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Sharing my experience of Bitter Melon.

My usual morning levels at 8am range from 6.5ish down to 5.8 they are never below 5.4 (and that was only once).. Yesterday I had two BM capsules for the first time at 6pm along with my 2nd 80g of Gliclazide of the day, and my post meal reading was nice. This morning - 4.9! I have just taken my first Gliclazide of the day and hope the level stays low enough to have an impact on my usual midday steroid spike. that would really be something. Fingers crossed. I shall try the same again today I think and see what the next morning brings. Things are getting interesting, Oldvatr.
 
My steroid spike did appear to drop a bit, but it might be hiding in a different time slot to evade detection (sneaky creature that it is). The bitten melon tea did appear to have a little short term impact on my BS, but the capsules might be doing more for me. yesterday's morning level was a bit higher at 5.9 compared to 4.9 the day before. So, I experimented a bit : Gliclazide at 6pm, bitter melon capsules at 4am (I was awake which is not unusual). This morning at 7.45 my BS was 5.2. Again it shall be interesting to see if there is an impact on my steroid spike. May just be progress afoot.
 
I found out that for me that in the first week, I had some slight effect from BM, but then I got the sudden kickin where all my readings had a significant drop. It may be that because you were already using BM tea, then this may have primed your body already. When i restarted BM after a holiday from it, I seemed to move into BM drive a bit quicker, but not so noticeable as a drop. But then I was already lower bgl this second time around than when I first started BM. You are also starting from a relatively low bgl, and a large drop would probably not be welcome. My first trial average dropped from 10.2 to 6.4 mmol/L within a few days when it kicked in
 

Still a bit unsure though as I am still taking my Gliclazide (a bit hesitant to stop again, having just restarted)..my plan was to get some stability and then drop the Gliclazide pills one at a time to see what changes. Also, while I had thought my steroid spike had dropped significantly from around 8ish to 6.6 today..it seems instead, oddly, to have delayed it by an hour or so. Anyway, very early stages, mate. It clearly is worth experimenting with...and I'll keep you posted and keep adding to the thread.
 
Teh BM seems to have helped keep my steroid spike low today..throughout the day. All readings (ie 7 of them) were in the normal range. My latest HbA1c test came back as 43...so that's progress. it will be interesting to see what comes next.
 
Hmmm...my levels have been bouncing around a bit quite unpredictably, and my steroid spike has jumped up at different times like a sinister sneaky yoyo of evil. I can't figure out what's what, so I am putting the BM on hold and stopping some Gliclazide in the morning..to see just what's what with this damned spike. past couple of days have produced readings of over 9.5 at my expected peak times, but they have not been that high for quite while..so..it's very frustrating. I'll get back when I have relevant info.
 
Its been a while since I last posted on this thread. I am still taking Bitter Melon, but have a challenge or two. While I tried to decouple my trials from outside influences as best I can, I am for personal reasons running two trials concurrently, and this is interfering with my results for BM. I am changing my diet to LCHF, and I am also keeping up with my 2 Gliclazide tabs at night as prescribed. This combination alone actually causes me to get close to the bgl that would be considered hypo, and the BM may be adding to this effect. Thus I am having to take avoiding action by eating extra carbs to prevent hypo, and then this bounces me out of my playpen., So instead of munching my way out of danger, I have been omitting one or both Gliclazide tabs, and this has started to show a better control strategy. However, I now find that my 2 BM caps at lunchtime is also giving me hypo at evening pre-meal reading, without taking the Gliclazides, If I then have a low carb meal then this presents a dangerous situation, so I am sometimes forced to eat carbs again. Its a 3-way switch that I need to fine tune, and this is a major headache at present. I stopped everything over XMAS, and stopped monitoring. My daily average went up to10.8 mmol/L, but came back immediately to 7.1 the day I started taking the BM again. I am currently at 6.8 mmol.L, so back on track. I see my GP in a week or so, so will see how my blood panel is doing.
 

Likewise! I had stopped Gliclazide as there appeared to be little or no effect, but that was prior to going low carb. After about 6 weeks of success on that diet, i went back on Gliclazide to see if it would be more effective now my diet was under control, particularly to see if it would make a dent in the one area where there was little improvement - my post steroid spike. At first there was what looked like a marked difference. I then made the mistake of trying BM at the same time, which also seemed to make an immediate impact - but, how did I know what was really working? Gliclazide, BM, neither? So, after a while, I stopped the BM, but my readings recently have been a bit odd and my control is shot to hell..so I have just stopped both to see whet my readings are like. Once they are balanced (if they are..), I'll rethink. I should have tried them one at a time...I'll get back to it, but I'm not sure the Gliclazide alone is helping, and actually think figures before all this were easier to read and I had more control..and..less stomach problems! I sympathise. Frustrating as hell.
 
I tried Bitter Melon very soon after diagnosis, but it gave me such bad indigestion I stopped it before even knowing whether it would affect my BG. At that stage my digestion was very bad so it was probably the worst time to try it, but can't say I've been tempted to try again.
 
Yes, i suspect it is also causing me some stomach problems, but nothing too severe. I had my Metformin increased to 2gms, so that may be partly to blame. However, sites like WebMD do advise that BM is also used to treat constipation, so there is a clue there.
 
I am still having difficulty seperating the effects of BM from my LCHF diet which are both active at the moment. Looking at the graphs i produced for my GP yesterday,I note that on the 2 occasions I used BM, then it is clear that there is definitely an effect in that all four of my daily tests converge to almost the same value but diverge when I stopped BM for a while. So, diet apart, it seems BM calms my swings and roundabouts, and I seem to get more repeatable responses. i cannot say that BM has reduced my bgl levels alone, since my diet also plays a major part there. But, I am running with much lower bgl than I was before. I am still taking BM, 2 caps a day. My GP supports me taking BM and also the LCHF diet since he never expected me to drop my HbA1c so dramatically. This has also prompted him to offer me what test strips I need to continue this work, no problems. Please note my previous posting above wrt possible stomach issues noted.
 

After quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing on and off meds...and avoiding simple carbs, I have pretty much concluded that Bitter Melon in capsule form causes a temporary drop in BS levels until my body gets used to it, but it is not entirely predictable, and having experienced stomach problems with it, I have decided - it's not for me. Others are having success with it. The tea on the other hand, does bring my blood sugar down, if only for an hour or so. A small cup if I have a higher than average reading is worthwhile. I see no evidence of any long term, reliable or less than superficial reduction, nor do I see any evidence of its supposedly anti-constipation benefit. This said, I have no doubt it works for other people...and so I would certainly not dissuade anyone from seeing how it effects them. Thanks, Galja, for the cooking tips...sadly I am an atrocious cook...and reckon I shall just stick to the low carb diet. I would add...no other health issues with it at all.
 
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