The fundamental mystery that drives Type 4 Diabetes is why I (and by extension many other people) experience symptoms of severe diabetic hypoglycemia with glucose (blood sugar) levels between 90-100 — far above the "generally accepted" threshold of 40 or so. And, how could I experience these symptoms in the absence of insulin injections and/or oral diabetes medications?
The very early evidence points to an abnormal interaction between insulin and adrenaline, two critical hormones that have much to do with how our bodies store and use glucose. Among the many questions raised by an aberrant insulin-adrenaline reaction is the topic of insulin resistance that forms the basis of the accepted understanding of Type 2 Diabetes.
As opposed to Type 1 (an autoimmune destruction of insulin-producing cells), Type 2 is believed to develop when the normal absorption of glucose by cells is inhibited. The primary role of insulin is to "unlock doors" into individual cells so that glucose can enter and be used as fuel. In the absence of sufficient insulin levels or if a molecular shift takes place causing a change in the insulin "keys" and/or the "glucose door locks," then your cells do not get the proper amount of glucose fuel to function.
The Diabetes Prevention Program, the NIH's landmark study in the 1990s, concluded that exercise reduces insulin resistance. How? That is unknown, but exercise does improve the function of insulin and the flow of glucose into cells. The accepted wisdom, though, is that exercise somehow makes the "keys" fit more precisely into the "locks".
But, for the moment, what if exercise does not fundamentally change the "locks & keys"? Instead, what if exercise improves a faulty insulin-adrenaline interaction? A different reason for the same result.
A goal of my regimented exercise program over the next six months is to study how I react to a constant pushing of myself physically — to my limits and then to establish new limits. Will this exercise change the level of glucose at which time I experience symptoms of diabetic hypoglycemia and/or autonomic neuropathy?
Will my numbers change. And, if so, how low can I go?
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