Search Results

I think you are confusing a fasting BG test with a glucose tolerance test (GTT). You don't need any glucose for a fasting test - you just take a blood sample in the morning, before eating. All diabetics should do this regularly to monitor their condition (I would suggest more than once a...

Usually when people talk about the "honeymoon period" they are referring to T1. In T1, the pancreas is producing progressively less and less insulin. However, if you adopt a diet and exercise regime that reduces the need for insulin then, for a while, the insulin that the pancreas can still...

Yes, this is a recognised side effect of pioglitazone (it is what medics call peripheral oedema). I wouldn't panic, but you should probably discuss this with your doctor. Although a slight swelling is harmless, if it is severe then that might indicate a possibility of more serious side...

Have you tried following a fairly severe low carb diet - something like the Bernstein system? Although it isn't always possible (everyone is different), many T2 diabetics find that this sort of approach lets them cut down their medication substantially - some even manage to come off it...

If you want a detailed breakdown of the contents of fruit (or anything else for that matter), then the best source that I know is the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. You have to know what you are looking for and do a search, but you will then you get lots of details...

If your blood sugar really is good, then this almost certainly isn't diabetic neuropathy. If BG is well controlled, there is absolutely nothing inevitable about neuropathy in T2 diabetes! Many doctors consider an HbA1C of 7% to be "good control" - and anything less to be an unrealistic target...

Sorry you are still having trouble. Are you taking the metformin under the direction of a diabetes specialist or your GP? If you do have T2 then metformin will, if you can build up a tolerance to it, be very helpful. However, if you have LADA then my understanding is that the use of metformin...

You are obviously unusual enough to confuse a specialist. There are lots of rare variants of diabetes (for example, there are eight known types of MODY), and LADA must also be a possibility for you - all of which means that diagnosis can be very difficult. However, you should make certain that...

Strictly speaking you probably aren't either. Steroid diabetes is a recognised condition in its own right. Usually it is temporary, but it sounds as though in your case the damage caused by the steroids was so severe that it is permanent. In terms of treatment, you are probably pretty close...

This is true. All that many GPs know about diabetes is what is in standard medical textbooks - and that is generally both minimal and out of date, even in some modern books. This is understandable, but still very bad. A good doctor will know his limitations and not be afraid to admit...

Only marginally cheaper than the high street price - much more than you will usually pay on eBay!

I am pretty sure that there is nothing toxic in almonds in large enough quantities to do you any harm. Cyanide is only present in trace amounts in sweet almonds (rather more in bitter almonds). I have never heard of strychnine in almonds, although it is sometimes used in pesticides so I guess...

This sort of drastic intervention always seems to be rather like sticking your finger in a dyke. It may work, to a point, but it is avoiding the real issue rather than confronting it. It is like gastric bypass for weight loss - although it is extremely effective in the short term, in the long...

@veena148 While you might have to be a little more careful about your diet than us carnivores, it is quite possible for a vegetarian to eat a healthy low-carb diet. You need to work out a few mainstay foods that are low in carbohydrate and acceptable to you. Assuming that you eat eggs and...

@manxangel Hmm... one would hope so, but although I don't mean to disrespect medics, sadly this isn't always the case. I have known a lot of medics in my time (I used to work in biomedical research, and although I don't have a medical degree myself I do have a PhD in this sort of thing), and I...

An insulin pump is not a magic device that allows you to eat what you like and dispenses the correct amount of insulin. This is called an artificial pancreas. These things are under development (using several different approaches), but they are very experimental. There have been a handful of...

It is amazing how much ignorance that people have about diabetes (as well as many other aspects of health, medicine and science for that matter). It is only natural that people are apprehensive about things that they don't understand - fear of the unknown is a very fundamental human instinct...

The important thing is to be involved in the decisions about your treatment. It is your life, so don't just accept what the medics tell you blindly. Get all of your test results (usually they will give you a printout if you ask for them), make sure that you understand them and discuss various...

The reason that your DN has told you not to test is that these days many PCTs put a lot of pressure on GPs and clinics not to prescribe strips for T2s, because they are expensive. The ostensible reason is that a study has been recently published that claim to show that testing makes no...

I think the trick to making a low carb diet viable is to "dilute" the protein and fat with lots of vegetables. For non-diabetics, fruit is also very good but diabetics have to be careful - the natural sugar in most fruit mean that you have to go easy on them. Since your energy comes entirely...