Diabetes Juvenil

If you are like me you probably thought diabetes is one of those things you have or don't have; nothing could be further from the truth because diabetes is now the biggest threat to health in the developed world and we are eating ourselves into it because of poor diet.

First question is how prevalent is diabetes?
Using Australia as an example that has a total population of around 20 million inhabitants, in the last full year official figures show 70,000 people were diagnosed with diabetes during the year. That is equal to one extra person diagnosed every seven minutes 24/7.

At present 700,000 people are diagnosed with having diabetes and a conservative figure indicate that for each person diagnosed there is another that is not diagnosed but does suffer from diabetes. that is 1.4 million sufferers out of a total population of 20 million. - More than 5% and growing by the day. The organization Diabetes Australia forecast that by the year 2010 the number of sufferers could be close to 10% of population. This rate of increase is happening throughout the developed world and is caused by lack of exercise and poor diet. We could be quite cruel here and say that people are queuing to shorten their lifespan because diabetes does reduce your lifespan.

The answer to this epidemic is in the hands of each of us. We must exercise more and be more conscious of what we eat. Attention to diet should start from a very young age; in particular we should concentrate on serving sizes and avoiding fatty foods. Yes that does include every child's favorite burger and fries. Once a month does little harm if the children are active, once a week causes damage even if they are active.

We all need to be conscious of seven servings of fruit and vegetables each day in our diet and also the need to back a good diet with reasonable exercise, like walking. People most at risk of type 2 diabetes, the most common, are overweight and do not exercise. They may have high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol, if you fit this category ask your doctor to check for diabetes next time you visit.

I saved the scariest fact for last: The total number of people in Australia with diabetes or "pre-diabetes" is 3.2 million or 15.1% of the total population. Each of these people will have a reduced lifespan.

This article is (c) copyright David McCarthy 2006.

You might be thinking "What's the connection between diabetes and the menopause?"

Well, for ladies reaching that certain age, it can be very traumatic - especially when some of the effects experienced can easily be mistaken for those we have to be aware of when managing our diabetes...

For a diabetic taking medication, keeping blood sugars at the right level is a balancing act. If sugar levels drop too low, because of not eating enough or at the right times, you suffer a hypoglycemia episode (sometimes called 'hypo' for short). For me, this usually manifests itself as shaking; irritability; sweating and a faint-headed feeling.

If you are diabetic and have ever had low-blood sugar you may recognize some of these symptoms, amongst others. A quick 'glucose fix' usually settles it within 5-10 minutes.

Now, compare that to some of the symptoms of starting the menopause; hot flushes [I call them 'power-surges' ;)] - similar to the sweats of a hypo; mood swings - akin to the irritability you might experience during a hypo. It's very easy to confuse the symptoms you are feeling.

When I first started the menopause, I frequently confused waking at 2 a.m. in the morning in a cold sweat as a hypo and took a quick sugar boost to settle myself. That pushed my blood sugar levels up when I didn't need it. Not a good idea!

It was only after visiting my Doctor to talk about these frequent, unexpected hypos I discovered I was starting the menopause (I was in my late 40s, so it was rather unexpected, normally it doesn't occur until early-to-mid 50s).

If you are a lady, with diabetes controlled by medication, and you are in your early 50s and you start having frequent, unexplained hypos - check your sugar levels before 'treating the condition'. And get your Doctor to check your symptoms. You may be confusing symptoms of diabetes and the menopause.

And guys; if your lady normally has great control of her diabetes and suddenly seems to be showing the same symptoms when she was getting her diabetes into balance (if you knew her then) please be supportive and understanding, she's going through one hell of an experience, but I promise, she will come through and be her normal, loving and charming self once again.

Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most costly burdensome chronic diseases of our time and is condition that is increasing in epidemic population in the whole world. The complications resulting from the diseases are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality and are associated with failure of various organs such as the eyes, kidneys and nerves. Diabetics are also at a significantly higher risk for coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease and stroke and they have a greater likelihood of having hypertension dyslipidemia and obesity.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a serious disorder of the glands, of pancreas to be exact, called Madhumeha in Ayurveda. It is one of the most insidious disorders of the metabolism and, if left undiagnosed, may lead to rapid emaciation and ultimately death.

What are the types of Diabetes?

According to Ayurveda Diabetes is of two types: Diabetes Mellitus- Insulin dependent Juvenile Diabetes (IDDM-Type I) in which the body is unable to produce insulin and Non Insulin Dependent Adult Onset Diabetes (NIDDM-Type II) in which the pancreas produces insulin, but it is insufficient for reducing the blood glucose to normal levels.

What are the common symptoms of Type- 1 Diabetes? Some of the common symptoms of Type- 1 Diabetes are:

Excessive Thirst Frequent urination Unexplained weight loss Irritability Weakness Fatigue

What are the common symptoms of Type- 2 Diabetes? Some of the common symptoms of Type- 2 Diabetes are:

Loss off weight Numbness in hands or feet. Uncontrolled infections Pain in the limbs Inflammatory chest infections Dimness of vision, contrast Excessive thirst Body weakness

What are the different tests for Diabetes?

Urine Test: Some chemicals are added to a few drops of urine. Colour change indicates presence of glucose in urine.

Blood Test: In this, blood is taken to test the glucose level. This is more accurate test to confirm diabetes

Which parts of my body are affected by Diabetes?

Blood Vessels: Higher level of glucose damage the blood vessels. As a result of this most of the diabetic complications occur in blood vessels.

Heart: Diabetes affects the heart by: Increasing the amount of fat in blood and increasing the amount of homocysteine in blood.

Kidney: In diabetes because of increased levels of glucose, kidneys have to do extra work to retain essential substances and separate waste products to produce urine. This affects the small blood vessels and their capacity to filter. After many years of work, it leads to kidney failure.

Eyes: Diabetes affects blood vessels of the eyes. Damage to these blood vessels leads to eye problems like: Damage to retina, Cataract or total loss of vision

Foot: Damage to blood vessels reduces blood flow to the feet and increases risk of developing foot ulcers and infections.

Nerves: High glucose level for a long time damages nerves. Nerve damage reduces sensation in some parts of body which may lead to: Numbness and tingling, Fainting and dizziness

Home Remedies for Diabetes:

The best remedy for this disease is the bitter gourd, better known as ‘karela’. Eat this vegetable as often as you can or have at least one tablespoon of karela juice daily to reduce blood sugar levels in your blood and urine.

Amla, due to its vitamin C content is effective in controlling diabetes. A tablespoon of its juice, mixed with a cup of fresh bitter-gourd juice, taken daily for two months will secrete the pancreas and enable it to secrete insulin.

Take ten tulsi leaves, ten neem leaves and ten belpatras with a glass of water early morning on an empty stomach. It will work wonders in keeping your sugar levels under control.

The leaves of Butea tree are very useful in diabetes. They reduce blood sugar and are useful in glycousia.

Take two teaspoons of powdered Fenugreek seeds with milk. Two teaspoons of the seeds can also be swallowed whole, daily.

Eat 10 fresh fully grown curry leaves every morning for three months. It prevent diabetes due to heredity factors. It also cures diabetes due to obesity.

In 1986, Greg LeMond became the first American to win the largest single annual sporting event in the world, the Tour de France. LeMond went on to taste victory again in the 1989 Tour de France, and again one month later in the 1989 World Championships. Then, as a final coup before retiring from competitive cycling, LeMond won another historic Tour de France for the third time in 1990.

LeMond's legend has always been measured by his unrivaled levels of courage and tenacity and now, 20 years after the date of his first Tour de France triumph, he has taken on an equally courageous challenge-to find a cure for diabetes.

Greg LeMond joins the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as the Honorary Chairperson for Tour de Cure, the Association's premiere annual cycling event, which raises money for diabetes research, information, advocacy and public awareness efforts. Tour de Cure takes place nationwide and is a ride-not a race-that encourages people to dust off their bicycles and join thousands of other riders who are pedaling for a cure.

"I am proud to be the Honorary Chairperson for ADA's Tour de Cure event," says LeMond. "The Tour de Cure is one powerful way for all of us to become champions in the fight against diabetes."

Nearly 21 million children and adults have diabetes, a 14 percent increase since 2003. Another 41 million people are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is the fifth leading cause of death by disease in the United States.

Greg LeMond will be on hand to present the top Tour de Cure fundraisers with the Champion for Diabetes Award. Top fundraisers will also qualify to win one of several official LeMond Bicycles donated by the champion himself.

The Tour de Cure national presenting sponsor is Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Other sponsors include Gold's Gym, Performance Bicycles, LeMond Fitness, Discovery Health Channel, and LeMond Racing Cycles-the official bicycle of the Tour de Cure.

INTRODUCTION
Ya you might have come across this diabetes pain and you don’t know the reason. For this you might have visited some of the doctors for which they might have given you n number of medications. These medications might have not cured your diabetes pain. For this reason you began to surf at net to find a solution of this so to come out of it with a natural treatment. You might be realizing now the true health problems of the people with this diabetes. Although you have told that no one knows why you now have it. Do you believe that there are answers out there and it just doesn't make sense that doctors won't tell you? This is a good decision.
You might go on searching it and reading number of web pages about diabetes pain treatment. You will realize that the people are just selling products that mask the problem and require you to buy their product. You can't afford that, and even if you can, it still doesn't tell you WHY you got it.
If any of this sounds a little familiar and you are at a point where you just want the simple truth about why you have it and how to fix it, they you can stop looking, as you have found it here.

"We want you to experience just how great it feels being healthy again. Imagine how great you will feel playing games again with the children because you have energy like you did when you were a child yourself".

So, please read on....
Hello, My name is Mahendra and I must tell you, "I suffered a lot from past 17 years with this diabetes pain. Here I would feel great to share my experience with you regarding the treatment that I had at this center. I was worried because as this diabetes pain was not cured for more than a decade. I used to take all type of medications like allopathic, ayurvedic. But yet I could not come away of this pain. I used to have more than six tablets a day. I was fed up with these by which I turned myself to this center where I got the dietary supplements for my pain. These are working on me and its like a natural treatment with no harm at all.

"If we could show you a simple yet affective way of eliminating your diabetes pain in record time with no fuss, would you jump at the chance to do it"?
"Just imagine how good you will feel with the weight dropping off and your energy coming back by diabetes pain treatment".

Extra Information
Introducing a new style of information with simple facts” Cure diabetes pain treatment forever” gets straight to the point and lets you know what you need to do to cure yourself of this illness. Finally, someone will reveal to you the truth of this, so called disease.

What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Because diabetics have a problem with insulin, their bodies can't use glucose for energy, which results in elevated blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) and the eventual urination of sugar out of their bodies.

There are three main types of diabetes:
* Type 1 (insulin-dependent and previously called juvenile diabetes). Type 1 diabetes is associated with a malfunctioning pancreas, which does not produce adequate amounts of insulin. It develops most often in children and young adults.
* Type 2 (noninsulin-dependent, or adult-onset). Type 2 diabetes is associated with insulin resistant cells. It is much more common and usually develops in older adults. Type 2 diabetes is now being found at younger ages and is even being diagnosed among children and teens.
* Gestational (pregnancy-related). Some women develop diabetes during pregnancy. Although it goes away after pregnancy, these women have a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes later in life.

Diabetes Facts
Here is a list of interesting, informative, and maybe terrifying facts about diabetes:
* Diabetes is the 6th Leading cause of death in US: 150,000 per year
* 20.8 million people in US (7% of population) have diabetes
* For every person that is diagnosed, many remain undiagnosed
* 8 million people remain undiagnosed
* Newly diagnosed cases growing at an epidemic rate
* Recent information indicates diabetes growing at 6% per year
* About 176,500 people aged 20 years or younger have diabetes
* Overall, the risk for death among people with diabetes is about twice that of people without diabetes of similar age

Some diabetes symptoms include:
* Frequent urination
* Excessive thirst
* Extreme hunger
* Unusual or Unexplained weight loss
* Increased fatigue
* Irritability
* Sudden or Blurry vision changes
* Tingling or numbness in hands or feet
* Poor ciculation
* Poor sleep
* Feeling very tired much of the time
* Irritability
* Very dry skin
* Sores that are slow to heal
* More infections than usual

Complications of Diabetes
* Eye disease and blindness
* Kidney disease
* Diabetic neuropathy
* Amputations
* Cardiovascular disease
* Pregnancy complications
* Flu- and pneumonia-related deaths
* Sexual Dysfunction

Alternative Natural Treatments
There are several components to a natural diabetes treatment like:
1.Medicines
2.Self-help
3.Diet
4.Exercise
5.Supplementation
6.natural supplementary diets
7.Glucose/Sugar
8.Insulin Therapy

Diabetes remains an epidemic in the U.S., but experts are now more concerned that certain populations may not be getting the right kind of treatment because of their ethnic and cultural beliefs.

Physicians can't use a one-size-fits-all approach to treating patients with diabetes; physicians, families and community leaders must work together to develop culturally specific programs, according to Dr. Kevin McKinney, Minority Health Affairs Committee chairman of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

Cultural viewpoints of medicine and disease only compound the issue, said McKinney, who spoke at a recent American Medical Association media briefing on diabetes.

For instance, in some societies, religion influences one's physical and emotional well-being equally. When an illness occurs, a family may seek out the advice of a religious leader before consulting a physician, which would delay treatment and increase the risk of complications.

"Most people in these communities don't even know they're at risk," McKinney said. "They may know about diabetes and its effects, but they're unaware that living a healthy lifestyle can help reduce their risk."

McKinney stresses that education is the key to eliminating the prevalence of diabetes in certain communities and suggests programs that pair education with a cultural activity.

"Programs held at community and religious centers can focus on diabetes risk factors and some of the healthier approaches to traditional foods that may help in reducing those risks," McKinney said.

More than 21 million Americans now have diabetes - a number that experts say may climb as high as 31 million by the year 2050. Every 24 hours, another 4,100 people in the United States are diagnosed with the disease.

But despite these dire statistics, Dr. Frank Vinicor, director of the Division of Diabetes Translation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says that the medical community is making great strides to combat this epidemic.

"We know that you do not have to develop type 2 diabetes if you're at high risk, and that if you do have diabetes, you don't have to lose your eyes, your feet or your heart," Vinicor said at the briefing.

The overall outlook for diabetes is beginning to improve, Vinicor said.

"The rates of amputations and end-stage kidney disease due to diabetes are actually beginning to fall," he said. "The preliminary data indicate that fewer people with diabetes are dying. So we're seeing some light at the end of the tunnel."

Almost one third of all people with diabetes don't know they have it. The symptoms seem so harmless, like symptoms of just getting older. This article goes into the different types of diabetes and some of the common symptoms of each to help you understand diabetes a little better.

In this article we'll go over the three main types of diabetes. They are Type 1, Type 2, Gestational diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes

This type of diabetes has also been called insulin-dependent and immune-mediated diabetes. It occurs when your body can't produce insulin. The immune system attacks insulin producing cells in the pancreas. This type of diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes increases the risk of other serious complications such as heart disease, nerve damage, blindness, and kidney damage.

Some of the symptoms include increased thirst, increased urination, weight loss even with increased appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fatigue, and absence of menstruation

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the most common type that fails to be diagnosed. It progress slowly and causes symptoms such as skin infections, poor healing, kidney problems, and vision problems. It is ordinary that neither these complications nor the diabetes is diagnosed after years of mild symptoms.

The problem is usually that people have no severe symptoms and do not seek medical care at all. They just think of the symptoms as simply getting older. For this reason it is important to get regularly tested for diabetes in the most common age group (over 40's). Less commonly a doctor may treat other diseases, without realizing to test for diabetes.

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes occurs during a woman’s pregnancy. Pregnant women who have never had diabetes before but have high blood sugar levels during pregnancy are said to have it. It affects 4 percent of all women during pregnancy.

Symptoms include Increased thirst Increased urination Weight loss in spite of increased appetite Fatigue Nausea and vomiting Frequent infections including those of the bladder, vagina, and skin Blurred vision.

Gestational diabetes can be missed in pregnancy. It usually starts with mild symptoms that often can be attributed to other things. It’s important to get tested during pregnancy because the high blood sugars from gestational diabetes can do harm to the baby and sometimes lead to other complications.

Even if you’re not pregnant, you should make it a priority to get tested. Many women have gestational diabetes and think about their symptoms as being usual during pregnancy. You never know, maybe it is, but it’s always a good idea to get tested.

If you’re having any of the symptoms for diabetes, it’s important to see your doctor. Even if you think it’s absolutely nothing. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Take this test to see if you are at risk for having diabetes. Diabetes is more common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. If you are a member of one of these ethnic groups, you need to pay special attention to this test. Write in the points next to each statement that is true for you. If a statement is not true, put a zero. Then add your total score.

1. I am a woman who has had a baby weighing more than nine pounds at birth.

Yes 1 ______

2. I have a sister or brother with diabetes.

Yes 1 ______

3. I have a parent with diabetes.

Yes 1 ______

4. My weight is equal to or above that listed in the chart.

Yes 5 ______

5. I am under 65 years of age and I get little or no exercise.

Yes 5 ______

6. I am between 45 and 64 years of age.

Yes 5 ______

7. I am 65 years old or older.

Yes 9 ______

TOTAL

Scoring 10 or more points: You are at high risk for having diabetes. Only your health care provider can check to see if you have diabetes. See yours soon and find out for sure.

Scoring 3 to 9 points: You are probably at low risk for having diabetes now. But don't just forget about it. Keep your risk low by losing weight if you are overweight, being active most days and eating low-fat meals that are high in fruits and vegetables and whole grain foods. Diabetes is a serious disease that can lead to blindness, heart disease, strokes, kidney failure and loss of a limb.

Every day, in the United States, more than 2000 new cases of diabetes are diagnosed. Type II diabetes, the most prevalent form of diabetes worldwide, often shows few or even no symptoms!

After eating, food is broken down into what is known as glucose, a sugar carried by the blood to cells throughout the body. Using a hormone known as insulin, made in the pancreas, cells process glucose into energy.

Because cells in the muscles, liver, and fat do not use insulin properly in the body of a person with type II diabetes, they have problems converting food into energy. Eventually, the pancreas cannot make enough insulin for the body's needs. The amount of glucose in the body increases, and the cells are starved of energy.

This starvation of the cells, paired with the high blood glucose level can damage nerves and blood vessels. This leads to complications such as kidney disease, nerve problems, blindness, and heart ailments.

There are a lot of factors that can help to attribute to diabetes cases - lifestyle, environment, heredity - and those who are at risk should be screened regularly to prevent diabetes. Those that are already diagnosed with diabetes should aim to keep their glucose level under control.

But how do you know if you have type II diabetes? After all, it has few symptoms, often no symptoms in some patients. However, if you notice an increased thirst or hunger, a change in weight, or blurred vision, getting tested for type II diabetes is necessary, as only your doctor will be able to help you find the treatment steps necessary to being able to manage your life with diabetes.

Simple changes such as eating right, managing your weight, and keeping your blood sugar level under control may be enough. However, you doctor may prescribe diabetes-regulating medications to assist you in controlling your type II diabetes.

Diabetes is a serious ailment with extreme consequences if it isn't treated properly. But if you follow your doctor's advice and maintain both your lifestyle and blood sugar levels, you can help to prevent the more serious consequences from occurring.

This article is for information purposes only and is not meant to treat, diagnose or prevent any ailment or disease. See your physician for proper diagnosis and treatment.

The FDA has for all practical purposes killed Avandia. Patients will have to be given a scary disclosure form to sign if it is prescribed and it can't be prescribed without the doctor filling in paperwork explaining why the patient couldn't be put on Actos.

The flaw here is that Actos is just as dangerous a drug. Here is a brief list of the problems with Actos. You can find the citations to the studies backing up each of these statements on this page: Actos and Avandia: Dangerous Diabetes Drugs.

1. Actos can cause heart failure in young people who did not have any signs of heart failure before taking it. Heart failure is a weakening of the heart muscle that is almost always fatal after a number of years of increasing debility.

2. Actos taken over long periods of time damages the structure of the arm and leg bones in a way that causes fractures. By the time these fractures occur, it is too late to do anything about the damaged bones because how Actos works is that it turns the stem cells that should have turned into bone cells into fat cells which absorb glucose and turn it into body fat. That's a heckuva way to lower blood sugar, but that is what it does.

3. Actos makes people gain weight in the form of new fat cells that they are stuck with forever even if they stop the drug. (See #2 for why.)

4. Actos has been shown in studies to be less effective than the wimpiest high carb dietary changes (mostly calorie restriction) and mild exercise. Actos is far less effective than the adoption of a diet of 100 g a day of carbohydrate or less.

5. Actos causes macular edema--i.e. swelling in the most sensitive part of the retina which causes blindness.

6. Actos appears to raise the risk of bladder cancer. This occurs when the drug is taken for a longer period or at higher doses.

You risk all this in exchange for an average drop in A1c of .2% (at the 15 and 30mg doses) and .9% drop at the 45 mg dose at which bladder cancer becomes an issue. And those drops are in a population whose average A1c was 10% at the start of the study, meaning that after taking this dangerous drug for 6 months they still had A1cs in the 9% range we know will cause blindness, amputation, kidney failure and heart attack death. That finding is reported, somewhat deceptively here:

Official FDA Required Actos Prescribing Information

In contrast to this miserably poor improvement, hundreds of people who cut down on their carbs following the advice you will find HERE report dropping A1cs from 10% or more down to the 5%-6% range at which complications are very, very rare.

 Posted byJennyat9:48 AM

Though doctors call them "diabetic" complications, many studies conducted in cell cultures, animals, and humans, which you can read HERE, point to the conclusion that organ damage due to high blood sugars starts at levels that doctors label "prediabetic."

Now another study--one that looked at the factors causing post-operative infections has come up with the same finding.

The study is:

Postoperative Hyperglycemia and Surgical Site Infection in General Surgery Patients Ashar Ata et al. Arch Surg. 2010;145(9):858-864. doi:10.1001/archsurg.2010.179

You can read a good summary of this study, with more information than is found in the abstract here: Science Daily: Postoperative High Blood Sugar Appears to Be Associated With Surgical Site Infection

The researchers examined the records of 2090 patients. For 1561 of these patients, blood sugar measurments were recorded and 803 of these blood sugar measurements were taken within 12 hours of surgery.

The researchers found that in the group as a whole the following factors were predictive of surgical site infection (SSI): increasing age, emergency status, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status classes P3 to P5, operative time, more than 2 U of red blood cells transfused, preoperative glucose level higher than 180 mg/dL... diabetes mellitus, and postoperative hyperglycemia. But here's where things get interesting. Because the researches found that, After adjustment for postoperative glucose level, all these variables ceased to be significant predictors of SSI; only incremental postoperative glucose level remained significant. And what was the postoperative glucose level at which bad things started to happen?

Readers of this blog, don't all answer at once, but you're right!

It was 140 mg/dl the very same blood sugar level we have long been telling people with diabetes should be the very highest they ever let their blood sugar reach if they can possibly avoid it.

In the type of surgery studied in which post operative infection was by far the most common--colorectal surgery, where 14.11% of patients suffered infections, the researchers found that those with blood sugars higher than 140 mg/dl were over three times more likely to suffer infection as those without.

Science Daily also quotes the full text article as saying, In conclusion, we found postoperative hyperglycemia to be the most important risk factor for surgical site infection in general and colorectal cancer surgery patients, and serum glucose levels higher than 110 milligrams per deciliter were associated with increasingly higher rates of post-surgical infection.WHEN YOU MUST HAVE SURGERY

What makes this study so important is this: If you go in for a major procedure it is almost 100% certain that, despite your protests, the anesthetist will hook you up to a glucose drip before surgery. This guarantees that no matter how perfectly you have been eating, your blood sugar will be at least 140 during your surgery--a number that surgeons, trained to believe that 200 mg/dl (11.1 mmol/L) is "Diabetic" will tell you was a "nice normal blood sugar" as mine did.

The only way to avoid this is to negotiate it with the surgeon before you commit to the surgery and get it in writing in a form that you can give to the hospital staff before the surgery.

No matter what you have been told orally, the staff in the hospital will listen only to the surgeon and pay attention to you only if they see written instructions that look like they could lead to a law suit.

Unfortunately, if my experience is anything to go by, getting such written instructions may be impossible, even with an otherwise excellent surgeon. Therefore, it would be a good idea to print out this study and keep it in your file of important medical papers so that you can take it with you when you have your preliminary meeting with the surgeon.

Once your surgery is done, you are not out of the woods. The food you will be given in the hospital will be the "diabetic menu." This may be called a "Carb-controlled diet" (It was at the hospital I stayed in) but this is misleading. It is, in fact, the same old dangerously high carb/ low fat diet that nutritionists still defend to the death--the death of the patients with diabetes who eat it.

For breakfast you'll be offered toast with jelly but no butter, cereal with skim milk, and sugary fruit, so that you face the choice of starving or raising your blood sugar well over that 140 mg/dl level. The rest of your meals will be thin slices of fat free mystery meat and starchy veg, with fruit--canned in corn syrup--for dessert.

Again your only defense here is signed orders from your doctor, which may be very hard to attain. That is because most doctors do NOT understand that the carbs you eat are what raise your blood sugar. They really don't.

And they remain convinced that blood sugars up to 200 mg/dl are not dangerous and that it is a mysterious disease called "diabetes" that harms people, not exposure to high blood sugars.

Doctors also believe, without question, that high fat diets cause heart attacks and that it is much healthier for you to eat that toast and jelly than a fresh egg.

So before you go into a hospital for elective surgery, if possible, get a letter, signed by your surgeon or another doctor who practices at the hospital where you are having your surgery ordering the nutrition staff to allow you to order at will from the regular menu and forbidding them to make you eat foods from the "diabetic" menu.

If it isn't possible, arrange for friends or family members to bring you the foods you need to eat to keep your blood sugars normal. Arrange to go home where you have control over your food supply as soon as it is possible.

If you are forced to go to a nursing home after surgery, make sure that your doctor orders the nursing home staff to allow you or a chosen family member who understands your dietary needs to control what you eat and, again, forbid the use of the "diabetic" diet. Otherwise, you will be forced to eat the high carb/low fat diet that will raise your blood sugar and make surgical infection more likely.

 Posted byJennyat9:41 AM

Many of the vitamins like Vitamin B complex, Thiamine or Vitamin B1 and Pyridoxine or Vitamin B6 are great controller of diabetes. Other vitamins like vitamin C and vitamin E also works great in controlling diabetes. Have a look on the benefits how they can help you controlling your diabetes.

Vitamin C - Vitamin C is considered highly beneficial in treating diabetes. Because of stress, urinary losses and destruction by artificial sweeteners, the vitamin C requirement is usually high in diabetics. Large amounts of this vitamin sometimes bring very good results. Dr. George V Mann in Perspective in Biology and Medicine recommended extra vitamin C for diabetics. Natural insulin output increases in diabetics with supplementary doses of vitamin C.

The intake of vitamin C in the form of dried Indian gooseberry (amla), the richest known source of vitamin C, or tablets of 500 mg or from natural sources of vitamin C besides amla, are citrus fruits, green leafy vegetables, sprouted Bengal gram and green grams.

Vitamin E - This vitamin reduces considerably the devastating vascular damage accompanying diabetes. Dr. Willard Shute in The Complete Book of Vitamins recommends 800-1600 IU of vitamin E a day to prevent arterial degeneration in diabetes.

A Swedish study also supports vitamin E therapy for treating diabetes. Vitamin E helps diabetics decrease their insulin requirements. It would be advisable for a diabetes patient to take a daily dose of 200 IU of this vitamin for a fortnight at a time.
Rich Sources of Vitamin E. Valuable natural foods sources of this vitamin are wheat or cereal germ, whole grain products, fruits and green leafy vegetables, milk and all whole raw or sprouted seeds.

Other rich sources of vitamin E are cold pressed crude vegetable oils, especially sunflower seeds, safflower, and Soya beans oils, raw and sprouted seeds and grains, alfalfa, lettuce, almond, human milk etc.

Vitamin A - Diabetics are unable to convert beta-carotine to vitamin A. A supplement of this vitamin, therefore, becomes necessary. A dose of 15000 IU on alternate days is considered adequate by some authorities.

White Flour

Wheat is the most common cereal used throughout the world for making bread. It is a good source of energy. With its essential coating of bran, vitamins and minerals, it is an excellent health-building food.

Wheat is usually ground into flour for use as food. However refined wheat flour constitutes a serious health hazard of the various processed foods being used today for their delicious taste, white flour (maida) is especially harmful. The colossal loss of vitamins and mineral in refined wheat flour has led to widespread prevalence of constipation and other related disgestine disturbance and nutritional disorders, particularly diabetes. The consumption of white flour is thus an important contributory cause of diabetes, and its aggravation, if the disease has already developed.

White Salt

Common salt or sodium chloride is a major factor in maintaining the acid base equilibrium of the body. It is also essential for the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Thus, while a certain amount of salt essential for the body system, it is required in very small quantities, ranging from 10 to 15 g per day.

Excessive use of salt puts extra burden on the kidneys, may cause high blood pressure, which is closely linked with diabetes. Excessive intake of salt promotes water retention in the body, which in due course may lead to obesity, which is a potent cause of diabetes. Too much salt is thus harmful and may promote or hasten the onset of diabetes.

Salt (sodium chloride) and sodium preservatives are added to most processed foods. A sodium-controlled diet must avoid or limit salted snacks; pickles and many others processed convenience foods.

Tea and Coffee

Drinking tea and coffee is a serious health hazard for the diabetic. The most alkaloid principle in both tea and coffee is caffeine. Caffeine is an addictive drug similar to cocaine in as much as it stimulates the central nervous system. While these effects are short-lived, it has been observed that they lead to withdrawal symptoms of irritability, lethargy, headaches and anxiety. The daily intake of tea and coffee causes indigestion and gas formation, diarrhea, and constipation. They also increase the blood sugar level, which may lead to diabetes or aggravate its symptoms where the disease is already present.

What do you mean by diabetes

Diabetes occurred due certain metabolic disorder and mal functioning of the pancreas, which leads towards excessive urination, thirst, weakness and restlessness. The Diabetes can be divided into two categories Diabetes mellitus and Diabetes insipidus.

Diabetes mellitus (type one):

In diabetes mellitus body unable to make insulin. Insulin helps the body to convert the sugar from the body into energy source. The patient is insulin dependent. Type one diabetes is very prevalent among young children, young and adults.

Diabetes insipdus (type two)

Diabetes insipdus results due to insulin defective in insulin production and tissues resist to insulin production. In type-2 diabetes, daily supplement of insulin is not necessary. The patent is insulin non-dependent. Controlling diet and doing moderate physical exercises can control type two diabetes.

Diabetes is often slow and silent in effecting a person, an individual may not notice or feel its existence. The tissues of eyes, kidneys, the nerves and the blood vessels of the heart are target areas, which are attacked by diabetes.
Diabetes cannot be cured permanently but it can be controlled to great extend.

Causes of diabetes: Excessive eating containing sugar, obesity, lack of exercise, tension and stress and heredity.

Treatment of diabetes with natural products:

People are reluctant and repulsive towards high dose medicines containing different chemicals, which have severe side effects like head reeling, shivering, tiredness, dizziness and skin allergy. So it is better to opt natural treatment using natural products for the treatment of diabetes, which is safe and free from any side effects. Natural products are cheaper and easily available.

Some herbs are highly recommended for the treatment of the diabetes. Important Diabetic Natural Remedy Considerations:

1. Consumption of sugar in large quantity for long time may lead to blood sugar level complications

2. Don’t take fatty food, must take fruits and vegetables containing fiber. Fiber reduces blood sugar levels.

3. Avoid direct sugar intake (sugars found in raw fruits or whole grains react on the body differently)

4. White flour based food products increases the chances of diabetes and it will increase the blood sugar level. Avoid taking these foods.

5. Diabetes must be checked up regularly, especially the blood sugar level or it can be dangerous and fatal if it is ignored.

Gymnema: Improves insulin levels in the body. It controls and destroys sugar-craving habits of a patient. This herb also helps in lowering blood sugar level. It can be used for 18 months and more for positive result.

Fenugreek: Helps in glucose tolerance and breaking the glucose and excrete through urination. Keeps blood sugar level balanced and stable.

Cayenne: works as health tonic and tones blood circulation.

Dandelion: It takes care of the liver, which breaks nutrients into glucose.

Kidney Beans: Helps in detoxifying the pancreases.

There are some herbal diabetic supplement, diabetic vitamins such as Chromium GTF tablets and Chromium Picolinate capsules to control diabetes. Other sugar control supplements are SLIM 3, chromium and niacin, chromium picolate, liver and gall formula, multi vitamins, and food powders exclusively based on natural herbs.

Treatment of diabetes through Homeopathic Medicines

Homeopathy medicines are also very effective for the treatment of diabetes.

Uranium Nitrate: this remedy helps in reducing sugar level in the blood and helps in digestion and decreasing sugar in the urine.

Syzygium jambolanum: It is a remedy helps in decreasing sugar in urine if it is taken in lower dose.

Phosphoric acid: It helps the patient having diabetes due to nervous origin. When the urination is increased and the color of urine is milky containing sugar the phosphoric acid to be thought of. It is a great remedy to cure diabetes mellitus when it is rudimentary stage.

Lactic acid: one of the best remedies for diabetes due to gastric origin. The symptoms are frequent urine; urine is yellow, much thirst, nausea and debility, dry skin, much gas in stomach and dry tongue. If these symptoms are present then lactic acid is the best remedy for it.

Acetic acid: it helps to reduce frequent urination and it also abates severe thirst and dry skin.

Bryonia: If symptoms like bitterness in the taste , dryness of the lips and weakness then Bryonia is first remedy to be remembered

There are other remedies such as Chionanthus and Argentum mettalicium good for the treatment of diabetes.

Diabetes can be controlled and a patient can lead normal life if he takes care of himself by adopting right treatment.

I was told in rapid succession that I was suffering from intermittent claudication (that’s blocked arteries in the legs), high blood pressure, Diabetes Type 2. and that I was overweight.

Not a lot of pleasure there! The intermittent claudication made it increasingly difficult to do much, so that in effect I had become a prisoner to my house and garden. Exercise was out of the question, my legs simply couldn’t cope, but it was hoped that angioplasty to each leg would cure the problem. It didn’t.

My high blood pressure, I was assured, could be treated by a cocktail of drugs and by weight loss. The cocktail of four different drugs worked, but I could not seem to lose weight.

So I was given a choice: the blood sugar levels could be controlled either by drugs or by diet. Since I was already taking four different drugs for blood pressure, I thought it best to try diet control. I was also hopeful that this might help me to lose weight. But where to start? My diabetic nurse provided me with a blood sugar monitor and said I should aim to stay under 9 as my reading. My Doctor said to stay under 7. Now she has reduced this to under 5. My current long-term reading is 5.3. A big drop from the high readings I used to produce.

So what did I do? At first I was taking blood samples three times a day and was truly astonished at how my blood sugar jumped about. Plain porridge and water, which I absolutely loved, would produce a reading of 16 and yet, being a slow release multigrain, I had always assumed it would be good for my health. A single apple, showed a reading of 12! Tea with milk but no sugar, 10. Obviously there was more to this than met the eye.

The first learning point was that the body needs water and lots of it. Out went sugared fizzy drinks and in came plain boiled water. The Swedes call it Silver Tea, I’m told, and it is very refreshing. Now a cup starts every day and two or three more follow. Low calorie tonic water is also useful (the quinine helps prevent cramps), mineral water (I especially like carbonated forms), low calorie Ginger Beer and cold filtered tap water.

The next, crucial, learning point: control your carbohydrate intake, in my case to under 40gms a day. Eliminate bread, cakes, sweets, pasta, rice, cereals, biscuits, sugars, fruit juice, potatoes, honey, jam, marmalade, baked beans. Reading the food labels is a real eye opener!

Instead, increase your intake of vegetables and low carbohydrate foods & fruits. All of the following are particularly good: Broccoli, cabbage, spinach, runner beans, brussels sprouts cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, swede, squashes, celeriac, green salads. Fruit can be very high in sugars, so use in moderation. Choose rhubarb, grapefruit, raspberries, loganberries, strawberries, blueberries, all of which are O.K. Do not add sugar, of course, so sweeten with cinnamon instead. Avocadoes are low in carbohydrates, but high in fat, so eat no more than half a fruit a day. Add nuts and seeds to your diet, again in small amounts.

As far as alcohol is concerned, all beers are out. One or two glasses of red wine a day are acceptable.

Avoid processed foods as much as possible and certainly do NOT eat hydrogenated fats of any kind. They are to my mind a food industry con. and of no use to any one other than manufacturers of processed food.

Buy only genuine, non-reconstituted lean meat, poultry, game and fish. Reduce your saturated fat intake by cooking on a griddle and cutting off any excess fat. Cook with olive and nut oils, as these unsaturated fats are good for you. Never use lard. Add game to your repertoire of ingredients, along with plenty of oily and white fish such as salmon, haddock, tuna, swordfish, mackerel & kipper.

I have never once felt hungry with this change in my eating habits to simple whole foods. I still find I miss eating plain yoghurt, vanilla ice cream and various cheeses. But then I occasionally do give myself a small treat - provided I stay within my allowance.

The results are good for my health:

My good cholesterol is high
My bad cholesterol is low
My type II diabetes blood sugar is well controlled by diet alone
I have lost 10 lbs in weight.

My next task is to lose another 30 lbs. I know now that this is achievable. The more weight I lose, the more able I am to increase my activity levels - and the more incentive I have to control my calorie intake. At last I feel that I am taking back control of my body and discovering that you really are what you eat!

I did not become familiar with gestational diabetes until recently when my sister-in-law and my best friend were both diagnosed with it within a week. Many women I know, myself included, have made it through pregnancies without having any serious problems like gestational diabetes.

Basically, gestational diabetes is a disease that can come on during pregnancy but that usually disappears once the baby has been born. In some women, pregnancy results in their blood sugar levels getting out of balance. A pregnant woman might realize that she is having blood sugar problems on her own or it might take a doctor to determine that her levels are not normal. Regardless of how it is discovered, gestational diabetes is a serious issue that needs to be handled with caution and care throughout a woman's pregnancy and after.

When my sister-in-law and my closest friend were struggling with feeling abnormally up and down during their pregnancies, their doctor took blood tests and determined that their blood sugar levels were being affected by their pregnancies and their food choices. They were both diagnosed simply by having this blood work done. At first they were hesitant and scared because gestational diabetes sounded huge and they didn't know how relatively simple the treatment process could be.

Gestational diabetes, because it is primarily an imbalance of blood sugar, can often be regulated by changes in diet and levels of exercise. The amount of changes that are necessary are dependant upon how poor of habits the women have to begin with. My sister-in-law and my friend had to make different levels of changes to their diets, but neither had to make such significant changes that their lifestyle was radically altered. Mostly their changes consisted of going on a low-sugar and low-carb eating plan. Gestational diabetes brings a risk of the baby getting to large during its gestational period and needing to be delivered early or by c-section. The more the pregnant mother cuts down on sugar intake, the less likely it is that the baby will get too large to be delivered vaginally.

If you are pregnant or are thinking of becoming pregnant in the near future, take some time and learn about ways to prevent gestational diabetes. It is the best for you and your baby. Prevention is always a better option than having to find a solution to high blood sugar levels. Be wise with your food and exercise choices from the start and you should be able to avoid dealing with gestational diabetes in your pregnancies. Talk with your doctor and take every possible precaution.

Certain factors that contribute to the development of diabetes are

Heredity

Heredity is a major factor. That diabetes can be inherited has been known for centuries. However, the pattern of inheritance is not fully understood. Statistic indicates that those with a family history of the disease have a higher risk of developing diabetes than those without such a background. The risk factor is 25 to 33 percent more.

One reason why diabetes, especially type-2 diabetes runs in the family is because of the diabetes gene. But even it is caused by genetic factors beyond your control; there is no reason to suffer from it. Diabetes mellitus cannot be cured in full sense of the term, but it can be effectively controlled so that you would not know the difference.

Diet

Diabetes has been described by most medical scientists as a prosperity’ disease, primarily caused by systematic overeating. Not only is eating too much sugar and refined carbohydrates harmful, but proteins and fats, which are transformed into sugar, may also result in diabetes if taken in excess.

It is interesting to note that diabetes is almost unknown in countries where people are poor and cannot afford to overeat.

The incidence of diabetes is directly linked with the consumption of processed foods rich in refined carbohydrates, like biscuits, bread, cakes chocolates, pudding and ice creams.

Obesity

Obesity is one of the main causes of diabetes. Studies show that 60 to 85 % of diabetics tend to be overweight. In the United States of America, about 80 percent of type –2 non-insulin dependent diabetics are reported to be overweight.

Excess fat prevents insulin from working properly. The more fatty tissue in the body, the more resistant the muscle and tissue cells become to body insulin. Insulin allows the sugar in the blood to enter the cells by acting on the receptor sites on the surface of the cells.

Older people often tend to gain weight, and the same time, many of them develop and mild form of diabetes because who are over weight can often improve their blood sugar simply by losing weight.

Stress and Tension

There is a known connection between stress and diabetes mellitus, those who are under stress and/or lead an irregular lifestyle, need to take adequate precautions and make necessary lifestyle adjustments.

Grief, worry and anxiety resulting from examinations, death of a close relative, loss of a joy, business failure and strained marital relationship, all a deep influence on the metabolism and may cause sugar to appear in the urine.

Smoking

Smoking is another important risk factor. Among men who smoke, the risk of developing diabetes is doubled. In women who smoke 25 or more cigarettes a day, the risk of developing diabetes is increased by 40 percent.

Lifestyle Risk

People who are less active have greater risk of developing diabetes. Modern conveniences have made work easier. Physical activity and exercise helps control weight, uses up a lot of glucose (sugar) present in the blood as energy and makes cells more sensitive to insulin. Consequently, the workload on the pancreas is reduced.

For complete information on causes of diabetes, diabetes supply, diabetes treatment, diabetes mellitus visit www.diabetesmellitus-information.com

There is a strong connection between carbohydrates, high blood sugars and diabetes. Carbohydrates give your body the energy, or fuel, it needs to function properly.

There are two types of carbohydrates; simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates are in foods such as fruit sugar, corn or grape sugar and table sugar. They are single-sugar molecules. Complex carbohydrates are the foods that contain three or more linked sugars. So carbohydrates create blood sugars and that's where the problems start for diabetics. Understanding more about the connection helps to control your diabetes...

A Personal Experience

I am a diabetic type 2 and, at the moment, I control my blood sugars through tablets and diet. Blood glucose control is extremely important for any diabetic - it is the only way of minimising future health complications; heart disease; neuropathy resulting in amputations; kidney disease and early death.

Four years ago my A1C sugar levels were starting to get out of control - they weren't massively high but were creeping up. My Doctor increased my medication - with no real satisfactory results, my blood sugars were all over the place; I could go from a high reading at night and be woken by a hypoglaecemic (low blood sugar) in the early hours.

Then I discovered the Atkins diet and, because I wanted to lose weight, I started to follow the low carbohydrate, high protein menus.

That's when I discovered the real connection between complex carbohydrates, high blood sugars and my diabetes. Suddenly my blood sugars stabilised and it was because I was no longer piling in huge amounts of carbohydrate, which were pushing my blood sugars far too high.

This seemed to fly in the face of conventional advice on the right diets - complex carbohydrate rich - for diabetes. You see, I already understood I had to avoid sweet, sugary food - these contained simple carbohydrates. I hadn't realised that the more complex carbohydrate of bread, potato and cereals affected my blood sugars as well.

But (there's always a 'but' isn't there?) the Atkins diet did not really suit me. I had constant diarrhea which was stressful and debilitating. So I came off that diet after 3-4 months and, of course, my blood sugars began to get out of control again.

But now I knew about the connection, all I needed to do was find the right program for me that followed the low carbohydrate principle.

And just recently, whilst doing research for my diabetes website, I discovered a program that suits me, and which I describe in more detail on my website for diabetics.

My advice to any diabetic and pre-diabetic, do your research! Understand the close connection between the complex carbohydrates you eat, how they affect your blood sugars and how it can make it difficult to control your diabetes. Once you understand that link, look for a diet or system that you can adapt to safely bring your blood sugars back under control.

Remember, too many carbohydrates (complex or simple) give you high blood sugar levels and if you have diabetes it means your body cannot cope with the additional overload.

Diabetes and Tanning
If you are undergoing treatment for lupus or diabetes or are susceptible to cold sores, be aware that these conditions can be aggravated through exposure to ultraviolet radiation from tanning devices, sunlamps, or natural sunlight. In addition, your skin may be more sensitive to artificial light or sunlight if you use certain medications, for example, antihistamines, tranquilizers or birth control pills. Your tanning salon may keep a file with information on your medical history, medications, and treatments. Make sure you update it as necessary.

Protecting Yourself
Limit your exposure to avoid sunburn. If you tan with a device, ask whether the manufacturer or the salon staff recommend exposure limits for your skin type. Set a timer on the tanning device that automatically shuts off the lights or somehow signals that you’ve reached your exposure time. Remember that exposure time affects burning and that your age at the time of exposure is important relative to burning.

Knowing your Tanning Lotion
Some suntanning products don't contain sunscreen. It only takes a few bad sunburns to raise the risk of skin cancer, and skin damage builds up over years even when no burning occurs. This is why sunscreen, which blocks UVA and UVB, is recommended. The FDA has expressed concern about suntanning products without sunscreen, and encourages consumers to check the labels for SPF protection.

Sunscreen is regulated by the FDA as an OTC drug. Look for products with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 15 or more. The higher the number, the better the protection. Sunscreen should be liberally applied to skin 30 minutes before going out in the sun, and then every two hours after that.

Tanning Salons
It's true that most sun lamps emit mainly UVA radiation, and that these so­called "tanning rays" are less likely to cause a sunburn than UVB radiation from sunlight. But, contrary to the claims of some tanning parlors, that doesn't make them safe. UVA rays have a suspected link to malignant melanoma, and, like UVB rays, they also may be linked to immune system damage.

Tanning Safely
We urge you to find out more about self tanning. You can self tan with a Sunless tanning lotion. Sunless tanning lotion is a tanning lotion that gives you that great tan without the dangers of UVA and UVB! Find out more about Self Tanning!

Please tell the PR firm you retained to promote your worthless supplement, self-promoting diet book, dangerous drug, or sleazy clinic that they wasted their time emailing me the computer generated letter that praised my site and offered me the "exciting opportunity to partner with you."

I do not want to meet with you at the ADA Scientific Sessions. I do not want to have a meaningful discussion with you on Skype. I do not want to review your book, no matter how many degrees you've earned. And I most certainly do not care how much you'd appreciate it if I were to tell my readers about your bogus product.

You're a complete stranger to me and my readers and there is no reason on earth why they'd want to hear about the product with which you plan to fleece people with diabetes.

Your heartfelt praise of my web site is hard to believe in light of the link you provided to yours--which contains the same toxic diet advice that has been giving people with diabetes complications for two generations.

My readers do not want to hear about the benefits of a low fat diet. They don't want to learn about miracle fruits. They really don't want to buy a book full of recipes guaranteed to raise their blood sugar.

They aren't interested in the latest study you manufactured, in house, for your toxic drug, no matter how much you pay ADA to keep telling people they should ignore the objective research that revealed the dangers you kept hidden for a decade.

They don't even want a "free" meter whose outrageously expensive strips (not included) aren't any more accurate than those sold for half their price.

I am not swayed by the testimonials you made up for the obscenely expensive supplement you're selling under your own branded label. I've already told my readers about the peer reviewed studies that prove it doesn't work, as you'd have seen had you actually taken a look at my site.

There is a special place in hell reserved for professionals who put their intelligence and advanced educations to the service of enriching themselves by promoting expensive miracle cures to people suffering from a condition that, treated poorly, dooms them to blindness, amputation, kidney failure and heart attack. I hope you enjoy your stay.

Because, if you hadn't put all your energy into figuring out how to extract cash from the millions of people with diabetes by selling them bogus crap, you might have learned there is already IS a treatment that for a good proportion of all people with Type 2 Diabetes restores normal health, even if it can't undo the underlying flaws that cause the diabetes.

This treatment isn't magic, it isn't secret, and all it takes to put it into practice is a blood sugar meter, some strips, and a willingness to test the foods we eat.

Sadly, most people with diabetes will never hear about this treatment, because people like you have so much more money available to promote your bogus products. The deluge of PR releases you send to the health media drown out the voices of those of us trying to get the word out about what really works.

So Dr. Weasel and all the other Weasels who have been clogging my email inbox of late, listen up! If you want to "partner" with me, a good place to start would be to include a copy of the How to Lower Your Blood Sugar Flyer with every communication you send to anyone with diabetes. Feature it on your web site. Include it in the press releases you send the media. Discuss it when you muscle your way onto TV talk shows.

Before let your PR staff send me an email raving about how much you love my Blood Sugar 101 web site, have the courtesy of reading a few pages--particularly those on how to lower blood sugar, what drugs work, and what supplements are dangerous.

If the real reason you contacted me was because you hope to use the traffic my site gets to make money off my readers, don't send the email. There is zero chance I will respond positively.

Every Weasel like you who takes up even three minutes of the time I could put to better use responding to emails from people with diabetes with real problems is doing his part to ensure people with diabetes get sicker.

Of course, the sicker they are, the more likely they are to fall for your scams. Maybe that's part of your strategy.

If anyone reading this knows what mailing list I managed to get on that is earning me this weaselly deluge and knows how to get me off of it, let me know.

I'm getting to where I'm starting to miss those nice men in Nigeria who have a couple spare million they want to deposit in my bank account. At least they don't pretend they're trying to help people with diabetes.

 Posted byJennyat2:24 PM

Though it isn't about diabetes, I came across a book last week that I believe is essential reading for anyone with any interest in health-related topics.The book is Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America

My site stats show that quite a few people visiting this blog and the main Blood Sugar 101 web site translate these pages into languages other than English using translation software. I also get requests every now and then to translate the site into other languages. Since the site and blog represent several hundred pages of text, this would be a massive undertaking and since the site is frequently updated, it isn't one I can currently take on.

But what I can do is translate the most important information on the site into other languages. So to do this, I'm asking those of you who are native speakers of languages other than English to help me. Here's how:

1. Download the "How to Get Your Blood Sugar Under Control" flyer. The US version represents blood sugar levels in mg/dl. The Rest of the world version does it in mmol/L. Choose the one appropriate to your audience. You'll find them here:

a. US Version

b. Rest of the World Version

2. Translate the flyer into your chosen language. Put the final version into Word or RTF format. Please embed fonts when you save the file if you use a non-Latin alphabet.

3. Email the file with your translation as an attachment. You'll find an email link on the Blood Sugar 101 main site. (I had to remove the one posted here as it immediately attracted spammers.) Be sure to tell me what language you are writing in. If your file uses a non-Latin alphabet please let me know which one.

I'll keep track of which ones I already have here to save people duplicating efforts. Then I will upload these translated flyers to the main site and put a link to them on the web page for How to Get Your Blood Sugar Under Control.

Thanks!

RECEIVED SO FAR:

Swedish: Download in Swedish
Bahasa (Indonesian): Download in Bahasa (Indonesian)
German in MMOL/L Download in German using MMOL/L
German in mg/dl Download in German using mg/dl
Hebrew Download in Hebrew
Spanish Download in Spanish

 Posted byJennyat8:18 AM

You've probably been told that because you have been diagnosed with diabetes your risk for a heart attack is the same as that of a person who has already had one.

This turns out to be pure bullpucky.

A study published in Diabetes Care this month followed for ten years 4,410 patients aged 30–74 years: 2,260 with type 2 diabetes without coronary heart disease recruited in 53 primary health care centers and 2,150 people who had already had a heart attack but did not have diabetes.

Here's what they found: The adjusted hazard ratios (HRs)

You'll soon be hearing about a large scale epidemiological study of low carb diets and mortality published this week in Annals of Internal Medicine which purports to show that eating a low carb-meat based diet increases the incidence of mortality (i.e. death!).

Low-Carbohydrate Diets and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: Two Cohort Studies Teresa T. Fung et al. Annals of Internal Medicine September 7, 2010, vol. 153 no. 5 289-298

Here's why it's crap--and completely irrelevant to those of us who control carbohydrates to keep our blood sugars normal.

The methodology used here was this: Prospective cohort study of women and men who were followed from 1980 (women) or 1986 (men) until 2006. Low-carbohydrate diets, either animal-based (emphasizing animal sources of fat and protein) or vegetable-based (emphasizing vegetable sources of fat and protein), were computed from several validated food-frequency questionnaires assessed during follow-up. This raises four immediate red flags.

1.Based on Inaccurate Questionnaire Data. The standardized food frequency questionnaire used in nutrition studies is designed in such a way that it is impossible to gauge the actual food intake of people eating a true low carbohydrate diet.

It is a list of questions like, "How many times in the last month did you eat bread" followed by a multiple choice set of answers which are along the lines of "1 to 10 times" "11-25 times", "26-50" times "More than 50 times."

But the answers supplied for carbohydrate items do not allow for the possibility that the answer to a question like "How many times this past month did you eat bread" is zero or even five. Ditto potatoes. Ditto sweets.

I know first hand how inaccurate the standard food frequency questionnaire is because several years ago I was a subject in a long term study that used the standard nutritionist designed food intake questionnaire. During this time I was logging my actual food intake, with weighed portions, trying to understand my own pattern of weight loss, so I knew exactly what I was eating during any given day or month.

The nutritionist associated with the study emailed me the nutritional breakdown that I had supposedly eaten, based on my answers to the standard food frequency questionnaire. It bore no relationship at all to what I had eaten either in terms of calories or the percentages of my diet represented by protein, carbs, or fat. When I offered to send the study my actual food intake, I was told that the questionnaire they were using had been carefully validated and was standard in all nutritional studies and that there was no point in looking at what I had actually eaten.

If that isn't bad enough, the questionnaires rely on the memory of the people filling them out--who are likely to "forget" or downright misrepresent how often they ate foods they know are bad for them like sodas, snacks, and sugary desserts. It is well known that people give the answers they wish they were true on questionnaires like this where there is no way for anyone to check up on whether they are telling the truth.

Garbage in, garbage out. But since it is garbage that reinforces a religious belief nutritionists want to hold onto even though better designed studies do not support it, you will be seeing this study used to "prove" how unhealthy the low carb diet really is.

2.Misleading Definition of "Low Carb Diet" Leaving aside the fact that the data collection method renders the data highly questionable, the definition of "low carb" used in this study is almost certainly one most of us that eat a true carb restricted diet would consider a high carb diet--one of 150-200 grams of carbohydrates a day.

If that is the case, the "meat based" low carb diet was probably a "meat and potatoes and bread" diet, which we are all agree is not healthy for anyone.

3. "Meat-based diet" May Mean "Fast Food Meat and Potatoes Diet" All meats are not the same, but the standard food intake questionnaire makes no attempt to distinguish between fast food, chemical laced meat served with sides filled with trans fat and home cooked nutritious meals. The questionnaire only asks about how often the respondent ate "pork" or "beef," not where they ate it, or what cut they ate. Or most importantly, with what side dishes.

I have no doubt that eating a diet of fast food burgers (with the rolls conveniently forgotten when reporting "bread" intake") is quite capable of shortening life. But it is not because the person is eating a "meat based low carb diet" that they are risking their health.

4. "Plant based Low Carb diet" Highly Suspect The "plant based" low carb diet which was found to be so healthy here is unlikely to be low carb, since it is almost impossible to eat a true low carb diet relying on plant based foods without overdosing on soy which is far from healthy. This finding again points to the likelihood that the "low carb" diet is not low carb but moderate carb and that the plant eaters here are people who stay away from fast food outlets.

Once again, the nutritionists defending their turf use flawed methodologies to ensure that people with diabetes will continue to eat the "healthy whole grains" and sugary fruits that ensure they will end up with severe, life threatening complications.

 Posted byJennyat10:42 AM

One of the most disturbing things about now doctors practice medicine today is that they very often don't know about the way that the different drugs they prescribe interact with each other, and some of these interactions can be quite dangerous.

I learned this the hard way over the past few months.

I had long known that Dr. Andrew Hattersley, who is the world expert on the form of MODY diabetes I appear to have, believes that long term people with MODY do better on insulin stimulating drugs like Sulfonylureas.

For years I ignored this, as the tiniest dose of a Sulf drug caused me to hypo dramatically. Then I ran into some new data which suggested why this might be true: it turns out that a substance, C-peptide, which is a by-product of insulin secretion, by the beta cell may play a protective function for nerves. When we inject insulin, we don't get that C-peptide.

So last winter, after years of doing very well on low dose fast acting insulin at meal time, I decided to switch to the one, much milder, insulin stimulating drug that I'd learned in the past I could take without hypoing, Prandin.

Prandin is marketed with the information that it is very short acting--and is out of the body in about 3 hours. I had tried it a few years ago and this seemed to be the case.

What I didn't know--and learned the very hard way--is that this is only true if you take Prandin alone--without Metformin. If you combine the two, it turns out that the Metformin blocks the mechanism in the liver that eliminates Prandin and the drug ends up being much, much more potent.

Very oddly, this interaction is not listed in the "drug interaction" section of the Prandin Prescribing Information insert. You learn it only by paying attention to a chart displayed in the clinical trial section of the Prescribing Information.

It is there that we learn that, over a 4-5 month period, people taking Prandin alone saw their blood fasting blood sugar rise by an of 8 mg/dl, and people taking Metformin alone saw an average drop in their fasting blood sugar of 4.5 mg/dl, but people taking both drugs simultaneously experienced an average decline in fasting blood sugar of 39.2 mg/dl--almost ten times as much as with Metformin alone!

A1c dropped dramatically in the combination group compared to the groups taking each drug alone, too.

Since the combination of the two drugs was giving me extremely normal blood sugars (fasting in the 80s rather than the high 90s I get with insulin and post meal numbers never higher than 140 mg/dl ) I was happy. I loved not having to fuss with injections or having to worry about my insulin losing its potency in heat or cold.

Until recently, when after taking Prandin for about 8 months I started to experience severe hypos. How severe? In the very low 40 mg/dl range. And the only tipoff I had that something was going on was seeing some oddities in my visual field. No shakes, no pounding heartbeat. In short, no hypo awareness.

To make it worse these hypos turned out to be resistant to glucose. After seeing a 43 mg/dl reading on my meter I immediately downed 15 grams of glucose which should have raised my blood sugar to the 110s but when I tested 15 minutes later my blood sugars were still in the 40s. At that I glugged down a can of sugary soda and after that my blood sugars finally rose to the low 90s.

What made these hypos all the more confusing is that in the past when I was injecting insulin I could not get my blood sugar to drop any lower than the mid-60s no matter what. Any time my blood sugar went lower than the low 80s I'd get a fierce counterregulatory response that would give me shakes, a high pulse, and all the classic hypo (or false hypo) symptoms. Suddenly my hypo awareness was gone.

I'm not entirely sure what changed--these hypos happened a full eight months after I started using the Prandin/Metformin combination and I had not been seeing hypos before that. It is possible I was having milder hypos but not catching them because of the lack of symptoms, but who knows?

It is also possible that another drug I was prescribed--the blood pressure medication hydrocholorothiazide (HCTZ), a diuretic, played a part in the loss of hypo awareness.

Any drug that causes my beta cells to secrete insulin on their own at meal times seems to cause my body to hold on to salt and that, in turn, raises my blood pressure. Only HCTZ which flushes out extra salt lowered it. So I was taking one low dose HCTZ pill every 3 days which was keeping my blood pressure stable.

A Google Search came up with one site that wrote, without attribution, that HCTZ affects the autonomic nervous system which I know is involved in the counterregulatory response. So it is possible that the HCTZ was what turned off the hypo awareness. And indeed, it looked as if my hypos were happening on the day when I took my HCTZ.

But outside of that one line posted somewhere on the Internet I could find no other warning that HCTZ could turn off hypo awareness. In fact, everything I read suggested it should raise blood sugar, not lower it, though it did not raise mine.

After my 3rd hypo--which happened after I had stopped taking Metformin long enough that it should have washed out of my system, I stopped taking Prandin. And here's where things got interesting.

For the next week--even with the Metformin completely washed out of my body--I was seeing completely normal blood sugars after eating significant amounts of carbs. As in a "high" of 105 mg/dl which I saw after eating 3 ounces of muffin.

It was only after a week that my blood sugar started creeping back up to 143 after that dose of muffin--a dose that in the past would have shot my blood sugar up to at least the 250s.

Did the Prandin "heal" me? I doubt it. Instead, my guess is that it somehow built up in my body and is taking a very long time to wash out. Since my 1 hour readings are going up slowly and my fasting blood sugar is back to where it usually is without Metformin I assume my beta cells will go back to behaving as poorly as usual.

It is possibly I was experiencing yet another of the many weird MODY things that no one knows about except other people with MODY. I have received reports of "scary hypos" with Prandin from one other person with MODY.

But given the results of the Prandin/Metformin trial reported in the Prandin Prescribing Information, maybe this effect is also happening to people with more common forms of Type 2 who take this drug combination. If it has happened to you, please post about it in the comment section of this post.

But here's what's certain: No doctor, including the endocrinologist I see, had any knowledge that Metformin and Prandin interact to dramatically lower blood sugar. Had I not been the research wonk I am I would have had no clue why I was suffering the scary hypos, and if I didn't test my blood sugar religiously, I might not even have known I was having dangerous hypos--until I ended up in an ambulance.

And nowhere on the web is there any hint that the impact of this particular drug combination can be cumulative and take many months to kick in and cause the dangerous hypos.

It took months before I started to hypo on the dose that had been giving me normal blood sugars. And eight months is twice as long as the 4 to 5 months over which the Prandin/Metformin combination was tested.

Bottom Line: Drug combinations can be very dangerous, especially as doses build up in your system. Your response to a drug or drug combination may change over time if the drug is building up in your system. With blood sugar lowering drugs this can cause very dangerous hypos. But when they do, don't expect doctors to have a clue.Posted byJennyat8:34 AM

I don't run.  Not well, anyway.  Running isn't my activity of choice because my body doesn't do well at high speeds.  But when I go walking or any other exercise that's outside and brings me far away from my car, I grapple with that whole "what the hell do I do with my diabetes supplies" issue.

For the most part, I usually carry a small bag.  Sometimes I bust out the meter from it's protective black case and throw it into a SpiBelt, adding in a tube of glucose tabs and my keys and cell phone and ... suddenly, I'm a pack mule, careening up the mountainside. 

I am not a "travel light" diabetic.  I'm a messy, throw-it-all-in-a-bag-and-hope-you-don't-lose-the-bag diabetic.  But some PWDs have figured out a terrific way to keep tabs on their diabetes while exercising.  Like my friend Melissa (a fellow Clara Barton Camp alum), who MacGyver'd her meter into her running shoes.  Here's a shot of her kicks, that she's graciously allowed me to share with you guys:

Exhausted doesn't even begin to explain how I'm feeling at the moment.  Over the last few days, we've moved into a new house, worked and lived through some construction efforts in our home, traveled to the Toronto International Film Festival for the Buried Canadian premiere (by propeller plane, but more on that panic attack later), and then hoofed it to NYC for a screening (more on that later, too).  Our house is chaos, our schedules are all over the place, and my health management is under duress.

Even though all of this stuff is exciting and the journey to get here has been incredible, it's a lot to manage all at once.  I love to travel, but I hate the actual process of "getting somewhere."  I don't travel light, I have some physical limitations that make travel difficult (read:  tendinitis so bad that I can't lift a bag without wussing out), and I'm still not a fan of flying.  That, combined with the lack of sleep and a wildly varying schedule (including nights that push the 3 am envelope - hey, college throwback!), is a recipe for disaster with all the diabetes stuff.

Blood sugars have had pockets of success, like last night at the Tribeca screening, where I held rock solid between 100 - 150 mg/dl all evening long.  But there have been some disastrous runs, like the night of the Toronto screening, where I was over 280 mg/dl for four hours, despite boluses.  (I eventually took an injection and pulled the site, but the site seemed fine.  I hate when the cause of highs can't be nailed down.)  I'm testing a lot, but my body isn't responding to things normally.  Foods that I'm usually able to tolerate, numbers-wise, are now throwing me into the stratosphere  or tossing me into the trenches.  I'm living on a steady diet of coffee and lip gloss.  Infusion sets are staying in for four days at a time (instead of the three days I had committed to while pregnant - absorption is so much better when you follow the damn rules) and I think the last time I changed my lancet was when BSparl was born.  

I'm a hot mess.  And not in that cool way.  More in that "Geez, Kerri, you think you're cured or something, the way you've been acting lately" way.  (Note:  Haven't been cured.  Just a very scattered diabetic these days.)

I'm not sure if these hiccups seem more dramatic because they're in contrast to the very tight, very obsessive control I had while pregnant, but in any event, I'm not pleased with my lack of commitment to sparkle motion.  (see also:  hot mess)  But I have to get things back under control.  Events for Chris seem to be coming up every week, and I want to be physically ready to attend with him.  (As in, I don't want to be 39 mg/dl.  Or 399 mg/dl.)  And this is all without mentioning my smiley little daughter, who would do well to have a mom who isn't bouncing all over the blood sugar map.  

The next six weeks will be challenging for me, as both a diabetic and a new mom, because it's sort of non-stop until the holidays.  And even though the events are coming and going, the diabetes isn't.  I can't spend the next six weeks winging it.  I need to find a way to do these things without sacrificing all of my diabetes control.

I can do this.  If I was able to get my terrified arse on a propeller plane, I can wrangle in a blood sugar or two. 
Posted by Kerri Morrone Sparling on September 17, 2010 09:28 AM

The Dunlap crew was at Friends for Life this past July as TheBetes: Now, filming people talking about their 24/7 experiences with diabetes.  Bennet (brave soul) decided to stick me in front of the camera for a few seconds so I could offer up my take on what defines me.

247 Kerri from thebetes now on Vimeo.

Posted by Kerri Morrone Sparling on September 1, 2010 09:40 AM

You know you're a diabetic moving into a new place when:

You pack extra glucose meter test strips, baby diapers, and toilet paper into the same box because you know you will need both on the first day.You're watching at the window for the cable guy so you can get yourself back online and immersed in the diabetes blogosphere.You don't care that there's an ice maker in the new fridge, but more than there's a handy compartment that's PERFECT for insulin storage.There's a whole box labeled "Diabetes Supplies."
You're grateful that the hardwoods are being installed because it will be easier to find rogue test strips.The washer dryer combo looks like a spaceship command unit and you have no idea how to work it.  (Wait, that's just me?  Domestic goddess I am not.) Even though the fridge is almost entirely empty, there's still a bottle of grape juice at the ready.  (And a pitcher of iced coffee.  Priorities!!)You buy a smaller garbage can for the kitchen to leave room under the sink for a massive, red sharps container.
There's a space in the walk-in closet that's dedicated solely to stacking insets, insulin reservoirs, and test strip bottles.  Not to mention lancets, which I've had the same seven boxes for the last four years and I never manage to use them up.  (Something tells me I should change my lancet today.) And: You test the wall outlets by plugging the Dexcom receiver in to charge.Diabetes plus moving totally equals fun.  :p
Posted by Kerri Morrone Sparling on September 2, 2010 10:21 AM

Diabetes Art Day took place this past September 1st, and so many members of the diabetes online community tapped their inner artists for inspiration.  But what if you missed the day?  Can you still get your art on?

Visit Lee Ann's blog, The Butter Compartment, for more details on Diabetes Art Day and to view some of the submissions! And if you're looking for a labor of love this Labor Day, bust out your crayons (or your Photoshop) and see what you can create!

Posted by Kerri Morrone Sparling on September 6, 2010 09:29 AM

Finally, a blog meme just for those of us with wonky pancreases (and for the people who love us).  If you're in the mood for meme'ing today, have at it!

What type of diabetes do you have:  Type 1  (So tired that I originally wrote "type 12."  Clumsy fingers.)

When were you diagnosed:  September 11, 1986. (24 years ago this Saturday!)

What's your current blood sugar:  Um, my fasting was 58 mg/dl.  That sucked.

What kind of meter do you use:  One Touch Ping

How many times a day do you test your blood sugar:  When I was pre-pregnancy planning and then pregnant, I tested 15 - 20 times per day.  Now?  I'm aiming for 12 but I'm hitting more in the 8 range.

What's a "high" number for you:  Anything over 160 mg/dl.

What's do you consider "low":  Anything under 70 mg/dl. 

What's your favorite low blood sugar reaction treater:  I stick with boring old grape juice, mostly, but sometimes I love those candy orange slices?  So sticky and nasty, but those potent little suckers work!

Describe your dream endo:  Compassionate, attentive, non-judgmental, and part of my insurance network.

What's your biggest diabetes achievement:  Having that round-headed little biscuit baby.

What's your biggest diabetes-related fear:  Honestly, a heart attack.

Who's on your support team:  My husband, parents, close friends, and the diabetes blogosphere, of course!

Do you think there will be a cure in your lifetime:  I was given the old "five more years - we're so close" rundown when I was diagnosed, and I received that same platitude for years afterward.  Do I think there will be a cure?  I'm not sure.  But I think there will be advancements that make diabetes far less of a burden, and I also hope there will be ways to deal with diabetes-related complications that will make those complications just a blip on the life radar.

What is a "cure" to you:  I'd love to have medical science reverse my autoimmunity and set my islets straight, but I'd also take some version of a device that helps my body auto-regulate insulin levels.  An artificial pancreas would be nice, for starters.

The most annoying thing people say to you about your diabetes is:  "You must have it really bad."  ("No, I like totally have it awesome.  Hathat.")

What is the most common misconception about diabetes:  That my type 1 diabetes can be controlled with diet and exercise.  I hate that misconception.  As if I'm on insulin because I didn't work hard enough or something.  Or as if a healthy diet and regular exercise are only recommended for diabetics. 

If you could say one thing to your pancreas, what would it be:  "Get a job!!"

Posted by Kerri Morrone Sparling on September 8, 2010 09:31 AM

I've been saying this for years, but finally someone has done the genetic work needed to prove it.

The epidemic of diabetes we are seeing among children and people in their teens is NOT caused by overeating and failure to exercise. It's caused by genetic damage to the mitochondria--the parts of the cell that burn glucose.

You can read the study that proved this here:

Subjects With Early-Onset Type 2 Diabetes Show Defective Activation of the Skeletal Muscle PGC-1α/Mitofusin-2 Regulatory Pathway in Response to Physical Activity. María Isabel Hernández-Alvarez et al. Diabetes Care March 2010 vol. 33 no. 3 645-651 doi: 10.2337/dc09-1305

You can read a report that gives slightly more information than the abstract in the Diabetes In Control report you'll find HERE.

Though it won't be, this should be front page news in every paper and headlining the TV Evening News, because what this study makes crystal clear is that cutting out sweets and lengthening recess is not going to be enough to keep children from developing both morbid obesity and Type 2 diabetes at tragically young ages.

Genetic damage like this occurs when children have been damaged in the womb by chemical exposures to substances ranging from pharmaceutical drugs the mother takes, to the herbicide atrazine in the water their mother drank, to pesticides in their food, to PCBs in dust, and to the plastics leaching into food from cans and containers. Once you damage a gene that occurs in every cell that burns glucose, the damage is not reversible.

The industry that has polluted our environment will fight to its last dollar to keep the public from realizing what is really causing the so-called diabetes epidemic. Twenty five years ago there was a much stronger public awareness of the dangers of this pollution, but since then it has been redirected into the Green movement, and the people who used to fight to keep herbicides out of your drinking water are now more obsessed with recycling their garbage and getting better mileage from their cars.

Meanwhile, a whole generation of children is turning out to have been as damaged by pollutants as the transgendered frogs found all over the world. The poisoning of our environment by industrialization may have grown to where it may be too late to reverse.

The drugs excreted into wastewater that are not filtered out in treatment plants, the chemicals in our air and water, and the plastics that surround us are taking a toll, and it will take a few more decades, and millions more permanently damaged babies until we know exactly which chemicals are causing it.

As you can see HERE, a map of the highest incidence of obesity in the US is very similar to the map of areas where Atrazine use is highest. We know that exposure in the womb to the plastic Bisphenol-A makes animal offspring dramatically obese. We know many of the powerful psychiatric pharmaceuticals,heavily overprescribed to people with normal emotional aches and pains, raise insulin resistance and cause weight gain--and then flush into the water that, when the solids and e coli are removed from it becomes municipal drinking water while still carrying the molecules of these drugs. We know the concentration of PCBs and arsenic in the blood stream correlate to the likelihood a person will develop diabetes. We even know that the fire retardants in a mother's couch or carpet enter her blood stream and may damage her baby as does the teflon on her frying pan.

All we don't know is how to make the public recognize the toll these environmental poisons are taking, so that the public realizes the rise in diabetes among our young is the result of poisoning, not personal weakness and the result of bad parenting.

Don't hold your breath. It's always easier to blame other people's lack of "personal responsibility"--which makes the blamer feel safe, than it is to admit we are all of us in a dangerous situation that may be difficult or even impossible to reverse.

 

A new study confirms what quite a few other studies suggest. The reason that weight loss appears to "cure" diabetes has nothing to do with weight loss. It is because the surgery changes the way that gastric hormones, most notably GLP-1 are secreted.

The study is discussed here:

Science Daily: How weight loss surgery reverses Type 2 diabetes.

I've blogged before about the irresponsible way that stomach amputation is being promoted as a "cure" for diabetes when the promoters' own data show that it doesn't cure it, but merely slows it down for a few years. If you haven't read that post, I'd urge you to read it. You'll find it HERE.

But I bring up the topic again because this latest study--a rodent study--both confirms the temporary nature of the fix and suggests that many people could achieve the same effect without risking a surgery whose kill rate is so high that if it were associated with a drug, that drug would never have made it through the FDA approval process. (Surgery doesn't need to go through any approval process.)

The doctors who profit mightily from selling obesity surgery are NOT going to tell you that there is a drug which is far safer than the surgery and which controls blood sugar and provides dramatic weight loss to one third of those who take it: BYETTA.

Byetta is a synthetic form of GLP-1. It dramatically slows stomach emptying, making it very hard to overeat. For many people it changes the brain's way of processing hunger, making them not feel like eating. It may stimulate insulin release, too.

An FDA report found fewer than 100 cases of pancreatitis in the hundreds of thousands of people who had taken Byetta, which sparked a panic among doctors who stopped prescribing it. For some reason, the fact that 25 people out of every 10,000 who have weight loss surgery die shortly after having the surgery went unnoticed by these same doctors. That same statistic is rarely mentioned by the gastric surgeons they refer their patients to, either.

Further review has not conclusively linked Byetta with pancreatitis--the rate of pancreatitis in obese people who don't take Byetta is pretty much the same as the rate in obese people who do, and that rate is extremely low.

So before you amputate a big part of your stomach, rearrange your intestinal tract or have a band inserted that may cause severe scarring or infection, ask your doctor about Byetta. If he tries to scare you away from trying it, ask why he's not concerned about the far higher death rate from WLS. If he doesn't know the death rate from WLS, find a new doctor.

One huge advantage of Byetta is that if it doesn't work for you, you just stop taking it and any side effects go away. The surgery permanently modifies your digestive tract in a way that cannot be reversed.

It produces a shockingly high rate of complications, and those who have it often require subsequent surgeries when infections occur, stitches tear, and bands become embedded in tissue, These surgeries may also cause permanent malnutrition which puts you in danger of starving to death.

WARNING! There is a new drug similar to Byetta that is much less effective and more dangerous, VICTOZA. Your doctor may suggest you try it instead of Byetta because doctors inevitably put patients on new drugs in response to drug company marketing efforts which often include subtle bribes to the doctor. Don't let a doctor try to talk you into trying Victoza instead.

You can read about why Victoza is a bad substitute for Byetta HERE.

One last thing: If you're desperate enough to be considering weight loss surgery to "reverse" your diabetes, before you do something irreversible, spend a month trying out the drug-free technique that lowers blood sugars to the normal level for a very high proportion of people with Type 2 diabetes of those who try it--including those A1cs as high as 12%.

You'll find this extremely simple and dramatically effective technique described here:

How to Get Your Blood Sugar Under Control

The American Diabetes Association admits in its treatment guidelines that the approach sketched out here is both safe and effective.

It just doesn't pour profits into the pockets of surgeons and drug companies. Give it a try. If it doesn't work, you probably have something else going on besides garden variety Type 2 and need to see an endocrinologist not a gastric surgeon to find out what and get help with it.

The study referenced HERE makes it crystal clear that if your problem is insulin insufficiency or a serious endocrinological problem rather than high carb intake weight loss surgery will have no effect on your blood sugar.

 Posted byJennyat8:40 AM