Brittle Diabetes and Its Effects

Just what is brittle diabetes? Brittle diabetes, known as "labile" , simply means that blood sugar is totally out of control. Anyone with unstable diabetes has wild blood glucose swings from super high down to super low within short periods of time around the clock. Imagine going from terrible hypoglycemia, and then swinging way back up to severe hyperglycemia? This unfortunately happens to some diabetics, especially type 1's much more than in type 2 cases.

What causes this problem with glucose control? Sometimes people with this type of diabetes have trouble with stomach emptying, (gastroperesis, which I'll discuss later), or hormonal malfunctions. Another frequent problem can also be trouble with insulin absorption.

Any diabetic with severely low blood sugar from high blood sugar may also have some problems pertaining to their thyroid gland, (hypothyroidism). If this is the case and cause for the unstable glucose control, then treatment with medicine can be given to correct the wild swings.

Sometimes people that have many emotional issues and stress have these unstable levels of blood sugars.

Blood sugar levels of people that have more stablized diabetes have blood sugars that will flucuate occasionally, but nothing like the swings of brittle diabetes.

People with labile diabetes who have no treatable cause that can be corrected are often very sickly, and miss either school or work a lot, and frequently hospitalized. These type of diabetics also have many more complications and medical problems connected.

It is said that unstable diabetes is not all that common, and more rare. The percentage of people with insulin dependent diabetes is around 3 in 1,000 of type 1 diabetics.

I've read that one small study says people with brittle diabetes do have a greater hormonal response to stressful situations, than those who do not have brittle diabetes.

Between women and men, women seem to be the ones who have this problem more often. The age ranges of people with brittle diabetes is usually between 15-30 years of age. The percentage of people with insulin dependent diabetes is around 3 in 1,000 of type 1 diabetics.

Sometimes people with this type of diabetes have trouble with stomach emptying,