Re: The fight against Diabetes


"glass318" <glass318@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
Teddy Rosenburgo et al.

Yep, I am a Physician. Yep, I see a lot of Diabetics. I have heard
some of these things from frustrated Diabetic patients over the years.
Its our fault (medical community) because we seem to be recycling and
reinventing the same therapies for Diabetics over and over again but
like I said, you have the power to change that. Just FYI, I seldom
prescribe Insulin for my Type 2 Diabetics. Don't panic. Our average
A1C is below 8, with some patients proudly surfing under 7. I do very
little but talk a lot to patients.

Fact is, DM is a disease that kills and unfortunately (or
fortunately), the power to wrap our hands around it lies in the
patient! Yes, the usual don't eat this or that, exercise like this or
like that, etc. Then we top it with some oversized pills and as if not
enough, a shot in the belly ot thigh up to 4 times per day. Did I
mention all that (maybe unnecessary) finger sticking? I would be
frustrated too. I admire your skepticism but I'm sorry to inform you
that I do not need to gain your trust before I can POST here! No, I do
NOT! I can only gain your trust by posting. You read, you judge, you
choose to trust (or not). Its like the guy who was left holding his
falling jaw while his friends went to get help. He started yelling,
threatening to drop the jaw if help didn't arrive early. Its totally
your decision.

Obviously, I am not a web designer and cannot control what happens to
the website (which is actually down as I type...cannot control
that ...or maybe I should get another webmaster?). The site was not
intended to be password-protected so that problem will be fixed.

And for the person touting the 'go daddy site' stuff, sorry to
disappoint you. Its not a parked page.

More to come. Keep shooting at me. I'll survive.




Doctor, I think your patients would be very lucky if you learned some stuff
from here about alot of self testing and experimenting with food and diet to
achieve very low hbA1c levels. Best to give patients really great advice,
and then if they don't comply, so be it. At least you did your best.

There's just too much bad advice out there from doctors. I so quickly
started having pregnancies after becoming diabetic in my thirties that I
learned about true tight control immediately (lucky for me). The tight
control that they do for pregnant women is to test 4 times a day: fasting
and 1 hour after each meal. Everyone gets whatever treatment they need to
achieve less than 90 mg/dl for the fasting level and less than 120 mg/dl for
the post meal levels. I treated my own diabetes between pregnancies due to
lack of medical benefits. Then, when I finally got to a doctor to treat my
diabetes again I was shocked that the advice was to test only fasting levels
and pre-meal levels (I use insulin, and have needed it from the getgo 9
years ago.) They thought I'd be able to get off of it, but never have been
able to even with a very low carb diet and Metformin). Then when the doctor
saw how good my control was, she said I could go down to testing just twice
a day. I was horrified. Personally I think it is best to keep a very good
eye on it, especially when insulin is involved. I still test my blood sugar
many times a day. Because I am on insulin I like to test before driving
too.

I will concede that if a diabetic is keeping hbA1cs in the 5 level and seems
to have a really good grasp of what different foods do to their blood
sugars, it probably won't make much difference, but if people are still at
hbA1cs of 7 and above, those are just the people who should be looking at
their blood sugars all the time so they can learn to change their behavior
to help their sugars.

I think a very real problem in type II diabetes treatment is the diet
advice. I went to dieticians for each of my pregnancies in 1999, 2003 AND
2005. They have seemed to get better over time as the first one in 1999 was
so vehement about keeping those high levels of grains in the diet. But,
they are still pushing grains way too much. They are the very last thing
added to the human diet, and in my personal experience they are the worst
thing for my diabetes. The advice here is best which is watch what foods do
to your blood sugars and then modify your diet to get better blood sugar
readings. They call that eat to your meter here.

Also, if you don't already, recommend exercise to your patients. It has
great effects at increasing insulin sensitivity. In the pregnant diabetic
program they counselled people to exercise for 15 minutes after 2 meals a
day. It burns off the glucose from the carbs people eat in the muscle
before it can be stored as fat.

As for you other posters. I would say go easier on the attitude with this
doctor. The standards he uses to treat are very common standards. Lets
just tell him the better way, and maybe his practice will change. Yes
doctors have seen the studies about hbA1c improving health, but most doctors
have no training in diet, and probably don't have diabetes themselves in
order to learn this stuff. They just send the patients to the dietician,
and then have to work from what the dieticians tell the patients.


KC


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Relevant Pages

  • Researchers Say Low-Carb Diet Benefits Diabetics
    ... patients on a low-carbohydrate diet up to 22 months and report stable ... a marker for long-term blood-sugar levels in diabetes. ...
    (sci.med.nutrition)
  • Re: I need proof of why Type 2s need to test test test
    ... you've probably heard me harping on about how wonderful my doctor ... > isn't and how he is helping to enable his diabetic patients maintain ... > good control of their blood glucose. ... "Monitoring and Treating Diabetes" ...
    (alt.support.diabetes)
  • Re: My test results
    ... My diet is high in veggies, ... Would suggest you ask your doctor to supervise your use of the diabetic ... All praises belong to the LORD, Whom I love with all my heart, soul, ... diabetes and nutrition that interest those following ...
    (alt.support.diabetes)
  • Re: My endo visit
    ... she wouldn't be able to diagnose me with diabetes ... And I bet you're one of her favorite patients! ... doctor to impart in a 15-20 minute visit. ... it should be EASY for her to package me and give me to her ...
    (alt.support.diabetes)
  • Atkins helps diabetes patients
    ... Atkins helps diabetes patients ... diabetes brought on by diet and lifestyle. ...
    (sci.med.nutrition)
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