Diabetic Survivalist

DISCLAIMER: I am not a Doctor, nor do I claim to be in the medical field whatsoever...... with that said:

I am just a person with diabetes who happens to want to survive to tell the story of what happened when the SHTF.... if the SHTF. A little background. I am currently in my mid 40's. I have been living with this disease now since I was in my early teens. I am insulin dependent and my motto has always been "I have diabetes, it does not however have me".

In my household I am the person charged with the food preparations as well as the laying in of medical supplies and simple basic medical knowledge of what to do in emergency situations. As stated above I am not a medical Dr nor am I involved in the medical field in any way. With that said, since I am charged with prepping med supplies and basic knowledge I got to thinking one day.... what happens when/if I can no longer get my supply of insulin or needles? What he heck happens then? What do I do? Just die? Because I have been a fighter all my life I decided that no, rolling over and letting diabetes win is NOT an option for me. So, I took to the internet...and I researched...and researched...read everything I could possibly find and came up with a working list of herbs that credible medical studies have shown assist with glucose regulation. Criteria for these herbals would be that:

1. They had to be readily avaiable in the US. I don't want to have to rely on overseas suppliers as I don't trust their regulations on these things (although to be honest a lot of other countries don't seem to have the stigma of herbal applications for main stream medical issues like the US does). Mail order is OK, but I would prefer to strike up a relationship with local stores.
2. Easy to use application. I don't want to have to setup a distillary, wait 5 days or until the moon goes into retrograde and chant spells in Swahili in order to get this stuff to work. Pill, powder, tea or culinary applications please!.
3. Relatively inexpensive. I am not made of money. Hazard a guess that not alot of us are these days. I want to be able to stock what I need relatively cheaply without compromising the herbs integrity in what I need it for and not take away from other prepping materials my family and I may need just as much if not more than my herbal stock.

After I did my research into these herbals I took the list to a holistic doctor that was referred to me by my local natural food store.. just to see if I missed something, misread something or left an important herb out that they would have more information on. I then saw my general practioner and asked that he and my endocronologist get in contact with each other to discuss the options on my list. I explained to the GP that I wanted a viable alternative for a just in case scenario where my insulin was no longer available and stressed that IN NO WAY WOULD I BE REPLACING THE INSULIN THERAPY WITH THE HERBAL TREATMENTS, unless there really and truly was no other option left to me. The 2 of them conferred and we all worked together to test individual herbs and combos to get the right dosages for me.... and it worked. I realize every 'body' is different and what works for me may not work for you, but I urge you to try and work with your Dr to come up with something that in a SHTF situation will keep you alive and well. I will not divulge the formula that my Drs and I came up with simply because I honestly don't want to be held responsible if that formula puts you in danger. Below is a list of just some of the herbs that I found in my research.

1. Tanners Cassia or Cassia Auriculata. Now as a disclaimer let me say that this is not available in the US (so it breaks my rule #1), or if it is I am not able to find it. If you do, let me know. This would be my first choice out of all of them because this herb out of India has been tested and shown results comparable to Metformin (Glucophage) which is a perscription pill form for glucose control here in the US and I would gladly go thru more tests with my Dr to get the doses right for me.
2. Fenugreek - Can be used as a culinary spice but best in capsule form. No matter what form just be prepared to be breathing fire within about 2 hours of ingesting it!
3. Gymnema Sylvestre - The neat thing about this is that while it helps control your glucose, there are claims that it also helps to curb the cravings for sweets
4. Alpha Lipoic Acid - Can lower blood sugar levels, and its ability to kill free radicals may help reduce pain, burning, itching, tingling, and numbness in people who have nerve damage caused by diabetes (called peripheral neuropathy).
5. Bitter Melon - Bitter Melon, also known as Karela, Momordica Charantia or Bitter Gourd is a herb that helps regulate blood sugar levels and keeps body functions operating normally. It contains Gurmarin, a polypeptide considered to be similar to bovine insulin, which has been shown in experimental studies to achieve a positive sugar regulating effect by suppressing the neural response to sweet taste stimuli.
6. Cinnamon - Can use what you get out of the spice isle in the market but would be easier in capsule form. But there is a certain satisfaction of knowing that the cinnamon I just slapped on my toast with butter is actually doing me some good.
7. Ginko Biloba - Not so much for glucose control but perhaps for early onset of diabetic neuropathy
8, Stevia - Not so much for glucose control but for a sweetener. You can grow this plant on your own (I do) and use it in teas etc. It is becoming more and more popular and I am seeing more of it show up on the shelves at my local markets.

This is a very very small sample of the things I was able to find in my research into this issue. I have a lot more. If you are interested in any way furthering you knowledge I will be more than happy to help you in ANY way I can. Just remember though that never never never undertake something like this without consulting with your medical professional first. I hope this helps someone out there.

I truly think that while all the information listed above it great, you seriously need to take a look at this documentary if you have not already. It could change your life!

Pass it along to everyone you know who may be battling Type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

Watch it through to the end, the end is phenomenal.

Question remains, why is this video and the findings within NOT making international headlines? Oh yes, big pharma would loose out horribly.

reply to post by misfitofscience


Hey thanks for that! I had never heard of that program before. I'll have to check into that some more and see what it's all about.

And yes.... big pharma... the love of everyone's life. I mean while I know the insulin I take every day helps to keep me going every time I take that little vial out of the fridge I just have to wonder what else is in that little bugger....have a little side of mercury with that bovine insulin there.

Thank you for an informative post.

I am not diabetic but it ran in my family (their deceased now) and I keep an eye on it closely.
I am so thankful that nobody in my family relies on any medication to survive because I have been a prepper for many years and that would be a huge obstacle.

I just read the book "One second after" where the guy has to deal with that scenario as his daughter is dependant on insulin and he loses her.

I started thinking what alternatives one would have if any.

Whether you could use any plant or if insulin could be made or extracted from animals somehow if you knew how.

I just went through surgery (had 2 vertebrae fused) and asked the nurses on duty at night (we were all bored)
One said insulin was made from bacteria but in the old days they extracted it from swine somehow. I don't know if any of that is correct but it was interesting

reply to post by mwood


Thanks for the response, glad you found the information of some interest!

First off... sorry to hear about the surgery! Sounds painful but I hope you are either recovered or well on your way to full recovery. From what I hear back issues just plain suck.

About the injectable insulin to be honest I'm not sure what the stuff is made of anymore. I know way back when I was first diagnosed my insulin bottles said it was made with bovine insulin. Now way back in the day (so to speak) I had to mix my own insulin combo (R&N, one being long acting and one being short acting). Now the stuff I'm on just looks like a chem op's nightmare! But I did just notice something, since you mentioned talking to the nurse about what the stuff is made of it made me go take a gander at the stuff in the fridge...... They use Hydrochloric Acid or Sodium Hydroxide to help regulate the Ph balance... NICE!! While I know that once added they are no longer harmful it is still a little disconcerting.

Inactive ingredients for the NovoLog Mix 70/30 FlexPen are glycerol 16.0 mg/mL, phenol 1.50 mg/mL, metacresol 1.72 mg/mL, zinc 19.6 μg/mL, disodium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate 1.25 mg/mL, sodium chloride 0.877 mg/mL, and protamine sulfate 0.32 mg/mL. NovoLog Mix 70/30 has a pH of 7.20 - 7.44. Hydrochloric acid or sodium hydroxide may be added to adjust pH.

Link

Hi there. I'm a type 2 diabetic and was wondering if you would please share a little more of what you've found.

i have been using Cinnamon on my breakfast cereal every morning and it really does seem to have moderated my sugar levels.

I was taking metformin but it seems to cause nausea for me so I stopped it, but I didn't want to increase my insulin or gliclazide. It seems that Cinnamon did the trick.

Another thing, and I have no proof, just a gut feeling. It seems to me that diabetes in society seems to increase (per head of population) as we "modernise" (ie: there seems to be more now than ever).

In more "primitive" (not really, but I don't have a better way of describing it) cultures, it seems that once they come into contact with modern foods, then the incidence quickly ramps up.

Not only in our countries but back in their countries, forests & islands too.

Anyway, the gut feeling I have is that Flouridation of the water supply may somehow be inhibiting the natural insulin utilization process in cells and because the onset is very slowly cumulative, we haven't "made the link".

I do know that there have been studies finding higher levels of fluoride in the pancreas of type 2 diabetics, and that flouridosis is more prevalent and serious in diabetics.

Just my 2 cents.

reply to post by MyMindIsMyOwn


I have noticed the hydrochloric acid in my protophane insulin. As far as I know chlorides are usually nasty for living things.

I wonder what the breakdown chemicals from H2SO4 are in the blood. [shivers]!

reply to post by MyMindIsMyOwn


Hi there,
I just wanted to thank you for such an informative post. I am not diabetic, but my mother is, my brother is and my grandfather was. I had gestational Diabeties with my children, and so I keep a close eye on all of us.

I wish all diabetics had the same attitude toward it as you do. I know how hard it can be coping with it all.

I am going to look further into your information and pass it along to my mother, thank you for this post.

Important thread here.
You should investigate both Jerusalem Artichoke and Kudzu.
I have read they can both be useful for insulin regulation.

reply to post by chr0naut


And your 2 cents are obviously worth more than you think.....

I went out to the wonderful 'interwebs' and found this little gem that would support your position on that.

SUMMARY: Wistar rats were given 20 ppm fluoride in drinking water, or single administration of 115 mg/kg alloxan i.m. to induce diabetes, or single administration of 115 mg/kg alloxan i.m. followed by 20 ppm fluoride for 31 days. Blood sugar level increased in rats given alloxan and alloxan + fluoride. Body weight gain in rats given alloxan + fluoride decreased significantly compared to other groups. Decrease in haemoglobin and glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) was seen only in rats given alloxan + fluoride. In this group alkaline phosphatase, the target enzyme in fluoride toxicosis, increased considerably. The toxicity of fluoride in diabetic rats was further reflected in organ weight data. This investigation shows that fluoride toxicity is greater in diabetic rats.

Link to entire article

If you are up for a "riviting" read (LOL), read the entire study. Its not that long but it really does make you wonder. I have thought for a long time that while diabetes is a condition that will present itself in the 'natural' world in some cases, it is certainly on the increase these days because of environmental input. Meaning that the more chemicals and such that are introduced into our surroundings the more instances of diabetes we will see. Unfortunately.

Thanks for presenting your idea!

reply to post by KiwiSoul


You are more than welcome. It was my pleasure to present this. Fact is I have wanted to put up this post for a long time. If what I have found helps just one person out there it's worth it to me. Even if it is only to let someone else out there know that they are not alone in their concerns over a "what if" scenerio. As you well know this can be a 'lonely' disease.

My attitude was not always this way. For a few years after I was diagnosed I did not take it seriously at all until one day my Mom sat me down and told me that she did not risk her life to bring me into this world only to have me destroy it so carelessly.... wow. She could not have hurt me more if she had slapped me across the face..... so from then on it was "Katie bar the doors"... I was off to the races doing everything I had previously only dreamed of doing. Started kayaking, hiking, gardening, writing...you name it I was off trying it out. This includes keeping a better control of meds and diet. Thats where the "I have diabetes, it does not have me" came into play...and even after all these years it still something I tell myself every day.

Thanks for your support and should you come across any info in your research for your family members please feel free to let me know! I love to learn new things and hear from new friends.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


Thanks for weighing in, it is appreciated! I had heard rumblings about the usage of kudzu but not the Jerusalem artichoke. I'll have to look into that more. (Just did a quick search and found that the Jerusalem artichoke is in the same family with dandelion and they are doing research into that as well.)

How nice it would be if I could go in the back yard and graze on the dandelions and gnaw some kudzu off the trees to get what was needed for glucose control... talk about nature's pharma!!

My dog has diabetes and she takes 15 units of Humulin N twice a day. I bought the seeds last spring for Fenugreek, but I didn't get around to growing them. I didn't know Fenugreek was spicy hot. Thanks for that. She might not like her food spicy. When I get time, I'd like to check out those herbs and see if they are safe for animals.
I cook her food. She gets brown rice, veggies and a meat mixture. I'd like to find out what kind of diet she could have in a survivalist situation.

Just throwing it out there, my dog has not had fluoridated water in the 8 yrs I've had her.

reply to post by virraszto


My bad.... I did not mean to give the impression that Fenugreek was spicy....totally my fault. It to me is not spicy but it has kind of like a curry-ish taste to my way of thinking (this was in capsule form). But a couple of hours after I had ingested it, it had a tendency to 'light me up' so to speak and I felt as though if I even hiccuped I'd have set the house ablaze!

Thanks for posting because I never thought about herbal applications being used for possible animal treatment of this disease. While I am sure you are doing this under vet supervision others may not be and this is to them. Please be sure to discuss this with your animal's Vet to prevent any adverse effects or suffering on the part of your 4 legged family members.

PS - Let me know if you get the Fenugreek growing this year and how it does.

MMmmmm... brown rice, veggies and meat?? Wow... what time does your 4 legged friend get their dinner??

reply to post by MyMindIsMyOwn


Yes, that was one of the studies that I was referring to in my post.

This study doesen't pin Flouoride as a cause of diabetes. They caused the diabetes in the rats and then measured the damage caused by flouridosis, noting that it was worse than in rats that didn't have diabetes.

ie: Diabetes + Flouride = Worse than Diabetes alone.

But, if you look at the symptoms of flouridosis in those rats, initial weight gain, drinking excessive water and finally failures of liver, kidneys & pancreas, it does look like the stated symptoms of diabetes mellitus!

reply to post by virraszto


Thanks for your comment about your dog not having flouridated water but having diabetes. It does argue against my theory a little.

However diabetes is not necessarily one disease with a single cause. I was theorising that flouride played a part in insulin resistance (type 2 diabetes mellitus).

Is your dog type 1 or type 2?

reply to post by chr0naut


I came armed this morning with all of my old notes in hand ready to share. I did searches again on the info that I had to see if it was still valid..and while it is, I have today found a wealthspring of add'l info that is really knockin' my socks off! So instead of sharing just what I found a couple of years ago let me give you the search words that I have used today that has just provided some whopping good info to start out with. I think that would be more responsible at this stage of the game since my stuff is now so out dated. Like this link that shows study results using extract of blueberry leaves. Extract of Blueberry Leaves - Study I found nothing on this a couple years ago. Also searched the 2 items in asktheanimals' post and found even more info I was unaware of.

I used google as my search engine and searched: "Studies of herbal statins for diabetes", "Studies of herbal medicines for diabetes treatment", "Herbal medications used for heart disease in diabetics", "Jerusalem artichoke and diabetes" and "Kudzu and diabetes". These searches will give you the most up-to-date information out there on this issue. I would urge you to follow links from pages you find credible to obtain even more information. Don't be surprised when/if you do this you see that alot of studies coming from India. It seems that Indian scientists are really leading the way in scientific study of herbals in treating diabetes.

Hope this helps you some.... and as I've said before to others, if you find something that really stands out to you feel free to let me know!

PS - I was on metformin for a while too along with lipator in conjunction with my NovaLog. That combo gave me such heart palpatations that I could not stand it. Literally there were nights that I was afraid to close my eyes, convinced that I would not wake up in the morning. Let the Dr know it was unacceptable and he took me off of metformin and lipator completely, oddly enough with no adverse affects.

Hope to hear from you soon, friend!

Originally posted by misfitofscience
Pass it along to everyone you know who may be battling Type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

Watch it through to the end, the end is phenomenal.

Question remains, why is this video and the findings within NOT making international headlines? Oh yes, big pharma would loose out horribly.

Thank you for this thread. The information on the herbs that brought down blood sugar was informative.

As for the posted video...I agree with you, misfitofscience...why this is not being shared with others universally is insane.
Guess it falls back to what is good for you sometimes isn't the easiest route. It's all about people being lazy when it comes to taking care of themselves in a constructive instead of a destructive manner.

It is wonderful to know such alternatives exist and all we have to do is make the choice....that is what freedom is all about...choices. Nobody will ever take that from me or mine.