At the risk of somehow setting myself up as the Supplement Guy, here's
what *I* take and why.

First and foremost, I take copious quantities of Aspartame, along with
Splenda and acesulfame-k in the form of soft drinks. I supplement this
with ad libitum amounts of caffeine in the form of darker roast coffees.
I find that this keeps my tonsils well hydrated.

I have discovered that I feel better, and control my DM better, by
adhering to a low carb diet. With years of eating and testing, I know
that I do best on 60-100g of CHO per day. My personal targets are 10g at
brekky, 20 at lunch, and 30 at dinner. I tend to spread the other 40g
around by not worrying about the occasional small amount of carbs in a
small "taste" of something I want, minor errors in my guesstimates, or
hidden carbs that I have no way of knowing about. Most of my carbs come
from green vegetables. Because of my dietary restrictions, it seems
logical that I might be missing out on some necessary vitamins and
minerals, so I take a daily "adult" multivitamin tablet. I don't stress
over the brand or individual components.

Since I take Lipitor, I supplement with 50mg of oil-based CoE Q10. The
statins tend to limit the body's natural production of this important
coenzyme.

When I was still in high school, I hurt my lower back playing football.
(The American gridiron version.) Subsequent MRIs have shown I have two
damaged discs. I became used to having numbness, tingling, and pain in
my toes, feet, and legs, and was told this was due to the discs rubbing
on my spinal cord at L4-L5 and L5-S1. Later, as I progressed from
reactive hypoglycemia through impaired glucose tolerance and finally to
frank Type-2 DM, my own research led me to believe that a component of
this pain might be diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

I was offered a number of meds by my doctors, but again my own research
led me to decline based on their nasty side effects. By this time, I was
actively researching DM, and met Stan Angilley on a reflector-based
group. His protocol convinced me to try his DPN Cocktail of ALA, EPO,
and Vitamins C and E. (The VitE was subsequently dropped.)

By this time I had achieved euglycemia through diet and that certainly
made my neuropathy much better, but didn't totally relieve the symptoms.
After taking the cocktail for about 3 months, I noticed that I no longer
had any DPN symptoms. My A1c had dropped from the mid 5s to less than
5%, something that I attribute to the ALA.

Is my case conclusive evidence? Absolutely not, but others here have
reported similar results, although it is all anecdotal and should
therefore be somewhat suspect. There are more specifics at:
http://www.diabetic-talk.org/dpn.htm

It is my understanding from some Aussie mates that ALA is difficult or
expensive to obtain in Oz, especially after the scandal surrounding your
largest supplement marketer. This problem may have been solved by now.

So, that's my testimony as a supplement junkie. I also recommend the
occasional supplement of a VB, Emu, or XXXX. It keeps life worth living,
and will also help keep your tonsils well hydrated.

Jim