Thoughts from a Doc: Why do my sugars DO that?!? (Part 3)

Today's post comes from Dr. Stuart Chipkin, Valley Medical Group's Endocrinologist and Diabetes Program Director

This is Part 3 of 3 of this series from Dr. Chipkin. So far we have heard his thoughts on exercise, food, insulin, and counter-insulin hormones. This week - his thoughts on a few remaining factors that can  influence your numbers. 

 Insulin-sensitizing hormones: these are sometimes called “incretins” because they increase the action of insulin.  There are now medications based on these incretin hormones which help to lower blood glucose levels and also have modest benefits on weight loss.  Examples are exenatide [Byetta] and liraglutide [Victoza].  Other medications inhibit the enzymes that break down the body’s own incretin hormones- these medications generally don’t help with weight loss- they include sitagliptin [Januvia], saxagliptin [Onglyza] and linagliptin [Tradjenta]

 Factors x, y, and z:  These are the wild cards that sometimes make it really hard to either predict or understand why glucose values do what they do.  Most of these won’t change blood glucose values by large amounts but can contribute to not having them be exactly on target.  Examples can include: hormonal changes during phases of the menstrual cycle, the efficiency or inefficiency of how food is absorbed from the intestines, emotional stresses, antibodies that some people make against insulin, etc. 

With all these different factors, and the ways that each of these factors can change blood sugar values, it’s pretty impressive we every get things close to being on target!!   This is where each individual has to learn their own personal diabetes and some of the “quirks” of how their body responds.