But I do appreciate it. :) You should have read some of the things they deleted. Pretty nasty. Anyway...really, I have learned much from your postings here today. I've read through every one and it has given me some things to talk with my doc and endo about. So thank you. :)
I do not see why diabetes should not be reversed. Doctors may be pessimistic, but I would like to improve my immune system.
This may sound antagonistic to popular belief. In my experience, 'experts' expect me to conform to an undesirable condition, and I have the power to wage war on complacency. That is not to say anyone is complacent - just that I prefer to take preventative measures against the insulin insensitivity, which diabetes can lead to.
It seems there are two separate issues: insulin resistance and a genetic predisposition to diabetes. Exercise enables me to fight the former. I am a freak: a type 1 diabetic whose BS reduces without insulin (Read what you like into that acronym ;)!). For this reason, I intend to learn all I can about antibodies. I have spoken to Professors of Diabetology about this and found how little they know on the subject.
Living on pulses (legumes) and vegetables helps, but I do not want to lose any more weight. One problem I find with advice to diabetics is that advisers assume thinner people are healthier. Eventually vital organs may be attacked for energy, so in this war on antibodies, I have territory to defend.
At the same time, I would like to be able to deal effectively with friends and acquaintances, who provide know-it-all answers to my condition. Diabetes may make a person highly volatile. I can see from some respondents' arguments here that this causes antagonism. You may find my comments offensive. If so I apologise - I need to face my condition with unwavering honesty.
Dave, your question about communicating with well-meaning interference is extremely helpful to me. There may be many of us attempting to work out how we can control our mood at the same time as incomprehensible blood sugar levels. There is a lot to read on this discussion and much to be meaningfully asked.
Thank you for your patience, anyone who has taken the trouble to listen to my comments. This thread is a valuable resource.
I think the main objection is semantic, in that the notion of "reversal" can be associated with blame, as in "it's your fault, all you have to do is exercise and eat vegetables like Halle Berry and you'll reverse diabetes" which is not entirely true, since the underlying condition is permanent. Diet and exercise are very effective tools for managing diabetes but they don't reverse the genetic defects at the heart (or pancreas...) of the problem. It's one thing to reverse elevated BG and I certainly agree that that can be done but it's another thing to talk about reversing diabetes and I think that most people in the diabetes online communities will bristle at that notion.
The same is true for the verb "prevent," which implies that if you were omniscient and omnipotent,you wouldn't be causing everyone else problems. Episodes of hyperglycemia may be reduced, and with neverending vigilance, many episodes may be prevented, but not all. I wish the organizations and media would substitute the word hyperglycemia for diabetes.
you obviously haven't read how much money Big Pharma donates to the American Diabetes Association and how many kickbacks Doctors get from from Pharma companies. Ever wonder why Pharma sales reps are in doctor offices and hospitals pushing the latest drug and giving out free samples. There is money to be made by both doctors and Pharma companies. Don't be so naive. The majority of doctors are greedy. Only the small percent are in it for true patient care.
The majority of doctors don't know how to properly treat people with diabetes. That's a fact.
Diet plays a big factor in Type 2, which is what this thread is about and not type 1. Type 2 diabetes can be reversed but it is hard work. Most people are lazy and don't want to do the hard work, change up the diet and do what needs to be done. they want the magic pill.
Insulin is man made and do you believe that your body can process that stuff without side effects? injecting a synthetic drug is dangerous in the long run. Besides, insulin is inflammatory. Doctors won't tell you that. they just prescribe and send you on your merry way.
What a negative view you have of people (which, by the way, includes you). I am sure there are pharmacy reps in my hospital--how else would they get drugs of any kind--but they have no direct contact with doctors. I have NEVER gotten any free drugs, and I don't know any one who has, and getting something free is not something people stay quiet about.
Cindy, Dave,
My endo gives me free insulin every visit, sometimes as much as $500 worth. Of course Lantus insulin should not be 140 a vial, but I pay for maybe one vial a year. My views are not so negative, but the entire multi-billion dollar test strip industry could go out of business if there was a cure. I don't know what insulin is inflammatory is supposed to mean, but I would be dead without it.
gburger,
The Prime brand glucose meter and strips are extremely inexpensive at Walmart. Meter is under $15 and strips are an unbelievably low $9.00/50. I use these to supplement my grossly overpriced Accu-Chek's($68.00/50 @ Costco).
I've compared results on many occasions and they are maybe 2 pts apart.
gburger, there is some evidence that insulin increases the chance of heart problems--sort of die now quickly or die later slowly, great choice. There is an interesting study posted recently on dLife (http://www.dlife.com/diabetes-news/viewdetailnews?news_article_id=8568392) about treating diabetic animals without insulin, and they flourished. Sounds like a great avenue to explore.
I can't complain about not getting anything free--all I pay for most of my prescriptions is a copay. I wanted to get a diabetic dog, but figured I couldn't afford his insulin. He needed long acting, and I haven't had any of that since I went on the pump. The poor dog is still in foster care, no one wants to put up with his problems, and otherwise he is a perfect dog.
Patented drugs are incredibly expensive, I agree. And need not be this expensive for Americans in a more perfect world.
Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. We live in one where the rest of the world has no ethical problem with ripping off Americans to free-ride on our economic backs.
It's easy to blame the evil drug companies and their obscene profits if you're ignorant. Learn a few facts, however, and the situation looks quite different.
Drug companies do not make obscene profits -- their profit margins are in line with most businesses, 7-12%. Obscene profits are made by companies like Microsoft -- 30%.
Drugs are not expensive in the US because greedy Snidely Whiplashes are rubbing their hands together and banking all their green in Switzerland.
No, they are expensive in the US because they are expensive to develop, and everyone outside the US is unwilling to pay for that development. They're fine with taking advantage after the drugs are developed. They're unwilling to help fund developing them in the first place.
So, we in the US carry the cost burden of R&D for these miracle treatments, while the rest of the world takes advantage of us.
To better understand this, take a look at how many new, efficacious treatments source from the US, compared to the rest of the entire world. Even foreign-owned drug companies do most of their research in the US, and (surprise surprise!) charge a lot more for their treatments in the US than elsewhere.
Pharms could refuse to sell to price-controlled markets. Problem is, when they do that, their patents are simply ignored, the drugs are reverse-engineered, and are then manufactured in competition -- the only cost being covered by the crooked manufacturer the cost to manufacture -- which is dirt cheap.
I don't like it any more than anyone else. However, I know where the blame lies. This is why I vehemently oppose any price controls in the US -- I'd rather have an expensive vital treatment available, and have to figure out some way to pay for it, than not have it exist at all.
The latter is what we're facing if we set drug prices at the marginal cost to manufacture them, rather than the cost to produce them, which includes amortizing the R&D cost over the lifetime of the patent protection.
It sucks, but that's the way it is. If someone can come up with a better solution, I'm all for it. Simply extending price controls to the US market is not, however, that solution.
Buggy whips.
So what?
Disruptive change is always a possibility for, well, anything.
Show me a pharm company making profits like Microsoft, Google, I-could-go-on-and-on, and you'll stir some anger from me.
So long as pharms are profiting about the same as the vast majority of businesses, I'm not only not concerned, I'm delighted they are reasonably profitable. That means they will stay in business and have sufficient incentive and resources to keep busting out new miracles. One of those miracles just may be a cure for my condition in my lifetime.
Die now quickly or die later slowly?
Choice seems a no-brainer to me. Especially when the actual choice is die now quickly while suffering, or die much later slowly while being healthy.
2tall63,
If you have the Accu-Chek Nano, there's a 15$ copay card you can get from Accu-Chek. It came with my meter. I never pay more than 15$ for my test strips now with that card. And that's 15$/100 when I did it through Walgreens. Look into it when you get a chance to. :)
Yes, it is a great link. I posted it on my Facebook page last week. Excellent feedback. :)
Dave, add to the expense of developing the drug the expense of protecting oneself against the spurious lawsuits--not the legitimate ones. There are alwasy lawyers willing to file suit against anything for any reason, and hardly anyone says something about their greed. The ads on tv about joining this or that class action lawsuit disgust me....as well as the surprising number of people I know who have a lawyer on retainer 24/7, 'just in case' they have to sue someone. What would be the cost of research, and how many more companies would be willing to do it if they didn't have to watch over their shoulder for the lawyer coming out of the wall?
DAve, I agree with most of what you say, but it's rather ironic that you've posted a claim that only the US is willing to develop new drugs on a diabetes forum. T1 or T2, who among us is not using at least one of insulin, metformin, or aspirin? Probably the three most common drugs for us, and none of them were US developments.
Natalie,
I have type 1 (over 2000 - i.e. off the scale - on a Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase Autoantibodies test, in which the scale runs from 0 to 25).
I struggled with insulin for 11 months and it caused me to lose my will to live - the insulin itself - so I stopped at the beginning of July. Since then I have enjoyed ten week's vigor, eating whatever I want (admittedly my tastes have changed)and my blood sugar level has fallen consistently from 11 to 7. My latest HbA1C was 33. You may well be sorry but you need to comment on your own experience. If you think there is something someone here cannot do, you are welcome too watch and be surprised.
In my experience, too many people share doctors' ignorance and claim it is scientific. It seems the most the medical profession can do is accumulate empirical evidence to assess the probability of complications. They then need to protect themselves against negligence claims, so they are predisposed to advise caution rather than vivacity.
A diet of pulses and vegetables - minimizing carbohydrate intake and maximizing protein - has been the best way to counteract the antibodies, which disrupt protein repair of essential tissue.
Doctors can feed their opinion to an insulin pump. I will not be reduced to self harm if I can help it and I see no reason I should live with diabetes.
The Needle
I simply cannot be prescribed self-harm
cannot accept necessity to treat
incurable disease. Routine alarm,
slow-moving, aggravates a one-way street.
You tell me other people learn to cope
at a young age with such abnormal things
it becomes normal. They live on in hope
and reproduce the syndrome to offspring.
Inject me if you must but don’t expect
my soul’s surrender to your warped logic.
The illness is a natural defect
your reasoning surprisingly dodgy.
My death I can accept as mine in fact
but torture is not mine. I will not act.
summer 2013 © Katrina
www.WritingTank.com
When I was at the supermarket the other day, some lady noticed my pump and asked if it was an Ipod. I told her no and explained that it was an insulin pump because I have diabetes. She let me know what a shame it was that a young lady such as myself who seemed so put together could be so "slovenly". She then proceeded to tell me that it was my flip flop wearing that caused my diabetes and that if I wore more supportive footwear I would no longer require insulin and that my diabetes would be cured. Sometimes all you can do is walk away and tell your roommates about it so that you can laugh about it together.
I can only hope that she had heard that PWD's shouldn't wear sandals at some point in her life and just got very confused? I have no idea where else this could have come from.
Dave - I was diagnosed with T2 12+ years ago, and cannot say that I Am 'cured' but I can tell you in four (4) months I have dropped my fasting gbs' from a high of 255mg/dL to 104mg/dL. There are some mornings I now have a fasting gbs of 95mg/dL or less. I did this through changing my eating habits and exercise. My doctor thinks I Am taking the metformin prescribed, but after reading the insert, forget it, no way will I kill myself in that manner!
I have been using Dr. Joel Fuhrman's approach to 'Eat To Live - Curing Diabetes'. After the first three (3) weeks when my avg fasting gbs' were floating around 125mg/dL I was so ecstatic that I thought having a cheat here and there won't hurt, alas it did. So I went back big time and have had slower, but still good results.
Additionally, I have lost nine (9) pounds and with four (4) more to lose so I can go out and purchase two (2) new sport jackets I really want as my reward.
I must add here, I have the full support of my family in this, so it is easier to do. Even though my partner needs to drop 30+ pounds, his position is, I rather eat what I want when I want outside of our dinners at home. Which is fine and I do not nag.
Regardless, whatever route you choose, good luck for you as you have to decide what is best despite all the noise to the contrary or support. When you are ready, you are ready.