10 Oft-Ignored Symptoms Of Diabetes

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Due in part to its prevalence and manageability, diabetes is often viewed as more of an inconvenience than an existential threat. While very few people in countries with decent healthcare die of diabetes directly (such as by diabetic ketoacidosis, which is very unpleasant, and happens disproportionately in the US where insulin is sold with a 500%–3000% markup in price compared to other countries), many more die of complications arising from comorbidities, and as for what comorbidities come with diabetes, well, it increases your risk for almost everything.

So, while for most people diabetes is by no means a death sentence, it is something that means you’ll now have to watch out for pretty much everything else too. On which note, Dr. Siobhan Deshauer is here with things to be aware of:

More than your waistline

Some of these are early symptoms (even appearing in the prediabetic stage, so can be considered an early warning for diabetes), some are later risks (it’s unlikely you’ll lose your feet from diabetic neuropathy complications before noticing that you are diabetic), but all and any of them are good reason to speak with your doctor sooner rather than later:

  1. Polyuria: waking up multiple times at night to urinate due to excess glucose spilling into the urine.
  2. Increased thirst: dehydration from frequent urination leads to excessive thirst, creating a cycle.
  3. Acanthosis nigricans: dark, velvety patches on areas like the neck, armpits, or groin, signalling insulin resistance.
  4. Skin tags: multiple skin tags in areas of friction may indicate insulin resistance.
  5. Recurrent Infections: high blood sugar weakens the immune system, making skin infections, UTIs, and yeast infections more common.
  6. Diabetic stiff hand syndrome: stiffness in hands, limited movement, or a “positive prayer sign” caused by sugar binding to skin and tendon proteins.
  7. Frozen shoulder and trigger finger: pain and limited movement in the shoulder or fingers, with a snapping sensation when moving inflamed tendons.
  8. Neuropathy: numbness, tingling, or pain in hands and feet due to nerve and blood vessel damage, often leading to foot deformities like Charcot foot.
  9. Diabetic foot infections: poor sensation, weakened immune response, and slow healing can result in severe infections and potential amputations.
  10. Gastroparesis: damage to stomach nerves causes delayed digestion, leading to bloating, nausea, and erratic blood sugar levels.

For more on all of these, plus some visuals of the things like what exactly is a “positive prayer sign”, enjoy:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

You might also like to read:

Cost of Insulin by Country 2024 ← after the US, the next most expensive country is Chile, at around 1/5 of the price; the cheapest listed is Turkey, at around 1/33 of the price.

Take care!

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  • Better Sex = Longer Life (Here’s How)

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    This is Dr. Candice Hargons. She’s a professor of psychology, and has served on the Kentucky Psychological Association Board, the Society of Counseling Psychology Executive Board, and the American Psychological Association (APA)’s Council of Representatives. She also served on the APA Board of Directors, after receiving the APA’s Presidential Citation award for her research and leadership.

    She leads the Study of Mental And Sexual Health Equity in Relationships (SMASHER Lab), with a predominant focus on promoting good sex, sexual wellness, and liberation among couples and communities.

    In her own words:

    ❝Sex is one of the most common and normal human behaviors, and yet it remains relatively taboo as a topic. Many people worry about being judged, either for being perceived as too sexual or not sexual enough, and a major focus of my work is to normalize talking and learning about sex to improve sexual functioning across the adult lifespan.❞

    ~ Dr. Candice Hargons

    So, let’s do that!

    What does good sex do for health?

    We’ve written previously about the health aspects of orgasms specifically:

    “Early To Bed…” (Mythbusting Orgasms) ← including resources pertaining to anorgasmia, the inability to orgasm

    …but orgasms are not the be-all-and-end-all of sex; see for example:

    A Urologist Explains Edging: What, Why, & Is It Safe? ← when the journey is genuinely more of a focus than the destination

    And certainly, good sex is simply a very good way to relax and de-stress, which is important, given how important stress management is to general health in very many ways (affecting things ranging from inflammation to heart health and more).

    Plus, while the level of athleticism deployed may vary, sex is a physical activity, and physical activity is, as a rule, good.

    There’s more to it than that though! It also can help us bind closely to our loved ones, in a positive way, which—critically—has a very positive impact on healthy longevity:

    Only One Kind Of Relationship Promotes Longevity This Much! ← this is about the seriousness of the relationship, not the sex, but for most people, a strong and fulfilling relationship will include having good sex.

    The scientific relationship between sex and longevity also got a whole chapter in this excellent book that we reviewed all so recently:

    Age Proof: The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life – by Dr. Rose Anne Kenny

    What makes it “good”?

    Dr. Hargons considers (and her opinion is backed by extensive research in the SMASHER Lab, if you’ll pardon the mental image that that might conjure) that first and foremost… It has to feel good to all parties involved.

    In contrast, oftentimes, one partner’s pleasure is prioritized over another’s, and that becomes a problem.*

    *assuming that’s not part of an established kink dynamic with enthusiastic affirmative consent, such as if the partner whose pleasure is being deprioritized is enthusiastically requesting to be denied orgasms, for example. Yes, that’s a real kink and even a popular one, but it’s not what’s happening in most sexually uneven relationships.

    This kind of unplanned disparity often goes undiscussed by the couple in question—especially in heterosexual couples if the man is getting what he wants/needs and the woman isn’t, because there’s a rather lop-sided societal expectation in that regard. And even a loving, well-intentioned man can simply not know how to do better and be afraid to ask. And for that matter, it’s also entirely possible for his partner to not know either.

    Dr. Hargons lists the four main keys as:

    • Communication
    • Intimacy
    • Passion
    • Pleasure

    And communication indeed comes first, so to speak. For example, she advises:

    Begin by identifying what you like and don’t like sexually. An easy way to do this is to create a “Yes, No, Maybe So” list. You can use paper or a Notes app on your phone.

    Create three columns: one for Yes, No, and Maybe So sections. In the Yes section, write all the things you enjoy and want to keep doing sexually, as well as things you have not tried yet that you want to try. In the No section, write all the things you don’t enjoy and do not want to do anymore. It can also include things you haven’t tried that you’re uninterested in trying. Finally, in your Maybe So list, write all the things you’re curious about and/or are only willing to try in specific settings or circumstances.

    You can share this list with your partner, but even if you are not ready to do that, you will already have enhanced your sexual self-awareness and be better positioned to talk with your sexual partner about what you want.❞

    This represents an important shift from “whatever” to taking an active role in your sex life at your own pace.

    And from there, it’s just a matter of exploring, together, and learning as you go. Could anything be more exciting than that?

    “What if I’m single?”

    We talked about this a little previously, more relationally than sexually specifically, though:

    Singledom & Healthy Longevity

    Now, a single person can of course still have an active sex life if you so choose, in which case, the above advice still applies, just, it’ll be conversations with your partner-of-the-moment rather than with a life partner. And that’s important too! Just because something is casual, doesn’t mean it need not be entered into mindfully and with a sense of what you want out of it, and communicating that effectively (while encouraging the same from others, and of course actually listening to, and caring about, what they say too).

    And if you are, perchance, single and decided on a life of celibacy now, you can and (if you are sexual at all) should still figure out what you like and don’t like sexually, because even if it’s going to be you-on-you action, it will be good for you to love yourself enough to do it right.

    Seriously, treat yourself at least as well as you would any other lover.

    On which note, corded wand-style vibrators like the famous “Magic Wand” kind are much more powerful than the battery kind, and you will feel the difference, in a good way.

    And if you really want to invest in your sexual wellness and you like the idea, saddle-style vibrators like this one will rock your socks off in ways handheld vibrators couldn’t dream of.

    Want to know more?

    You might want to check out Dr. Hargons’ book:

    Good Sex: Stories, Science, and Strategies for Sexual Liberation – by Dr. Candice Hargons ← this covers so many important areas, more than we have room to here. Just check out the table of contents, and you’ll see what we mean.

    …which we haven’t reviewed yet, but here are some excellent related books that we have:

    Enjoy!

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  • Colloidal Gold’s Impressive Claims

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    All That Glitters…

    Today we’ll be examining colloidal gold supplementation.

    This issue of 10almonds brought to you by the writer suddenly getting lots of advertisements for this supplement. It’s not a new thing though, and has been around in one form or another since pretty much forever.

    Colloidal gold is…

    • Gold, as in the yellow metal
    • Colloidal, as in “very tiny insoluble particles dispersed though another substance (such as water)”

    What are the claims made for it?

    Honestly, just about everything is claimed for it. But to go with some popular claims:

    • Reduces inflammation
    • Supports skin health
    • Boosts immune function
    • Combats aging
    • Improves cognitive function

    So, what does the science say?

    Does it do those things?

    The short and oversimplified answer is: no

    However, there is a little bit of tangential merit, so we’re going to talk about the science of it, and how the leap gets made between what the science says and what the advertisements say.

    First… What makes gold so special, in general? Historically, three things:

    1. It’s quite rare
    2. It’s quite shiny
    3. It’s quite unreactive
    • The first is about supply and demand, so that’s not very important to us in this article.
    • The second is an aesthetic quality, which actually will have a little bit of relevance, but not much.
    • The third has been important historically (because it meant that shiny gold stayed shiny, because it didn’t tarnish), and now also important industrially too, as gold can be used in many processes where we basically need for nothing to happen (i.e., a very inert component is needed)

    That third quality—its unreactivity—has become important in medicine.

    When scientists need a way to deliver something (without the delivering object getting eaten by the body’s “eat everything” tendencies), or otherwise not interact chemically with anything around, gold is an excellent choice.

    Hence gold teeth, and gold fillings, by the way. They’re not just for the bling factor; they were developed because of their unreactivity and thus safety.

    So, what about those health claims we mentioned above?

    Here be science (creative interpretations not included)

    The most-backed-by-science claim from that list is “reduces inflammation”.

    Websites selling colloidal gold cite studies such as:

    Gold nanoparticles reduce inflammation in cerebral microvessels of mice with sepsis

    A promising title!The results of the study showed:

    ❝20 nm cit-AuNP treatment reduced leukocyte and platelet adhesion to cerebral blood vessels, prevented BBB failure, reduced TNF- concentration in brain, and ICAM-1 expression both in circulating polymorphonuclear (PMN) leukocytes and cerebral blood vessels of mice with sepsis. Furthermore, 20 nm cit-AuNP did not interfere with the antibiotic effect on the survival rate of mice with sepsis.❞

    That “20 nm cit-AuNP” means “20 nm citrate-covered gold nanoparticles”

    So it is not so much the antioxidant powers of gold being tested here, as the antioxidant powers of citrate, a known antioxidant. The gold was the carrying agent, whose mass and unreactivity allowed it to get where it needed to be.

    The paper does say the words “Gold nanoparticles have been demonstrated to own important anti-inflammatory properties“ in the abstract, but does not elaborate on that, reference it, or indicate how.

    Websites selling colloidal gold also cite papers such as:

    Anti-inflammatory effect of gold nanoparticles supported on metal oxides

    Another promising title! However the abstract mentions:

    ❝The effect was dependent on the MOx NPs chemical nature

    […]

    The effect of Au/TiO2 NPs was not related to Au NPs size❞

    MOx NPs = mineral oxide nanoparticles. In this case, the gold was a little more than a carrying agent, though, because the gold is described and explained as being a catalytic agent (i.e., its presence helps the attached mineral oxides react more quickly).

    We said that was the most-backed claim, and as you can see, it has some basis but is rather tenuous since the gold by itself won’t do anything; it just helps the mineral oxides.

    Next best-backed claim builds from that, which is “supports skin health”.

    Sometimes colloidal gold is sold as a facial tonic. By itself it’ll distribute (inert) gold nanoparticles across your skin, and may “give you a healthy glow”, because that’s what happens when you put shiny wet stuff on your face.

    Healthwise, if the facial tonic also contains some of the minerals we mentioned above, then it may have an antioxidant effect. But again, no minerals, no effect.

    The claim that it “combats aging” is really a tag-on to the “antioxidant” claim.

    As for the “supports immune health” claim… Websites selling colloid gold cite studies such as:

    Efficacy and Immune Response Elicited by Gold Nanoparticle- Based Nanovaccines against Infectious Diseases

    To keep things brief: gold can fight infectious diseases in much the same way that forks can fight hunger. It’s an inert carrying agent.

    As for “improves cognitive function”? The only paper we could find cited was that mouse sepsis study again, this time with the website saying “researchers found that rats treated with colloidal gold showed improved spatial memory and learning ability“ whereas the paper cited absolutely did not claim that, not remotely, not even anything close to that. It wasn’t even rats, it was mice, and they did not test their memory or learning.

    Is it safe?

    Colloidal gold supplementation is considered very safe, precisely because gold is one of the least chemically reactive substances you could possibly consume. It is special precisely because it so rarely does anything.

    However, impurities could be introduced in the production process, and the production process often involves incredibly harsh reagents to get the gold ions, and if any of those reagents are left in the solution, well, gold is safe but sodium borohydride and chloroauric acid aren’t!

    Where can I get some?

    In the unlikely event that our research review has given you an urge to try it, here’s an example product on Amazon

    Take care!

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  • A Supplement To Rival St. John’s Wort Against Depression

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Do You Feel The SAMe?

    S-Adeonsyl-L-Methionone (SAMe) is a chemical found naturally in the body, and/but enjoyed widely as a supplement. The main reasons people take it are:

    • Improve mood (antidepressant effect)
    • Improve joints (reduce osteoarthritis symptoms)
    • Improve liver (detoxifying effect)

    Let’s see what the science says for each of those claims…

    Does it improve mood?

    It seems to perform comparably to St. John’s Wort (which is good; it performs comparably to Prozac).

    Best of all, it does this with fewer contraindications (St. John’s Wort has so many contraindications).

    Here’s how they stack up:

    St. John’s wort and S-Adenosyl Methionine as “natural” alternatives to conventional antidepressants in the era of the suicidality boxed warning: what is the evidence for clinically relevant benefit?

    This looks very promising, though it’d be nice to see a larger body of research, to be sure.

    Does it reduce osteoarthritis symptoms?

    The good news: it performs comparably to ibuprofen, with fewer side effects!

    The bad news: it also performs comparably to placebo!

    Read into that what you will about ibuprofen’s usefulness vs OA symptoms.

    Read all about it:

    S-Adenosylmethionine for osteoarthritis of the knee or hip

    If you were hoping for something for OA or similar symptoms, you might like our previous main features:

    Does it help against liver disease?

    According to adverts for SAMe: absolutely!

    According to science: we don’t know

    The science for this is so weak that it’d be unworthy of mention if it weren’t for the fact that SAMe is so widely sold as good against hepatotoxicity.

    To be clear: maybe it really is great! Science hasn’t yet disproved its usefulness either.

    It is popularly assumed to be beneficial due to there being an association between lower levels of SAMe in the body (remember, it is also produced inside our bodies) and development of liver disease, especially cholestasis.

    Here’s an example of what pretty much every study we found was like (inconclusive research based mostly on mice):

    S-adenosylmethionine in liver health, injury, and cancer

    For other options for liver health, consider:

    How To Unfatty A Fatty Liver

    Is it safe?

    Safety trials have been done ranging from 3 months to 2 years, with no serious side effects coming to light. So, it appears quite safe.

    That said, as with anything, there are contraindications, such as:

    • if you have bipolar disorder, skip this unless directed by your health care provider, because it may worsen the symptoms of mania
    • if you are on SSRIs or other serotonergic drugs, it may interact with those
    • if you are immunocompromised, you might want to skip it can increase the risk of P. carinii growth in such cases

    As always, do speak with your doctor/pharmacist for personalized advice.

    Summary

    SAMe’s evidence-based qualities seem to stack up as follows:

    • Against depression: good
    • Against osteoarthritis: weak
    • Against liver disease: unknown

    As for safety, it has been found quite safe for most people.

    Where can I get it?

    We don’t sell it, but here is an example product on Amazon, for your convenience

    Enjoy!

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  • Captivate – by Vanessa van Edwards

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    This book isn’t just for one area of human interactions. It covers everything from the boardroom to the bedroom (not necessarily a progression with the same person!), business associates, friends, partners, kids, and more.

    She presents information in a layered manner, covering for example, chapter-by-chapter:

    • the first five minutes
    • the first five hours
    • the first five days

    She also covers such things as:

    • starting conversations in a way that makes you memorable (without making it weird!)
    • the importance of really listening (and how to do that)
    • collecting like-minded people appropriately
    • introducing other people! Because a) it’s not all about you, but also b) you’re the person who knows everybody now
    • where to stand at parties / networking events!
    • dating and early-days dating messages
    • reading the room, reading the people

    All in all, a great resource for anyone who wants to make (and maintain!) meaningful relationships with those around you.

    Grab Your Copy of “Captivate” on Amazon Now!

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  • Get On It! – by Jane Aronovitch, Miriane Taylor, & Colleen Craig

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Balance is important; without it, we die early. That’s quite a strong selling point for improving one’s balance, but why this book in particular?

    This is—with one drawback—the best book of balance ball exercises we’ve seen. Notwithstanding the cover photo, many exercises do, by the way, involve standing on it with one or both feet, doing various kinds of squats, lunges, get-ups, and so forth. The ball (it’s not really a ball so much as an oblate hemisphere) can also be flipped and used the other way around, with a flat platform that will now wobble per your weight distribution, and train balance in different ways (dome-up trains large stabilizing muscles more; platform-up trains smaller stabilizing muscles more).

    Indeed, that’s where the brand name Bosu, often stylized “BOSU”, comes from: both sides up!

    So, what’s the drawback? Alas, the photos are black and white, which means in some cases they’re not as clear as they could be. Nothing that will prevent understanding the exercises, which are well-explained in any case, but it does mean that sometimes it’s necessary to look closely to see which leg is in front of the other for a given exercise, for example.

    Still, with 80 different exercises it really does cover the whole body, and even gives workout program varieties for those who want that, including targeted to particular areas, e.g. lower body, core, upper body, or complete.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to improve your balance (and have, or are willing to acquire, a balance ball like the Bosu), then this book will give you everything else you need in that regard.

    Click here to check out Get On It!, and get on it!

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  • Broad Beans vs Sweetcorn – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing broad beans to sweetcorn, we picked the broad beans.

    Why?

    Firstly, you may be wondering: “aren’t broad beans fava beans?”, and yes, yes they are, but by convention, broad beans are the young green beans, while fava beans are the mature beans of the plant. Similar situation to the relationship between edamame and soybeans. And, in both cases, you’re more likely to put the young green beans in a salad, thus making the broad beans the more reasonable vegetable to compare to the sweetcorn. On which note…

    In terms of macros, the broad beans have more protein and fiber, while the sweetcorn has more carbs. We call that a win for the beans.

    Looking at the vitamins, the broad beans have (barely) more vitamin B6, while the sweetcorn has more of vitamins A, B1, B2, B5, B9, E, and choline. An easy win for the corn this time.

    In the category of minerals, the situation is reversed: broad beans have more calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while sweetcorn is not higher in any minerals. So, a clear win for the beans.

    Adding up the sections gives a 2:1 win for the beans over the corn, but by all means enjoy either or both—together is great, and diversity is good!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    What’s Your Plant Diversity Score?

    Enjoy!

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