Diabetes

A message for Big h and any others with type 2 diabetes,just weighed myself in the gym this morning and have lost half a stone in 2 weeks,now 12 and a half stone.

I have totally cut out puds,biscuits,cakes,chokkies and all nasty fryups etc. it can be done if you have the wilpower to do it.

Mista h

Well done Mista h!

We all need encouragement, and we must all try hard.  As I have said earlier, I have brought  my own blood figures down substantially by using a cross trainer every day for 15 minutes of hard running.  My weight has not come down by much though - because I have decent leg muscles again.

The other point that has been well made earlier is this:

Most of us who get diabetes, especially type II it seems, have some responsibility for so doing.  And we can, most of us, make things a lot better for ourselves by eating and exercising properly.

But it does not mean that everyone who suffers is, or has been, a fat slob.  Nor is everyone lucky enough to be able to reverse things by a strict regime.

A chum of mine, in his 40s, went from "feeling tired" to taking insulin in just a few weeks.  Like so many things in life, there is a great element of luck.

Don, gloomy but not snowy downtown York

Yeah. Well done mista h. I hope you're feeling better for it. It will take time to get into a new routine but you've already done so well. Hopefully your sugar levels are also responding.

ATB

Steve

Congratulations and keep up the good work!  As Steve said, hopefully it will reflect in improved BG readings!

Hope you dont mind me bringing back an old thread,but yesterday i got talking to a couple who run a cake making business. Told me to try something called TRUVIA.  Saw it in Sainsburys so on impulse have bought a jar. Not cheap 5 quid for a 270g jar.

Anyone have any knowledge on this product ?

Mista H

Hi MH:

Yes - it is a combination product containing sweet-leaf stevia and a sugar alcohol.  Stevia is an herb which is a sweetener (used by indigenous peoples for centuries), and a sugar alcohol is a sugar molecule with OH moeity (or perhaps better, almost an anti-moeity) substituted for the normally occurring hydrogen atoms on a sugar molecule.  This renders it unable to be processed by the body, while still retaining the sweetness sought.  In the USA sugar alcohols have to be listed as carbohydrates, but for "dietary" purposes they can be subtracted out of the total carb count.

I have some Truvia myself, but better (and regrettably even more expensive) would be pure stevia extract, but the good news is that stevia is many multiple times more sweet than sugar.  Some people complain of an aftertaste with it. 

In the USA stevia had been banned & relegated to "dietary supplement" status (despite not one study indicating it was harmful) because it represented a safer competitive threat to the Monsanto's toxic aspartame, and our dutiful corporate whores in congress & the FDA always legislate to the moneyed interests.  Now that big corporations are getting into the stevia business (e.g., Truvia was developed jointly by Coca-Cola & Cargill) the ban miraculously has been lifted.

But it is a good product for diabetes, and pure form stevia is even better.  (In larger amounts sugar alcohols are known to have the unpleasant side effect of creating flatulence.)

Hope that helps.

Chaps

By a fluke of poetic justice, I had my annual check up a few months ago and was told that my blood sugar levels were way too high and that I was hitting diabetes levels.

I gave myself a much deserved bollocking and went on a dieting and walking regime. I adopted a slowly slowly approach as crash diets never work. I continued to eat the same stuff but just ate less of it. Basically I followed Michael Winners advice in his book entitled the fat pigs diet which was to eat less.

So far I am down by 20 lbs and my sugar levels are now bang on where they should be.

It just shows that self discipline is what counts more than anything else for the majority of people.

I am now portly rather than being fat and to be honest, being fat is plain bloody stupid as there is no advantage but lots of health disadvantages. Also you look a bloody mess.

I will continue the slowly slowly approach and aim to lose another 20lbs purely on the grounds that carting fat around is a game for plonkers.

Regards

Mick 

Many thanks for your reply Dr Mark

Gonna have a look in Holland & barrat our UK health food chain for Stevia.

Mista H

It's freely available Mista H and can be bought at many stores or online.

Steve

+1.  Also watched diabetes shorten my Dad's life, and I've always thought that much of it was preventable.  He waited way too long before making the necessary lifestyle changes (smoking, diet, exercise).

Mista -

Even  if the cancer comes back, we're all betting on you to beat it back again. But it would be a shame to win that battle, only to lose the war to diabetes.

Your goal, by carefully choosing the foods you choose to eat, should be to create an anti-inflammatory environment in the body. You stabilize your blood sugar and insulin levels, and it will help you to fight both diseases.  Avoid processed foods.  Avoid foods that are high in starches and sugars, including fruit juice.  Switch to more natural foods -- look for whole grains.  Eat colorful produce -- many have anti-inflammatory properties (blueberries, red grapes, broccoli, cauliflower and tomatoes).  Nuts, seeds, extra-virgin olive oil are cool, but trans-fats are the enemy.  And oh yeah, limit alcohol to one to two glasses per day (red wine is the best choice, since it has the most anti-inflammatory effects).

Do your research -- there are lots of great web-based resources -- but even better, find a nutritionist you like and respect, and who understands your challenges.

Good luck!

Hook

Thanks Hook

TBH the Cancer bit does not worry me. I only have very small ops now every 6 months and am in and out of hospital in 48 hrs.

My worry at the moment just from an enjoyment and excercise point of view is that i cannot play squash or tennis at the moment. i broke my wrist some months ago,but it turns out i have torn/damaged the ligaments or something or other and it needs an op to sort it out. Was told this by a Doc in a dept called Mcats 6 weeks ago,since then i have heard nothing. My guess is as the op is not urgent it will happen sometime in 2015.

Mista H

Today i have had a letter from the hospital,and i was wondering if one of the many docs on this M/B would be kind enough to translate the following into Queens English for me please.

I have a triangular fibrocartilage that is disrupted,a large perforation on the volar aspects,fluid from the Ulnar carpal joint as far as the distal radio ulnar joint. Patches of oedema in the carpal bones and also the subcortival cyst in the triquetral bone last but by no means least ligament disruption has been identified..

My question is will i live past next tuesday as i have paid for tickets to go to Leicester for a cup game ?

Mista h

You have a swollen and inflamed wrist. You've torn a bit of cartiledge and some ligament. Did fall on it/

Doctors hide behind these long words!

You'll survive.

(Probably)

Bruce

Thanks Bruce....to get an appoitment with my GP is 2 weeks. You have solved my problem in 1 hour.

Yes slipped on sweat on Squash court floor.

Mista h

This is right up my street as a musculoskeletal radiologist. As Bruce said you have a sore wrist. The changes described may be due to a fall but some, like the cyst could also be degenerative (wear and tear). The TFCC (triangular fibrocartilage) is a band of tissue that separates the wrist joint from the joint at the end of the forearm that allows you to turn your wrist. If torn this can cause chronic pain but can be repaired with an operation using a 'scope (chopstick and Nintendo surgery!) but I am more concerned by the last comment about 'ligament disruption'. If they are referring to the TFCC then you haven't much to worry about but if certain other ligaments have been damaged this could indicated instability of the wrist bones which can lead to debilitating accelerated 'wear and tear' arthritis. This would require early treatment. Did they mention the 'scapholunate ligament in the report Mista H? The good news is you haven't broken the wrist but you have 'bruised' some bones. 

You'll have no trouble going to Leicester but I'm afraid you won't be playing squash for a while.

ATB

Steve

Hello Steve

I am free next Monday,any chance you can fit me in then for a quick op??

A copy of the letter i received has gone to the hand Surgeon at St Georges Hospital in London.  Its weird as we have  a Chubb lock on our front door,when i go to lock it at nite(turning wrist anti clockwise) its fine,in the morning when i go to unlock the door(wrist clockwise) its bloody painfull As soon as i get any more news i will post again.

Thanks for your reply

Mista H

You'll get very good treatment at St George's mista h. Good luck.

Treat the patient not the X ray

Steve and I have not seen and examined your wrist, we have not got access to your previous medical history or other details. His points are well made, but may well not apply to you.

See what the specialist says, they are the ones who are responsible and in a position to interpret the report.

Bruce

He's seeing a Hand Surgeon Bruce.

Exactly.

Another question for the docs on this M/B if i may

Stitches in a head wound,do they self disolve or do they need to be removed ?

Thanks

Mista h

There have been quite a few really interesting articles in Scientific American over the past 3-4 months on diet. Seems that there is quite a rethink going on about what is the appropriate diet for not only diabetes but also for heart disease and inflammatory diseases in general. Seems to be a growing consensus heading towards the direction Dr Mark is suggesting, i.e. less carbs is better for those afflicted with a predisposition to such conditions.

Other interesting article was on the gut biome. They took some fat mice and some thin ones and swapped their gut bacteria. The thin ones got fat and the fat ones got thin.

And finally for those of you lashing the sweeteners over your food be warned...the human body has taste buds in many places other than the mouth. IIRC the bladder was one location and also the small intestine. They were suggesting that even if a sweetener  is indigestible it will still kick of a response in the body similar to the real thing when detected by the taste buds in the intestine. 

I guess there is no such thing as a sweet lunch.

Willy.

If they are clearly visible shiny (usually dark blue) and fairly stiff nylon with knots etc on each individual suture-then they need removing. Generally 7 days or thereabout depending on the site.

If the wound essentially just has some small pale knots at one end but most of the wound appears to be closed invisibly they will be dissolvable. Not typically used on a head wound but possible. Dissolvable sutures will melt under the skin but the exposed bits in the air will need gentle tug after a week or so to seperate.

Whovever put the sutures in should really have given you instructions and made arragments for the after care if they need removing.

Bruce

Mista H

Head wounds as well?

Sounds ike you are in the wars at the moment.

Seriously, take care of yourself !

Morning CBR

I was carrying a tray downstairs when our new moggy ran under my feet and i went head first halfway down the stairs. Kate decided cut was to deep to be left,so a visit to good old Maydie was called for.

Nurse put 5 stitches in the bonce,but just as she was finnishing me off Kate who was waiting outside saw Police bring in 2 guys in metal bracelets needing treatment and the nurse who was looking after me had to dash off to join the melee.

Mista h