Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands • Hacker News Board

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#241

Post by shrimp_emoji » Wed, Jul 24, 2024, 9:49 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #240

moffkalast wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can always trust people to act in their own self interest, everything else (including your list) can be proven from that first principle.

And this makes for a pretty lonely and downright harmful society, when viewed through that lens. And I'm not going to feel stupid or naive for feeling like children are tricked into believing the opposite is true. I want to also say, this state that everyone is acting in their self interest is not something we should promote, or be proud of, or assume is the natural state of things. It is a state that we are being fo…

Children aren't tricked into believing it because it's actually true. As you point out, people are inherently good, and they act against their self-interest all the time. It's always a mistake though. ;D

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#242

Post by jklinger410 » Wed, Jul 24, 2024, 9:52 PM UTC

Jun8 wrote: post #201

jklinger410 wrote: post #137

What I've learned that, as an adult in 2024 in the United States, you cannot take for granted: - That your medical professionals are acting in your best interest - That your insurance company is acting in your best interest - That your medical professional knows what they are talking about - That things that are legal to put in your body will not cause irreparable harm to you - That the legal level of pollutants in t…

Having experienced healthcare in multiple countries I can say most of the items on your list are pretty much universal, unfortunately. Skipping over the capitalistic and legal issues, which people more or less expect, I'd like to zoom in on your item #3. The fact that doctors are (often) clueless for complex diagnostics (not talking about a broken arm, etc.) is shocking to many people. I think the two main factors dr…

I don't mind point one, and it can be improved in many ways. AI being a huge one.

Point two, though, is just an example of how preventive medicine is forgone due to its cost. The system doctor's use to share data could also stand massive improvements.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#243

Post by jklinger410 » Wed, Jul 24, 2024, 9:54 PM UTC

s1artibartfast wrote: post #226

dleink wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The quality of the American medical system has deteriorated to such a point that if the Doctors are not the grifters they may at least be culpable for enabling the grift.

That hasn't been my experience. I have never experienced or heard of a doctor deceiving or lying in real life. I dont think I can think of an example from hospitals either.

My dental surgeon refuses to design or install an implant. They will only put in the screw for the implant.

Why? Because of a pyramid scheme.

That might not be a direct "lie," but it is misleading. Doctors mislead constantly. They tend to accept norms that are harmful because they are systems outside of their control.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#244

Post by greenavocado » Wed, Jul 24, 2024, 10:04 PM UTC

flanked-evergl wrote: post #114

aantix wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree - most of the advice is WebMD level. Anything outside the check list leaves them scratching their head. They’re terrible debuggers. I had early high blood pressure since high school. Four blood pressure medications, one being a diuretic. Signs of edema. It’s not like my condition required any complicated diagnostics. I met the checklist. 5 cardiologists 2 nephrologists in my lifetime. Nothing but more pills for…

In reality, there are few things a GP can do better than a nurse or some technician with an LLM, and the sooner that shift happens, the better for society.

It will be interesting when LLMs can do more to advance general public health more than the entire medical system in recent history.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#245

Post by zamadatix » Wed, Jul 24, 2024, 10:07 PM UTC

digitalsin wrote: post #135

When my wife was diagnosed with T2D, we went through the typical process many do - meet with a dietician, learn what to eat and how much, learn about insulin types and injections, etc. etc. She followed the process to the letter, and what we saw was the insulin injections make you gain weight, weight gain causes more insulin resistance, more insulin resistance means more insulin, more insulin means more weight gain,…

The doctors didn't tell you to cut all the carbs you can and went straight to "take insulin until it's low enough goodbye"??? That's fucking wild, I couldn't make it seconds into being diagnosed type 2 with an A1C of ~20% without being bombarded about diet to the point I almost couldn't get any information besides "change your diet and try metformin and we'll see what other options make sense once we know that impact". I can see why the doctors had not been pushing tirzepatide in that timeline though, in the timeline "mounjaro started to get a lot of attention" was really "mounjaro was approved as safe to treat diabetes with by the FDA".

Insulin can "cause" weight gain because having diabetes means your cells stopped absorbing the sugar from your blood properly. "Fixing" the diabetes with insulin means your cells start absorbing the energy you eat like they are supposed to, which means gaining weight again if input > output energy. On the other hand metformin and tirzepatide are also effective as weight loss drugs + lowering carb intake prevented the root problem that was "causes" weight gain with insulin in the first place.

I'm hoping I can lower my metformin dosage this next checkup as well, fingers crossed.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#246

Post by shewbees » Wed, Jul 24, 2024, 10:08 PM UTC

mjaniczek wrote: post #31

monero-xmr wrote: post #25

For those of you on the cusp of diabetes, immediately start working out intensely and reduce your sugar intake. There is still time! It’s not inevitable

You're talking about T2D (which is more about insulin resistance than not producing insulin at all) which can be somewhat mitigated with lifestyle. Healthly lifestyle (exercise, diet, ...) can help T1D management, but T1D is an autoimmune disease: our bodies literally destroyed the cells in our pancreas that produce insulin.

[dead]

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#247

Post by photon_lines » Wed, Jul 24, 2024, 10:18 PM UTC

vallassy wrote: post #238

mono812 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imho you can't really do a zero carb diet that's healthy. Keep in mind that even leafy vegetables have a bit of carbs in them. Low carb is possible and does indeed generally keep your blood sugar levels more stable. But even a meal that's mostly low carb vegetables and some meat still requires insulin if your pancreas has stopped working entirely. I'm obviously a patient and not a doctor, but from what I've read as a…

I didn't mean 'requires no insulin at all,' I know T1D requires some insulin to regulate blood sugar and to perform other functions in the body. What I meant was that, for example in the OP article, a 60g bolus of carbs brings blood sugar from the bottom of healthy range all the way to the top of the healthy range in one go. It just seems like an unnecessarily large and (for most) difficult to control jump in blood s…

Type 1 diabetic as well here - I do this and I can confirm that I have much better control over my HB1C (average blood sugar reading) since I eat mostly a keto and plant based healthy diet (composed of minimally processed foods). One issue that I have though deals with hypoglycemia (low-blood sugar levels) since type 1 diabetics don't just require immediate insulin after meals - they require long-term acting insulin which works throughout the day. I've had multiple cases where I lost consciousness and woke up either in an ambulance or in a hospital feeling like someone hit me with a truck and having no recollection of how I got there. There is no 'magic' in managing type 1 diabetes unfortunately. The issue with us is that our blood sugar can swing in both directions - with the lower swing possibly resulting in death.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#248

Post by galago » Wed, Jul 24, 2024, 10:29 PM UTC

supertofu wrote: post #145

I'm prediabetic with two T2 parents and a T2 grandparent and my primary care doctor is entirely unconcerned about it. My lowish tech solution to delay (and hopefully prevent!) the onset of T2 is to use a glucose monitor every 2 hours, every day, and create a database of foods with my postprandial blood sugar reaponse at 1.5 and 2 hours. I also keep track of how exercise affects my blood sugar. Over the last couple ye…

I was diagnosed with T2 last year, and started a CGM (Freestyle Libre 3) like you did. I started off with lists of foods I could eat, but the monitor let me see actual data on what was happening. Its not very accurate, but the absolute numbers don't matter as much as seeing the actual trend effect on my own body. I never let it go over 150, ever. I can eat some legumes in moderation, but your specific body may be different. I initially took Metformin, but discontinued. My last A1C was 5.1 and and endocrinologist I was consulting with put in his notes that my diabetes is "remission." So, if you're prediabetic, keep at what you're doing. I eat very little meat, btw, so while that might work for some people, its not strictly necessary.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#249

Post by hombre_fatal » Wed, Jul 24, 2024, 10:33 PM UTC

beauzero wrote: post #190

supertofu wrote: post #145

I'm prediabetic with two T2 parents and a T2 grandparent and my primary care doctor is entirely unconcerned about it. My lowish tech solution to delay (and hopefully prevent!) the onset of T2 is to use a glucose monitor every 2 hours, every day, and create a database of foods with my postprandial blood sugar reaponse at 1.5 and 2 hours. I also keep track of how exercise affects my blood sugar. Over the last couple ye…

Just anecdotal. Was T2 and getting kidney stones every two or three months (cause not related but treatment was). Cut out oxalates which restricted diet. Monitored sugar 3-5 times daily. Switched to carnivore diet + onions and mushrooms and went on Metformin. All at the same time. Did this for 2.5 months with no additional exercise. This dropped me down below T2 level. Went off Metformin and am maintaining with same…

Sounds like a good way to trade one problem for another.

Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands

#250

Post by photon_lines » Wed, Jul 24, 2024, 10:39 PM UTC

kapitanjakc wrote: post #158

Dumb question here :- My father has diabetes since he was 30, my grand father had it too in his 30s. I am beginning my 30s, will I get it too ? Is it guaranteed that I'll get it ? Can I avoid getting it ? Both my father and grandfather had heart attacks...

I can't answer this question for you, but some life-style factors which I think will help you avoid getting it are provided below:

- 5-10g of vitamin D daily (assuming you're talking about type 1 diabetes) - type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease, and vitamin D plays a huge role in regulating our immune systems. In fact, type 1 diabetes is more prevalent for those who move from warmer countries to colder ones where there's less sunlight that those who do the opposite.

- Exercise: probably the single best thing you can do for your brain and body, and does a wonder in regulating the immune system and helps out many with not just diabetes, but with a ton of other disorders and the higher intensity the exercise, the better. Exercise which increases your VO(2) max here is the best - both strength training and interval training are highly effective.

- Intermittent fasting (and staying lean): assuming that you're attempting to avoid type 2 diabetes, there's great evidence that IF (intermittent fasting) can put it in remission: https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2022/i...

- Minimally processed and ketogenic diet: avoid foods which have sugar or high-fructose corn-syrup on the ingredients list. In fact, in my case, I try to avoid any foods with more than 5 ingredients and try to stick to mostly a plant based and keto diet (this definitely helps with type 2 diabetes). Also avoid high-glycemic index foods (high-glycemic here means ability to 'spike' sugar and you can find the glycemic index of most foods through a simple good search. More info on this index: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycemic_index ).

- Take a teaspoon with turmeric + black-pepper daily: 'Clinical trials and preclinical research have recently produced compelling data to demonstrate the crucial functions of curcumin against T2DM via several routes. Accordingly, this review systematically summarizes the antidiabetic activity of curcumin, along with various mechanisms. Results showed that effectiveness of curcumin on T2DM is due to it being anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-apoptotic, anti-hyperlipidemia and other activities. In light of these results, curcumin may be a promising prevention/treatment choice for T2DM.' - Source: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202404.1926/v1