Living with Type 2 Diabetes: Self-medicating for Diabetes
I’ve always believed that whatever we need to take care of ourselves can be found in nature. Diseases such as diabetes have been around for centuries and people have survived it for a long time, and often without the use of “traditional” medication. The internet has made it easy to research and diagnose symptoms of diabetes and even ways to treat it, but should we treat diabetes ourselves or seek the help of a doctor?
I’ve experimented with various foods, herbs, and minerals and have realized that I can keep my diabetes in check without the use of traditional medication. Eating a diet rich in broccoli, beans, blueberries, oatmeal, and fish are effective in reducing my A1C. However, there are times when it pays to use the resources of a modern hospital. Although our bodies may seem like it’s doing fine on the outside, there can be damage occurring on the inside and it is only through lab work or MRI’s can we truly know what’s going on with our kidneys or liver functions. Kidney failure is almost synonymous with diabetes and I recently saw an online survey which stated that more than 35% of diabetics aged 20 and older have kidney disease.
At the end of the day, herbal medicines do work but they do not diagnose potentially life threatening illnesses. I’m pretty confident in my ability to find an herbal remedy to help treat whatever may come my way but I also know when it is time to put down the herbs and pick up the telephone to make a doctor’s appointment.
Several years ago I was diagnosed with diebetes (type 2 insulin resistant). Over the next two years I saw a total of 8 different doctors. My first doctor pulled up the wrong chart for someone else, when I pointed that out to him he became very angry and commented he did not make mistakes. I was on three different insulin, and 5 other medications. I developed a rash over 90% of my body. When I talked to the doctor that I felt one drug was causing this; his comment was “Suck it up and live with it”. When I tried to report my experience with that drug to the FDA I was informed that I could only submit my report if I were dead. I began using various herbs with exercise. The last doctor I saw refused to look at any of the data from that even though I had reduced my blood sugars to the point that I technically am no longer diabetic.
Will, while we’d like to think that doctors know best, that’s not always the case. It’s tough to suck it up and live with it when the medication is causing more pain and discomfort than the disease. Diabetes is nothing new to us so what did our great grandparents do to treat their diabetes? I’d like to think that whatever worked then will still work now. Sometimes we literally have to take our health into our own hands.