Thanks
@AdamJames for your thoughtful comments. I think I've commented before that the reason given by the researchers for taking people off all meds at the start of the trial is that if they hadn't, there would have been no way of knowing they could trust their trial results since any or all of them might have been affected by the medication. It was simply part of the 'control' aspect of the trial. Fung, in his treatment regime, quite often keeps people on their meds and gradually reduces it but then, often he's managing their recovery over a longer time period.
In my case, I quickly reduced the meds, particular because my weight loss had stalled and the most likely reason was the continued presence of insulin. Cutting my insulin down to 35 units seemed to have restarted the weight loss. The effects of the energy deficit outweighed the effect of the remaining insulin. But then I think I was over-optimistic and chopped the insulin again and as the BG level didn't rise too much, I eliminated it altogether. That was my mistake, I think. That's where having some plausible theory and explanation helped me figure out what was going on. The Twin Cycles theory explains how the pancreas recovers and it was clear that although I'd seen increased liver sensitivity in the first week, the elimination of all of the insulin left the pancreas unable to cope. So the BG rose. That helped me figure out what to do. Put back some, but not all, of the insulin. I chose the last level at which there was reasonable BG control and some weight loss. What's happened in my case is completely consistent with Taylor and Fung's work. I was just too impatient.
I have a lot of confidence in the science because I've looked at the papers and the evidence and tried to do the devil's advocate bit, questioning as much as possible. For me, it's convincing and my experience bears out the conclusions. It seems true that for long-standing diabetics, it takes longer to get the pancreas recovering but I've already seen signs of some recovery, just not enough to get off the insulin - yet.
Unfortunately, I don't have a supportive GP and diabetic team on hand to support me in this or I would have sought their advice, and a few blood tests to be sure about what is going on. So I'm relying largely on the published research, the accounts of the many people who have followed the ND successfully, and my own figuring out what's going on. And of course, the very useful contributions from others here. I'm totally committed to it because I was diagnosed almost fourteen years ago and I've been through the mill with treatments, regimens and helpful suggestions, only to see my condition gradually worsening. I would recommend the ND wholeheartedly to anyone because there is absolutely nothing to lose and a great deal to gain, even for old lags like me...
Hopefully my account will give hope and encouragement to other long-standing diabetics and help them stick to the ND.
