Re: Result!

[Pete Fisher]

Mine was 8.4 a couple of years ago. I was put on to Atorvastatin. That one was insidious, but after a 6 months I was feeling generally slightly shit (tiredness and muscle weakness) so I stopped it. For other reasons I then went on to a pretty determined 5 a day regime. A few months ago after 6 months on loads of fruit and veg my result was 6.3. Still too high says the quack and persuaded me to try Simvastatin. That gave me rotten gut cramps within days. When I finally confessed I had stopped it, another test showed I was back up to 7.2. So now I am on a fibrate. The jury is still out on that. I'm giving plant sterols a try as well now.

As I said to my GP. it's a question of quality of life, not just length.

[Andy Hall]

Not at all. It's a matter of correct management of blood glucose profile.

Absolutely and now. That is also part of BG management.

[Phil Launchbury]

They tested mine when I developed diabeties - both were under 3 (which didn't really surprise me - my father has always had very low cholesterol and triglyceride levels). On the basis of that test I decided *not* to take the standard "you are diabetic, have these statins" pills provided..

I even had a stand-up argument with the diabetic nurse about it. She couldn't understand why I was refusing and me saying "I don't need them because my levels are already lower than normal" didn't seem to be getting through.

"Die young, stay pretty".

Phil

[Fran]

Good grief. I never thought of that.

Or those who believe marketing hype, perhaps.

[dennis]

You need to throw your glucose meter away.

[Fran]

Well, maybe he's type One, I suppose. Do you know, I've not seen a single post of his that refers to taking any enjoyment from food. It's all been about queue time and bad science.

[Phil Launchbury]

*Utterly* stupid advice. BG monitoring has been demonstrated time and time again to help with maintaining a good A1C in diabetics (I'm assuming that the OP is diabetic).

Phil.

[Catman]

Corrected by one who knows.

[Andy Hall]

On the contrary.

[Andy Hall]

Irrelevant. Measurement should be done for all of the many forms of diabetes.

There's plenty of enjoyment and no bad science.

[Andy Hall]

Exactly, and regardless of the type.

[Steve Firth]

Umm it's a bit pointless measuring blood glucose for diabetes insipidus.

[Huge]

People eat hair gel?

[Andy Hall]

OK. I was thinking more in terms of T1 & T2 and variants.

[Owain]

But they'll be the ones believing all the marketing hype about being slim = health = happiness.

A lot of fat people don't care. If they did care, they'd have done something about it when their clothes stopped fitting, not waited until they can't find anything in the shops that fit. I can still wear clothes that fitted me 20 years ago.

Owain

[the.best.names.are.gone]

That's pretty much the view I'm taking. It's back to the old joke about life not actually lasting longer, it only feels that way.

In number terms, my risk of developing heart disease over the next ten years is apparently 8% compared to the average of 7%. That's comfortably within my risk appetite though, TBH, I'm not sure how high it would need to be to change my mind.

I'm happy to make some (overdue) dietary and exercise changes[1] but I'd prefer not to be on medication for the rest of my natural.

[1] 4kg down at the time of writing.

[Fran]

Well, that too.

Good on you.

[peter]

I have already been on Losartan for five years. Luckily that doesn't seem to have any significant side effects (on me at least). The hypertension, together with my family history, makes the cholesterol a bit more of a deal for me.

Excellent. I will probably shed a bit of weight during the summer as I always do, following the end of my winter relative inactivity and slight SAD carbo craving.

PF

[Roger]

The message from Owain contains these words:

Perm any two from three. :-)

So can I, just, but I would much prefer to get into the clothes that fitted me 40 years ago when I was 20 lb lighter with a waist size 6 inches smaller.

There was an advertisement in today's Independent for a new tpye of diet, "The Doctor's Diet" (Dr Spira)- no restriction on amount, just eat good carbs and avoid bad carbs. I try and avoid boiled potato but not much else. Sods law says potato will be be among the good carbs. Anyone know the detail?

A quick google shows the author is holding out for a purchase and that there have been other dr's diets in the past that are based on low calories.

[dennis]

Really? Unless you are taking insulin why do you need to test glucose? The HbA1c test will tell you if you have been eating OK as an average. The odd test every week or so is all that is needed unless you are constantly trying new unknown foods.

BTW I am diabetic as well as hyperglycemic both treated by diet so I do know a bit about food and testing.