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Diabetes Fellowship

BarberDave

BarberDave

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I did not see this anywhere on the forum and I thought it would be a good idea for those folks that are either type one or type two diabetic to have a place where they can vent their frustrations, share successes, food and dietary information, And just a fellowship for folks to read understand what both type one and type two diabetics go through
 
I guess I’ll start in November 2021 I was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic with an A1c of 12.5. Normal range is between 4.5 and 5.6. So not only was a type two diabetic, I was really! Type two diabetic.

Well through some very very hard work and dietary changes I was able to get my A1 C down to 7.5 in four months. The good news is I was tested yesterday and the results came in and I am at 6.1 now so Now I can reduce my metformin intake, and headed towards the prediabetic mode and then according to my doctor if I keep up this trend I will actually be cured of type two diabetes. I am a happy guy this morning, being 45 pounds down with about 45 to go in better health

I look forward to other folks sharing their story
 
Just found this thread.

My HbA1C was 7.0 when the Doc diagnosed me in Nov 21, however the letter he send asking me to start diabetes education never got into my hands. On my follow up visit in May 22, I was shocked in his review of my prescription list that glucose testing supplies were included. My blood work that day showed my A1C had climbed to 8.8.

Researching my steps forward, I found 3 primary camps in which to choose.

ADA recommended eating and medication for life for an ever worsening progressive disease.
Plant based eating with the total elimination of animal based foods In which advocates claimed T2D reversal potential
Low carbohydrate/ moderate protein/ high fat eating plans which also claimed T2D reversal potential

Largely, most popular information sources zeroed in on the causes being my laziness for lack of gym time and my total lack of self control over my food consumption volume that has caused me to become a fat diabetic slob.

Not being a medical or nutritional professional, my blue collar bunky logic said if my blood sugar is high, I just did should not eat or severely restrict foods that my body uses to put this glucose stuff in my blood. My brother who has battled weight much more than I and his immediate family all experienced remarkable results using carbohydrate restriction.

I figured I could accommodate low carb-mod prot-high fat eating arrangements most easily.

At my first trip to accumulate groceries I thought I’d need to ‘go Keto’, along with my first half dozen meals rendered a great resemblance to the visions of what the keto alarm sirens were all screaming about.

While planning my pack lunches and other meals for the weak to come, I found an app to use on my phone to help guide me through what I should and should not eat and the volumes of those different foods to consume. That app is Carb Manager. I have used it regularly ever since.

In the beginning, I targeted carb limits primarily and found it a great tool to fine tune stuff going forward.

Within the week I was feeling better all over and had noticed a recovery of feeling in my feet walking around at work. Something I did not know I’d lost.

It took about a month to get scheduled for my ‘diabetes education’ and nutritional training. Neither were able to acknowledge the benefits of weight loss, blood pressure drop, pain reduction, or higher energy levels as being any benefit against my unwillingness to eat the high levels of sugar producing foods they promised would help me to manage my incurable and progressive disease that was caused by my own laziness and lack of self control.

I have my follow up Dr. Appt in a few weeks for which I am anxious to see blood work on. I have discontinued all but 1 BP medicine and my statin drug to help the Doc reset my meds based on the new conditions. Did y’all know that Lipitor ranks as the most profitable pharmaceutical of all time? How about that the former CEO for the American Diabetes Association (thats right FORMER) eliminated the use of insulin and dropped from 3 glucose drugs to 1 using a low carb diet?

While it is impossible for me to speak for others afflicted with this potentially devastating disease, I have come to the belief that my own condition is a result of an underlying carbohydrate intolerance that had gone undiagnosed for decades.

As a side effect, my official root causes are being addressed. I now have some eating self control and while still fat and lazy I do go for walks occasionally just because I feel like it.

That’s my story and I‘m sticking to it.
 
Yesterday I had my first follow up visit since I found that I had been afflicted with Type 2 diabetes.

The Doc was not happy that I decided to discontinue a number of medications hoping for a fresh baseline reset on the use of products that keep me alive.

Discouragingly, here was no comment on the loss of 30 lbs, or response to my comments of a much better quality of life feeling and outlook including the regaining of feeling in my feet that I did not know I’d lost.

My A1C is now 5.9% putting me comfortably back into the pre-diabetes range, something that is really not supposed to happen unless you believe some fringe psycho keto nutcases. Doc did comment in his letter that my “diabetes is under terrific control”. Considering this is a 3-4 month snapshot of average daily blood glucose and I started at 8.8 3 months ago, I’ll probably be in normal range at my next visit in November.

At the direction of the Doc, I am restarting the statin and one BP medicine. I‘ll take my BP device with me next time for a real time side by side calibration check since my readings were consistent with feelings of a low BP. I like my primary care Doc, but like most he physicians he is probably not too experienced in his practice with patients using a Low Carb/ High Fat diet to improve health. It does still remain that everyone who has ever eaten beef, bacon, butter and eggs has or will die, so it already looks to be curtains for me.

I asked about a continuous glucose monitor to use as I further experiment with my diet. He will write a script for one, but insurance only pays for them if I allow my condition to follow the American Diabetes Association directives to allow things to worsen and progress to insulin use. I‘ll have to decide later if I want to shoulder the cost of that experimentation.

Having researched my existing medical records history I find that my A1C is the lowest it has been in 6 years. Even 6 years ago, I was in the pre-diabetes range. I wish I knew then, what I know now about what would happen to me eating plenty of carbohydrates.

This Wednesday, I have my follow up Zoom Call with the diabetes dietician. It will probably not take long because I am unwilling to even try eating whole grains, beans, etc. to the tune of 180 grams of carbs per day without a CGM to make sure I am not sabotaging my current unmedicated results.
 
@BarberDave and @Bill M Congratulations on taking your health into your own hands! I am not saying that doctor's can't help you out...but people are nuanced and one size does not fit all. My health journey is pretty well documented and while I never slipped into the ranks of diabetes, I was razor thin close to it.

Bill M said:
Discouragingly, here was no comment on the loss of 30 lbs, or response to my comments of a much better quality of life feeling and outlook including the regaining of feeling in my feet that I did not know I’d lost.
Click to expand...
This kind of stuff pisses me off. Diabetic or not...if someone losses 30 pounds...your doctor should notice it...for good or bad. I know it is a pain to find good health practitioners...but if I were you...I would find a new one.

@Bill M you definitely did your homework and I congratulate you. CGMs seem to be really good things...but they are still glitchy. In my opinion (from what I have read) the technology still needs to get better. If you are curious about a specific food you eat...you can always test your glucose before you eat it, an hour after, and then two hours after. Ideally, by two hours, your glucose should go back to baseline.

Currently I am doing a deep dive into breathing. Poor breathing habits and techniques can cause a whole host of issues including raised cortisone levels which affects insulin sensitivity and glucose regulation. Yeah...breathing. When I get more info...I'll share.

Congrats to all...you are making your life so much better!
 
Thanks Don.

If one views Type 2 diabetes as an aggravated bodily injury from long term substance abuse, you can have a chance at healing and recovery by behavior modification.

If it is a disease you should just accept the consequences of bad luck and just take your pills.

I’m glad there were folks for me to listen to that could help with my behavior modification. And they did it for free.

Breathing - my bi-pap asv device was a game changer for my sleeping. I hope for the day to arrive that I no longer need it. At least now I can take a short nap without choking.
 
So the Doctors appointment went great today. I met my new Doctor for the first time and I am very pleased. She appears to be the perfect amount of polite, pushy, and caring, all at the same time.

All my blood test numbers where in the recommended range and have improved slightly from last year. The only exception is that my HDL is a little low but she said that because my LDL are so low that she is not too concerned about the slightly low HDL (and the HDL has improved from last year).

What I was most excited about was when she brought up the topic of reducing/eliminating some medication(s), pending the results of my A1C results from today. Super stoked!

Have a good weekend all!
 
dangerousdon said:
She is a keeper. There are not enough docs out there that will even recognize the notion of getting off meds! Great job!!!
Click to expand...
True, and she brought it up before I even had a chance too.

Unfortunately she is young and not from from here (I have no idea how she ended up in this area) so she will likely only be here for a couple years before moving on to bigger and better things.
 
I'll share a few things regarding my personal experiences over the last year or so as it pertains to Pre-Diabetes/Diabetes, diet and stuff like that.

For the past several years, although I am and have been a heavy guy, my A1c has remained solidly in the "you're fine" category even though my official fasting glucose was always over 100 (the generally recognized laboratory cut-off for being "high". I have always had a very consistent 105-106 when tested, but in the last 12-18 months that crept up as high 112. In 2021 I gained more weight and my A1c approached then breached the "you're pre-diabetic" zone (I think it was 5.8 at it's highest). So, being a heavy guy who also had marginally high total cholesterol and triglycerides (and an unacceptable hdl/ldl ratio) and a worsening blood sugar situation, I decided to check out some of the resources offered by my insurance.

I should mention, my Doc NEVER mentioned, offered or suggested I speak with a dietician or other such "professional" resource regarding my weight and/or increasing risk of becoming "officially" diabetic. In the end it was my own doing that prompted my beginning an app based program focused on preventing diabetes. The program was pretty much as you'd expect, it focused on "improving" your diet by adhering to the official "my Plate" guidelines promoted by the government and increasing the amount of physical activity. It's not rocket science but if you aren't physically active and you eat like an Ooompa Loompa those changes alone should move the needle in a positive direction. The app was/is integrated with FitBit so it could automatically track activity and weight (also gave a FREE scale and fitbit). The meal tracking tools were horrible but they did offer an option to simply take a photo of what you eat, a feature I resisted with great vigor because I am NOT an Instagram eater (Idon;t allow my family to take photos of what we are eating...it's stupid). Well, as it turned out this program included an actual LIVE nutrition coach, and she actually looked at the photos and because she was very skilled she knew a lot about my eating patterns based on the photos alone.

Fast forward a few weeks and some pounds later. I continued to complain about generalized pain, being tired and just not feeling right even as I ate my vegies, fruits and stuff like that. I HAD lost some weight but not a lot and I wasn't feeling great. SO, when my wife went a on a 7 day cruise without me I bought several BIG rib eyes and that's all I ate while she was gone. ...after about 3-4 days I started to feel better, less pain and I even lost several pounds. The next week when my coach called to check in I mentioned this and... as luck would have it she was calling from her personal phone (from her vacation home in Hawaii) so she was able to speak freely without fear of being recorded by the app. In short, she explained that by avoiding the veggies I was avoiding the Oxalates that had been causing my pain, and by removing all starches and eating only the yummy fatty meat I was doing what my body REALLY wanted. She completely trashed the idea that we should all be eating according to the My Plate guidelines and said that the program required her to push that but when she spoke with us individually she tailored the plate to our personal needs and tolerances. In My case a good 'ol carnivore like diet solved a lot of problems and set the stage for better health. She suggested sticking with "healthy fats" (which means not ALL animal fats/bacon etc) and protein while avoiding starches, grains etc and limitting the vegetables and fruits that are higher in oxalates.

For several months I did very well eating a keto-atkins-carnivor like diet that I rather enjoyed. I stayed mostly in a state of mild ketosis so I was doing well keeping my total sugar intake very low. I lost weight, fast at first then slower and slower. But my diet since February or march was very low carb at minimum and "keto" like at best. I broke my diet restrictions a few weeks ago when I went on a short cruise and everything has gone to hell in a handbasket since.

The punchline:
I found a new doctor (a DO) and had a visit with him a couple weeks ago and a follow-up to discuss labs yesterday. My A1c has dropped WELL into the "you're fine" zone despite once again having a fasting glucose around 112. My cholesterol was modestly high (i stopped taking my cholesterol meds) but he wasn't at all concerned. He WAS somewhat concerned my triglycerides were as high as they are so he suggested a drug focused entirely on bringing that down. He made very clear that loosing weight alone would improve the blood sugar and trigs. He thought my recent return to high sugar foods was a contributing factor if not THE reason my trigs were too high.

For ME the rib eye diet works well when it comes to loosing weight and improving my overall health. Sugar and starches are like crack to me, not only are they hard to keep away from, one hit hooks me strong.
 
@Fenster
@CBLindsay

Great news guys, keep up the good work.

Chris, Check out Carb Manager App. Great tracking of foods including barcode scan for identification. Basic version is available free, with the additional options for the subscription. My younger brother and his family have been happily keto for 2 years, Carb Manager took them out of their stall.
Go Go Ribeye, with extra butter!
 
I won't get into all of it, but I shared over in my health thread about the next 5 weeks or so I am doing a reset of sorts. If you want to read the lengthy post...head on over there. But I do want to share here that this week I am doing some carb testing. Here is what I plan to do...

Basically, I will take a fasting glucose measurement first thing in the morning. Then I take a carb (rice, sweet potato, apple, berries, etc.) and eat it. An hour later I measure my glucose. Then two hours later I measure my glucose for a third time. Ideally I would have a normal fasting glucose, then an hour later it would go up, and by the two hour mark my glucose should go back to normal or close to it. So if my fasting glucose is 85 and I eat a bowl of rice...my glucose should go up to something like 140-160 or maybe even higher. Then two hours later, my glucose should come back down to something around 90. If my glucose goes way up (200-300) range...I probably shouldn't eat that food. And if by two hours it doesn't go down much, then I really shouldn't eat that food. If my glucose is chronically high...I need to go see my doctor and figure out what is going on. It's a good way to see if I am prediabetic or diabetic. I'll do this for about five or six days next week. I'll try to share my results here.

There was a lady that did the carb test in another forum I frequent (it's a health and wellness forum) and her glucose levels were really high...like 350 - 400 high. She had no idea. Went to the doctor and she was Type II diabetic. She is much better now and addressed things. But if she hadn't done the carb test...she could have been in some serious shape...or worse.

Anyway...I know I am not diabetic...but I definitely have insulin resistance, and I am always concerned about my metabolic health. Hopefully I might be able to help some with some of the crazy stuff I do.
 
Day One - Carb Testing

Subject: Banana - Two medium sized bananas @193 grams or 6.8 ounces

Fasting Glucose - 92
One Hour - 87
Two Hour - 96

I was a bit surprised that I didn't have a significant rise in my blood sugar from the time I ate the bananas and the one hour test. I conferred with a guy I have been consulting with who is a health coach. He said that he thinks the readings are accurate. Some people do really well with bananas and others don't we also concluded that I typically have higher morning fasting insulin (look up dawn phenomenon) and that even with the banana my glucose settled into "normal." At any rate...postprandial glucose reading two hours later is well within the normal margin. What does all of this say? Basically, Bananas are okay for me to eat every now and then. It seems that I tolerate them well. Obviously I am not going to reach for a banana when I am doing a ketogenic diet, very low carb, or carnivore. These are tools I use from time to time. But at 38 grams of carbs for the two medium sized bananas I ate this morning...it is well outside my daily carb threshold during those phases.

Either way...this was a really interesting test. I know some people that bananas are a definite no go for them. Their glucose spikes for a very long time and it makes them feel like poo. This isn't the case for me. But obviously not all carbs are the same. Not sure what I will do tomorrow, but for the week I am thinking about testing apples, blueberries, strawberries, sweet potatoes, white rice, and maybe white potatoes.

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes!
 
Day Two - Carb Testing

Subject: Blueberries - 420 grams or 14.8 ounces

Fasting Glucose - 100
One Hour - 129
Two Hour - 101

Like I said in the previous post...I didn't sleep well. So when my FBG was 100, I wasn't surprised. And today's results went about as I expected...maybe a little better. With only a 29 point elevation in Blood Glucose and the a complete reset two hours after consuming. I would say that blueberries are completely tolerable. If this was a 50 or 60 point jump...then I would say this is a no go. But to be honest...I think you can get a 30 point jump from eating a steak. Oh, and note on the blueberries...this was a lot of blueberries. I don't usually just eat a bowl of blueberries like I did. I usually have it in my yogurt or cottage cheese. So considering that...I definitely think blueberries are on the safe to eat list.
 
I think I read somewhere that anything that says “berry” is ok. I’m glad you are testing that. I’m fasting for a 2pm doctors appointment so this will be a 21 hour fast.
 
Majorrich said:
I think I read somewhere that anything that says “berry” is ok. I’m glad you are testing that. I’m fasting for a 2pm doctors appointment so this will be a 21 hour fast.
Click to expand...
Berries should be okay. I think it is because of the higher fiber content. But even among berries, there are big differences. Blueberries have a higher carb count than strawberries. I plan on doing straw berries as well...at some point. I am thinking tomorrow doing oatmeal and white rice. Also on the blueberry thing...this was a lot of blueberries. And for the most part, I would probably only have half of this amount at the most at one time. And I would likely have it with a fat and protein source (whole milk greek yogurt and cottage cheese usually). So if you take half of this amount and add it to some cottage cheese...I am certain the glucose response would be even less.

Yeah...so tomorrow...either oatmeal or white rice. Other things I want to test this week are sweet potatoes and strawberries. That should bring me through Saturday with only one more thing to do on Sunday which I might reserve for honey or for sourdough bread. It will probably be honey.
 
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