Photo by Marc PoKempner
Photo by Marc PoKempner
Until recently, my physician was talking to me about the possibility that I would need regular insulin injections, despite the fact I was taking four pharmaceutical drugs just to keep my diabetes in check.
A type 2 diabetic for 11 years, I (photographed right) constantly asked my endocrinologist about alternative treatments and supplements to reduce the expensive and extensive load of pharmaceuticals. I would arrive at his office armed with magazine articles and web reports of natural cures. My physician would usually shake his head and say: “Well, it can’t hurt you, but don’t expect much.”
He was usually right, but I was kind of desperate. Diabetes alone costs my health insurer and me more than $500 per month. When you add the drugs for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and complications related to diabetes, my prescription drugs total nearly $1,500 per month.
It’s not just the money. I take one pill in the morning and another at bedtime. I take two more pills 20 minutes before every meal. I take another pill with the first bite of food of each meal. I take another pill immediately after breakfast and dinner. Total pills: 13 for diabetes alone.
One of my diabetes drugs causes my ankles to swell, “edema” that raises my weight and makes me tired. To counter this, I take a prescription diuretic. Another drug causes chronic stomach upset, requiring a prescription acid blocker and over-the-counter gas reducer.
The drugs can drop my blood sugar too low, so I am supposed to check my blood sugar with a finger prick and a meter once or twice a day. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night, sweating and shaking with low blood sugar, needing a glass of orange juice to straighten out.
But mostly, despite the treatments, my blood sugar was too high on average, and my doctor continued to threaten me with the need for insulin injections. With the exception of chromium picolinate, which had a tiny positive effect on my blood-sugar tests, my alternatives didn’t seem to help much.
So, imagine my surprise last year when my very traditional physician suggested I try an Indian herb that he heard about at the American Diabetes Association’s annual meeting. The herb was getting interesting results in some clinical trials and anecdotal studies by alternative-minded doctors.
I ordered some from a website, read everything I could online about dosages, and started it, adding three more tablets to my regimen, which I suck for a minute before swallowing, right before my “first bite” pill at meals.
It’s a pain, but I’ve had good results. My A1C measure (long-term concentration of glucose in the cells), which had been at a high of 9 (not very good control) and a low of 7.3 (OK), improved to a low of 6 (good), which is the target for most type 2 diabetics. Since then, the measure has bounced up to 7 and down to 6, settling in at about 6.3.
It’s almost worth the annoyance of carrying a jug of pills wherever I go and I’ve avoided the insulin injections.
And now my physician is so excited he brings me articles on alternative treatments and asks me to research them. “Let me know if they work,” he said. Will do.
Len Strazewski is a Chicago-based freelance writer specializing in health and technology issues. He teaches journalism at Columbia College Chicago.