Healing Diabetes

We first found Charlie, author of the blog healing-diabetes.com, as a follower of ours on Twitter. On Charlie’s profile description he states he is, “Just a regular guy decided to research and try treatments until I find how to cure my Diabetes Type 1.” With a description like that, we had to find out more. We here at Calling All Types commend Charlie for sharing such deep insights into his treatment decisions. Here is our conversation with Charlie.

1) Talk to us about Healing Diabetes. When did you start your blog?

It all started almost five years ago when I decided to start a blog. I wanted to write about my experience of searching a cure for my diabetes, share the knowledge I was acquiring in the process and maybe help create a community where other people with diabetes could interact with each other, share experiences, doubts, get answers to questions… but all with a possible healing as goal.

From the moment I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, 14 years ago now, I decided that I would search a way to heal my body. I am still searching, but I stumbled upon a lot of different treatments, foods and products that can help you to better control your blood sugar or even reverse this condition in some cases of type 2 diabetes.

2) How has social media helped you with managing diabetes and engage with other people like you?

When I started the blog, social media was not so widely used, so I guess the blog itself was presenting me with possibilities to interact with other people that were confronted with the same problem. I was getting a lot of support from my readers who were encouraging me to continue with my search and blog about it.

I recently joined Twitter and Google Plus, although in Google Plus there are not many “normal people” (not techies ;-)) yet. I mainly use them to keep myself updated about diabetes and other related topics.

3) Talk about the 30 Day Diabetes Cure? What drew you to the program?

As I’ve mentioned before, my goal is to search until I find how to cure my diabetes, so I try, read and experience everything that I find to better control my health or even reverse the disease. One of those programs was the 30 Day Diabetes Cure by Dr. Ripich, co-authored by Jim Healthy. I ordered the book, read it and started to apply it. I found this program to be very informative and very practical, giving you a step-by-step process to apply all that information and new habits.

One of the things that I’ve learned from the people commenting in my blog is that they have problems following a diet, or knowing exactly what to eat and what not to eat. Or they want to loose weight but they don’t want to starve. I think this book is great for people with these kinds of problems. And considering the 75+ comments posted under my thorough review of the book, people are getting excellent results with it! (I should make clear here, that it is especially aimed at type 2 diabetes, and that’s probably why I didn’t get the expected results)

In a nutshell, the program is not rocket science, and nothing new, but it is very practical and successful.

4) You were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 23. You say on your website that you “sank into depression.” What helped you accept your diagnosis and raise your quality of life?

The first time I visited and endocrinologist it was horrible. I didn’t know a thing about diabetes and I was shocked by what the doctor was telling me. Without apparent feelings or empathy towards me, he told me that I had to live with this disease for the rest of my live, that I had to change a few things and learn new habits, but that I could live an almost normal life. I guess it was the way he said that which made me sink into a deep depression for the following month.

The only thing that motivated me and increased the quality of my life was reading about the different possibilities to treat the disease, most of them alternative ways, but with proven results of success in some cases. I was convinced that if other people had reversed their diabetes, I could achieve it as well.

And when I started to blog about all this and receive comments of people telling me how my information was helping them with their disease, I felt that I was contributing in a way which felt really good as well. As they say, if you need help, help other people with worse problems first and your problems will seem less important.

Besides this, I’m a very disciplined person and I’ve always taken care of my diet, I exercised regularly and controlled my blood sugar levels carefully. I guess these three things have helped me achieve the quality of life that I have now. Still with insulin, but healthy.

5) What advice would you give to a 20 year old that was just diagnosed with type 1 diabetes?

First of all I would tell him to allow himself to be sad, angry or whatever emotion he’s feeling the first days after having been diagnosed - but not for too long. Then I would suggest to become acquainted with the new diet and get to know how his body responds to each meal. And, thirdly, I would recommend him to search for a solution for his condition and socialize with other like-minded people, be that online or offline.

I always thought that our mind/body knows more than we think. I wrote a post on my blog some months ago about 23 possible causes of diabetes that I found during my research. If you read them and you get a gut-feeling about one of them in particular, I suggest you to pay attention to it and see if there is something you can do about it.

Our health is our own responsibility.

The decision to participate is always yours and your feedback is always wanted. At CallingAllTypes, we believe finding the right online resources to better manage your diabetes should be a whole lot easier! So sign up and be a part of our growing online health movement. Once you've joined, stay connected with us through Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and YouTube.