Question:
From California, USA:
My father has had diabetes for 39 years (since he was 17) and has had little consistency with his treatment involving an outrageous amount of bottles and prescriptions.
About my father's condition: are there alternatives to the never ending prescriptions? What about holistic healing or balancing his system through acupunture? There must be some solution besides pumping his system full of all these drugs.
Answer:
Holistic approaches to diabetes are not harmful, but have not been shown to be helpful either.
Injected insulin is the only replacement for the natural insulin he no longer makes. The only way that's definitely been shown to keep your dad healthy is to give him this insulin, and to keep his blood sugar levels in tight control.
SS
Original posting 11 Aug 96