Sleepy,

Quite a few of the epidemiological studies I'm reading lately suggest that
diabetic men tend to have higher fasting bgs but lower post-meal numbers
than women, especially older women.

I think this may explain why the people who are most convinced it isn't
necessary to low carb stringently are males.  And why a lot of us women
wonder how they can be that way.

The researchers often conclude that there are different underlying
physiological processes going on in these two groups.

Even in their 80s, quite a few women retain low fasting numbers--but they
have lots of diabetic complications and they die of heart attacks at rates
that correlate with their post meal numbers.

So perhaps post meal control is tougher for us older ladies? I don't know.
I do know that if I ate the way some diabetic can men eat I'd be in big
trouble.

-- Jenny  - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my  email address!

Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit  http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm

As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  If it works for you,
great.

Low-carbing is not working for me to the degree I think it should.
I've been limiting myself to 30-50 g carb per day and I am having too
many up's and down's.  I don't mean up's and down's about sugar, cause
I haven't been testing... my meter is old and unreliable and strips
aren't available anymore - so I don't *know* what my sugar levels are.
I just mean that low-carbing is not giving the results it has in the
past, so I suspect my sugar is still fubar'd and that therefore my
diabetes has worsened.

This isn't *too* surprising, I've been diabetic for over ten years now
and haven't exactly been making the healthiest choices the entire time
- had a whole year on a low-fat diet in there.  Still it's
dissappointing that I don't seem to be entirely able to control with
diet anymore.

So I bought the newest copy of Bernstein's book, bought a new meter,
and am starting a fairly strict regimen for a couple weeks to see
where I am.  Basically, using Bernstein's diet for testing purposes
for a couple weeks to gather data.  I suspect I'm in much worse shape
than a few year ago and probably need to go on metformin, maybe even
insulin.  But I need to collect the data to see what is going on with
me so I can determine that.

I have no insurance, so am particularly glad for Bernstein as I will
be able to do most of the work myself and just use a doctor for
writing scripts, which means I can greatly limit visits and therefore
costs.  Reading his book is much easier than having to go back to the
research library for a few weeks - I've mvoed and don't even know
where the nearest medical library is anymore, think probably Philly,
which is 4 hours away.  And it's convenient that he does the "This is
how your doctor should calculate things" bit... cause I can do it even
with a not-very-knowledgeable doctor.

I don't recommend anyone do what I'm doing anymore than you recommend
your ideas - most people are not biochemists.  But... given that I
can't afford an endo and have a biochemistry background, I can pretty
much handle most of it myself.  Given that his earlier books tracked
the current research when I was up on it, I trust Bernstein and I find
him useful because all the info is conveniently packaged in one book
for me to refer to.

Not to disparge endo's specifically or doctors in general, but...
years back, I asked my primary physician (whom I liked - one of the
few good docs I've ever had) to refer me to an endo for screening for
the late-onset form of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, which my sister
has.  I'd ben having a lot of weird symptoms and given that I likely
carry the gene for CAH, I am at risk for the late-onset form of the
disease.  The endo I saw didn't know half as much about CAH as I did
and my knowledge was a good 5 years out-of-date at the time.  That
sort of sh.t *scares* me, ya know?  I mean, endo's are *supposed* to
know about adrenal disorders, that's their speciality, for crying out
loud!  I had to tell the guy what tests to run.

I've had similar stupidities with doctors my daughter has had.  The
one changed a script to a different drug and didn't understand why it
wasn't working the same, whereas I read the package insert, saw it had
a higher molecular mass, lesser biological effect/mole and faster
clearance... so you'd expect to need nearly 4 times the drug by mass
to get the same effect as the old drug.  This was again a case of
being right in the doctor's specialty, and the idjit had no clue how
the drugs she prescribed actually worked.

Not all doctors are idjits, but I don't assume competence just cause
there's a bunch of letters after their name.  I personally like
Bernstein because he's obviously competent... and I can therefore
trust his work rather than having to follow everything up myself
repeatedly.

The bit I don't get is his obsession about feet.  I've had callused
feet all my life and never considered it a big diabetic issue since it
was like that for decades before I was diagnosed.  I know diabetics
have problems with circulation and feet problems are common and I sure
as heck don't want any bits amputated, but the notion that if I get a
cut on my foot that I should call my doctor right away like it's an
emergency strikes me as a tad overblown.  And never go barefoot even
indoors?  Please, I about live barefoot!