Has anyone out there tried cinnamon for control of their blood sugar? A friend of mine told me about it so I got some today and I'm going to give it a try. Just wondered if anyone has experimented with this?

Donna

Cinnamon works but you have to take a lot of it. 200 mcg GTF Chromium first thing in the morning, and optionally, again last thing at night works better.

When you start taking GTF Chromium you must test more often because your levels can drop quickly.

I've gotten a small amount of improvement using chromium but the doses are huge. 1000 mcg 3x a day seems to lower my blood sugar about 10 pts.

Cinnamon unfortunately did nothing for me.

I have not tried chromium, but 2000 mg of cinnamon brings my sugar down pretty fast, however it's a short term thing just like exercise, my fasting BS only stays down when I avoid most carbs.

I know what you mean here. It's awful! And they say I'm not diabetic bc my AIC is dropping. If they only knew what I had to do to keep it that way. (Under 30 carbs, only good carbs, and earlier in the day.) And this is with metformin 2000mg /day. Something doesn't sound right? My FBS is controlled by diet, not metformin.

Donna

Donna
I can so agree metformin helps for when I'd like to say have an apple during the day, and yes only GOOD carbs, Some fruit LOW GI of course earlier in the day etc.
Of course I had some Carrots with supper last night, FBS was 125 this morning, sigh it was just carrots! I'd expect that for something like IDK, a brownie but carrots?
SIGH

Radiogal- It's frustrating isn't it. Mine has actually been 110-120 fasting since I started cinnamon. Strange. I'm sticking with it a little longer though.

Donna

Metformin dropped my FBS by 10 points also. I thought it would do more, but it didn't. Diet and exercise were far more efficient at controller my BG than Met was - with a lot less side effects!

Bonechew- So did you keep taking it, or did you stop?

Donna

I dropped off of it about 2 weeks ago(? recently) to see if I can lose weight/exercise with out it. It certainly wasn't doing anything for my weight. It did drop my FBG 10 points, and I tolerated the drug pretty well.

I don't want to take Met till I have to. There will come a time that I have to get back on it. Until then, I would like to give my kidneys/liver as long off of Met as I can. The jury is still out on whether Met causes any decline in those 2 organs from long term use. So I would like to see if I can get to goal with out it.

Hi there everyone!

I noticed lots of mentions of the drug "Metformin" in this thread. I hope you are all aware that it also promotes the loss of vitamin B12.

Recently, there have been reports linking low B12 levels to increased rates of Alzheimer's. So, if you are taking Metformin, then you really need to supplement with B12.

amanda

This is exactly why I am thinking about going off of it. I don't know which is worse, possible organ damage, or fbs of 120-130? I already have primary biliary cirrhrosis of the liver, about stage 1-2. My enzymes look good, but the doc says they can look good and the disease still be progressing.

Thanks for the info Amanda. I've read that before. And I have been more tired lately than I was a few months ago. Doc didn't check the B12 though. Just had my labs a week or so ago. I may have to requests more-like my Vit D, Hbg, and B12. All those should be checked again.

Donna

I did start supplementing my B12 early on.

I felt tired, and so did most people taking Met, as part of the side effects. And taking B12 didn't help that from what I remembered. It is just part of the process. I was dead tired. But it passed and my energy came back.

I had my liver and kidneys checked after 6 months of taking it, and everything was fine. I just didn't want to do it unless I needed to, or until they did more studies on this supposedly linked issue.