Low blood sugar and chromium

I heard this supplemental mineral is good,for,preventing hypoglycemic crashes. Could taking this offset the hypoglycemic effects of another supplement I'm on called ip6? Thank you.

hi...blood test to determine levels would be advised......and a chat with ya doc or endocrinologist.

From what I've heard and read, apparently most doctors and other diabetes experts discount or outright reject the claim that chromium has significant benefits for diabetes, or perhaps only one or the other type?

I'm going to recount my personal anecdote regarding chromium, but it is crucial to always remember that anecdotes are East and reliable evidence is West, and never the twain...

I was diagnosed with Type 2 early this century. At 5'10" and 350 lbs I was a quite morbidly obese man (I've been stably down to around 205 for more than a decade now, as a result of simply eating less --- no diets, no surgery, but strangely, little exercise to go along with that). Quite foolishly, I still drink 32 or more ounces of sugared soda a day, only rarely diluted 30-50%. This is certainly quite stupid, but drinking water makes my very dry mouth FAR drier, I can't tolerate artificial sweeteners, and fruit juices have roughly the same number of carbs as soda per volume anyway (I've really got to dilute much more often!)

But here's the thing: Although my blood sugar testing reveals dangerously high glucose levels, as should be expected from such a sugared soda drinker, my A1c has been in the fives for the last few years, but during the first decade+ after I lost almost 150 pounds, it was in the low to mid FOURS! This is wildly inconsistent with glucose readings of 200-250 or more! Something very weird is going on.

By the way, the reason why my blood glucose testing is so uncommon is that -- although I've tried about a dozen different lancet and lancet injection devices -- I'm forced to manually jab my fingertips with a bare lancet if I have any hope at all getting enough blood for testing, even though I use a FreeStyle meter which only requires a tiny bit of blood! And "alternative-site" testing is even worse. It shouldn't be surprising that I test only rarely considering what I have to go through. To have any hope of getting enough blood, I have to soak the chosen hand in hot water for at least 5 or more minutes, then shake that hand extremely vigorously in order to use centrifugal force to try to get enough blood to my fingertips, and even then I end up usually having to force more blood out with my fingers, which reportedly alters the readings to some degree. I also discovered that normal lances are made very thin to reduce pain, so I had to order special high-gauge lancets to get sufficient blood.**

Anyway, this quite inexplicable situation with sky-high blood glucose readings and exceptionally good A1c levels requires some rational explanation (which none of my doctors has been even remotely able to provide). So I can't help but to think these improbably great A1c levels must result not from pharmaceuticals alone (metformin and glipizide), but something else in combination with them. I very much tend to believe, but not actually know, that taking 1 gram of chromium picolinate every day -- which I've done ever since I was diagnosed -- is the other major contributor. I had read glowing claims about chromium online, but I'm sufficiently skeptical of pretty much all supplement claims, and I saw that as the quality of the medical information sources improved, the evidence of efficacy dropped substantially (please keep that in mind).

So I strongly suspect that the great benefit of taking chromium I've seen in myself is highly dependent on my particular individual physiology and individual case of diabetes.

And note importantly that the benefits in my case are clearly decreasing with time and/or age! I had been seeing A1c levels of low to mid fours, but now I'm at 5.7 and probably worsening.



** I just today learned of the Abbot FreeStyle Libre, which miraculously requires no poking at all! I'm going to see if my Medicare Advantage policy will cover all or some of it (I'm younger than 65, but have been on Medicare Disability for about twenty years). I'm going to emphasize to them what I've noted above concerning the futility of ordinary glucose testing in my case.

Post Edited (Skeptical1) : 10/11/2018 9:13:14 PM (GMT-6)

Skeptical1, please read the link in my signature which goes to a website that explains everything about blood sugar. I think you need to understand the dangerous effects of such high blood sugar that you say you have at times. You are on two diabetes medications which are helping control your blood sugar to a point but it appears your blood sugar is having wide swings if your A1c is in normal or high-normal ranges. The A1c is only an average and is not a gauge of good control if your personal testing is dangerously high.

Skeptical, I think it would be much better for your health if you sat down and figured out a decent eating schedule with real food instead of drinking sodas or whatever. I'm afraid that eventually your health will suffer and being a diabetic, yes, this could involve kidneys but also heart, eyes, etc.

To keep your blood sugar more level (which is best for the body), you should eat nutritious meals and not overload on one food or drink. Diabetics do not metabolize carbs well and this creates very high blood sugar, so our best eating plan would be some protein (meat, chicken, fish) and vegetables including leafy greens, nuts, some dairy like yogurt and cheese. There are lots of ways to have a good diet of nutritious food.

Blood sugar that yo-yos is not good in the long run.