What Are Some Complimentary Therapies For Diabetes?

There are various types of complementary therapies and alternative medicines that you can embark on in order to maintain your diabetes. Considering your new lifestyle of all natural living, many people enjoy these alternative therapies as it complements their new lifestyle. These therapies are increasing very rapidly. Although many people use them as complementary therapies there are some who completely cut out western medicine and are successful using only alternative methods.

Such alternative complimentary therapies for treating diabetes include the following:

* Cinnamon
* Ginseng
* Vanadium
* Acupuncture
* Biofeedback

Yes, the spice cinnamon is used as an alternative therapy. It is believed that it can lower the blood glucose level and many people with type II diabetes often consume it. Likewise with ginseng, also seems to be able to lower blood sugar levels although it is still being researched. For people with Type I and type II diabetes, they take Vanadium to stabilize the blood sugar levels and can even lower the amount of insulin that they need to take.

Biofeedback is rather interesting as it helps the patient come to grips first with diabetes and then helps with relaxation modules to relieve the body of stress. This helps to lower blood pressure. Many relaxation modules include nature scenes, natural sounds such as birds in a forest or waves crashing, anything to make one feel relaxed. Acupuncture is probably the greatest used alternative therapy that people use. Through energy canals that run through the body, acupuncture is able to strengthen deficiencies in the body or to weaken hyper functioning organs. It also relieves pain, helps with nerve damage and with pain.

These are the various popular forms of alternative and complementary therapies and medicines used to help treat people with both type I and type II diabetes.

How to integrate your regular doctor with the alternative medicine one?

Even if a person decides to take on a home remedy or some alternative medicine, it is important that he or she let his or her regular doctor know of such plans in advanced. In many cases, physicians have friends and colleagues that already ventured and turned into such alternative doctors. This will provide their patients with the best possible care; since the two doctors know each other, they will likely communicate so that the medicine that one gives will not oppose the medication that the other will give.

Such communication is not always possible even though the head doctor or the specialist is willing to come in contact with any other health related caretakers or specialists that the patient might be seeing. This can happen because of their own tight schedules or even to the perception that each one has on the others line of care towards health.

In any case, it is important for the patient of not only diabetes, but all other conditions that are related to it, such as circulatory system, renal system and so on. Ask upfront to his or her doctor whether he or she is willing to come in contact with the rest of the doctors that are involved in your own patient care.

After all, you are the one that is most interested to see that your health is taken care of and in the best possible way. It will be up to you to “convince” them and in most of the occasions to see that they actually came in contact one with the other and that they actually discussed your case.

Of course, this does not mean that you will be contacting your diabetes doctor every 10 to 15 minutes just to see whether he called the alternative medicine doctor; yet it does mean that when you have your appointment with either, you make sure that they did talked.

Complementary Therapy and Alternative Medical Help for Diabetes Sufferers

Although we advise you to always consult your doctor before embarking on any “alternative therapy,” a growing number of diabetes sufferers are turning to natural medicines and changes in lifestyle, to combat their condition.

Here is a brief look at five of the more popular therapies being sought by those living with diabetes:

Acupuncture

Acupuncture, believed to have originated in China as long ago as 3000BC, is now a relatively common procedure used for many different ailments. Practitioners insert needles into various parts of the body in an attempt to trigger the body’s own natural healing agents. The technique has been proven to relieve some forms of chronic pain and is commonly used by people with neuropathy, the nerve damage suffered by many diabetes patients.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback focuses on helping sufferers become more aware of their condition and places an emphasis on relaxation and stress-reduction. Patients typically use a process called Guided Imagery – thinking of peaceful mental images such as scenes of nature or the curing of their condition, to ease suffering.

Ginseng

Recent studies have alluded to Ginseng having certain glucose-lowering effects. However long-term research is, at present, unavailable and amounts of the glucose-lowering compound found in Ginseng are believed to vary greatly from plant to plant.

Vanadium

Vanadium is a compound derived from both animals and plants and has been shown to normalize blood glucose levels for sufferers with types 1 and 2 diabetes. Patients have developed a modest increase in insulin sensitivity, thereby decreasing their requirement for insulin treatment. Research into the compound is currently focusing on dosage, side effects and how the body is affected by Vanadium.

Cinnamon

There is a growing school of thought that the spice Cinnamon can successfully lower blood sugar levels. Taken in a tea form its use is popular in Ayurvedic treatments for type 2 diabetes; however its use is not recommended in combination with other medications affecting insulin, as it can cause sporadic dips in blood glucose levels.