Diabetes Type 2 Support Group

One of the many crappy things about diabetes, and there are many many crappy things about diabetes, is that it creates a vicious cycle of weight gain and medicating.

Let's say you have a sandwich for lunch. You take the appropriate amount of medication to keep your blood sugars normal. But an hour after lunch, you feel slightly ill, so you check your blood sugar level, and it's too high. So you take some more medicine to lower you sugar levels. Another hour goes by, and you feel weak and dizzy.

Now you've taken too much medication and you're hypoglycemic. So you need to eat some candy or drink some sugar water to get your levels back up. The additional calories you just took in will, over time, cause you to gain weight (the medicine probably causes a weight gain, too). The fatter you get, the more medicine you require to help your body process your food sugars. And so it goes.

I've been a Type 2 diabetic for 10 years now. My personal inclination is to avoid taking more medication if possible, when I determine that I have high blood sugar. If I find that my blood sugar is elevated (blood sugars should range between 90-150 for diabetics, but I keep mine between 80-120), I look for a solution that doesn't invole popping another pill or taking another shot.

If you are Type 2 diabetic, or at risk for becoming diabetic, you might find these following tips for lowering blood sugar helpful. As always, you need to be careful to monitor your sugar levels so as not to become hypoglycemic (that's when your blood sugar is too low). And of course, this is not medical advice but personal advice from my own experience. Ask a doctor before doing any of this.

1. Exercise. Losing weight is, frankly, the answer to a lot of health problems. In this case, losing weight will require less medication to manage your diabetes. So there are long-term benefits. But there are also short-term bennies to exercising - it lowers your blood sugar, often within minutes. Now, the results of this can depend on the medication that you take, but many diabetics find that, if they have high blood sugar, a brisk 20 minute walk can lower their sugar.

2. Take diabetic vitamins. Nature Made produces a diabetic vitamin pack that I take once or twice a day. The main ingredient that lowers my blood sugar is chromium. Bakc when I was first diagnosed, I was able to combine chromium supplements with exercise and I stopped needing medication altogether. Then I got lazy and chubby. I recommend buying these vitamins at Costco, where you get double the amount at half the price. Also, take advantage of the coupon codes on the top of the boxes. If you go register on the Nature Made web site and enter the codes, you are eligible for a free box of vitamins after you enter three codes. That's like getting another 30% off of the Costco wholesale price!

3. Drink unsweetened green tea. You may or may not know how I feel about green tea already. Decaf is best.

4. Drink decaf coffee. Caffeine can have a detrimental effect on blood sugar levels, but some other compound in coffee seems to lower blood sugar levels. A cupe of plain decaf coffee (you can add some cream, but no sugar!) may have a positive effect on your blood glucose levels.

5. Eat some cinnamon. Cinnamon has been shown to reduce blood sugars, although not effectively in post-menopausal women. Sprinkle a couple teaspoons of cinnamon powder on your yogurt, or take it in capsule form (again, Costco). It should be noted that devouring a huge cinnamon roll everyday will probably not reduce your blood sugar levels.

6. Have a glass of red wine. When your liver has to work process the alcohol in your system, it will be too busy to release glucagon into your bloodstream. One glass of red wine with dinner can help to lower your blood sugar. Do be careful, though. I've had more than one blood sugar crash after miscalculating how much medication I would need when I enjoyed a plate of pasta with a glass of Merlot.

Normally, when your blood sugar level starts to drop, your liver steps in. It goes to work changing stored carbohydrate into glucose. Then it sends the glucose out into the blood, which helps you avoid or slow down a low blood sugar reaction. However, when alcohol enters your system, this changes. Alcohol is a toxin. Your body reacts to alcohol like a poison. The liver wants to clear it from the blood quickly. In fact, the liver won't put out glucose again until it has taken care of the alcohol. If your blood glucose level is falling, you can quickly wind up with very low blood sugar.

Now, it should be noted that I am not one to recommend booze as medication. Don't think that you can break open a bottle of cabernet at lunch everyday in lieu of taking your glyburide. Unless you live in France, in which case, do what you want.

White wine also works, but not as much. Beer, which has lots of carbohydrates, may not lower your blood sugar at all. Keep in mind that the additional calories that you consume with a glass of wine may counteract any benefits that the alcohol gives you for lowering your blood sugar. So skip dessert if you are having wine.

7. Breathe deep, relax. Stressful situations can release hormones that will raise you blood sugar. If you are feeling anxious, have a cup of chamomile tea, take a slow, relaxing walk, and breathe deeply. Or go sit in your car and scream until you feel better. Whatever works.

8. Sleep well. This is totally anecdotal, but I just learned this from a family member: sleep apnea may be the cause of elevated blood sugar in the morning. It turns out that a member of my family is experiencing high blood glucose in the morning, even before eating. A doctor has suggested that sleep apnea, and the lack of oxygen associated with that condition, may be a factor. If you snore so much that your bedmate wants to smother you with a pillow, you might want to have that looked at. See your doctor.

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Posted on 04/14/08, 09:04 pm