Several prominent dBloggers have posted this week about issues related to Driving While Low (DWL) and premature death. The subjects of these posts were people with Type 1 diabetes, which is the group with which we normally associate rapid-onset dissociative hypoglycemia. While this sort of hypoglycemia is certainly most common in Type 1 diabetes, it is occasionally seen in insulin-dependent Type 2. Most of the time, these lows would seem to be related to insulin activity peaking early or late -- or at least not in synch with one's food and drink.

Unfortunately, insulin is not always the culprit.

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Many of my friends and colleagues have been shocked and saddened by the recent deaths of actor Farrah Fawcett and musician Michael Jackson. Fawcett's struggle was against a relatively rare form of cancer -- a sadly painful decline, but straightforward in cause and effect. At this writing, the cause of Jackson's death is being reported as "cardiac arrest". Much like Type 2 diabetes, the clinical event can have a number of underlying causes; like Type 1, it can have a number of lead-in events. (READ MORE)

I received a comment on my post from yesterday that really struck a chord with me. The reader commented that their parents had died from diabetes and that they would die from it too.

When I read that I got choked up because honestly, I feel the same way.

Sure I plan on fighting the fight and checking my blood as often as I am supposed to. Of course I will continue to work on my A1C and losing weight. I am not giving up on life at all. But, in the back of my mind I “know” that diabetes is going to win in the end.

Will it be heart disease, kidney failure, or a stroke? Maybe something else. Who knows?

The fact is that with all the steps I take to live healthy the odds are against me. Diabetes has the upper hand which makes me sad and angry at the same time.

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