A Reason to Keep Diabetes in Check

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

Most of us know a little about diabetes.  Terry has diabetes and had a few complications with it at times.  I also have several friends with diabetes … thus, the blog.

We know there is a type 1 and a type 2 diabetes.  Type 1 diabetes is the rarest form with type 2 the more common type of diabetes.  There are many other differences between the two and also many similarities because they both are associated with the production of insulin.

There are many obvious reasons to keep your diabetes in check but the discovery of diabetes type 3 gives yet another reason.   I bet most have never heard about a type 3 diabetes.  That’s probably because it’s only really been discovered or rather, named that,  within the last few years.  More recent even than the discovery of the disease itself is what this type of diabetes targets.  It’s considered the brain diabetes.  Scary, huh?

This type of diabetes is harder to diagnose and harder to treat.   It appears that having type 1   or type 2 diabetes is necessary for developing this new form of diabetes.   Thus, it is also called double diabetes.  Type 3 diabetes does to the brain what the other two types do to the kidneys.  Without production of insulin in the brain the brain can not function as it should.

When this third type of diabetes was discovered a few years ago there was much discussion and controversy about the possibility of it being associated with Alzheimer's disease. There is speculation now of splitting the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s into two forms.  Thus, a huge reason to keep  diabetes in check.  Not all Alzheimer’s patients have diabetes but many with diabetes do develop Alzheimer's.  Thus, the two diagnosis. 

Check out a very recent article.  The article discusses cholesterol levels required for good brain activity and the need to maintain a low carb and high fat diet – healthy saturated fat diet.

Alzheimer’s is not a disease any of us want.  The thought of having any type of dementia is certainly not appealing.  Not all dementia is Alzheimer’s.  We probably all know someone somewhere at sometime who has had this disease.  We certainly don’t want it to be us.  This is just one more reason to keep a watch on sugar spikes and high glucose levels.

The most important point is this: it isn't "diabetes" that raises your risk of developing dementia, it is your average blood sugar. There is a close relationship between A1c (average blood sugar test)  and your likelihood of developing this type of dementia.

Research is very new on diabetes type 3 and it's association with Alzheimers so it’s something we’ll probably be following for a while.  In the meantime we’re going to learn to use a little more coconut oil and coconut products.

Keep tabs on that blood sugar as we want to continue connecting on the road but there's also another little issue that we need to keep in mind as all of us age.  What is it?  Well, even with slight dementia someone else may be put in charge of what you can and cannot do.  This boils down to the question of who to trust with your future  .. just in case.  I'm not talking about money either.  Only recently we have become aware of a couple situations where older parents have given power of attorney to one of their children.  In both cases the older parent is made to live in situations that are not necessarily of their choosing.  Once that power of attorney is given it just may be difficult or impossible to change.   It's something to keep in mind before giving anyone the right to anyone to make decisions for you.

‘Tis life on the road.