Low carb after years of Med's

Are you wanting to try this?

What's your hba1c like?

My husband has been taking meds for approx 16 years, first metformin and for the last 4 years metformin with insulin. He began LCHF last April and has seen a significant weight loss and a reduction in his insulin intake. (Small blip over the Christmas period) but now back on track. Even over Christmas he only had slightly raised blood sugars to about 8. Prior to LCHF he constantly had high sugars often as high as 16 and there was no stability. So thank God, we found this way of eating. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say it's probably saved his life as the situation before was desparate.

Dusk71 said:

Thanks timerich.
So he still has insulin and metf. But in lower doses?

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Yes, but the GP is monitoring him closely with a view to taking him off insulin. At the moment he's reducing the intake slowly by 2 units, so far so good.

Hi Dusk71

Read and watch Dr Jason Fung (Canadian Nephrologist) who advocates LCHF for his diabetic patients. He appears to hv quite a good success rate and reversing diabetes on his long term diabetics ... even those on huge insulin doses.... u can find him on Dietdoctor or his website Intense Diabetes Management (think this is the one) or even YouTube. .. good luck x

Dusk71 said:

Hi everyone.
I was wondering if anyone has been on Med's for years, and has taken nhs advice re high carb meals, and then decided to follow lchf diet and been able to stop Med's completely. As a long term t2 (17 years) I just would like to know others experiences
Tia.

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I know someone who has make a massive change after a number of years of increasing numbers and meds. He has not (yet) ditched his medication as he must pass stringent medicals periodically for his work insurers who will not issue a certificate where medication has changed (started, changed or stopped) within three months of the medical, so he has to time both his stopping of medication and medical carefully.

Much will depend on so many factors, from dietary compliance to underlying bodily function. Some of us are lucky our bodies actually work extremely well on a diet suitable for ourselves whereas some others seem to have underlying damage to their beta cells or other medical conditions influencing their baseline HbA1c scores. By that latter comment, I'm thinking of some of those who take long term, hefty steroids.

If you are considering it for yourself, give it a go. Surely the prospect of being medication-free is pretty beguiling? I know I love not being tethered to the pharmacy every month. That wouldn't fit my lifestyle well at all.

Good luck with it all.

I have ditched a shed load of medications for another severe condition and diabetes and through grit and determination and converting to LCHF am now down to just 2 metformin daily, with a view to being med-free altogether eventually. Its been a hard slog but well worth it and achieved in less than two years. My story is in my signature

I dropped all my meds against my GPs wishes and went LCHF almost 3 months ago, when I quite them my BG starting point was 22+ highest was 35 several weeks later still off the medications and BG 5-7 occasionally I do spike around the 9-13 when I forget to eat, lost so far 10kg BMI is 24.7

I saw my GP last week she is now fine with me trying this route as are my endocrinologist and diabetic nurse, the only thing I am taking is an injection a biological treatment for arthritis which allows me to exercise more.

I had been on medications from 2007

Stallen said:

I dropped all my meds against my GPs wishes and went LCHF almost 3 months ago, when I quite them my BG starting point was 22+ highest was 35 several weeks later still off the medications and BG 5-7 occasionally I do spike around the 9-13 when I forget to eat, lost so far 10kg BMI is 24.7

I saw my GP last week she is now fine with me trying this route as are my endocrinologist and diabetic nurse, the only thing I am taking is an injection a biological treatment for arthritis which allows me to exercise more.

I had been on medications from 2007

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Now down to a BMI of 22.7 and an overall 19kg loss since starting the LCHF, BGL are very stable 5-7 no real highs other than when I had a couple of colds, my average BG readings is currently 6.1 for this month and previously 6.7 with colds included.

Still not taking any diabetic meds

@Dusk71

Quick update on my own LCHF challenge, after 9yrs of medication and trying the LCHF route.

I've just had my Hba1c results back since ditching all the diabetic Medications I was taking, on my last Hba1c I had only quit medication for a month, so on 24th December 2015 it was 52.

The Hba1c I had done yesterday 1st March they rang today to tell me it was now 41, so in just 2 months it's down by 11, factor in that I'm still experimenting with foods and getting an odd high BG reading and the odd DP it's a pretty good result, my next goal is to come in under 40.

Dusk71 said:

@Stallen thanks for the update...
that's amazing! I'm not brave enough to stop my Med's completely, I have stopped trajenta and 1 of my mets. ( was on 2000 down to 1500 now)
I noticed my fasting bs has raised up from 5-6... To 6-7 since stopping them.
So I'm going at it quite slowly tbh. But. Lchf 100% and still going strong

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I was on trajenta, metformin and Glimepiride, I'm still adjusting to what foods I can have, I should get a lower results once I have a good set of foods that I know won't spike my BG, the past 2 months have been pretty trial and error, even today I had a spike up to 11.4 this morning but by 10:30 had settled back down the rest of the day BGL have been mid to low 5s my pre BG evening meal was 4.9.

I had good reasons to take the drastic approach, thankfully it's worked out pretty well, but I'd fully expect and would advise anyone else to take a more slow and steady, less risky approach.

Well done on what you've achieved so far Dusk71, bit by bit and you'll definitely get to where you need to be with your control.