One Drop's CareKit App Showing 'Substantial Improvement' in Glycemic Control for Diabetic Users

[smirking]

Not buying this. Show me an article in the New England journal of medicine and I will think about it.

What's so hard to believe? As a diabetic, I'm reading this and I think, "duh, this is so obvious, but you don't need this product to achieve these results."

Is anyone surprised that people who self select as subjects who are motivated to track their daily blood glucose fluctuations with a coach helping them to understand their results would end up seeing modest, but significant improvements in their A1C? I think the more useful critque of their reported findings is how many of these "improvers" see continued improvements or maintain their discipline 2 to 5 years out from the time they were initially being observed.

I think this is a great idea and the more people who have a hand to guide them through management of a chronic condition, the better and I'm really surprised at how inexpensive the service is. It costs $40US/month or $33.33US if paid annually. You get counseling AND unlimited test strips. I'd have to see it to believe it if the test strips really are unlimited, but even if I'm just receiving 150 strips a month, the subscription fee would more than pay for itself.

I'm tempted to try this service just for the promise of unlimited test strips, but that has the too good to be true ring to it and I don't know the reputation of this meter.
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Instead they write a script for Metformin and smugly assume they have another recruit for the growing army.

I actually am a successful practitioner of the lifestyle, food, and testing regimen as a way of maintaining normal blood sugars as a diabetic, but I find your cynicism more than a little offputting as someone who's been a healthcare clinician before. Perhaps you've had really bad luck with the doctors you've encountered, but I've found that the issue is that most doctors do not have enough personal experience or training to be credible counselors to diabetics and the training they have received may be dated. Even if they have kept up with developments, what physician has the time to provide one on one counseling on blood glucose control and even if they did, how many of those people will actually be motivated enough to follow through?

Their job is to help you to the best of their ability without doing you harm and as much as I hate to admit it, the "here take this pill" regimen might actually produce the better overall results for a population even while it produces poorer results for each individual. If you have 10 minutes of time to change an almost stranger's life, telling them to take this pill and hoping that they'll have the motivation to go beyond that is a reasonable bet.

There are any number of reasons why a physician could resort to drug based therapy that has nothing to do with greed or malice.

 

[smirk]

The truth is doctors could spare most pre-diabetics of this nonsense by instead prescribing lifestyle changes -- lose weight, switch to a diet with drastically fewer carbs, and get some exercise. Instead they write a script for Metformin and smugly assume they have another recruit for the growing army.

That seems to be an overly-cynical take on the situation. At least in the experiences of which I'm aware, doctors _do_ advise a lifestyle change. But let's face it, most people would rather opt for medicine than change their lifestyle. Doctors can't make you stop eating junk and start exercising every day, so if people's A1C numbers worsen then they treat it the way they know how.

What I've observed is that my family's general practitioner is somewhat behind the curve with regards to current diabetic treatment. The most valuable information actually came from the medical group's dietitian, whose entire job focused on managing diabetes so she was armed with the latest science. As a result, she sometimes disagreed with the doctor.

 

[smirking]

The most valuable information actually came from the medical group's dietitian, whose entire job focused on managing diabetes so she was armed with the latest science. As a result, she sometimes disagreed with the doctor.

That's pretty common. People always treat the physicians like they're the ultimate authority, but they rarely are unless they also have a specialty in addition to general practice. They tend to know more about everything and less about anything specific. It's the jack of all trades phenomena. The good physicians don't hide from the fact that they often are behind the curve in comparison to their non MD healthcare specialists in those areas of specialty.

 

[radiology]

What's so hard to believe?

I am disputing that such improvements could be achieved. I just don't believe in claims made through the lay media.

 

[dwsolberg]

I was a 6 foot tall 170 lb 22 year old when I was diagnosed. How much weight should I have lost? My niece was a 105 lb 26 year old with a gym membership that she used. How much weight loss or exercise increase should she have done?

It's easy to get caught up in blame, and everybody is different. I like to say that if I were in someone else's shoes, I'd do exactly what they did because I would have had the same experiences.

That said, the majority of Type 2 diabetes is the body's reaction to a constant excess carbohydrate in the modern diet. A hundred and fifty years ago, doctors were just discovering the disease. At that time, it was estimated about 1 in every few thousand people had it, and it could only be studied in large cities because it was so rare. Today, about 1 in 8 Americans have diabetes. It's hard to imagine that diabetes isn't affected by what a person eats and does.

Of course, it's possible that you're one of those rare one in 3,000 people who just would have gotten diabetes no matter what. There are definitely people out there like that, and your apparently normal weight makes me wonder. However, don't assume that just because you were not overweight that your body wasn't having trouble processing carbohydrates.

The majority of people with Type 2 diabetes can be helped or have complete remission of symptoms. (I linked to studies in an earlier post.) Even if that's not you, it is probably worth more investigation. At the very least, eating less carbohydrate-heavy food would likely help with hunger.

 

[extrachrispy]

What I've observed is that my family's general practitioner is somewhat behind the curve with regards to current diabetic treatment.

This is, sadly, true of nearly all physicians for nearly all conditions. I still have doctors and cardiologists recommending a low-fat diet for blood lipid management, for example. That advice was bad twenty years ago, and is woefully out-of-date today. It's actually harmful.

 

[kiwipeso1]

This is, sadly, true of nearly all physicians for nearly all conditions. I still have doctors and cardiologists recommending a low-fat diet for blood lipid management, for example. That advice was bad twenty years ago, and is woefully out-of-date today. It's actually harmful.

That may or may not be useful to others, with the standard disclaimer of your healthcare needs differ from others.

 

[extrachrispy]

That may or may not be useful to others, with the standard disclaimer of your healthcare needs differ from others.

With the exception of the Ornish diet, IS, not may.

With the standard disclaimer that your opinion is worth what I paid for it.

 

[kiwipeso1]

With the exception of the Ornish diet, IS, not may.

With the standard disclaimer that your opinion is worth what I paid for it.

As someone whose 9 years of tertiary studies in a traditional English speaking country included French, German and Spanish; I am using the correct grammar for my first language. You are not.
I would suggest that you learn the meaning of the conditional tense in English before you consider correcting the grammar of someone who studied European languages at a university in the world's top 500.

TL, didn't understand ? "may" is the correct tense for a conditional use of "to be", not the third person "is".

 

[extrachrispy]

As someone whose 9 years of tertiary studies in a traditional English speaking country included French, German and Spanish; I am using the correct grammar for my first language. You are not.
I would suggest that you learn the meaning of the conditional tense in English before you consider correcting the grammar of someone who studied European languages at a university in the world's top 500.

TL, didn't understand ? "may" is the correct tense for a conditional use of "to be", not the third person "is".

You're incorrect on all counts, including your completely false claim that I was correcting your grammar.

 

[michaelsviews]

Tracking blood glucose is fine, and people with diabetic family histories or symptoms should use the wonderful tech that's available today. On the not so good side of the ledger are the doctors and pharma shills who claim that diabetes is a one-way street, once it's been diagnosed there is no way back. Then they begin the regime of drugs and protocols to "manage" the disease as it becomes inevitably worse. The truth is doctors could spare most pre-diabetics of this nonsense by instead prescribing lifestyle changes -- lose weight, switch to a diet with drastically fewer carbs, and get some exercise. Instead they write a script for Metformin and smugly assume they have another recruit for the growing army.

Just came across your post and have to say you hit the nail on the head and straight into the board. I'm Type 2 and do to my own negligence my sugars/weight increased over the winter. Now I want to use technology, i.e. the watch and apps to track my progress and get my life back with out the metformin.
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Er, a blog? Does he have published, peer reviewed papers and data? Surprised I haven't heard about this yet.

He does have IMHO some very good videos on youtube.

I'm a veteran and having a new doc talk to me about diabetes and diet when there grossly obese is humorous / sad. I research things to death.

 

[EdT]

Just came across your post and have to say you hit the nail on the head and straight into the board. I'm Type 2 and do to my own negligence my sugars/weight increased over the winter. Now I want to use technology, i.e. the watch and apps to track my progress and get my life back with out the metformin.
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He does have IMHO some very good videos on youtube.

I'm a veteran and having a new doc talk to me about diabetes and diet when there grossly obese is humorous / sad. I research things to death.

I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes when I was 22. I weighed 175 lbs, was 6 ft tall and exercised regularly. My diet was below American average about carbs, and way below on sweets, as I never did care for them. I did not start gaining weight until 20 years later when I was put on insulin, as my A1C's had steadily climbed over the years. Trying to maintain or lose weight when your body can't regulate sugar anymore is tough.

My niece was 26 when she went into a diabetic coma. She is about 5 ft tall, and weighed 100 lbs at the time. She had a gym membership and she had been going 3 times a week concentrating on strength development. I can't say I know what her diet was like at the time. We saw her a few times a week but seldom asked what what she was eating, because there didn't seem to be any problems, at least visually. She was found because the dog in the house was barking like mad and someone else in the house came down to see what it was barking at. It was barking at her. She was on metformin for a few years, but now she is also on insulin. And gaining weight.

Neither of us were fat when diagnosed, both of us exercised, and at least for me, personally, I did not eat massive carbs. Blanket statements are seldom universally true.

 

[smirking]

Of course, it's possible that you're one of those rare one in 3,000 people who just would have gotten diabetes no matter what.

It's not rare to be skinny and Type II. Upwards of 10% of people who are Type II diabetics are not overweight. EdT was one of them. I am one of them.
Source: http://www.obesity.org/content/weight-diabetes

 

[dwsolberg]

It's not rare to be skinny and Type II. Upwards of 10% of people who are Type II diabetics are not overweight. EdT was one of them. I am one of them.
Source: http://www.obesity.org/content/weight-diabetes

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that being skinny prevented diabetes.

 

[smirking]

I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that being skinny prevented diabetes.

No worries. Didn't think you were saying that actually. I just wanted to correct the probabilities so that some skinny person reading this who got alarming news from the doctor doesn't use it to fuel their denial that they need to make some changes and fast because when you're on the borderline, time is of the essence.

After I read EdT's account, I consider myself a lucky case. My doctor helped me catch it before it progressed into full blown Type II. I made immediate dietary changes and got my numbers under control without medication. I used rigorous post-meal testing with a glucose meter to fine tune my diet. My numbers are better today than they were 6 years ago when my doc gave me the news. I'm technically not a Type II diabetic anymore and I want others to know that it can be done if you catch it early enough.