Hello!

[sfjsilla]

Hello fellow diabetics! I am so glad to finally find a forum made just for people like me. Actually I signed up a few weeks ago but was too shy to introduce myself. But after reading a few introductions here I found out that everybody here seems to very friendly and cool! Yay!

Anyway, on to introducing myself. I am 29 years old, was diagnosed on March 2005. It's been a struggle for me the past year and half after being diagnosed to keep my blood sugar in check. I guess after reading some of your experiences here I feel like I'm not the only one struggling with it. I was put on Metformin 250 mg right away but being an outgoing and adventurous guy it limited me from travelling and going out because I was having diarrhea all the time. So I stopped taking it. Unfortunately being asian with a great love for white rice it made my condition worse. So I went back to the doc and was put on Metformin 850 mg and Avandia(which was very unpleasant since I always get headaches, feel dizzy, constant body aches, and the usual diarrhea).

Six months ago I decided that I want to get out of these meds once and for all. So I did a furious research on natural ways of eliminating diabetes. I tried several different teas, pills that claim to be natural but none of them work. In the end it was diet and exercise that finally made a dramatic difference. So now I have a daily workout program & I'm eating better quality foods. Now I've taken Avandia out of my daily meds and have cut my Metformin intake in half. Hopefully someday I can eventually get rid of my meds and not have to deal with it's sideeffects.

Anyway, hopefully I get to meet alot of wonderful people who share my struggle here. I also hope to get more ideas and suggestions from people whom have completely got rid of their meds. Best of luck to everyone!

[murphysl]

Welcome! I think you'll find a wide variety of opinions and advise to consider on here, plus lots of support too. Glad you have found a diet and exercise program that is so helpful for you :)

[volleyball]

Welcome and am glad you are out of the shadows lurking here. You did not say which nationality you are and what diet you follow. Do you eat it every meal? asian short sticky white rice is your enemy. the whole grain or at least the long fluffy rice is less bad. Rice gives me gas so giving it up was no problem. Turn your rice cooker into making steel cut oats. 1 cup of oats needs at least a 5 cup cooker.

[HiImDan]

http://bestsmileys.com/welcome/9.gif

[Goldrun]

Welcome aboard! You and I were diagnosed within just a couple of months of each other (so that makes us like web-cousins or something ;) )

I went directly to insulin, so I'm not familiar with the nasty side effects you mention, but it sounds like you've hit upon a good regimen that's working for you! Do you mind me asking how your a1c has trended since you reduced the meds? (and good call on eliminating the Avandia apparently!)

again welcome!

[shockme]

hi and welcome!i'm glad you realized there are no cures,natural or otherwise for diabetes!visit alot.take care,trish

[sfjsilla]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I am indeed happy to be part of this forum. BTW I forgot to mention my name. I'm Stephen btw.

Volleyball: I'm Filipino/Chinese and yes I love that short sticky rice. I also love mochi (sweet sticky rice). Although I don't eat it as much though. I only make rice when my Mom comes over. Right now, I am following the "No-Grain Diet" by Dr. Mercola, it's a great diet BTW but coming from a culture that eats rice every meal I found it hard to follow at first because sometimes brown rice just doesn't give you that satisfaction. But I'm getting used to it now. Now I only eat one serving of brown rice a day and one serving of steel cut organic oats in the morning. Eventually I'm gonna cut it to half a serving a day once my body gets used to not eating too much grains.

Goldrun: Yeah we are indeed webcousins. BTW I recently had my bloodwork done and won't get the results within a week. Hopefully it comes out okey. And, yes I heard about Avandia and heart problems. Good thing I was on it for only a month.

Trish: Yeah, there is indeed no cure but I'm still optimistic that someday I'll be able to control this the natural way -- without meds. I'm sure I'll be visiting alot here since there's alot of helpful information I can pick up here and theres alot of wonderful people like you guys.

[kgm0612]

Hi Stephen & Welcome! Nice people and a ton of information to be found here. Glad you've decided to "take the bull by the horn" and control your diabetes!

Karen

[princesslinda]

Hi Stephen, welcome! Congrats on all you've accomplished so far. Diabetes is a scary diagnosis, but you'll see here that many manage to control it quite well both with and without meds. Look around, ask questions, you'll learn a lot.

[KickStart101]

Hi There Stephen! :) I'm a Type 1 on Insulin
but I'd like to say Welcome anyways.

I'm glad that you tried some "natural"(I hate
to think what is actually in some of the stuff)
products and found that they were "false hopes".
At least now you don't have to wonder about them.
I think it's Terrible that People rid too many Diabetics
of their money claiming much better control or a
cure.

I know how you feel about drug side effects. I
was on Vioxx for 2 1/2 yrs. 'til it was finally
pulled off the shelf. Sorry to hear that yours were
unpleasant.

That's Awesome that you are getting your Diabetes
under better control by your own hand. Good
effort. :top:

Welcome, the Best to you and I hope that you enjoy
Tony's :) Forums.

[lewsterr]

Welcome aboard, Stephen. As you have already found out, there are a lot of wonderful people with a tremendous amount of knowledge here. Please don't hesitate to participate by asking questions and expressing your opinions.

It sounds like you are being very pro-active in regulating your diet. As a rice lover myself, I know how difficult it is to give it up or at least drastically cut the portions. If you find that you are still struggling to keep your numbers in check, you may want to ask your doctor about Byetta. It is an injection, but it's great at controlling appetite and keeping your BG in the normal range.

Keep up the good work, and let us know your test results when they come back.

[gettingby]

Hi Stephen and Welcome to the family. :)

[bryan42]

WELCOME!!!!!! Glad your here!!!

[GhostRydr]

Hi Stephen :hello:

Welcome aboard.

Kurt