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Not sure what to think

woollygal

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,485
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Coffee diabetes
so as you know I have been off meds for three and a bit weeks. My sugars are behaving in that food isn’t making them spike. The problem is they are higher to begin with so after food they are hitting tens.

Am waking up between 8-9.5 every day.

Spoke to dr as don’t want to get ill.

Basically she said I’m safe to continue without meds till the bloods in 5 weeks. But then she wants me in something. If my sugars were going to behave properly they wouldn’t have risen in the first place. Low carb and exercise on its own isnt cutting it.

She is still hopeful I can go into remission (don’t really understand how if this has failed).

And I’m going into trulicity.

Not sure what to think., feel like I’ve failed but also not. Because there isn’t anything I could do differently. My diet didn’t change my sugars just went up then stayed at that level (they do come down but the swing is more but they don’t keep rising.

So I’m
A bit cheesed off because it’s back on meds in 5 weeks (as long as nothing major happens) but also relieved because they are too high really. Can’t see how I can go into remission because if I could surely this would have worked. But I’m not overly low (I think my last tablets were making me depressed. I still get low but not as foggy and stupid etc).
 
If I recall, you are fairly newly diagnosed? If this is the case then I wouldn't stress over it. You can't purge a lifetime of glucose overnight just because you've gone low-carb. For reference, it took the best part of entire year of fully-ketogenic eating before I regained proper control of my sugars.

Apologies if I've confused you with someone else.

EDIT: I see you have been diagnosed since at least August 2018, but that you only started low carb a couple of months ago.
 
It can take time, and everything I've read so far indicates that, in general, the longer you've been diabetic before going low carb the longer it might take.
So worth keeping on low carb even if your body needs a little extra help for now?
 
I was low carbing for months but only super low couple months.
 
I agree with Jim. It can take a lot longer than the year of lowish carb or even the few months of keto to sort things out. That said if you continue with the low carb eating to heal yourself and use the meds -for now- to keep levels to acceptable numbers then there is nothing stopping you trial less or no meds again in 6 months or a year and seeing if things have improved by then.

Alternatively either now or after the next no meds trial period (if it’s still not great by then) I’d be asking for cpeptide to understand just how much insulin I am able to produce and go from there.
 
What is the c peptide test?
 
You seem to be in a hurry, so as you are exercising you might break possibly insulin resistance with a different approach to really stimulate metabolism. If you have access to a static cycle, then warn up for a couple of minutes, cycle hard for 20 seconds, amble for 1 minute and repeat 20 second sprint 3 times. The second part is a power lifting routine i.e. barbell deadlift, barbell bench press. This combination strips visceral fat (the sprints), increases strength and some muscle (longevity and non-insulin glucose uptake).
 
woollygal said:
What is the c peptide test?
Click to expand...
It measure a substance created alongside insulin, effectively measures insulin. It’s more commonly used to diagnose type 1 and LADA as for them it will be low. It will also be low if your pancreas has given up after years of overproduction (not that I am suggesting this is the case for you.). But if it is low then no amount of low carbing will make up for that fact, just it would mean you might need less medication help than if eating a higher carb diet.
 
So I should request this then?
I guess it saves a lot of hassle if you know coming off meds won’t help
 
JohnEGreen said:
The reply I got from my GP was no chance.
Click to expand...
I think some might be persuaded if you can convince them of clinical benefits. Others as you say won’t even entertain the idea. Doing it privately is the only other option, one I’d take before writing my pancreas off (just to avoid buyers remorse) before starting on (long term) meds.
 

This may not necessarily always be the case. There's a lot of opinion out there now that fatty pancreas may be at least partially responsible for declining insulin production in those who are not autoimmune. In these cases, low-carbohydrate eating that helps burn-off itraorganic fat may very well help to restore some insulin secreting capacity to a previously "dead" pancreas.
 
Oops. I’d forgotten about that. Thanks for pointing it out. But in my defence it’s still a suffocated rather than an exhausted pancreas that I was describing .
 
Why are they so against it. Can’t just be cost?
 
HSSS said:
Oops. I’d forgotten about that. Thanks for pointing it out. But in my defence it’s still a suffocated rather than an exhausted pancreas that I was describing .
Click to expand...
How do you go about sing the blood test for c peptide privately? Are they super expensive?

I’ll call dr this week and see if it can be added in
 
woollygal said:
Why are they so against it. Can’t just be cost?
Click to expand...

Some say because it would reveal that at least half the population have metabolic syndrome (through over-secretion of insulin). Additionally, there isn’t a pharmaceutical that can reduce insulin secretion in those with hyperinsulinemia, and even if there were, it would just bring about hyperglycaemia more quickly (and thus a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes). There’s not much money to be made from telling people to cut down on carbohydrate. In fact there’s trillions to be lost.

But that’s all just a theory. I’m sure the motivations are entirely altruistic, really
 
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Kim Possible said:
@Mbaker your exercise regime sounds interesting.
What makes it specific to breaking insulin resistance?

I ask because I find weights and interval training raises my BG during exercise. And this may put some people off.
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I watched one of the Van Tulleken brothers reduce visceral fat, by doing HiiT sessions, as well as Michael Moseley on prime time TV shows. I follow persons who train in the glycolic range, such as Shawn Baker i.e. go hard taking no prisoners for 20 - 30 seconds bursts (either by run sprinting, rowing, static bike etc). Basically burning visceral fat / reducing fat in general improves insulin resistance. I recently watched a YouTube, where a scan was taken of a sprinter who does no weights, he had no visceral fat worth taking note of (I will try and find this in my history and update this post)

Closer to home my footballing daughter reduced her visceral fat from 2 to 1 since training at a high intensity, as did my Karate friend (he did diet as well, 9 to 6 on Tanita scales)

The focus on weights is to increase muscle surface area, to uptake glucose independent of insulin (GLUT4 receptors). I have found in my n of 1 that I get low fbg numbers on minimal heavy weights on days when I am time challenged (literally seconds, I have a home gym, wifes excellent cast offs, as well as going to a gym) as well as short low post prandial spikes. I reckon with my normal eating, I could maintain / improve on 2 x 10 minutes of combined and 2 x 10 minute walks. I still try to do 15k steps across a day, reduced from 20, but none of the references I follow tend to do steady state, they lean towards functional cardio such as Ju Jitsu (I would do basketball as a preference). When I focused on walking I had the lean look but prefer closure to a male gymnast (can wish).

I am fortunate in not having to consider the BG rise via exercise, as I am focusing on strength mainly, as I feel I can spend less time for more gain (I realise Type 1's have more to consider). It is extremely challenging doing supersets of say 5 barbell squats, no rest followed by 5 barbell deadlifts, up the weight and repeat x 3 or 5 (this takes my heart rate to 170, compared to circa 155 for 5 miles of walking as fast as possible).

From a longevity perspective I subscribe to the thoughts below, which in short suggest strength can increase life expectancy:
https://www.docsopinion.com/2017/10/02/muscular-strength-longevity-strength-training/
https://barbell-logic.com/strength-and-longevity-tests/

Dr Ben has a SMaRT system of HiiT at a slow pace. In this video he references the lack of blood glucose rise with this method and improved IR:

 
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