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What You Can Expect from Virtually Normal Blood SugarsArticles - Dr. Bernstein Shares His Insights Richard K. Bernstein, M.D., F.A.C.E., F.A.C.N., FCCWS is convinced from his personal experience, from the experiences of his patients, and from reading the scientific literature, that people with normal blood sugars do not develop the long-term complications of diabetes. Learn what your patients can expect when they fix their blood glucose.Diabetes Solution Revised and Updated 2007 Chapter 24 What You Can Expect from Virtually Normal Blood Sugars
MENTAL CHANGES Most common, perhaps, is the feeling of being more alert and no longer chronically tired. Many people who “feel perfectly fine” before their blood sugars are normalized comment later that they had no idea that they could feel so much better. Another common occurrence relates to short-term memory. Very frequently patients or spouses will refer to a patient’s “terrible memory.” When I first began my medical practice, I would ask patients to phone me at night with their blood sugar data for fine-tuning of medications. My wife, a physician specializing in psychoanalytic medicine, sometimes overheard my end of the conversation and would comment,“ That person has a dementia. ”Weeks later, she would again hear my end of a conversation with the same individual, and would comment on the great improvement of short-term memory. This became so common that I introduced an objective test for short-term memory into the neurologic exam that I perform on all new patients.* More than half my new patients indeed display this mild form of dementia, which appears to lift after several months of improved blood sugar. The improvement is usually quite apparent to spouses. DIABETIC NEUROPATHIES Diabetic neuropathies seem to improve in two phases—a rapid partial improvement that may occur within weeks, followed by sustained very slow improvement that goes on for years if blood sugars continue to remain normal. This is most apparent with numbness or pain in the toes. Some people will even comment,“ I know right away if my blood sugar is high, because my toes feel numb again.” On the other hand, several patients with total numbness of their feet have complained of severe pain after several months of near-normal blood sugars. This continues for a number of months and eventually resolves as sensation returns. It is as if nerves generate pain signals while they heal or “sprout.” The experience may be very frightening and distressing if you haven’t been warned that it might occur. * I recite six digits (Sam Spade’s license number) and ask the patient to repeat them in reverse order. Erectile dysfunction affects about 60 percent of diabetic males, and is the result of years of elevated blood sugars. It may be defined as an inability to maintain a rigid enough penile erection for adequate time to perform intercourse. It usually results from neuropathy, blocked blood vessels, or both. We can perform simple tests to determine which of these causes predominates. When the problem is principally neurologic, I frequently hear the comment, sometimes after only a few weeks of near-normal blood sugar profiles, “Hey, I’m able to have intercourse again!” Unfortunately, this turnaround only appears to occur if the man was able to attain at least partial erections before. If at the original interview, I’m told, “Doc, it’s been dead for years,” I know recovery is unlikely to occur. If testing shows that the problem was due primarily to blocked blood vessels, I never see improvement. Note, however, that it’s normal to be unable to have erections when blood sugars are too low, say below 80 mg/dl. Next feature: What You Can Expect from Virtually Normal Blood Sugars – Part 2 See The Rest of Dr. Bernstein's Feature Articles and Excerpts hereWatch for the Next FREE LIVE WEBCAST: with Dr. Richard K. Bernstein, who will answer questions from medical professionals and patients and it is free. Just go to www.diabetes911.net and register and ask a question if you like! To listen to the last webcasts go to http://www.thebernsteinconnection.com
Author’s Note For information on how you can purchase Diabetes Solution, go to www.Diabetes911.net Special for $18.45. Regular $29.95 A savings of 11+ dollars “The Secrets to Normal Blood Sugars” ORDER NOW!! www.diabetes911.net ALSO CHECK OUT Dr. Bernstein’s new site with all of his videos features and teleconference calls.
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I am convinced from my personal experience, from the experiences
of my patients, and from reading the scientific literature, that people with normal blood sugars do not develop the long-term complications of diabetes. I am further convinced that diabetics with even slightly elevated blood glucose profiles may eventually experience
some of the long-term consequences of diabetes, but they will develop more slowly and likely be less severe than for people with higher blood sugars. In this chapter, I will try to describe some of the changes that I and other physicians have observed when the blood sugars of our patients dramatically improve.
We would like to thank the publisher Little Brown and Company and Dr. RichardK. Bernstein, for allowing us to provide excerpts from Diabetes Solution 2007 Edition
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