone becomes a brittle diabetic, and it’s more likely to be something that will present itself earlier rather than later.
They used that term when my husband had to go from oral meds to insulin.
Its important to get your diabetes as much as you can under control.
That means more than following the diet for many…and you can also have one treatment work short term, but suddenly change.
Listen to your body—and make sure you test your sugars a lot, til you understand how your body deals with things. Stress at the job, or even something as simple as a cold can effect how your body metabolizes your insulin. So pay attention to your doctor, see an endocrinologist, and listen to the signals your body gives you.
Good luck with it.
Brittle diabetes, also called labile diabetes, is a term used to describe uncontrolled type 1 diabetes. People with brittle diabetes frequently experience large swings in blood sugar (glucose) levels. These cause either hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) or hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), which is more common and sometimes extreme.
Other Conditions Related to Brittle Diabetes
Brittle diabetes can be caused by gastrointestinal absorption problems, including delayed stomach emptying (gastroperesis), drug interactions, problems with insulin absorption, or hormonal malfunction.
People who have severely low blood sugar levels may also have problems with their thyroid (hypothyroidism) and adrenal glands (adrenal insufficiency). Treatment of these conditions often leads to the resolution of brittle diabetes.
Gastroperesis can affect relative absorption rates of food, glucose and insulin into the bloodstream. The problem can be a side effect of damage to the nerves that control internal organs. This is a condition that sometimes occurs in people with diabetes. Medications such as Reglan (metoclopramide) do help to encourage more normal stomach emptying. Studies have found, though, that treating gastroperesis does not lead to improvements in overall control of the diabetes or its related complications.
Psychological problems, including depression and stress, are also often associated with brittle diabetes.
Difference between Brittle and Stable Diabetes
The blood sugar levels of people with stable diabetes may fluctuate occasionally. However, these fluctuations are not frequent and — unlike brittle diabetes — do not impact the ability to carry out regular activities of daily living.
It is not really a condition, it is a term doctors used to use when they couldn’t think of anything else to call a person who had bad control of their disease, or had a hard time controlling it. All diabetics have ups and downs at one point or another, or periods of huge swings in their blood sugars, and this is what the doctors would call them. Doctors today rarely use the term.
It’s an outtdated term that was often used to describe Type 1 diabetics on insulin. Most Type 1′s could be described as “brittle”, meaning that our blood glucose can fluctuate widely in a short amount of time. We just do the best we can to stay as stable as possible, but sometimes our BG’s are out of range and we have to correct them. It’s part of the deal, unfortunately.