… and that advice is to GET PROPER MEDICAL ADVICE!
A couple of days ago a dear friend informed me that one of her closest friends suffered a brain hemorrhage. It appears to be the result of high blood sugar untreated. As I understand the story, her friend was insisting to manage her diabetes with only homeopathy, and it failed.
Complementary Medicine and Diabetes
Now, I have a very strong belief in complementary medicine. I have used it myself on several occasions and I do believe there is a lot to be said for the benefits. However, the key word here is “complementary”.
Whether it be homeopathy, ayurveda, Chinese medicine or whatever other form it is, it may not be the 100% foolproof cure for the condition or disease that you have.
Complementary medicine can be used together with, or integrated with, traditional medicine in the treatment of diabetes.
I am a huge fan of all of these treatments and others, and I integrate them into my lifestyle whenever possible if there is no medical harm in doing so. I like homeopathy, and I get acupuncture often. (Yes, kind of ironic considering I hate that my son with diabetes has a life sentence of several needles daily.)
It is difficult to accept that we might need medical intervention. Perhaps even more so if you were healthy most of your life, always abided by healthy lifestyle guidelines and beyond, and never needed any medical support before your world was rocked by an unexpected diabetes diagnosis.
I am living proof that no amount of organic, healthy eating, exercising, breast feeding, making baby food with organic ingredients most of the time, and all that other positive stuff could protect my son from getting Type 1.
I did it all right and then some. I was close to the walking poster child for “that kind of mom”. However, I am now on a new poster and it might say “Stuff Happens”.
Diabetes “Miracle Cures”
But back to my point. Complementary medicine is exactly that. Complementary. While traditional medicine cannot always guarantee you a cure, complementary medicine is not an alternative treatment that will cure everything either. And in some cases it may make your condition worse.
Since I started DiapointME and began hash-tagging images and entries with diabetes, I get at least one “miracle cure” follower every day and several more likes. On average, most promise to cure diabetes in three weeks.
I started getting so many miracle cure comments in this blog I recently started moderating comments. I welcome comments, but I am also very cautious that I do not want followers to misunderstand the severity of diabetes and what DiapointME is about.
Well-intentioned friends send me all kinds of links and concoctions with the miracle cure. I politely respond back: there is some research that suggests that some natural remedies may help regulate blood sugars (mostly in Type 2) but there is no miracle cure.
To that I often receive the response, “What are you afraid of?” Or, “Well, you never know.”
People With Diabetes Can Die Without Insulin
Sadly, I do know. I do know that if I took my son off insulin and administered any one of those concoctions or miracle cures that he would die without insulin.
If I took him off insulin and tried one of those “completely cure your diabetes in three weeks” solutions, he likely would die before the three week period was up.
It is awful to say. It is so painful to see those words in print.
However, I do not know how else to explain the severity of diabetes. It is deadly, and not easily fixed with the latest pop culture miracle diet.
People with diabetes need medical oversight, medical education about managing their condition, sometimes medication (in the case of Type 1, insulin) and regular medical check-ups.
The Most Important Medical Advice for Diabetes
So please today I ask that you take the only medical advice I will ever give: seek out proper medical advice for diabetes.
If you are thinking to try something alternative or a miracle diet or cure for your diabetes, please consult with your doctor. And not just any doctor – please go see a medical doctor who is educated and experienced in managing diabetes. And I bet they will be open to discussing complementary things that you are interested in to help you on your journey of managing this condition and living life to the fullest as a healthy person with diabetes.
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