NANCY K. PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DIABETICS

Nancy K.  personal recommendations for all, diabetic or not: 1. REsearch your disease(s). Not just from one source, but from many. No single research or body of literature is going to have all the information, or place the same emphasis on specific aspects. 2. Research all the medications you take. that means all the prescribed and over the counter medications. Again that means from reliable soruces such as webmd.com

or drugs.com.

 Both of the sites have consistently proven to give reliable information about supplements, prescribed medications, and over the counter medications. 3. Research any nutritional plan that you are on, or are considering. Look at the actual research done on it, looking for the most current available. Just realize that most research is about 5 years old before it is even published. 4. Look at alternative nutritional plans that fit within your lifestyle, your diseases, your medications that will promote you becoming healthier, reducing some of the medications you take, have a solid background of current research to support them, don't ask for money to learn the whole gamut of information about it. In some countries it can be challenging to maintain a specific nutritional plan due to economics, available foods, religious beliefs, etc. 5. Become your own personal expert on your body. By that I mean how you react to specific foods, medications, illness. 6. Begin to be more attentive to what your body is telling you. The subtle signs that your bs or blood pressure are too high or low, that your PCOS is beginning to flare up, that you may not be as hydrated as you should be, 6. Be willing to talk openly and empower yourself to tell your doctor or NP that you don't feel comfortable with not having all the knowledge and rationale for a medication, treatment, etc. and that until there is further discussion it goes no further. Just remember they are human, so doing so with aggression or a "bad attitude" will probably get you shut down and any relationship you have will be gone. This requires you use finesse, maturity, and a calm approach. Take your research articles with you, allow the doctor to have a copy to read so that they might be able to understand where you are coming from. A decent doctor is not threatened by having a well informed patient, but a poor one is.