Carpal tunnel may be sign of impending diabetes

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Quigley_Sharps, Aug 19, 2006.


  1. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In more cases than would normally be expected, people who develop type 2 diabetes have a history of carpal tunnel syndrome. The wrist nerve problem sometimes predates the onset of diabetes by up to 10 years, according to a UK study.


    Led by Dr. Martin C. Gulliford, a team at King's College in London examined medical records for 644,495 patients in England and Wales. They identified 2647 patients diagnosed with diabetes between November 2003 and October 2004, and selected a comparison group of 5,294 "control" subjects matched for age, gender, and location.

    Medical records for up to 10 years before diabetes was diagnosed were reviewed for the first occurrences of carpal tunnel syndrome. Also, according to their report in the medical journal Diabetes Care, the researchers identified subjects diagnosed with Bell's facial palsy, a nerve disorder causing temporary paralysis of facial muscles.

    Results showed that, after accounting for other risk factors, the pre-diabetes group was 36 percent more likely to have had carpal tunnel syndrome in the past than the control group.

    Similarly, Bell's facial palsy occurred more often in the pre-diabetes group than in the control, but this turned out to be not significant from a statistical standpoint.

    Gulliford and his team suggest that high blood sugar levels "and associated metabolic abnormalities may contribute to causing these important focal peripheral nerve disorders before the diagnosis of diabetes."
     
  2. TailorMadeHell

    TailorMadeHell Lurking Shadow Creature

    I thought carpal tunnel was the symptom of something further afield than diabetes. :D

    Here we go again. Okay, I stubbed my toe a few years back, so does that mean I will have brain damage in a few more years? Geez. Modern Medicine seems to be more and more of an oxymoron. How in blue blazes can a hand problem mess with your blood? They don't know what they are doing anyways. As I have heard before, 'Science isn't a Science. It's a highly educated guess.'

    I don't see that there is anything to this other than a coincidence. I'm sure that not everyone that has developed CTS has now developed diabetes. And I am pretty sure that most who have diabetes have never had CTS. I've had wrist pains though not CTS and used to eat a ton of sugar and still no diabetes. I think maybe that those that had the CTS and developed diabetes may have had something else wrong with them and since the CTS is the only 'common thread', it is being put on lock down as a helper to acquiring diabetes. Could be wrong, I'm no scientist. Haha. Just my thoughts.
     
  3. Wild Trapper

    Wild Trapper Pirate Biker

    Quig, I edited out some of your post, but saved part. I was first diagnosed with high sugar about 10 years ago. It was well over the danger mark, like in the 400's range. Uncontrolled diabetes has the potential to do nerve damage long before a person even knows they are a diabetic.

    I had CTS about 8 years before I found out I was diabetic. Now I have it in both wrists, and sometimes have to wear wrist braces at night to sleep. For the same reason I can not train with weights, too much nerve relayed pain that tells my muscles, "You are never going to get past this pain." In fact, it wasn't that I was lifting all that much, just trying to keep muscles in tone.

    As for how much sugar you eat, it has nothing whatsoever to do with rather you become a diabetic. Don't believe me? Ask your doctor. Mine told me there are no forbidden foods for a diabetic, it's all in the portion size.

    BTW, thanks for the info, I found it an interesting, with the chance there might be something to the study.
     
  4. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    yup Trapper you are right when caught early diet and exercise can turn it around.
    This may well be warning to watch your blood before it strikes.
    5 days ago, a uncle of my wife has his leg taken off due to diabetes under the age of 50.
     
  5. Infidel

    Infidel Guest

    It is not a casuality chain in case you did not read the article. It just seems like it is one of the early warning signs. Maybe people who get CTS are also those that spend a lot of time in front of a computer sitting on their posteriors without movement. That PLUS average american diet WILL give you diabetes

    In japan, because of diet high in raw fish and pickled things there is a very high occurence of stomach. so they developed a technique where they look at the shape of the lungs on an ultrasound. lungs change shape in people that are on stages of cancer where the tumor is about the size of a matchhead.

    we are not talking about cancer so big it moves the lungs about. but lungs feel different to the ultrasound tecnician

    In any case. I would take their Highly Educated Guess over those that did not have that High Education to make a guess. What do you think "Science" means? Prophesy?

    "Science" changes all the time.
     
  6. Wild Trapper

    Wild Trapper Pirate Biker

    Infidel, You hit it on the head with a lot of the cause. Not so much that we spend so much time on the computer, but it robs us of the time we should spend staying more active. The doctor told me it's not so much my diet, food doesn't in and of itself cause diabetes, but being over weight and not exercising can bring it on. When I first found out I had it, my sugar was >400, in about 6-8 months I had taken off some weight, started exercising and had my sugar under control to where I had it down in the normal range. Even today, I can still manage it with a minimum of diabetes medication. Diet and exercise, two things lacking in todays couch potato lifestyle. :D
     
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