I have read your article & note
"Alan Cassels is a drug policy researcher at the University of Victoria and author of The ABCs of Disease Mongering, an Epidemic in 26 Letters."
I note also the total absence of references, so that I presume your statements regarding the research reports mentioned are selected to support your thesis, that testing BS for diabetics is counter-productive & at best a waste of public money, & at worst contributes to the progress of the disease.
I am very concerned at your use of inappropriate language:
This recommendation counters a report put out this summer by the Canadian Agency for Drugs Technologies in Health (CADTH), a publicly funded agency that produces weapons-grade evidence on the value of drugs and technologies.
"Weapons-grade evidence??????? Who are you using these weapons against?????
You also state:
Other researchers in Canada, who have examined spending patterns related to blood glucose test strips, have concluded that about half the patients using these test strips are considered at low risk for hypoglycemia and are probably using these strips unnecessarily. These researchers have come to similar conclusions as my own: that excessive testing of blood glucose in type-2 diabetics is costly; much of it is unnecessary and it’s probably harmful.
Only half "at low risk for hypoglycemia?" What do you know about T2 diabetes? Our problem is high blood sugar, NOT low. High BS contributes to heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, amputation, etc..... all of which are VERY expensive conditions. $2 per day is money very well spent if it is used to control a potentially very serious condition that was recently the subject of an advertising campaign in the UK warning against "The Silent Assassin."
You advise:
Even with type-2 diabetes, we know nothing works better than proper diet and exercise so wouldn’t this wasted money be better spent on more exercise and diet-based approaches to staving off the ravages of diabetes? I think so.
"Proper diet & exercise" education indicates a serious lack of knowledge on your part. In fact the offical dietary advice by the health service professionals is to "eat starchy foods at each meal" (especially those high in fibre*.) I followed that advice for 8 years from diagnosis, & continued playing tennis & exercising at the hospital gym. (A supervised programme my wife as a heart patient attends.) By the spring of 2008, peripheral neuropathy was setting in, giving intense muscle pain. I was becoming disabled. My HBA was 6.7 & was considered acceptable by my Dr. He suggested quinine for cramp, & suggested further tests.
At that time I found a web diabetes forum,
www.diabetes.co.uk where I learned from other diabetics the dangers of the high carbohydrate diet recommended. I cut my carbs drastically & withing 3 months the pain was gone & my mobility fully restored. My finger BS tests showed that under the high carb diet my overnight fasting readings averaged 6.9, while the reduced carb diet averaged about 5.8. The HBA was then 6.8, so showed no indication of the transformation in my health. Over the following year it has dropped to 6.2. My BMI dropped from 27 to 24, & cholesterol from 5.4 to 4.3. (I cannot take statins - you might like to rant about those, & if you did, I might agree with you.)
Once the predicted complications had set in, exercise was no longer an option. I was walking with a stick, & I could not do the heart exercises. (I haven't got a heart condition - I'm only there with my wife.)
From the experience of many contributing to the
http://www.diabetes.co.uk forum, the dietary information (starchy carbs) given by the professionals actually aggravates our condition, & contributes to the incidence of T2 diabetes by overloading our system with carbs, & the resultant high BS.
We need an intelligent & informed programme to help control diabetes, NOT an ill-informed rant by the ignorant, only concerned with saving public money.
