Chromium Picolinate - does anyone take it? and effects

[CherryAA]

I've been experimenting with a very low calorie diet over the last 24 hours, and as such my blood sugars are quite high - Ive been testing around 7-9 . I took a chromium picolinate does 500 mcg about an hour ago ( 3 hours after food) and was surprised to see my blood sugars went down very quickly from circa 9 to about 6. 5. Has anyone else seen this effect and does anyone have experience of using chromium as a means of controlling blood sugar?

 

[Freema]

I have them and have taken them without noticing that there could be an emidiate effect... but now when you mention that I´ll try to see if I would have a similar effect... put the pill-box here in front of me on my table so I won´t forget

 

[Freema]

but isn´t 500 mcg poisonous on a daily basis ?

 

[CherryAA]

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Chromium-HealthProfessional/

This is the link I was reading that made me try it. I don't think an upper limit has been established though the advice does say to proceed carefully if you take insulin because it makes the insulin more effective. The research suggests that only a very small proportion of what you take gets absorbed

I'm not thinking of taking supplements every single day, more adding the occasional boost to the diet.

 

[asparagusp]

I took them a few years ago but I wasn't resting my blood then, nor was I on insulin. I have been thinking of getting my blood tested to see if I need a supplement. If I do hopefully the doctor will prescribe them again.

 

[Freema]

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Chromium-HealthProfessional/

This is the link I was reading that made me try it. I don't think an upper limit has been established though the advice does say to proceed carefully if you take insulin because it makes the insulin more effective. The research suggests that only a very small proportion of what you take gets absorbed

I'm not thinking of taking supplements every single day, more adding the occasional boost to the diet.

240 mcg a day for 14 days is enough to get sufficiant amount of chromium if you have a lack of chromium.. according to the above link the one you put in your self... I think maybe taking it for a fortnight daily and then only 200 mcg pro week after that would be enough

my pills are 200mcg .. and now I´ll take them the next 14 days daily, I quite forgot that I´d promised to try this , but now I´ve taaken the first of a daily dose

 

[Freema]

I took them a few years ago but I wasn't resting my blood then, nor was I on insulin. I have been thinking of getting my blood tested to see if I need a supplement. If I do hopefully the doctor will prescribe them again.

they are not very expensive I think

I think there can be many different reasons for develloping diabetes and chromium deficiency could be one in many, after all our body is a very complex chemical-organism and a lot can go wrong in all the different processes.. also genetically

 

[Nicksu]

I found some research about folks with diabetes being commonly lacking in chromium. Also this is one of the things mentioned if you have steroid induced diabetes. It says to take 600mg a day. I take 200g in the morning and 2 before bed. Maybe this is why I tend to have good morning BS readings? Who knows?! Either way, its surprising what my research found, i.e. things like vitamin D being needed for the proper function of the pancreas. You just don't think of things like this do you?

 

[asparagusp]

Yes but Vitamin D3. Doctors will tend to prescribe Vitamin D2 which is plant derived and not nearly as good as D3. The vitamin is mainly found in fish and eggs apart from sunshine of course. You need about 2000 iu daily. I started them again last night.

 

[Nicksu]

Yes but Vitamin D3. Doctors will tend to prescribe Vitamin D2 which is plant derived and not nearly as good as D3. The vitamin is mainly found in fish and eggs apart from sunshine of course. You need about 20000 iu daily. I started them again last night.

I spotted the article about D3 myself. I've got myself some also - the doc looked at me as if I was talking a foreign language when I mentioned this - and this was from the doc who is supposed to be the diabetes doc! You do wonder! Plus of which being a lady coming up to a certain age(!) I need to safeguard my bones.

 

[asparagusp]

Doctors are clueless. I see anyone in the practice b. In the last month apart from the ut last year I got the boss who noticed my diabetic consultant had failed to notice my thyroid problem ..... I had a fast pulse so she prescribed Propranolol which I learnt fairly recently can cause hyperglycaemia ( The pharmacist knew this) so a month ago I weaned myself off them and bingo my sugar levels have improved .....

 

[Nicksu]

'Nuff Said!

Makes me wonder about something - for years I took a thyroid supplement called Thyax. For the last year or so I've been finding it difficult to buy at a reasonable price so had to try something else. This was in addition to the normal thyroxine I was taking. Anything else just didn't seem to match up to it. I found with Thyax that it helped with the energy levels (or should I say lack thereof!) that I had with the underactive thyroid. Sad part is if you are underactive its another likelihood of you getting diabetes. Bah humbug!

 

[asparagusp]

If you are diabetic you are more likely to have thyroid problems. A hyperactive thyroid occurs when it produces antibodies which is similar to how Type 1 diabetes occurs. If the thyroid is not functioning then it creates further problems for controlling diabetes. In my case apart from weight loss and shaky hands, the medication I was taking was not staying in my system long enough to work at their optimum.