Like the price on the test strips and the meter. Surprised by how inexpensive the strips are. I have an Accu- Chek meter which is at least a decade old and it uses Accu Chek Aviva Plus test strips which cost $45 per 50 count in the drug store. What a jolt to the pocket book. But now there are so many diabetics they can drop the price on the color coded strips and still make zillions. Like canned food products the expiration dates can be extended by proper storage in a cool, dry atmosphere. This morning my wake em up reading was 100. I attribute this to nice weather and all the exercise I get by working outdoors for as long as I can stand it.

These are very inexpensive and have a 4.5 star rating on amazon. I am thinking i need to start stocking up on them as i can afford to since meters will be a thing of the past at that point.

http://www.betachek.com/store

My current test strips are still accurate long after their expiration so i want to see if these are too. Has anyone used these and if so, were they good?

Toepopper: I've been using the pomegranate capsules for 8 months. They're called Pomi-T and are a combination of pomegranate and broccoli extract. These are actually recommended by MD's as a supplement. The one MD I read aid to take a daily 325mg aspirin with the capsules. In August 2015 my PSA was 6.8. When I went in for a follow-up in February it had went down to 4.5. I've been taking the daily glass of pomegranate juice, Pomi-T and aspirin all along. You can probably handle two out of three without the juice. Here is a link for the capsule at Amazon. Look through all their offers and you can probably find it cheaper. I usually buy two bottles at a time. You have to take 2 a day.

http://www.amazon.com/PomiT-PRIM03-Pomi-T-60-Capsules/dp/B00B703HLQ

Did not know about pomegranate pills, will look for them.
In this country the FDA approved the use of MSG to the food supply "to enhance flavor" and it was added to foods in the spring of 1966. Many people objected, independent studies revealed that MSG tricked the brain into thinking you were not full, people began eating more food at every meal because they did not feel satisfied and the epidemic of an overweight, always hungry population began. So as a consequence people started having high blood pressure which required medication as well as high cholesterol , more meds and these meds have side effects like WEIGHT GAIN and loss of energy/drive so you get less exercise and gain even more weight so then they prescribe a water pill which, over time, will ruin kidney function so you have more medical problems. Eventually 60,000,000 Americans developed diabetes and this all started since MSG was added as an additive to the food supply. This scenario is a win win for the big pharma corporations. When I was a kid there weren't any overweight people, you had to go to the circus to see the fat lady and diabetes was a rare disease. There were no preservatives in foods like bread or crackers, you had to eat bread in 3 days or it became as hard as a rock. Today's food supply has preservatives in everything. To overcome this phenomenon, as an agent orange diabetic I grow a huge garden full of organic fruits and veggies, we can as much as possible to supply us through the winter months with non preservative foods. This helps keep my glucose levels down in the normal range and gets me outside and working in the garden as a form of exercise. Its a lot of work for a beat up old man but I actually enjoy it. If we go out to eat I am very restricted in what foods I can order in a restaurant for fear of skyrocketing glucose levels and eating in a greasy fast food place is out of the question. This is the nature of the beast and I am dealing with it and adjusting my lifestyle as best I can to prolong my life and not go blind from out of control glucose levels.

And in my case...steroids. I have since met an even dozen of people that, like me, are now type 1 diabetics from steroids. My question is...what have they added to the steroids that now do this? One was a pretty young girl that was a sophmore in high school.

Steroids used to be cortisone, a drug that the pharma companies could not make money on. When i was 21, they came out with prednisone. Lots of side effects but it still would work. My last hospital stay offered up a new steroid that is inexpensive for the hospitals. In four days, my hair was fried rock hard, i gained 30 pounds of fluid, was getting no better, and the hospitalist ( since our own doctors are no longer allowed to practice at hospitals under obamacare) said the entire sickness was in my head and my insurance would not allow me to be there for that. My husband had to rush me to my DC doctor. It was a frightening nine hour trip.

High fructose corn surup sends my sugar to the moon. But then so does any type of cracker or bread. I cannot eat anything with additives or processed.

Toepopper, i believe you can get pomegranate in pill form that shouldnt have the sugar impact.

I have a LOT of opinions about the advent of diabetes. My STRONGEST theory is that it came about from two things in combination: processed food (just about everything we buy is processed nowadays) and LARGEST CULPRIT, high fructose corn syrup - yep, it is in everything. HFCS did not come into widespread use until mid-60s and on. Somewhere in this mix is MSG which has, indeed, been found to be addictive. MSG is laced in all 'flavored' foods in some form or another. Asians have used MSG (remember Accent) for centuries but as an additive to the cooking process to improve or hide the flavor of borderline meat and other foods. Diabetes, though having been around forever, as an epidemic, it HAS to be tied to modernity's use of questionable substances. Its the additives BABY! :cowboy:

I wish I could take pomegranate juice but its sugar content is sky high so I leave it on the grocery store shelf. What I would like to know is WHY almost every person I know over the age of 50 has become diabetic? What happened to people in modern society that would cause this epidemic? Many rumors are circulating on the web, one doctor says the diabetes epidemic began in the early 1980s when the low fat trend was started, the eliminate red meat and eat lots of salads craze and she claims that eating more fat is the way to prevent diabetes. Humans are meat eaters, that's why we once had large canine teeth which have evolved into eye teeth today. Yet another doctor in Arizona has a clinic where you can go and learn about preparing foods that will cure diabetes. No meat allowed in his diet clinic but lots of nuts and fruits and veggies and exercise. You go off this diet regimen and the disease comes back. I would like to know if that polio vaccine we all got as young school children was laced with some ingredient that opened the door to diabetes later in life. Although polio was a concern during the early 1950s it may have been over promoted to panic young women with young children into making sure their kids got the polio vaccine. It was administered in the public schools for free, first a shot and then one week later a booster taken orally in the form of a purple sugar cube. Who knows what was in that ?? Just a thought and I wouldn't put it past the big pharmacy corporations to attempt something like this so as to promote future business. :banghead:

We belong to a Department of Defense pharmacy plan. Typically when our MD writes a new prescription he does it on his laptop and transmits it immediately to the plan and we get it within a week. He will not write an extra prescription for spares but only that which he estimates we use on a monthly basis. The plan we belong to ships us a 90-day supply at a time. What I'm trying to say is that how much is a 30-day supply? Does he determine that or the patient. All I will say is in our case, both. On oral meds if it is not a life-assuring med, wife and I may purposely miss a day or one of the evening or morning meds. That way we are constantly building up spares. Doc ****** told us one time that even old insulin could be used one, two, three years afterward if it was unopened and had been stored properly. He said it would be weakened somewhat but not ineffective. In a survival situation, some is better than none. All of us are intent on accumulating food, weapons, shelter but I will bet you medical and health or near the bottom of importance, priority, or stored items. Now we get to a personal outlook from me to you all. That is the very reason I scour news and other outlets for new information and that is why I am taking this subject out of the general discussion area. We have to concentrate (here) on one thing only - life or death for us or our loved ones. Period! And, if you or anybody thinks it is a waste of time, I beg to differ. Due to my research (constant, daily) I was able to identify a med that had been prescribed for my wife that was dangerous to diabetics - I showed it to our good, very good, compassionate, old-time family doctor and he immediately changed it. He then researched it himself and agreed with the change. Drug companies won't go into detail too much in order not to scare off sales. He wanted to put her on statins because she was a diabetic and he said that lowering her cholesterol was important. Statins killed our daughter and I flat told him not no, but hell now. Wife's cholesterol was averaging 266 to 280. I researched and found a natural plant-based supplement for her to taake and the cholesterol is now down to around 200. Because I trust you all, I am telling you about this and my own experience. Last physical my PSA test showed an elevated (cause for concern) PSA level. He told me that he wanted me back in 6 months to test it again because elevated PSA sometimes is an indication of prostate cancer. Right away, I delved into reports and books and found some things that I immediately took up. Drinking a glass daily of pure pomegranate juice, a 325mg aspirin, and a supplement called Pomi-T. I have been doing that for six months plus and just had my PSA tested again. The prostate has shrunk and levels are normal.

Why do I tell you this? Not to prescribe treatment (I can't do that, not even to recommend) but to open eyes that survival is up to you, not your MD, but you. Of course, you first have to have a good relationship with your MD - as we do. Some of those arrogant [Wash My Mouth] will likely say 'let me do the doctoring'.

Clear?

:cowboy:

Pharmacy is closed indeed. Each one of those precious vials is a month of life. If/when TSHTF the clock starts and the only way my wife and youngest daughter survive is by ensuring we find enough vials or society rebuilds in time to produce more. My wife isn't 100% on board all "this prepping stuff" but she is slooooly coming around. We typically have 3-5 vials on hand at any given time. I would love to accumulate at least a year's worth.

Received from Toepopper:

[quote]Just read your diabetes article in Retreat Research thread. Some people just cannot plan anything or take care of themselves. This could potentially be a life ending scenario but many people have the viewpoint that its no big deal, ho hum la dee dah, so what. All you can do is watch out for number one and tell nobody about any stockpile of medications you may have on board.[/quote]

Things we all might have to face after TEOTWAWKI are diabetes supplies, treatment and security. If we don't take care of them it means certain death. One of us is a diabetic and through careful conservation and smart ordering we have accumulated about a 2.5 year supply of insulin and syringes. One time my wife's sister's husband ran out of the same type of insulin and it was on a weekend and could not get a prescription renewed. My wife in her Christian heart gave one of the vials to them to get them through. In the meantime, after a lot of discussion (loud) I told her that her life might be compromised if and when SHTF and maybe she should think about not doing that anymore. Sure enough, the same person ran out again and sister called to see if we had an extra one. This time wife's prudence kicked in and she said she did not have any extras.

Too late, the cat is out of the bag.

No matter how many times and different opinions I hear about this, [b][size=150][color=#FF0000]as far as I'm concerned the pharmacy is closed! [/color][/size][/b]