The paralysis part of analysis paralysis is easily interpreted as not doing anything because of over analysing. Nowhere in this thread have you said you're not taking action, but please try to see it from the reader's side. DCUKMod and many others mainly urged you to act on your diabetes and not be stalled by paralysis or semantics.
I have no clue how you're dealing with your diabetes, as you haven't told.
I fully agree reversal is a misleading term, because reversing means going back to a previous state. The previous state in this case being not diabetic; having the ability to eat whatever and not get funny blood sugars. Which is not what most people mean when they say they have reversed their diabetes.
Instead, they mean they have reverted to normal blood glucose levels.
If you take the meaning of the word diabetes mellitus literally, they are completely right, as it means honey sweet pee. In fact, that part is reversed way before reversing diabetic bg's, as you only start to pee glucose above 11mmol/l or so.
I would ask you to try to switch your focus from the lie of 'reversal' to seeing what you can do about your diabetes, but possibly you're doing both at the same time, we do not know without you telling us.
Personally, I get frustrated with illogical use of language. I try to keep that hobby horse outside my daily life, including this forum, as neither my daily life nor the forum are filled with linguists. The hobby horse is let out on several facebook groups and with a select couple of close friends. It helps.
(disclaimer: please appreciate that English isn't my first language. I can be a language nerd and still use funny syntax and make weird mistakes.)
Hi Antje, thank you for your reply.
I take your point about how others interpret the term analysis paralysis.
I hadn't heard that term before and I rather liked it, I thought it described me very well. I studied chemistry at university when I was young (though my career went in a very different direction) and it taught me to always be open minded and to question, challenge, analyse and to never accept things at face value and never to make assumptions on very little evidence. This can mean that I often find it difficult to make up my own mind when there is a lot of conflicting evidence and viewpoints etc. so I can often stay stuck or paralyzed in the analysis of it. So I thought the term analysis paralysis quite apt. I tend to apply this caution in all areas of my life including with people, and in my current profession making assumptions and judgements about people (and dishing out advice) is generally considered to be unethical and unprofessional behaviour. These things can be harmful to others, so I must admit it does bug me when other people make judgements and assumptions about people without really knowing anything about them. However I can see how others may have interpreted the analysis paralysis to mean I am paralysed with regard to dealing with my diabetes, but if I have caused offence to DCUK Mod or anyone else for that matter then I apologise, unreservedly.
My original post was intended to open up a discussion (not an argument) about the question of diabetes reversal because there seems to be much confusion about it and many differing points of view about it and I was, and still am, very interested to hear other peoples thoughts and viewpoints. For me personally such a discussion is both stimulating and informative. I purposely avoided sharing my own experience for a number of reasons. For one, I wasn’t looking for advice or guidance and didn’t want the discussion to be about me but rather the question being asked. Two I don’t want to be labelled and classified as belonging to any particular camp or group like low carb or vegan or whatever else. Three, and most importantly of all, I didn’t want my own experience to influence anyone else as I don’t think my particular case is very typical.
As it seems to matter I will share.
I was diagnosed Type 2 in early June this year, my numbers were only slightly into the diabetic range and was told it was because I was overweight and insulin resistant, most likely because of fat in my liver. I was rather shocked as there is no diabetes at all in my family despite some of my family members also being overweight. But its not that simple of course. At that time I hadn't yet done any research into diets and diabetes management etc. and didn’t know much about it. I thought the first and most obvious stating point would be to cut out the junk and start exercising. So that’s what I did. I stopped eating all the obvious rubbish like cakes, biscuits, crisps, pastry and ice cream etc. I was quite unfit so I began with just walking every day. Around this time I started to read about all the various approaches to diabetes like low carb, Newcastle diet etc., but before I was done I found I didn’t need any of these approaches. Simply by cutting out the junk and excising every day I found my weight was coming down and with it so too were my blood sugar readings. Literally by the end of June I was consistently getting normal readings. I recently had a blood test and my A1c was normal. My doctor said keep doing what your doing.
At the moment I don’t eat any kind of sugary foods and am careful about potatoes, rice and pasta, they are very starchy, but I can easily eat pulses and grains like buckwheat and quinoa without any ill effect. I freely eat all veggies and most fruits but not all and I exercise most days. So far this is working for me but whether or not it I will always be able to eat this way remains to be seen. So am I cured? Is my diabetes truly reversed? Well I suppose that depends upon who you ask. My doctor classes me as in remission (whatever that means) but will this always be the case, I simply do not know.
As I said I have been very reluctant to share this with you because I fear that other people will read this and think that this approach may work for them too. It may not. From what I have read on the forums here at DCUK and elsewhere I suspect that my case is not very typical. The readings that got me my diagnosis were very close to the borderline and as such seem not have needed an aggressive approach. I have wondered if maybe my diagnosis was false though my doctor assured me that it was correct based on the numbers. Ill leave you to form your own conclusions about this.
I think it worth repeating that though my approach worked for me it may not work for you! I was lucky I got off lightly but your diabetes may need something more aggressive than just giving up the junk, though it is perhaps a good starting place until you have found your own path. In any case I do believe that exercise and emotional as well as physical self care are always important.
As a result of all this I have developed a passionate interest in diabetes and all that goes with it. It is probably obvious by now that I am both puzzled and fascinated by the concept of reversal, remission or what ever you choose to call it, so I thought I'd ask what others think about it. I have really enjoyed reading all your posts, there is much food for thought and further analysis paralysis!
