I don't fell like I got too much out of seeing a diabetic educator. It was a cookie cutter approach because it was a class. The number of carbs that I was told were okay was way too much for me. I don't recall if it was on this board or elsewhere, but the best advice I have seen was to do some experimenting first - using your glucose monitor to see how you react to different foods. Then, armed with that information and your list of foods that you are willing to eat, you can see a dietician who will help you to plan meals around those limitations. Dr. Oz on Oprah, when asked a question about mercury in salmon said "Don't sweat the small stuff, the first order of business is to lose weight." I think that for diabetics the prime directive is getting our weight down and our blood sugar under control. If that means eating more fats than are optimal for me, then so be it for now.

hi sheila, yes i am having leg cramping also. last night i had such bad pain in my right foot and it moved up to my thigh, it was pretty hard to sleep. i tried putting a pillow under my foot to keep it elevated and it helped some but not much. made me feel like i have a blood clot or something. today it feels a little better. no doctor has really confirmed i am in perimenopause, but my gyno seems to think i am. this is really a scary time for me and i know it must be for you as well. i pray we get thru this time. i will be thinking of you and i hope you feel better soon. take care shirley

As a teacher, I've been standing on a tile floor for 24 years. In the last two years I've begun having rather serious foot problems, and I've been experimenting with a variety of footwear and insoles. The single most important thing for me is that I must have a shoe with a strong arch support. Seriously, my arch support makes more difference to me than all the therapy exercises from my podiatrist. As long as I have that, I come home at the end of the day FINE -- I don't even remember that I have foot problems. Let me wear the same pair of shoes without my $15 insoles, and the pain begins by the end of first period -- and by the end of the school day I want nothing but to sit on the sofa for the rest of the day. No, no, make that I can do nothing but sit on the sofa for the rest of the day, and it seems that once I reach a certain point of no return, I'm "done for the day"; I'm just not going to get better that day. So, yes, that little 3/4 -1" of arch support makes all the difference in my day. It's not about cushioning, and it doesn't even cover the entirety of my foot bed. But I'm talking about work days when I'm standing on tile all day. When I'm home during the summer or on a weekend, I am usually barefoot (or occasionally in socks). On those days, my foot pain ranges from 0 - 1. Practically nothing. On days when I'm home but on my feet all day -- say, a day when I have a couple bushels of apples, and I'm making /canning applesauce -- my pain might reach a 2. After a long day of shopping and walking on tile/concrete floors, I am usually a 1-2 on the pain scale by the end of the day, which I deem acceptable. On the other hand, I can hike outside all day without any pain. Key point: Except for my bathrooms, I have no tile floors in my house. Though I would prefer tile floors in my kitchen, I currently have linoleum ... and in my future house I will have either linoleum or LVT. So, yes, I really do believe that that thin bit of vinyl makes a difference. As for flip-flops, details matter. The single BEST pair of shoes I have -- best in terms of my going through the day pain-free -- are a pair of Sketchers flip-flops. Obviously, this will vary depending from person to person, but that pair of sandals works well for me because the footbed "cradles" my foot, they have wide substantial straps, and they have a great arch support. (I only wish they weren't so very ugly.) You can find several brands of shoes specifically made for people with foot problems (I love my new red leather Jambu slip-ons), and you can find plenty of flip-flops or sandals -- though they're $90-120 a pair, and they're not as cute as the ones at the mall.

Well, I have to question the placebo effect. My DH has terrible restless leg syndrome, and often leg cramps at night. I didn't tell him, but I put the bar of soap -Irish Spring- under the fitted sheet. It had no effect at all. I tested this, as we were keeping a journal for the doctor, for two months. We were keeping track of the cramps and symptoms nightly. Soap or no soap, no difference. Bars of soap in the sheets can't hurt you in any way, but belief is a powerful medication, so if you believe, maybe it will help. It didn't help my DH at all. And that's why I didn't tell him to start with. I wanted to know without the placebo effect. Potassium has worked wonders, in the form of a banana a day.