Glimepiride - Second Best Friend or Enemy

Keeping me off insulin

Today was another day of rebellion - toke vitals later in the day to see how I am doing.

BS - 86 at 6:00 PM: This to me is great news as I have not had a "lower than normal reading" since going without medicine.  I am hoping this is a sign the journey and diligence is working.

BP - 135/73 on my home machine.  This would be like 110/60 as a reading - still progress and balancing out.  I have to continue to watch this as I move further away from the medication.

HR - 58

I am just blown away by the support I am receiving.  Each of you is one of God's angel when you help me make it though the day and stay the course.  I am still struggling this week as I want to just be normal again.  But it is like my knees, they were damaged in the military and cannot ever be repaired back to when I was young - so I have to deal with this the same way - life long trouble requiring a life long life style change.

I think I will take some time tomorrow to discuss my total support team and how it helps.

But lets get to the medicine as a friend or enemy thought.  In 2009 I could not keep my blood sugars down.  They would spike to 300+ and I was eating good - or at least at the time I thought I was.  I was living in London and pretty much eating salads and a good breakfast.  The evenings were split between eating at the pad or out.  When I would eat out, it was mainly meet and vegetables as you can do in London.  I even would have liver once in a while to balance things.

But this was not helping and I was continuing to slip.  The doctor said I could go on insulin or he would try Glimepiride.  This is a third generation insulin driver (Sulfonylureas).  I was happy as it kept me off shots.  Then I read Suzy's book, "Diabetes without Drugs" and learned that this drug helps stimulate your pancreas to make more of its natural insulin.  It can cause hypoglycemia or sugar lows.  The next 4 years was a roller coaster for me, some days I would be low and running 60 by 11:00 AM and other days fine.  I had to east constantly to try and get a steady flow of diet and insulin.  Now that Kath and I look back on those days - we must have been insane.  No, not really, we were just marching to the beat of the medical world.

Needles to say, this drug is a "mugger" of the same minerals as metFORMIN - I talked about that in a separate post so will not repeat here.  I was beginning to see how drugs help and hurt - the very organs we diabetics need functioning properly.

Suzy recommended adding Hawaiian Spirulina as a food supplement and in a green drink.  I tried it without a green drink and it was HORRIBLE - might as well have gone out and eat algae right out of the ocean.  But in doing so, I see this just like AKEA Essentials - it is a product that helps maintain sugar levels but is more about repairing one's body.

I will let you go to the internet and do your own research and this is a nice place to start:  http://www.hawaiianspirulina.org/Hawaiian_Spirulina_Benefits.html.  Just a couple of points on what it does.

Antioxidant Benefits Antioxidants play a major role in helping to protect the body against cell damage, and Hawaiian spirulina contains a high concentration of antioxidants. On the word of Cyanotech.com, spirulina encloses great concentrations of the antioxidants beta carotene, zeaxanthin, echinenone, myxoxanthophyll and beta cryptoxanthin. As a matter of fact, to back it up, a study issued in the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research confirms the attendance of antioxidants in microalgae such as spirulinain addition to the anti-cancer and anti-aging effects related with these antioxidants.
Cholesterol Benefits Because of the presence of beta carotene in it, consumption of Hawaiian spirulina can moreover encourage cholesterol lowering. To back this cholesterol lowering properties, a study implemented at Taipei Medical University in Taiwan has shown that the subjects exposed to beta carotene received suppressed cholesterol oxidation and produced lower blood cholesterol levels compared to the subjects who were not exposed to beta carotene.
Anti-Cancer Benefits Hawaiian spirulina furthermore covers an abundant concentration of an indispensable fatty acid termed gamma linolenic acid. Ingestion of gamma linolenic acid can help in the prevention of certain forms of cancer. The findings in a study executed by the Department of Urology at St. Mary's Hospital in Portsmouth, United Kingdom discovered that presence of gamma linolenic acid had cytotoxic effects on provisional cell carcinoma of the bladder.
Anemia Benefits Spirulina holds a high concentration of ironas stated by the University of Maryland Medical Center. Defined as low concentration of iron in the blood, Anemia is the most common form of iron insufficiency which is described by weakness and tiredness. One of the best ways to attend to this problem is by consumption of spirulina as it can boost levels of iron in your body and lessen the weakness and fatigue that escort this illness.
Immune system It also seems that spirulina has the aptitude to encourage the immune system which could be helpful in certain individuals, and theoreticallyunsafe in those who already have an intense immune system or an autoimmune disorder. For that reason, those who have lupus, autoimmune thyroiditis, pemphigus vulgaris, and other such conditions are not recommended to be take spirulina in a regular basis.

For now I hope you are starting to get the picture - no silver bullet in any of this - lots of changes to a life style.

It is not easy and may God bless you on your journey as he has blessed me.  In the end - you still have to do the work.  I just turn it over to him for support.

Bob,