insulin pumps

[SusanGene]

Ruth , the reason I know the herbs have a lot to do with his improvement is this: the day after he took his first doses of the herbs his glucose dropped fifty points. I could barely believe it. He kept taking them but the glucose was still way too high, although it was fifty points down. After a couple of months on the almost no sugar diet and the herbs his glucose began reducing fast. He does not take his blood sugar 3-5 times a day as we consider that a marketing ploy by the manufacturers of "diabetic supplies"
rather than concentrating on diet and supplements which of course are much more important than sticking your finger. He does that about twice a week. He has lost 2 pant sizes this year and with an A1C of 6.1 he must be doing something right. Again, he does take Actos (which they are looking at now for heart attack) but it wasn't doing a thing last year. He lives a total sedentary lifestyle as I do (but not as bad as his since I actually have responsibilities) . We were also thrilled by his PSA of 2. He is 66, total abstainer from tobacco and alcohol. SG

[Citycotton]

SG.... As a Type1 diabetic I must say I TOTALLY DISAGREE with you.. I wish I coud throw caution to the wind and say because I am taking supplements, eating the right food and exercising I do not need to check my sugars. As a T1 doing all the right things does not mean your sugars will fall in line. I have learned hard and fast that sugars can go high or low for no apparent reason, they sometimes have a mind of there own! If something were to go wrong with my insulin pen, I mis-counted carbs or any other little quirk of the day my numbers could sky-rocket. I NEED to test to see where I am so I can give a correction shot if necessary. With out numerous daily readings it is like driving a car blind...

[Mark1e]

Originally Posted by SusanGene

... the day after he took his first doses of the herbs his glucose dropped fifty points. .... After a couple of months on the almost no sugar diet and the herbs his glucose began reducing fast. .... He has lost 2 pant sizes this year and with an A1C of 6.1 he must be doing something right. ....

Susan,

A lot has been written and said about using herbs to treat type 2 diabetes. But they have generally not delivered on this promise. So I too am a bit sceptical. I would guess that the major improvement in control is the combined effect of a better diet and losing weight.

You will only know what effect the herbs are having by stopping them and keeping everything else the same. If the herbs were making much of a difference, you would expect to see an immediate and substantial deterioration in control after he stops taking them. Try it out and use the blood glucose meter to monitor the changes. Let us know what happens.

Mark

[dream77]

Originally Posted by Mark1e

Susan,

A lot has been written and said about using herbs to treat type 2 diabetes. But they have generally not delivered on this promise. So I too am a bit sceptical. I would guess that the major improvement in control is the combined effect of a better diet and losing weight.

You will only know what effect the herbs are having by stopping them and keeping everything else the same. If the herbs were making much of a difference, you would expect to see an immediate and substantial deterioration in control after he stops taking them. Try it out and use the blood glucose meter to monitor the changes. Let us know what happens.

Mark

On a side note, as far as I understand many of these herbs are more helpful to Type II diabetics acting like the way metformin does etc.
I wonder if any Type 1's could really benefit from these.

[SusanGene]

Originally Posted by Mark1e

Susan,

A lot has been written and said about using herbs to treat type 2 diabetes. But they have generally not delivered on this promise. So I too am a bit sceptical. I would guess that the major improvement in control is the combined effect of a better diet and losing weight.

You will only know what effect the herbs are having by stopping them and keeping everything else the same. If the herbs were making much of a difference, you would expect to see an immediate and substantial deterioration in control after he stops taking them. Try it out and use the blood glucose meter to monitor the changes. Let us know what happens.

Mark

He would never (I hope) consider stopping the herbs since his numbers were so terrible before he began taking them that he was told he HAD to go on insulin. It would be foolish and risky to gamble with his health in the manner you suggest. His blood pressure was even a nice 122/72 after a stock market crash and right in front of his doctor at age 66.
I do agree that stopping SUGAR in excess had a tremendous impact on his numbers, yes. With that came weightloss with the numbers dropping simultaneously.
So there is no doubt that diet is of supreme importance in diabetes management as opposed to the emphasis on buying "diabetic supplies" off of tv. I only wish that the word could get out to diabetics to stop eating all of that sugar (and drinking it) and quit relying on drugs so much that are causing increasingly large incidents of heart attack. The sugar lobbyists have been very effective in taking the public's mind off of avoidance of sugar(s) and having them purchase diabetic supplies and Amaryl instead.