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.
Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands
351–360 of 372 posts
Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands
#352What 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…
I've realized similarly and by being "blessed" with very low-grade chronic conditions (family of diabetics, fatigue), I've created my own low grade insurance policy by creating lifestyle interventions in nutrition and exercise to maintain my health. If I were to summarize the thousands of hours of what the Phd/MD health podcaster space has promoted, the jist of it comes down to: - Get about 1 cup of 5 colors a day. U…
Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands
#353Earlier quoted context omitted.
It will be interesting when LLMs can do more to advance general public health more than the entire medical system in recent history.
What do you think that LLMs can do exactly? Sometimes naive technologists think of AI as some sort of magic solution. But if you look at overall healthcare system costs, very little is being spent in areas that could be easily automated with an LLM. And for T1D specifically it would be very dangerous to put an LLM in control of something like an insulin pump considering that we don't have any way to do quality assura…
E.g.
resistant hypertension many medications
Which led me to a couple of research articles about pheochromocytomas and a Washington Post article about someone with high blood pressure on a "bucketload of medications".
e.g. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/04/23/high-blood-...
If the LLM can provide a sample Google-like analysis, data points that my 7 specialty doctors missed, that's an improvement.
Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands
#354Earlier quoted context omitted.
The vast majority of the payments are either education or payment for services rendered, like the article mentions. At a high level, companies actually think their products have value to patients and want doctors to know about what it can do. It is virtually impossible to decouple knowledge sharing from influence. The point of knowledge sharing is to impact choice and behavior. On the services front, If I want to hir…
I’ve found the “collective common knowledge” regarding pop-culture topics such as this, is much like generals preparing for the last war they fought. Direct kickbacks were an actual problem decades ago. That has long been “solved” all the way to the typical over correction the industry is known for. The same holds true for the opioid epidemic and folks still thinking pill mills and the medical industry as a whole are…
Perdue engaged in criminal actions, but it did not cause the epidemic. It is just a small part of the story. Deceitful labeling and aggressive marketing of OxyContin in the 90's has zero bearing on people dying from fentanyl laced weed in 2024.
I think the biggest factor in all of this misinformation is a human desire to compress the complexity of life into simple soundbite narratives that make sense.
The more emotionally charged or pressing an issue is, the greater the human desire is to think/feel like they have it all figured out. Even if that means sacrificing truth.
Humans have a compulsion to categorize and explain everything they encounter. Failure to do so is cognitively painful so anything too difficult is simplified until it "makes sense".
In my opinion, this compulsion is at the heart of all human problems, but also all of our achievements.
Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands
#355I'm a T1D and I mostly agree with the author. I think this simulation is very interesting. I disagree with the author however on the following point: "injecting insulin ~15min before you start eating would do wonders for neutralizing the BG spike, the issue is, nobody does it, because what if you then get a smaller serving at the restaurant or it gets delayed?" My doc told me the same, which I think is insane. "Here…
You're definitely making me reconsider it, thanks! Along with the person in another thread saying walks after meals help as well. With a fully remote work these risky "oops I injected but there's no food yet" situations should not happen as often, considering the time-to-fridge is like 10 seconds.
1) You can do an extended pre-bolus before you eat. This gives you a chance the cancel the remaining insulin dose if you learn your meal will change for any reason n-minutes before or during your meal. Maybe the meal unexpectedly tastes bad, you can cancel the remaining insulin. Maybe the restaurant tells you they are out of the dish you order n-minutes ago. This is called different names in various insulin pumps; Extended bolus, temp basal, etc.
2) Pre-bolus and eat AFTER you see your blood glucose decrease for 3-4 readings. Pre-bolusing for static time like 15 minutes before eating does not work consistently because there are lots of variables at play before you eat that directly affect (a) insulin sensitivity and (b) blood glucose. (Environmental temperature, insulin temperature, injection site, adrenaline, stress, pain, previous meals, lipid levels, exercise, medications, illness, to name a few).
Eating after I see my BG decrease for at least three consecutive readings has helped me stay in range (70-140) for 95-100% of the time and maintain a healthy A1C (less than 5).
Cheers!
Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've lived low-carb as a T1 and my blood sugar was very stable. I would still take sugar to stabilize levels when dipping low. A completely ketogenic diet would be very hard for a T1 and not a sensible goal. Insulin management was simpler, but still required. On many days I would just do the one injection of long-lasting insulin. While the scantly researched health risks associated with a ketogenic diet remain, the d…
This may be a terminology thing but as a T2 I will always carry that diagnosis. However, mine is in remission because I manage it through medication/diet. My doctor and I have talked about trying to see if I can drop the medications and still stay in remission but I'll still be a T2 patient. Also, not all T2s can manage just through a ketogenic diet.
Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands
#357Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands
#358Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are some people with T2D—a minority of them—who are not overweight. I think T2D with overweight or obesity should be called something else.
It's metabolic dysfunction at its core. Optimizing the electron transport chain via supplements like CoQ10 (Ubiquinol more bioavailable), Benfotiamine (b1 form), Nicotinamide Riboside (b3 form) are extremely helpful. That's the reason why metformin works so well for diabetes, and has longevity extension effects, because of how it stimulates the AMPK pathway, which is also anti-inflammatory (thus lowering oxidative st…
Re: Taking my diabetes treatment into my own hands
#360I'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…