Is This That Important?

This is not about diabetes at the start, but some of the nonsense on the Internet and why doctors think this is good.

The message is for the tweet of the week. They selected one that shows an image of a medical alert bracelet with the medical alert symbol on one side and the second image is the message on the reverse, which reads “DELETE MY BROWSER HISTORY.”

The title is - “Tweet of the Week: Medical Bracelet for Millennials.” Then they say in the subtitle - “No internet user will want to be without it.”

Why do I think this is nonsense? What do Millennials do on the Internet that this needs to be promoted? Drugs? Porn? Looking for Dr. Google advice? Yes, I can understand the doctors wanting the last information deleted from the browser as they all think that the internet does not contain trust worthy information.

I have had a couple of doctors tell me to not read about diabetes on the Internet. I surprise them when I say that I generally avoid the ADA site and the AACE site because most of the information is unreliable and for doctors that have little common sense.

This gets their attention and makes them ask why I would say this. I tell them that if they want the complications of diabetes, follow the ADA site and you will develop the complications. You will be less likely to rapidly develop the diabetes complications if you follow the AACE site, but even there, you may find bad information.

One doctor challenged me and I needed to show him the bad information on the ADA site. I asked him what the fasting range was and he said 100 to 130 mg/dl. I said that was right according to the ADA, but was too high. He asked what I follow and I said 80 to 110 mg/dl. He said was would be more in danger of having lows (hypoglycemia) and I said that may be, but hypoglycemia starts at 70 mg/dl and I seldom go that low.

I then asked what the number was at bedtime and he said 180 mg/dl. I said this is why the complications will start as this level encourages the complications. I said that it should not be more than 140 mg/dl postprandial and preferably not more that 120 mg/dl.

Then he asked what I ate, I told him low carb high fat, and he shook his head. He asked next how many carbs and I said about 30 to 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. He countered that I should be eating a minimum of 180 grams of carbohydrates per day.

I asked if he had heard of Dr, Bernstein and his “law of small numbers” and what that meant. He admitted that he had not and I explained that this meant that he was eating 30 grams of carbohydrates per day (9-12-12) and needed very small amounts of insulin even as a person with type 1 diabetes.

At that, he ended the discussion and said he would be testing me in three months to find out if I was eating enough to stay healthy. I said I work with a nutritionist to balance my diet and cover certain nutrients with a dietary supplement when I have malabsorption as I do for vitamin B12.