Thanks Marcia. I am glad that you have good endo & gastro docs that helped you. I felt like I was on my own and I know I have talked to a bunch of people that felt the same way I did. I always like to hear when someone else is doing good also despite some of the challenges!
I don’t know about B12 specifically, but I always buy a B-complex that has a mix of vitamins in and that does help with the pain from neuropathy. Another good one that I just started using is Alpha lipoic acid. You shouldn’t take more than 600 mg a day of that and split up your doses.
Gerri,
I did too…I still dream like that 
Judith,
Your absolutely right!
Kimberly,
I take B12, since we don’t eat meat/fish/dairy. We don’t have any way to get B12, thus supplements are required. I will eat salmon/chicken & eggs on occasion, but not enough to keep my b12 in the 200-300’s.
As for Vit D, I wish we had sunlight here on the East of Canada! We have sunshine, however the fog likes to hide it in the winter. I’ve also heard many T1’s can be deficient in Vitamin D. Not sure if that is just talk or absolute truth. As well, a good level wards off breast cancer, multiple sclerosis and offers protection from other autoimmune diseases.
I would talk to your doctor before taking anything. Have them do a blood work-up (if you can). You’re levels could be perfect and you may have no need to waste your time or money on supplements.
I will surly be buying the probiotics pills than. I bet my health store carries it too. I’ve yet been able to wrap my lips around that yogurt I bought yesterday, in fear it will upset my stomach (the dairy). The last time I touched a milk product was back in December. Thx for the advice.
Our grocery stores down here that have pharmacies give out B-12 shots for energy. Plus they give out all the other shots as well.
I don’t like to take extras so my endo tested me for B12 and I had a non-existent level so I get B12 shots. He said it does help the neuropathy. The vitamin D is on his list of standard over-the-counter he recommends.
I’ve also read up on Alpha Lipoic Acid for neuropathy.
Alpha Lipoic Acid? Oh dear…I wiki’d it and the first paragraph went way over my head. Too many long University words for my brain!
What and how does the help with neuropathy?
Don’t know what Alpha Lipoic is but I started taking it a month or so back and it did wonders for my levels. Can’t believe the difference. Lowered my BG and leveled them out. Although, change of season… mornings are suddenly way high. Have no explanation. Thought I might check tonight around 3am and see if it’s going low.
Why with Primrose Oil?
Yes I have. I actually had some stew last night - all veggies though The belly has finally come down, not 100% but thankfully I have some relief. My sugars have not crashed either, which is awesome.
I met with my doctor too yesterday and she has scheduled a heck of a lot of tests. She seems to feel I have very little bowel waves. I asked a lot of questions on why & how I could have little waves, but she just wanted to really wait on the tests results before we get into what the problem could be.
Primrose oil is supposed to help with “female troubles” at least thats what i read…
That can also mess with your BG
Glad your tummy is down some & no crashing BG. Cooked food is helping, That’s good.
Hey Desmonda,
My mother has celiac disease. She actually had someone suggest it to her and she eliminated gluten and oats, and she goot better with occasional flare ups, so she didn’t have to get tested. The thing to be aware of, though, is that some people who have celiac disease are allergic to gluten as well as oatmeal. Her doctor told her that she needed to stop using soaps with oats and if she used lotion with oatmeal, what can happen is that the oat fragments on yoru hands can get on your food when you eat or pills you take. She eliminated lotions and soaps and then there were no more unexplained flari ups for her. Hope that isn’t it, but just though you should be aware.
If that is it, there is a group here called Celiac and Diabetes. I’d throw the link in, but I’m computer illiterate. = )
I Posted this a couple of days ago on this Forum on March 21:
“My friend is a T1 and had a bloated belly a couple of years ago.
It was gluten intolerance (coeliac’s disease), which is also an autoimmune disease (bit like T1)!”.
I’ve been thinking about your situation for a couple of days.
I just recalled another instance when my friend (a T1) also had ‘bloated belly’.
It was so severe that at night he had to stay/sleep upright other wise the pressure on his diaphragm would be life threating, so…
They determined he had hepatitis B (a result of an earlier blood transfusion), and the swollen belly was a result of that
(i.e. acute hepatitis/sudden inflammation of the liver ). They ended up giving him drugs for the hep and plenty of diuretics to bring down the severity of the bloated tummy.
I would suggest also you
- request a test for hepatitis, and
- while they are doing an ultrasound of your girl bits, ask your doctor if they can scan your liver (for liver size abnormalities).
Good Luck. michael
THanks! I am not having big troubles the Metformin so far.But I have been a veg for a long time so I was worried when people started talking about B12 deficiency because I am sure I have it. I have a doctors appt tomorrow (yeah!) and I want to ask about getting all my vitamin levels tested - not sure what you call that sort of test - I am assuming it is through blood.
But I have had colon/digestive problems in the past and taking the probiotics in the morning helped me plus I am sure I had some level of candida and the probiotics seemed to help with this too. Not as much off “girlie” smells or yeast infections!
So far I don’t think I have any neuropathy but I just started on this - so far my sugars are staying low and I hope they stay that way, I have no idea how long they were high prior to starting the meds and diet though,
I tried the Evening Primrose for my cramps a few months before I was diagnosed for a month - it did nothing so I quit it but it is interesting that you say it messes with your BG? How is this? Raises or lowers?
Evening primrose oil helps regulate female hormones that increase BG, not that primrose oil raises BG.