Blood Sugar Issues
One of the things cystic fibrosis impacts is blood sugar. Due to my mysterious blood sugar issues in childhood, I began trying to manage my mysterious health issue long before I got a proper diagnosis in my thirties.
Although I was dealing with low blood sugar, most people with CF eventually end up with a form of diabetes known as Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes (CFRD). I have been told this is neither Type 1 nor Type 2 diabetes.
At age fourteen I began trying to clean up my diet and at age seventeen I did a high school paper on Functional Hypoglycemia. At the time that I wrote the paper, there was no known cause for functional hypoglycemia and the only known treatment was to watch your diet and take extra vitamins.
There are other forms of hypoglycemia. I don't recall specific examples but I think one is like if you need to have your pancreas surgically removed.
Functional hypoglycemia means "You have low blood sugar and your body just works that way and we don't actually know why."
The primary dietary change you can make is avoid sugar and be careful about what kinds of carbohydrates you consume. In my late teens/early twenties, I spent a few years drinking unsweetened tea at fast food places and trying to get brown rice instead of white rice and that sort of thing.
I always did fine with potatoes. I'm a potato fiend and they never seemed to mess up my blood sugar, though I have heard from someone with CFRD (cystic fibrosis related diabetes) that potatoes spiked their blood sugar levels.
From hanging out on CF lists and various other activities, I know the following things about blood sugar:
I did nothing to treat my blood sugar issues per se. I did do a whole lot to treat other aspects of my condition, including working a great deal on addressing inflammation and I consumed aloe vera for a long time because that was helpful in healing my gut, among other things.
My stable blood sugar levels are a happy side effect of me addressing other things.
Inflammation seems to have two primary root causes: High acidity and infection. CF makes one very prone to both of those things and getting those two things under control has been a really major part of my efforts to get my condition under control so it is no longer just ruining my life.
Although I was dealing with low blood sugar, most people with CF eventually end up with a form of diabetes known as Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes (CFRD). I have been told this is neither Type 1 nor Type 2 diabetes.
At age fourteen I began trying to clean up my diet and at age seventeen I did a high school paper on Functional Hypoglycemia. At the time that I wrote the paper, there was no known cause for functional hypoglycemia and the only known treatment was to watch your diet and take extra vitamins.
There are other forms of hypoglycemia. I don't recall specific examples but I think one is like if you need to have your pancreas surgically removed.
Functional hypoglycemia means "You have low blood sugar and your body just works that way and we don't actually know why."
The primary dietary change you can make is avoid sugar and be careful about what kinds of carbohydrates you consume. In my late teens/early twenties, I spent a few years drinking unsweetened tea at fast food places and trying to get brown rice instead of white rice and that sort of thing.
I always did fine with potatoes. I'm a potato fiend and they never seemed to mess up my blood sugar, though I have heard from someone with CFRD (cystic fibrosis related diabetes) that potatoes spiked their blood sugar levels.
From hanging out on CF lists and various other activities, I know the following things about blood sugar:
- For some types of blood sugar issues, dietary changes can help substantially.
- Studies have shown aloe vera to be helpful with diabetes.
- Studies have suggested that lack of muscle mass may be a bigger factor in insulin resistance than excess fat. (Source)
- Inflammation is associated with diabetes.
I did nothing to treat my blood sugar issues per se. I did do a whole lot to treat other aspects of my condition, including working a great deal on addressing inflammation and I consumed aloe vera for a long time because that was helpful in healing my gut, among other things.
My stable blood sugar levels are a happy side effect of me addressing other things.
Inflammation seems to have two primary root causes: High acidity and infection. CF makes one very prone to both of those things and getting those two things under control has been a really major part of my efforts to get my condition under control so it is no longer just ruining my life.
