I still haven't see a full episode of The Celebrity Apprentice, but I know I'm going to have to start. Apparently, last week's episode was a love letter to radio. The task even included making spots for a client that is a major advertiser on WBT. (Hi, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing!)
I'd mentioned here that many of my friends have been pushing me to watch the show ever since Brett Michaels talked about having type 1 diabetes. It's strange to see him running around on the show when we all know he's been in the hospital. Some very good news on that front this week. Apparently, he's been released and his doctors expect him to make a full recovery.
I'd still like to know more about how his type 1 diabetes affected this situation. USA Today reports Michaels will "…probably continue to suffer from severe pain for another seven to 10 days as blood pooled under his brain dissolves. Michaels is a Type 1 diabetic, which limits the available options to ease discomfort."
Why? I've never heard about type 1 interfering with pain management. I'm going to ask my endocrinologist (you are warned Dr. V). I'll let you know what I find out. I'm guessing this is another example of the media not understanding what type 1 is all about (I'm looking at you, Dr Oz) but that may be wishful thinking. Easier to believe they got it wrong than to add another thing to worry about!
The only thing I know about is not being able to use any pain meds that contain acetaminophen (like Percocet) if you use a Dexcom CGM (possibly others as well) because it will give you false high readings, but I doubt that’s what they’re talking about.
From what I understand, usually after the initial hemmorage the blood kind of hangs around in the brain and the upper spinal cord area. It causes it to become irritated and swell up. Usually, they give the patient prednisone which can make the blood sugar rise. Normally you can just figure out an increased basal, but I’m guessing they didn’t want to risk any crazy highs because good control is essential for healing whatever was bleeding in his brain.
His doc actually talked about it a little bit in his press conference a few weeks ago but of course they’re not saying any of this in the articles written. I just know from watching the doc speak about it himself.