I am diabetic. I am a Type 2 diabetic who is on insulin and looking forward to getting an insulin pump next month. I lead a normal life other than every single thing that goes into my mouth gets documented and if I slack off then I end up having problems. As things go, there are worse and I'm very fortunate that I have a great medical team and good research abilities. Good insurance rocks, too.
Over the years I've gone through various diabetes oral medications. I've used glipizide, metformin, Januvia, Amyril.....in various combinations and with varying degrees of effectiveness. I've managed to drive my A1c down to an excellent low of 5.4 and had it spike up over 11 over the course of the years I've been dealing with it. A bit more than a year ago as my A1c hovered somewhat under 9 my doctor and I decided it was time for insulin. I've found that while diet and exercise are the most important ways I can help myself, that insulin works a great deal better than pills.
I am a research junkie. When I was diagnosed about nine years ago, now, with diabetes, having had gestational diabetes in 2000, I went very manic on the research. I still keep up with current medical studies and pharmaceutical findings and so on. I've tried various supplements over the years with varying success to help with blood glucose control. I've found that cinnamon does seem to have a stabilizing effect, though minimal, that is noticeable especially when combined with Chromium as it is so often found now. I do find that taking a teaspoon of honey at night before bed helps lower morning numbers that are often effected by overnight lows, or the Somogyi Effect. I saw no effect with Alpha Lipoic Acid, but then it's said to help with neuropathy which I don't experience so who knows. Garlic didn't do a thing. Green Coffee Bean supplements were useless all the way around. Co Q-10 is just too expensive and when I tried it I found no changes. Flax seed was more annoying than anything trying to find ways to work it into my diet without gagging. I do take Fish Oil and Vitamin D for their own sake and see no effects on my glucose numbers or control at all. The multivitamin I take has excellent folic acid in it, calcium, vit C, etc, and I can't tell if I'm taking it or not, other than if I forgot it there it sits in my pill caddy. I took a B complex once; I took it at half the recommended dosage and after about six weeks, overnight developed neuropathy in my toes which terrified me. As it had come on so quickly and my A1c was good I did research on the B vitamins and discovered that you can overdose of certain B vitamins and neuropathy is how it presents itself. I stopped the supplement immediately and the effect wore off entirely over the following week. I've tried various diabetes supplement packages from various health food stores and retail locations.
Over the years I've tried many other things -- if it's out there I've read about it and likely tried it. I read up on things first, make sure they don't have obvious side effects, and after the B complex thing I dig a fair amount. I keep track of how long I'm taking something and document my glucose numbers and insulin amounts. So far....beyond exercise and diet.....there isn't any magic bullet that helps blood glucose. The best medicine that you can add to what your doctor gives you is to put the carbs down and get off your ass. Advice I don't take very well, but I'm trying. Believe me, I know how easy it is to say and how hard it is to do.
Obviously taking care of your overall health will help keep your body in a healthier state which will help with any condition you may be dealing with, including diabetes. So certain supplements that help with deficiencies you may experience in your life, under the supervision of your doctor, aren't likely to hurt you. Talking to your pharmacist is also an excellent resource. People seriously overlook the importance of their pharmacist in their lives when this is often the person who is on the front lines of what you're putting into your body and has the most direct knowledge of it all. Learn to love your pharmacist, folks.
There is a LOT of misinformation out there. From the Farmer's Almanac to that nurse's aide friend of yours, from Aunt Suzie to that holistic Facebook page you liked, everybody has heard about this or that, this thing that is supposed to help. From the cabbage soup diet to drinking water with various veggies soaking in them, there's always something that somebody wants to share to be helpful, because surely this will work. Maybe because it's "natural" or maybe because the Internet told us it was true, or their best friend did this and it worked....everybody just wants to help. Of course, the best way to really help would be to offer to go for a walk with you, but they've read about this one supplement that really helped this lady on Facebook....it CURED her diabetes. "I'm Super Cereal!" (Forgive me....South Park just leaks in every now and then.)
Oh, how I wish it were true! And I haven't given up....I'm still willing to try various foods, beverages, supplements, as they come along and see if maybe something helps. You know, some magic thing I can ingest that will make it possible for me to lay on the couch watching television eating donuts and drinking Mountain Dew all day while staying thin, keeping my cholesterol, glucose, and weight all in check, and not slowly kill me. If I find it, you'll know.....mainly because I'll be selling that shit and buying a mountain lake for my very own.....
So my point? Oh....yeah, there kind of is one in here. Earlier today on a Facebook page that I have previously enjoyed the hell out of, one of these CURES was posted. When I objected to it, citing that it was bull and that somebody foolish might take it seriously and do something dangerous, the reply I got was that I was bitching at them and being pathetic for objecting to something I saw on Facebook, that there was a disclaimer right in the picture so people should know better. (Because people are always hesitating and over-thinking things and never just jumping the gun with things they read online....) I replied and then unliked the page and changed it so I won't see it in my feed. I've only got a few friends who also liked it, so I really won't see it anymore. It's a shame that you can't open a dialogue these days with people unless you blow sunshine up their ass, but that's how it goes. I felt like I should counter balance the kind of crap they were putting out there with the general statement that there is no cure for diabetes.
THERE IS NO CURE FOR DIABETES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. They are working on it, and I donate what I can when I can toward that end, but at this point in time there is nothing that medical science has for the average consumer to make the beta cells on a pancreas come back to life, to make any you may have left function more efficiently, or anything else. Be it Type 1, Type 2, Gestational, LADA, Metabolic Syndrome.....at this point in time there is no pill that you can take, you beverage you can make, no veggie you can eat, nothing that will fix it. The only fix, and only for Type 2's, is to eat better and exercise and try to remember that we're lucky that's even an option, because it isn't for all diabetics.
