Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Everybody knows that insulin is the key hormone gone haywire in diabetes, right? Did you know it’s not the only one out of whack? Roger Unger and Alan Cherrington in The Journal of Clinical Investigation point out that another hormone—glucagon—is also very important in regulation of blood sugar in both types of diabetes.
Insulin has a variety of actions the ultimately keep blood sugar levels from rising dangerously high. Glucagon, on the other hand, keeps blood sugar from dropping too low. For instance, when you stop eating food, as in an overnight or longer fast, glucagon stimulates glucose (sugar) production by your liver so you don’t go into a hypoglycemic coma and die. It does the same when you exercise, as your muscles soak up glucose from your blood stream.
http://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/2015/07/what-you-need-to-know-about-glucagon/
Interesting article about that 'other' hormone! 🙂 Since my pancreas is still producing some insulin, this may account for why I am able to achieve good control more easily than a lot of others.
Insulin has a variety of actions the ultimately keep blood sugar levels from rising dangerously high. Glucagon, on the other hand, keeps blood sugar from dropping too low. For instance, when you stop eating food, as in an overnight or longer fast, glucagon stimulates glucose (sugar) production by your liver so you don’t go into a hypoglycemic coma and die. It does the same when you exercise, as your muscles soak up glucose from your blood stream.
http://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/2015/07/what-you-need-to-know-about-glucagon/
Interesting article about that 'other' hormone! 🙂 Since my pancreas is still producing some insulin, this may account for why I am able to achieve good control more easily than a lot of others.
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