The Great Diabetes Debate
 

Most experts agree that there are four main avenues of Blood Glucose Control (at least for type II's). At different times and for different people, certain of these may be more important than others. Thought it might be interesting to have a little poll going to see what others have found.

Here's my story . . . so far . . .

Over my 16 plus years of living with this disease, I've experienced times when each of the big four has seemed more important (or more successful) in keeping my BGL stable.

When I was first diagnosed . . . PROPER DIETARY BALANCE (spreading carb intake evenly across the day) seemed to be my best route.

Especially when coupled with . . . INCREASED AEROBIC ACTIVITY (even something as simple as a ten to fifteen minute walk helps).

However, as I decided to bury my head in the sand about the whole thing, I eventually had to take more and more . . . MEDICATION (starting with Glyburide; then adding Metformin; then adding Actos -- all at maximum levels; and finally the addition Insulin) to the mix.

Then as I started to finally lose some of the excess poundage, I discovered that . . . WEIGHT LOSS allowed me to start reducing those medications. The experts say even a 10% weight loss can make a lot of difference.

And now, with my doctor's blessing (and the elimination of almost 60 pounds), I'm off the insulin again and my other meds are at minimum instead of maximum levels. YIPPEE. So what do I find now . . . I'm back to where I started (almost) -- Careful Eating and Increased Activity are once again the most important items in my BGL control arsenal.

So . . . I hope you will join in this little Poll and also post a bit about your experiences with controling this disease.

Gosh, I want to pick 'all of the above' because they are all important.

For me, for starters it was Dietary Control - because I was OUT of control and eating entirely the wrong things.

Even though I exercise, watch my diet, take my meds and have lost weight I still have high blood sugar days for no apparent reason, but they are becoming fewer and more far between.

Hi.. for me it was blood glucose testing.. the numbers kept my eating under control..i still dont exercise as often as i know i should :( also education and nutrition classes helped keep me aware of what to avoid..since following a ww diet with alower carb content has helped keep my sl's where i want them and journaling what ever and all that i eat..and loosing weight has deff helped the numbers stay down..also the proper meds im on keep me more where i want to be so i guess they are all impt to keeping us diabetics healthy..:wave: rosey

Time to unstick this