I don't need or expect FMD to be a full cure, but I know it improves my sugar control and well-being so that's a good enough reason alone to continue it. I'm not perfect at controlling this disease, hence my desire to have it cured (one would think that would be obvious?). I also drink moderately, which is my main source of extra carbs which I'm not giving up any time soon (I need to live a little, and don't have any other vices). My morning sugars when not FMDing are likely higher than they could be due to drinking red wine.
I do think the evidence in the scientific literature in favour of fasting in general is solid and so health benefits outside of curing type 1 are also welcome. So it makes sense to do this even if it doesn't cure my disease.
Besides, I've had type 1 for two and a half decades, and they told me once my insulin production was gone it was gone for good. Not the case, it turns out. I'm making insulin again...how many other people here can say that? Perhaps many...but, how many type 1 diabetics get their c-peptides checked, or even think of asking for it done? People go on mini-honeymoons and have periods of lower insulin requirements, but do they think, hey, maybe I should check my beta cell function? No, they do not. So being armed with knowledge that c-peptides rise and fall over the course of ones' lifespan opens up the question: what is causing theses waves? And how can one take advantage of this?
Maybe the culture is different in the UK, but in Canada, I've had several doctors be incredulous when I showed them my test results showing I managed to kick-start my pancreas back into the detectable range / non-trivial range too.
So I think I'm doing pretty good, overall, not perfect but good. I at least know that my peak c-peptide value is around a third of the fasting level of a non-diabetic. This is definite progress and moving things in the right direction, yes, towards an eventual cure. And several other type 1s on my blog have reached up to 1.6 ng/ml. That is within normal range. One even stopped needing short-acting insulin. (not sure if that's still the case, but even if it's temporary gains it is still something to build on).
I'm also taking drugs like verapamil, GLP-1 and a host of vitamins and foods which are friendly to the gut microbes which are deficient in type 1s, and I'm also convinced, again by several studies, showing that gut dysbiosis is either a central cause or a central effect of this disease, and that treating it directly should have benefits towards reducing auto-immunity.
I'm also inhaling insulin nasally, which is being tested as we speak (in humans) to improve the immune system's tolerization to the insulin molecule, and have had numerous, direct, email conversations with researchers on the topic. So there is plenty of reason to be hopeful and indeed proactive.
I tried a bunch of regeneration agents over the years (GLP-1 is known to regenerate beta cells according to several studies, as is PPI / Gastrin, Harmine HCL, etc), but I think using the body's natural way of rebuilding cells from scratch is likely the best way, especially since it (supposedly) also reduces auto-immunity and gets rid of damaged/stressed beta cells which, again, according to the scientific literature, are creating junk insulin which is what might be causing the auto-immunity in the first place. All of these papers I've shared on my blog and learned from over the years. I don't just read the media reports I get the original papers (often purchasing them when I can't reach the primary researchers directly). And then I ask questions about the papers where it's unclear. Surprisingly, researchers sometimes do answer me.
This much is known from the literature: weak cells are culled first during fasting, leaving the strong to survive. Kind of like forest fires clearing the way for bigger trees to have more space to grow even more, or a wolf-pack culling the herd.
There are plenty of concrete reasons for me to think type 1 will be cured, perhaps not due to FMD alone but perhaps in conjunction with repairing my gut disbiosis, tolerizing to the insulin molecule, and so on. I also just got in a bunch of fish oil pills and other vitamins from Amazon, to follow the news from yesterday posted
here at diabetes.co.uk.
lenty of type 1s and type 2s take these pills, but do they take it in very high doses as indicated by this study? Probably not. So being proactive here could also take care of one of the other antibodies in my system (islet cell antibodies, or IA-2 I believe). So I'm fighting against anti-insulin and anti-islet cell auto-immunity now, as well as glucotoxicity (verapamil), as well as culling damaged beta cells which are likely stimulating auto-immunity on their own, leaving on my (proven) health beta cell population to have a good chance at survival. I'm also taking dextrometrorphan which has been shown to improve signalling for glucose-mediated insulin production (at least in type 2 diabetics, but the more I read the more I find out there is a ton of overlap between the two diseases).
For the type 1 / type 2 overlap, I found out literally six years ago, from the Victoza study, that GLP-1 doesn't benefit just type 2s but also type 1s, and doctors at the time didn't know why. But I tried it and it cut my sugar averages and variance instantly. Like, overnight. I only stopped it for a while because of side effects but when I went back on it later on it was fine. Now I wouldn't even consider not taking GLP-1, I would steal to get it if I had to. It has been life-changing for my ability to live comfortably with my disease.