Type 2 what is the likelyhood of a longterm T2 diabetic reversing their diabetes?

[nanaogg]

My husband is a type 2 diabetic of long duration ,31 years ,he has minimum neuropathy, and no retinopathy,but recently has been struggling to stop his B,S from volatile swings ,We are thinking of trying
the Newcastle diet t see if we can get him into remission, we,d be grateful for any advice from other members/staff.Thank you in anticipation.

 

[Guzzler]

Roughly half of those taking part in the Newcastle Diet Trials are considered to be in remission. However, I beleive the subjects had had dignoses of less than six years (other members may correct me here). Having said that, many members of longer standing diagnosis have seen good results using ND either with real food or with shakes so I think it is worth trying though I must say here that I personally have no experience of ND.

Tagging @daisy1 for the welcome pack which includes helpful links and information for new members.

Welcome to the forum and well done to your husband on his good management of this condition.

 

[Pipp]

Newcastle diet was devised as an alternative to bariatric surgery for obese people with T2 diabetes. As @Guzzler has mentioned, those having reported success had generally had diabetes for less than 6 years. It seems your husband having over 30 years of well managed diabetes is doing very well so far. Perhaps tweaking of diet to eat less carbs would help, @nanaogg

 

[Bluetit1802]

My husband is a type 2 diabetic of long duration ,31 years ,he has minimum neuropathy, and no retinopathy,but recently has been struggling to stop his B,S from volatile swings ,We are thinking of trying
the Newcastle diet t see if we can get him into remission, we,d be grateful for any advice from other members/staff.Thank you in anticipation.

Can you tell us which diabetes medications he is taking?

 

[Guzzler]

Having thought a little more, it is possible (depending on your husband's medication regime) that he has already been in remission considering his minimum neuropathy and his retinopathy status. Remission and Reversal are topics often discussed here and can have a measure of personal opinion attached.

 

[daisy1]

@nanaogg

Hello nanaogg and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask more questions when you need to and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 235,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
  
  
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
  

 

[Resurgam]

I found that my BG was rising all morning even though I did not eat, then crashed in late afternoons.
these days I eat early, having a few carbs with mostly protein and fat, then I can go all day and feel fine with even BG and then eat again in the evening.
Perhaps adjusting the amount of carbs eaten, and the timing might help stabilize BG for your husband.

 

[nanaogg]

Thanks to all memebers who replied ,its nice to have all your input.
First ,you ask about medication that he is on,but we would like to give a bit of history first.
He was diagnosed in 1986 and at that point was put on metformin and
dibenclizide(not sure of the spelling),he was under the watchful eye of a D.iabetes
consultant who was also a GP.The metformin ,at about the 12 year s it became less and
less effective and eventually made him ill,so he was swapped onto insulin in the form
of a 30/70 premix with human type insulin ,made by Novanordisk and his Hba1c
dropped down to 7.3 mmol/l from there till 2007 it stayed below 7.5 Now Novanordisk
no long make this type of insulin,so he was again swapped Lilly M1,and we went onto
a mediterranean type diet ,this state of affairs continued till 2010,HBa1C went up to 8.5
and we started calorie counting ,because instituted a 1650 calorie regime of eating.
This dropped the HBa1C to 7.1 However ,in 2015 our GP of that time decided to put
him on Insuman basal and Rapid insulin ,this gave him all sorts of problems and we
have been battling ,to try to regain some stablity,and we have read everything we could find on the current advances in Diabetes management,which is how we came accross the ND and this forum.Because he is now a "chronic "diabetic and into his mid 70,s we were not sure whether
such a diet might help or "Put him in a long box".His last HBa1C was 71 on the IFCC scale which we believe is equivalent to 11.1 ,not quite what we want to sit at.But we don,t know how best to go about lowering it and getting back to lower levels of insulin usage,from current ,which have crept up to 5o units a day from the 37 when he started on the basal/rapid system.This is basically where we are at.

 

[NicoleC1971]

Btw here is the link to the actual research (pg 5 of this document for the discussion):
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/media/wwwnclac...s/long-versus-short-term-reversal-article.pdf

As your husband is on insulin this may have caused further insulin resistance and difficulty in predicting blood sugars.
Is your GP supportive of your current approach i.e The Newcastle as this will result in reduced insulin needs so requires some supervision.
An alternate route to consider and again it has to have some medical support because your husband is on insulin is Jason Fung who offers fasting as a method to reverse diabetics. He has just written The Diabetes Code and is great on You Tube. As others have mentioned the drastic low cal diets are designed to mimic what happens in bariatric surgery where lots of liver fat gets used up and thus the insulin resistance reduces or disappears. As your husband has had IR for many years it may take longer to reverse him and therefore fasting of some kind may be more useful than the Newcastle Diet.
Here is a link to YouTube and Dr Fung:

 

[Freema]

My husband is a type 2 diabetic of long duration ,31 years ,he has minimum neuropathy, and no retinopathy,but recently has been struggling to stop his B,S from volatile swings ,We are thinking of trying
the Newcastle diet t see if we can get him into remission, we,d be grateful for any advice from other members/staff.Thank you in anticipation.

the Newcastle diet is always worth a try

 

[nanaogg]

Thank you ,everybody ,for your helpful posts,also for the links to Dr Jason Jung,we watched his youtubes interviews and learnt a lot,he differentiates the severity of the fast on age and whether you are on insulin ,both of which we will have to pay attention to ,whichever way we go.I also need to lose a little more weight ,and have been successful over the last 2 years ,but seem to have "plateaued" recently ,using the 5 /2 diet,and now I can understand why ,so will be able to adjust my efforts to continue to lose the last 5 or 6 kg and hold it off,hopefully.

 

[pollensa]

My husband is a type 2 diabetic of long duration ,31 years ,he has minimum neuropathy, and no retinopathy,but recently has been struggling to stop his B,S from volatile swings ,We are thinking of trying
the Newcastle diet t see if we can get him into remission, we,d be grateful for any advice from other members/staff.Thank you in anticipation.

Suggestion box, why dont you view Dr. Jason Fung, an amazing man expert on Diabetes, just got his new box the Diabetes Code, simply easy speaking way to reverse ones diabetes, with lifestyle change, dietary change, and intermittant fasting, i.e. dont put carbs in, burn off any carbs that float around. His explanations re Diabetes two are amazing and clear, and above all, the book gives GREAT HOPE for reversal of Diabetes 2. obviously, each individual differs, but the book covers all. Worth every penny its just wonderful advice and knowledge, and if one has the knowledge thats the main thing to work from this point.

Hope that helps. Put in google, Dr. Jason Fung, two lies Diabetes 2. quite amazing information or Dr. Jason Fung interview with Dr. Andreas where he explains it all regards in a most easy format.

I hold Dr. Jason Fung Canada, and Dr. Andreas sweden, and a Doctor Cavan in UK in highest esteem, there needs to be more Doctors in the Diabetes world to assist all medicals, patients, the system with their more pragmatic sensible approach to Diabetes and how to target it particually Dr Fung, who makes it clear the simplicity of this disease is to treat the CAUSE the insulin resistance and not the symptom the Sugars, and I totally support this.

I note video attached on this link of Dr. Jason Fung, I would highly recommend you view it may give help and assistance guideance in some way or manner.

good Luck

 

[nanaogg]

Hi all,just an update ,Hubbie has dropped 2 kgs since last post ,and his latest HBA1C
was 69 so very chuffed with himself we are watching our carbs and trying to eat more in line
with such a eating pattern (don,t like the word diet).a gentler system than full -on ND,as we
are septagenarians .Regards to all who helped with info and kind thoughts.