Looking forward to the day that you post your findings BMD. Hope you are well.
I too will be interested in your analysis of the studies quoted on the bloodsugar101 website, but as you say it will require a large block of time as there are quite a few. Not being qualified to critique these studies, myself, I am always interested in the opinions of others who are qualified.
I like Jenny Ruhel's ( the bloodsugar101 websites author) analysis of published studies, she seems to understand good study design and will point out the flaws in some studies that the media tout as being ground breaking. Unfortunately due to the expense of doing a large study correctly, poor design is all too common. It also is very useful to look at who paid for a study as interpretations of results can be colored who is forking out the bucks.
Just for fun, I decided to go to her blog and look up her initial take on the ACCORD study. This was just after it had been released and details were not available but already there were many references in both the professional and popular media saying that it proved lowering A1C below 7 was dangerous. She notes that all participants were on an aggressive drug intervention program and then says "There was no control group which lowered their A1c without the use of drugs. All the participants were taking drugs, lots of them. So we have no true way of knowing if it was the lowered blood sugar or the drugs causing the excess mortality."
A few weeks later she compared the Accord Study with the Advance study which showed no danger in lowering A1C below 7. This is her take on why the results differed "The ACCORD study violated all the principles of good science because it introduced far too many independent variables. ADVANCE limited the variables under study making it much easier to interpret their effect."
These critiques of the study had nothing to do with the fact that the drug Avandia was widely used by the participants, they simply said the design was flawed. Of course, now Avandia has been pulled from the market because it causes ........ heart attacks, the effect that was attributed to the lowering of A1C in the ACCORD study.
My point is that if we are to make life or death decisions on published studies they should be properly designed. With just the knowledge of proper study design Jenny was able to flag the ACCORD study as deeply flawed and not useful in making treatment decisions. Unfortunately, people are still being told not to try for tight control based on this study.
BMD thanks for the work you are doing to keep standards in professional journals high. As a layman It's difficult for me to know what to believe.
Thanks for responding, BadMoonT2! I have been taking note of all of the suggestions given to me by you and other people here. I will switch doctors soon, and I will mention the glucose tolerance test, as well as the GADA and C-peptide. I remember that they did a glucose tolerance test before, but I didn’t know much about these tests and diabetes in general. I asked for the results and my doctor said that I do have Type 2 diabetes. I asked him to help me get better glucose readings and he said that I have to excercise, excercise, excercise as much as I can (he is very athletic) and to limit my carb intake, and that would be all I need to keep my glucose under control. I did what he said, and I lost all my pregnancy weight and even more right away. I didn’t have more energy to excercise and I was starving, and my glucose readings didn’t improve that much. I talked to him about it and I remember clearly what he said: “Well, you will never have normal or close to normal readings, because you are sick, you have diabetes, you cannot compare yourself to other people who are healthy”. I guess he just wanted me to accept that I am diabetic and aim to more “reasonable” readings. Thanks a lot for your support, every single comment here has helped me a lot.
Thanks Deb B! I did find some cheap test strips online, but I am not sure wether to trust the seller or not. I understand that the test strips are very sensitive, (expiration date, weather, bad handling,etc). I will try to get a prescription on my next visit. If I don’t get a prescription, I will still want to check my glucose, so I guess I will buy test strips online and use the control solution (I would have to order it from the manufacturer because I couldn’t find it anywhere). Thanks!
Hi Bitter-Sweet: Be sure to request the full suite of antibody tests (GAD, ICA, IA-2). Most people with adult-onset Type 1 diabetes have GAD, but many people with adult-onset Type 1 diabetes have only ICA, so it’s important to get the full suite.
That’s sensible.
I haven’t had any issues myself, but you have to be
vigilant when you order online.
The seller I found on Amazon was out of Canada I think.
It’s wise to be careful. Also remember that even "legit"
strips can have an error margin of up to 20%.
I was hyper vigilant, got burned out, and reassessed my approach.
I check around four to five times a day (one peccadillo I have developed is to quit calling it “testing”. It has a pass fail connotation I just can’t stand!)
Gosh, if test strips are the issue, just mosey on down to Walmart. They carry a $10 meter (which comes with a few strips) and a box of 50 stripes is $20. Just going in to the doctor to request a prescription will cost me that much.
ps. Look for the Relion brand.