Over 1/3 of the US population suffers from excess blood sugar elevation (diabetes and prediabetes). It is a “silent epidemic” and many victims are unaware until they begin to experience the devastating complications.
Western or conventional therapies for diabetes have been geared toward regulating blood glucose with a combination of diet modification, insulin and/or oral pharmacological agents, weight loss when appropriate, and exercise.
Western medicine is poorly equipped to treat the early stages of blood sugar dysregulation, and nearly all diabetes drugs themselves cause serious adverse effects which compound the original problem.
Poor diet and lack of exercise certainly plays a part in development of diabetes, although there are many lean, fit individuals that develop the disease. Current science is looking more closely at inflammation due to infections (particularly viral), allergies and environmental pollution as contributors.
In the U.S., diabetes treatment is geared toward regulating blood glucose with a combination of diet modification, insulin and/or oral pharmacological agents, weight loss when appropriate, and exercise.
Conventional medicine in Europe and most other countries promotes weight loss, diet modification and exercise, but emphasizes treatment of causitive factors including pathogens, inflammation, nutrition and the regulatory role of the liver.
Do not stop your diabetes medications without your doctor’s approval!
Natural Treatment Approaches
The Western Naturopathic approach to blood sugar dysregulation includes treatment with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants and herbs to:
1. reduce pathogen load which often causes dysregulation,
2. identify and eliminate inflammatory agents including food and airborne allergies and environmental sensitivities,
3. promote lifestyle changes including exercise, diet and weight management,
4. support production of insulin and the functioning of the pancreas, liver and adrenal glands, and
5. block the effects of free radicals which may worsen blood sugar dysregulation.
Traditional Chinese Medicine identifies three types of diabetes: the upper depletion-thirst, the middle depletion-thirst, and the lower depletion-thirst. Differential diagnosis of syndromes is based upon these three types:
1. Upper-warmer depletion-thirst diseases, characterized by thirst and dryness of the mouth and tongue, polyguria, reddened tip and margin of the tongue with thin, yellow coating, and full and rapid pulse. Herbs are selected to expel heat, purge fire, increase the production of the body fluids and relive thirst.
2. Middle-warmer depletion-thirst disease, characterized by Polyphagia, emaciation, constipation, reddened tongue with dry, yellow coating, and slippery and strong pulse. Herbs are selected to clear away stomach heat and nourish the yin.
3. Lower-warmer depletion-thirst disease, with either a yin deficiency (characterized by polyguria, turbid urine, dry mouth, reddened tongue with little coating, and weak and rapid pulse) or deficiency of both yin and yang (with severe polyguria, turbid urine, lassitude, spontaneous sweating, shortness of breath, impotence, dark complexion, pale tongue with white coating, and deep and weak pulse.) herbs are selected to nourish the kidney yin (yin deficiency) or replenish the qi and nourish the yin (yin and yang deficiency).
Unsure what to order? Please call us, we can help! Call a CHS healthcare Professional at 714-886-9026 for guidance.
Blood sugar symptoms include those for diabetes and for hypoglycemia. You may experience:
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Blood glucose dysregulation is recognized as a serious disorder in all systems of healing. The causes of diabetes have not been adequately studied. The commonly accepted causes and treatments of diabetes vary depending on the diagnostic model used by the practitioner. Control of diet and lifestyle, however, are always key components of treatment.
Diabetes is considered by many to be an autoimmune disease, in which the insulin producing cells are slowly destroyed by the body’s own immune system. It is unknown what first starts this cascade of immune events, but evidence suggests that both a genetic predisposition and environmental factors, such as a viral, bacterial fungal and parasitic infections, are involved.
Among the viruses under scrutiny are enteric viruses, which attack the intestinal tract. Coxsackie viruses are a family of enteric viruses of particular interest. Epidemics of Coxsackie virus, as well as mumps and congenital rubella, have been associated with incidence of type 1 diabetes.
Conditions that damage or destroy the pancreas, such as pancreatitis, pancreatic surgery, or certain industrial chemicals can cause diabetes. Certain drugs can also cause temporary diabetes, including corticosteroids, beta blockers, and phenytoin. Rare genetic disorders (Klinefelter syndrome, Huntington’s chorea, Wolfram syndrome, leprechaunism, Rabson-Mendenhall syndrome, lipoatrophic diabetes, and others) and hormonal disorders (acromegaly, Cushing syndrome, pheochromocytoma, hyperthyroidism, somatostatinoma, aldosteronoma) also increase the risk for diabetes.
It is important to consider CAUSES of blood sugar dysregulation.
Western (allopathic) Medicine
Treatment for type 1 diabetes consists of a mixture of various components of insulin.
Type 2 diabetes is considered to be caused primarily by diet and lifestyle, although current research is questioning the differences between type 1 and type 2. U.S. physicians tend to rely heavily on drugs to control diabetes symptoms. First line treatment consists of diet and lifestyle changes. If adequate control is not maintained, Metformin, a compound originally extracted from French lilacs, may be added as monotherapy. Metformin slows release of sugars from the liver and increases insulin sensitivity. Depending on severity and symptoms, a western physician may add insulin, a sulfonyluria (which increases insulin production), a thiazolidinedione (which also reduces insulin resistance), and most recently, a GLP-1 agonist or a DPP-4 inhibitor.
Gestational diabetes develops when your body can’t meet the extra insulin demands of the pregnancy. During pregnancy, various hormones block the usual action of insulin. This helps to make sure your growing baby gets enough sugar. Your body needs to produce more insulin to cope with these changes. Gestational diabetes is commonly treated with diet and exercise plus, as needed, insulin.
Western Herbalism
Western herbalism works to control diabetes and blood sugar abnormalities with a combination of diet, lifestyle and nutritional supplements including select vitamins, minerals and other nutrients and targeted herbs used alone or in combination, such as with French lilac, discussed above. Herbalism does not offer a cure for diabetes, and it is necessary for patients with diabetes to continue taking the medication prescribed by their physician. However, in many cases, natural approaches can help lower glucose levels in the body and thus reduce the need for medication.
Western herbal protocols for diabetes rely on insulin sensitizers (such as French lilac, banaba, ginsengs, cinnamon, chromium and vanadium), hypoglycemic agents (similar to sulfonylurias, such as bitter melon, fenugreek and gymnema), carbohydrate absorption inhibitors (such as glucomannan, oat bran and soy) and other natural substances such as alpha-lipoic acid, selenium and stevia.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) refers to diabetes as Wasting-Thirst syndrome. The root of Wasting-Thirst is said to be a deficiency of Yin in the body and the presence of a Heat pathogen affecting the Lungs, Stomach, and Kidneys. TCM treatments for diabetes focus on using herbal formulas nourishing Yin, clearing the Heat, and resolving the Patterns of Disharmony in each of the Triple Burners. TCM does not offer a cure for diabetes, and it is necessary for patients with diabetes to continue taking the medication prescribed by their physician. However, in many cases, TCM can help lower glucose levels in the body and thus reduce the need for medication.
Many Chinese herbs have western equivalents. One traditional Chinese formula for diabetes includes Xi Yang Shen (to replenish the vital essence of the body and to treat polydypsia), Shi Gao and Zhi Mu (to suppress appetite to relieve polyphagia), Xuan Shen (to replenish the vital essence and clear heat simultaneously), Huang Qi and Shan Yao to strengthen the spleen), Bai Zhu and Cang Zhu (to strengthen the Spleen and dry up dampness), Dan Shen and Hong Hua (to activate blood circulation and enhance the overall effectiveness of the herbs, and Lian Zi Xin and Lian Xu (to tonify the kidney and control frequent urination).
Ayurveda
According to Ayurveda, diabetes is a metabolic kapha type of disorder in which diminished functioning of agni leads to a tendency toward high blood sugar. Ayurvedic practitioners attack diabetes using a multiprong approach. First, they address diet modification, eliminating sugar and simple carbohydrates, and emphasizing complex carbohydrates. Protein and fat are limited. Since many diabetics have autoantibodies, a cleansing program is instituted. Ayurvedic practitioners use several herbal preparations for diabetics. Exercise is another cornerstone of ayurvedic treatment of diabetes. Yoga and breathing exercises are traditionally used.
Ayurvedic practitioners often treat with herbs to suppress viral infections (just now being considered in Western medicine), strengthen the liver, regulate kidney function and also directly affect the glycemic processes. Commonly used herbs include shilajit, gudmar turmeric, neem, amalaki, guggul, arjuna, bitter melon, methi, dakhni mirch, jambu and ajwan.
The Science of Diabetes
Glucose is used by many organisms as fuel, but it is vital that glucose levels be tightly regulated. Too little glucose will lead to starvation, while too much is toxic. Glucose homeostasis is accomplished through highly complex mechanisms involving many different molecules, cell types and organs.
When glucose enters the bloodstream (after the digestion of food), it is detected by specialized cells in the pancreas. These cells respond to the rising blood-glucose concentration by releasing the enzyme, insulin. Insulin then signals to other tissues in the body (i.e., muscle cells and adipose tissue) to take in glucose to be used as energy (in muscle cells) or stored for later use (in adipose tissue). The result is a lowering of blood-glucose concentration to non-toxic levels.
In times of low glucose intake (between meals or in cases of starvation) the pancreas releases the enzyme glucagon. This enzyme directs the liver to break down stored glycogen into glucose and release this glucose into the bloodstream, thereby raising blood-glucose concentration to a desired level.
Additional hormones and processes are related to diabetes. Insulin and leptin act as adiposity signals, controlling appetite and energy expenditure. Leptin is released primarily by white fat cells (and other organs to a lesser extent), and acts on receptors in the hypothalamus. Leptin signals to the brain that the body has had enough to eat, or satiety. Leptin’s ability to do this drops off with age. Fats locked safely away in adipocytes get released as we age, and that this could explain why older people who are obese are more at risk of metabolic syndrome.
As stored fat gets released into the blood stream, immune cells lodged in fat tissue produce a hormone called plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). Increase in PAI-1 leads to metabolic syndrome and aggravates the symptoms of diabetes by making cells less responsive to insulin. It is also involved in blood clotting, and blood clots can lead to strokes and heart attacks.
Several factors can influence our blood sugar regulation system. Recent research is discovering that blood sugar issues may have much more to do with immune processes than either genetics of diet. The distinction between “type 1 diabetes” and “type 2 diabetes” may be artificial, and it may be that no diabetes is “idiopathic.”
Several viruses have been linked to diabetes; Coxsackieviruses are a family of enteric viruses of particular interest. Measles, mumps and many “children’s viruses” have emerged as factors. Virology is in its infancy and Western allopathic medicine has few answers to virus related issues. Traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda appear to offer the best treatments for now.
Bacterial, fungal, mycoplasmal and parasitic infections are almost certainly implicated in diabetes, as are certain drugs (such corticosteroids, beta blockers, and phenytoin), industrial chemicals, pesticides and environmental pollutants.
Those with many physical disorders are at increased risk of diabetes, and may possibly have a causative role. So far, links have been found to hormonal disorders including acromegaly, Cushing syndrome, pheochromocytoma, hyperthyroidism, somatostatinoma, aldosteronoma and genetic disorders including Klinefelter syndrome, Huntington’s chorea, Wolfram syndrome, leprechaunism, Rabson-Mendenhall syndrome, lipoatrophic diabetes and others.
Statements contained herein have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat and cure or prevent disease. Information provided by CHS is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. Any information given is only intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from scientific world literature. You are encouraged to make your own health care decisions based upon your own research of the subject and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.