OK. Although I wish this really were true (and then we could all just down a couple lake-size vats of water each time we eat and leave the needles in the dust), I am beginning to doubt the possibility of a hydration, blood-sugar correlation of a dramatic significance. Although I will keep an eye on it and report back every once in a while, I haven't seen much of a change between the two days I have poseted. Although I did drink a lot of water the other night; don't I wish that explained the 7 (yes, seven!) lows I had (in one night! I didn't even sleep for seven hours! In 24 hours, I went low 9 times!)
Wow. That's a lot...
Maybe you're drinking too much water. I know I wouldn't be able to stand the over-active bladder. I suppose the old adage is true: everything in moderation.
Mad Evans,
It is a nice way to add both fluid and exercise together...
Cheers!
A-D
:) Yeah, it was a lot. Needless to say, and for lack of a word that is in existance that can accurately describe this, I felt crummy that day. And then there was last weekend where for whatever reason I rode over 200 mg/dL all day. Every finger prick. (hah, I love how 'prick' translates on here!!) and felt a different kind of crummy. OK, I know full well that I'm looking for reasons here: but funny that I hadn't had any water the day I was high, and water the day I was low. I know, I know; I should stop reading into things :)
Maybe, because water affects your blood pressure, drinking some more water during the day, could theoretically thin out your blood slightly, whcih would also thin out the concentration of glucose in the blood?
I don't know, but that's an interesting idea.
Anybody know the answer as to why water helps bring blood sugars down from highs? Perhaps I will google it... off I go! Be back with, hopefully, answers :)
Water definitely affects blood pressure but I asked my physiology teacher about it affecting glucose in the blood and he said the effect was negligible.
He is a professor of physiology and I believed him, but I wouldn't quote him myself (like I just did[n't]).
[quote user="Alyssa"]Anybody know the answer as to why water helps bring blood sugars down from highs?[/quote]
i think my thing about concentration and dilution thinf i explained earlieer would explain it, it would make sense.
OK, I have Googled, and to no avail. Of course, there usually isn't much on Google that offers thorough, let alone likely explinations for these sort of things, but I figured it was worth a shot. Tell you what: I'll dig out my doctor's e-mail address and see what they have to say about it. I'll post back once they reply ;)
It is a "dilution thing" but you have to consider a few things. Although the concentration of the blood may change, the actual amount of glucose in the bloodstream, without insulin to carry it into the pancreas, remains relatively unchanged and may actually give you a false lower reading. And this actually would not be reflected in your A1C because the glucose is still bound to the red blood cells. So although BG levels may be temporarily altered, A1C would not be.
rmeadowsaprn,
I am not sure if I am misreading, confused or otherwise hitting one of my (many) knowledge gaps here but I need some help. You said "...without insulin to carry it into the pancreas..." I am assuming "it" is glucose. I thought insulin was used to carry glucose into the cells throughout the body for use as energy and your post seems to indicate that there is a central repository for use. It would be a dramatic paradigm shift for me, so I need to make sure I understand this correctly. Any light you can shed is appreciated. I am convinced I am mildly retarded in the areas of bio-chemistry and cellular biology so please be patient and slip in little words where you can!
Cheers!
A-D
Alyssa,
I think this is a great idea ... You should make a group and call it the Water experiment, explain what you are doing and see where that takes you. Maybe a lot of people will do this with you.
So sorry. I was writing way to fast and jumbled thoughts. Definately me not you. :o)
Digestion and absorption of glucose is a result of pancreatic release of enzymes, glycogen and insulin, absolutely. Glucose is converted to pyruvate in the liver, then converted to AcetylCoA which is needed for synthesis of fatty acids (triglycerides) which are prepared for storage in adipose tissue. Glucose storage occurs in both adipose tissue (ie. triglycerides) and muscle.
Muscle is a major consumer of glucose and thus does not transport glucose. The liver supplies all of the other organs with glucose. But the energy yield is the same. When glycogen is hydrolised, it is converted to glucose-1 phosphate then glucose 6-phosphate. Glucose 6-phosphate cannot cross the cell membrane. To do so it needs to be converted to glucose. This is done by an enzyme only located in the liver, glucose 6-phosphatase. Now the glucose is able to be transported to other organs. Muscle does not possess this enzyme so it cannot transport glucose.
Thanks for redirecting me!
Blood sugar is a measure of concentration, Dg/mL, meaning if you have two people with equal amounts of total sugar in their blood, say 100 decigrams for simplicities sake, and one person has 10 mL of blood, the other 5 (again for simplicity), their blood glucose readings would be 10 dg /ml, and 20 dg/mL. Water you drink can go into your blood, increasing your blood volume, so this is why you may see a correlation between hydration/lower blood sugar readings.
[quote user="Gina"]
Alyssa,
I think this is a great idea ... You should make a group and call it the Water experiment, explain what you are doing and see where that takes you. Maybe a lot of people will do this with you.
[/quote]
Gina,
I like that idea; would you mind elaborating a litte? I'm curious to hear what your idea is on that, but I'm a bit confused (just looking for the gist of your idea).
What I meant to say is I can create a group for you and name it the Water Experiment then you can make the discussion in there. This way we can keep track of everyone's progress?
No experience yet. I have been on Dexcom7 continous glucose monitoring for
a quarter, and I receive my Omnipod training next week.
I have read initial reviews about the adhesive being flaky and some pod
failures (pity because they are filled with insulin and I am still mixed as
to whether one can recoup from the reservoir). The people who love it seem
to absolutely love it. I hope some of the quality control issues (with
failures) have been resolved. I am prepared to reinforce the adhesive if
they tape problems persist, but I see this as a small price to pay for being
wireless.
Additionally, I believe that the Dexcom7 can be paired with the OmniPod, so
I hope to have more input as I start using it.
I would like to hear from others as well,
-Eddie
good luck with it. I guess we will probably be getting used to it at around the same time. Hope all goes well.
My son was diagnosed with Type1 at age 7 and within 6 months went on the Minimed 722 insulin pump. He was on that for a little over 3 years and then we switched to the Omnipod this past March. He loves the Pod! It's because it's tubeless. We're also seeing somewhat better BG's. The one drawback (negative) is that the Omnipod doesn't stick as well as we had hoped. Our son is SUPER active, he swims morning 'til night, plays baseball, football, etc., and we have to tape the pod in place to get it to stay on for 3 days at a time. We're hoping that when they come out with the smaller pod (soon, hopefully) it won't weigh as much and won't be as inclined to pull off. But meanwhile he does love being tubeless. Good luck to you, and I hope this alleviates some of your concern.
Thanks for the info. I appreciate it because I use the minimed. It is very easy to use. Maybe you can also tell me one other thing this is probably a stupid question but- I have seen the pod part but not the separate control part that you do the bolusing from - do you have to have that within reach at all times?