The people who call it a progressive disease (Type 2) are probably doing little to nothing to try to control it with diet. My opinion of course.

progressive comes with failure to do anything ....there are some people who dont even follow the guidlines of ADA and eat way more carbs...at the least they are also the people who dont know what causes diabetese in the first place..
to give an example in India my father who has been a diabetic type 2 for 15 years now has no clue what he eats has anything to do with the disease nor does he know what insuline resistence is. He still feels that if you dont eat until your stomach is completely full and exploding you are malnourished that is somewhat acceptable assuming there are many malnourished people in India.

But the thing is even being slightly overweight causes diabetes in Indians(may be genetic i dont know) ....they dont connect it to diet. As far as I have seen here in the US , people have to gain much more weight to get diabetes, not everyone but most...I might be wrong though.

Maybe being slightly diabetic causes obesity?

Ok, day 4 and my bowels are really, really quiet. I've been imbibing in forbidden dairy products and that has me kind of constipated. My BS readings have been slightly lower but nothing that I don't see occasionally anyway (109 instead of 116).

If nothing else, I'm very impressed with how the berberine calms my intestines! I wonder if it'd let me be able to eat some things that normally send me to the toilet in pain.

Nancy, I could say try it and see, but too many changes and you won't know what impact it has... What dose are you taking and is it 2 or 3 times daily? If you're doing diary, do yogurt for snacks and if you're a coffee drinker, cream or milk with the coffee is ok, at least it works for me....

I am starting my aloe vera tonight. I had only taken my morning herbs, then in New Orleans, I had coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde about 11am and ate at a Chinese Buffett in Baton Rouge about 430pm and a beer at a friend's house on the way home this evening about 7pm... My BG was sitting at 140, which I've not seen a number like that in a while, but I blame it on the two servings of the soft-serve ice cream at the Buffett Restaurant (dummy me!)

Anyway, I'm doing an Aloe Vera and my gymnema tonight and see what happens in the morning... Like Ralph says after a carb binge; I won't be misbehaving tomorrow, or at least I'll try not to..... I miss Ralph's posts, he's been kinda quiet lately, hope he reads this and realizes he's missed...

I see people that are on the verge of being obese that have much better glucose readings than I do. It's very discouraging but I realize it has a genetic component to it.

cajun boy how many times a day am I supposed to take the berberine? I am on my second day but I forget to take it sometimes. Isn't it three times a day???

Optimal is 3 times. If you get control with just morning and night, twice is ok... 30 minutes before eating is preferable, but with meals and just after is ok too, for me anyway, but my wife recommends 30 minutes prior to eating as herbs slow to work...

Look, I've been there, thinking the end was near with no ability to control, but don't give up. There is a right combination of things you can do to boost metabolism and control BG, just keep searching for it through experimenting.

For me, when I'm not eating erratically, eating whole foods and avoiding artificial sweeteners, flavorings, pre-packaged and pre-mixed foods, etc... seems to work best for me. So, perhaps, for me my metabolism is messed up not only by refined sugars but all the additives etc. that I can live without when eating whole fresh foods....

Something that we have or don't have, do or don't do, is causing our diabetic condition in my opinion and if that something is eliminated or added, whichever the case may be, I think we can find control.....

Journal, monitor and change what isn't working until you stumble onto something that is....

Woot! Saw 98 this morning. Yay!

I'm taking 4 BHCL 3x a day. So that's 1.4g I think (100mg each).

I might not have great results with the BHCL because I believe my hyperglucose is caused by my thyroid hormone dose. I just did some more reading and yes, hyperthyroid can cause hyperglycemia too. That makes sense, when I was hypothyroid I was pretty hypoglycemic (or at least low-normal). I think what happens is my liver is producing too much glucose and I might be producing less insulin (studies are a bit contradictory, done on rats too).

Well, I will have to give the BHCL a try while eating almonds. But I'll wait until I see my sister. I had to cancel my last trip to see her because I had eaten almonds and it gave me terrible diarrhea and I didn't want to have an accident on the way up! So to speak...

thats a 10 point drop which is pretty significant....are you sure berberineHCl dint do anything?

i dont bother too much about thyroid...but i understand you should since you had some removed.

I would try BHCl if i dint have hypoglycemia ...I am weary of anything that reduces blood sugar.


Anyways ,Since i have been using progesterone creme my blood sugars have stabilized not many lows or highs.

Don't know since I had seen in the mid-high 90's before BHCL spontaneously sometimes for a day or two.

I don't have a functioning thyroid gland at all. I'd die without my thyroid meds.


Great! I think I'll be asking my doctor to lower my thyroid hormone and I might get more serious with the progesterone cream. What brand are you using?

Emerita progest...I am using 1/8 th tsp from days 7-14 and 1/4tsp from days 14-28.

This I came up with a lot of trial and error. the periods were all around the place ....but now predictable.


for menopausal and perimenopausal women I think it is the same strength you decide for 21 days straight.

I havent tried any of the other progesterone cremes so have no clue if something else is better but it this one doesnt have parabens or other chemicals and it works.

Are you taking any medications now for Blood Glucose control???

my fasting blood sugar is in the range from 90-100...but my problem is actually hypoglycemia...i am not taking anything at this point. everything i took made my blood glucose swing.

i am happy with progesterone creme for now. Blood sugar has to wait until i loose all the excess weight.

Cajun, if Berberine is just golden seal root, why not just buy capsules with golden seal root in it? I was looking at berberine at iherb.com and got a lot of hits on goldenseal.

Oh wait... wikipedia has a good article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrastis_canadensis