I don't know any diabetics in real life and I know there are a few here (in addition to sugarless).

A year or so ago, my cat started losing alot of weight, and becoming incredibly lethargic. All she did all day was sleep and drink water. So obviously we took her to the vet, where she was diagnosed with diabetes. Since then, she has been on two shots of insulin a day, one in the morning and one at night. She's pretty much back to her old self, which is wonderful, but there's something my mum and I were wondering.... For her evening injection, we have an alarm in the kitchen that goes off at 20:30, and if you then fail to get her shot ready and go find her, she will come find you. We've started to notice the same thing in the mornings, if we're late in giving it to her, she will make a fuss and let us know. The part of me that thinks my cats are like people would like to believe that she recognises that it's the shots that have made her healthy again over the past few months, but I'm not sure I believe her memory is that good! So I was thinking maybe there is a more immediate improvement? Can you feel when your blood sugar is too high, and is there an immediate relief on getting your insulin?

She might just be used to the routine. Dogs are the same way.

For example, my dog knows its bedtime when the TV goes off at night.

luckily i have the opposite of diabetes according to some doctor bloke, my blood sugar is sky high even when i havent eaten much. I'm guessing this is a good thing.

I response to Maeve, thats one smart feline creature. (her cat i mean)

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

What? What did you say? Your blood sugar is high even during periods of fasting? That isn't a good thing, that is freakin' diabetes.

erm no it isnt, he said i was fine.

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

High blood sugar = bad

If I listened to everything a doctor told me, I'd be dead. No seriously, I'm not kidding. Get a second opinion.

As a type 1 diabetic I can easily agree. >.>;; High blood sugar is THE telltale sign of diabetes, if your "doctor" thinks you're alright whilst having that he should be retitled to "quack".

But yeah, I can feel it when my glucose values are on either extreme. If it's too high I am incredibly thirsty for one. Too low and I get rather shaky and weak. (Since well, I'm outta fuel then. =D)

lol

Pedro makes diabetes sound fun for some reason

All I know is that I was boarderline diabetic once.

The opposite of diabetes is having your body produce or release too much insulin. It results in very low blood sugar.

[QUOTE=Pedro T Hutt]As a type 1 diabetic I can easily agree. >.>;; High blood sugar is THE telltale sign of diabetes, if your "doctor" thinks you're alright whilst having that he should be retitled to "quack".

But yeah, I can feel it when my glucose values are on either extreme. If it's too high I am incredibly thirsty for one. Too low and I get rather shaky and weak. (Since well, I'm outta fuel then. =D)[/QUOTE]
Everything he said. Although sadly I've had such bad control lately that when my blood sugar enters the right range I start to feel hypoglycaemic But yeah, you can definately feel when it's too high or too low. However (and I can only speak for myself on this one) you don't get an immediate feeling of relief having taken the injection. You know you've gotten it right when you don't feel like crap about an hour later :p

Hello, and welcome to blood sugar regulation 101. I'll be your host, Dr. Kuat.

Glucose is a very important fuel in the body; many cells, especially neurons (brain cells), use it as their primary energy source as opposed to fats, proteins, or ketone bodies.

As is such, glucose is highly regulated. Two important hormones involved in this process are known as insulin and glucagon. After a meal, blood sugar levels rise in the blood. If glucose is allowed to stay at raised levels in the blood, multiple complications will occur. One such complication is that glucose will raise the osmolartity of the blood. Water will need to rush out to counter this, at the same time diluting other factors in the blood (such as sodium, etc.). More serious effects result in vascular necrosis, which will result in limb amputations. There are numerous other complications as well; it almost seems that high blood sugar can result in total system failure (although in a strict sense, total system failure is something different).

Obviously, we want to moderate these levels. Insulin basically tells cells to take in glucose and start certain anabolic processes in some instances. Certain cells require insulin to tell them to take in glucose (like most muscle); insulin signals the translocation of sugar channels (the gluts, esp glut 4) to the cell membrane so the glucose can be taken in. Thus, insulin = lowers blood glucose, beasuse it increases cell uptake. If you lack insulin, some cell's ability to take in glucose is greatly decreased, and thus the sugar staying in the blood, resulting in a very important sign of diabetes: high blood sugar. It is a defining sign of diabetes; by definition, low insulin results in more sugar in the blood.

Diabetes Mellitus, the disease itself, is named after "sweet urine". In essence, the kidney usually reabsorbs all the glucose that is filtered into it by means of transporters. Too much glucose saturates these transporters, and thus some is leaked into the urine, giving the other sign of diabetes, sugar in the urine.

Yeah, in summary, chronic high sugar = bad.

Oh, yeah, type 1 = no insulin, insulin producing cells were killed by the immune system
Type 2 = less sensetivity to insulin; insulin is there, but the cells don't "see" it as much, mimicing low insulin.

There is other stuff, but I think you need to read what I said Ruth.

Hmm, and in Type 2 especially, it's a gradual process. You may feel fine, but if it isn't taken care of by diet, it will progress worse.

So how often do you take insulin? Is it important to do it regularly, or is it more on an as needed basis? Also, can you regulate it mostly with diet, or will you always need injections to help?

I come from only knowing about diabetes in cats, so I'm just trying to relate it to human treatment... Thanks for the info guys, this is really interesting.

Holy crap your cats A SENTIENT LIFE-FORM....!

I'm currently on the Basal Bolus therapy. When I was first diagnosed, I had two injections a day, like your cat. Breakfast and dinner time. Those injections had a mixture of short-term and long-term insulin. Short-term for the meal you were about to eat, and long-term to cover anything you might eat inbetween. With the Basal Bolus therapy, it's four injections a day: three short-term only injections (one with each meal), and one 24 hour background injection. It offers more flexibility, since you can inject an appropriate amount for whatever you feel like eating, rather than adjusting what you're having to what you injected hours ago.

It's important to do it regularly. Eating without injecting will rocket your blood sugar level right up, making you feel terrible: tiredness, thirst, and a constant need for the bathroom :p It also causes the body to break down the fats in order to get energy, since it can't use the sugar in the blood. This releases poisons called ketones into the blood.

Since I've got Type 1 diabetes, I'll always need injections. Diet alone can't control it.

I'm always happy to answer questions Although I don't understand all the sciency-type stuff behind it, which you should ask Kuat about, I know basically what's going on. Hope some of that helped.

how often you take insulin depends on the reginmen you're on - and there a several.

For example, Lantus, you take one shot of long lasting insulin a day at the same time every day and then whenever you eat, you take a shot of fast acting insulin. It's also known as the "poor man's pump".

a pump is a relatively new and pretty revolutionary system because you basically have all of the control. You have tubing conastantly sticking into you that you replace every 3 days in a new spot (if you overuse a spot, it'll have pretty negative consequences, and I know someone who used her stomach for 4 years and now can't at all because she built up scar tissue, which doesn't absorb the insulin) It is constantly sputing small doses (a Basal rate) at a regualar incriments (say it's .9 units per hour - some of the pumps then split that in to 3 minute incriments) It's all fast acting insulin. Then you dose an additional amount for whatever you eat. if you're excersizing (okay so I can't spell it) you may want to lower your basal rates, etc...

I also remember the old way, which is basically two shots of long lasting (obviously not as long as Lantus) every day, and you would mix in a fast acting dose, often depending on your blood sugar in the syringe. ("clear before cloudy") With that, though, you're absolutely on a schedule because you're not really dosing on what you've eaten. I guess it's a little hard to explain, but you have to eat a certain amount at certain times, because the insulin would "peak" at a certain time, meaning you would need a snack. So it basically schedules your life for you. God, I was on that for years, it sounds worse than it is.

Anyway, you can absolutely feel when you're high or low. Well at least you're supposed to be able to. Sometimes if you have bad control, or maybe for no real reason, you can't feel high or low blood sugars, but more often than not you can - and pretty distinctly.

[edit: heh, I basically just worte a book when LividDK27 said the exact same thing only more coherently. oh well]

[edit 2: Ruthy, are you sure you don't just have hypoglycemia? too much insulin? that would make a lot more sense. hyperglycemia is basically diabetes - type 2 at least.]

Is that why they call you Sugarless? Because you're diabetic?

That's clever.

thanks

Don't worry about it, it's nice to have someone back up what you say

Just as an aside: I wouldn't call ketones poison neccesserily; although they lower the pH which isn't good (as they are keto acids), it's an important backup fuel (being one for the brain) in case there isn't as much glucose.

Aside 2: a tell-tale sign of ketoacidosis (too many ketones causing low blood pH) is sweet smelling breath. Ketones are (fairly) volatile and can come out in the lungs.

I was 12 when I was told all this, so I guess I got the dumbed-down version

lol I was 8, but my mom's in medicine and the clinic I go to is big on the whole information thing. With that comibnation, I know more about medicine than I ever cared to.

I was 9, got the full blown explanation anyway. XD Not that I mind. I at least know what that insulin does that I inject five times per day.

This thread was interesting

I only know about anti-biotics though, since I've had every one available in the USA at one point or another. (Even that one above Vancomyacin)

A quick question though, for you more-knowledgable types:

My friend has diabetes, and he uses some odd regimine of insulin. It lets him eat however he likes, but he has to check his sugar alot, and tends to take more than just those 2 long shots. Anyone know exactly what this is?

probably Lantus, which means he takes just one shot of long lasting insulin and can eat what and when he wants, but he also has to take shots everytime he eats.