This year marks 10 years since I was first diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic. I was told that this is a chronic, progressive illness with no cure and all my research confirms this. The best I could hope for is to slow its progression through diet, exercise, and medicine. I learned the hard way that stress can negatively effect all positive efforts. Through my own personal experience I have found that even if I successfully multi-task, the stress of wanting to get it all done can undermine my best efforts. This became more obvious after my first year of retirement. I own all my time now and allow my intuition to surface more and more. I have learned to let go of any self-imposed time restraints and relax more. The results are significant. Before retirement, my A1C was as high as 9.7 and now it is 7.0. I attribute the positive results from living a low-stress lifestyle, a good meal plan, and at least 6 hours of exercise a week. I also have a good doctor that prescribes the right medicines. I have room for improvement. Sleeping 8 hours is better than the 5-6 hours I usually get. I could do more yoga to quiet the mind for stress relief and not eating any carbs after 7 p.m. makes a difference in how I feel the next day. I could always use a good laugh and need to find more humor wherever I can.
Still, the diagnosis of a chronic, progressive condition can feel like having a curse put on you. If there's nothing you can do, it is rational behavior to shift your energy elsewhere and enjoy life - including the foods you love - while you can. My solution is to love the right foods! I also love to change-up my exercise routines and lead an active lifestyle that I enjoy! I also work hard at keeping a positive attitude which unfortunately means keeping negative, soul-sucking people out of my way. I really appreciate uplifting friends since they are few and far between and I am there as much for them as they are for me. The extra effort to maintain good relationships is worth it! I find that life is too short to waste and there is much to appreciate! I am hopeful and will always keep up my research about how to best manage my diabetes and my life. I plan on having a very long retirement enjoying life!
Without getting too technical about measuring diabetes, here are some simple facts:
1. To be considered a diabetic a person has two fasting blood sugars tests of 125 or more. Normal is considered 90-100.
2. Because a fasting blood sugar test may not fairly represent an average measure, a blood test commonly called an A1C is done which measures a 3-month average. A normal person would have "6" or less. A diabetic that is managing well has a "6-7." Doctors will recommend medication when a diabetic reaches a "7" or more. Medicine is a complicated issue and will not be addressed here in great detail.
3. Type 1 Diabetes is much more serious in that it is usually diagnosed at an early age and requires injectable insulin because the pancreas no longer produces this hormone. There are no beta cells made which are needed to process carbs...serious business! Management is a huge challenge and commitment. For Type 2 Diabetics, I believe injectable insulin is the end result when all other medicines no longer work well enough. Lifestyle changes are made to incorporate needed insulin throughout the day. There are automatic pumps now and many other new advances recently to make life better.
4. Type 2 Diabetes can go undetected until serious symptoms are observed. The longer it goes untreated, the more nerve and tissue damage is done that may be irreversible. Basically, carbs (sugar) should be processed within two hours after eating. Allowed to build up any longer, the sugar damages the delicate nerve endings in tissues. This can lead to blindness, neuropathy and so many more problems. This is first observed in the eyes and the list of body parts affected increases in time. Add high blood pressure and high cholesterol and you have the deadly three heart issues.
5. Medicine prescribed for Type 2 Diabetes help in different ways. Insulin is still being produced by the pancreas but needs help as it is resistant. Some medicine acts like a key to open the cells so the insulin can do it's job in processing the carbs so the body can use the energy. If the carbs do not get used up they get stored as fat. There are different medicines for different parts of the process of absorbing carbs and now new medicines are addressing other areas of the hunger and digestion process. The fact that diabetes is chronic and progressive means that medicines may need to be changed over time. It can be a challenge to manage. There are new medicines recently and I have had the opportunity to be in on the beginning of the new injectable Victoza which has worked very well for me in addition to the old-faithful Metformin.
6. There is no cure for diabetes but now there is serious consideration that it may be reversed.
Until recently, the message to diabetics from the medical field (MD) seems to be, "Do the best you can; we'll help you with drugs, but you'll go downhill anyway." I am fortunate to have had a young doctor that is a licensed osteopathic physician (DO) for at least 15 years. I choose DO instead of a MD because they can do everything a MD can and more. The nation’s approximately 63,000 fully licensed osteopathic physicians practice the entire scope of modern medicine, bringing a patient-centered, holistic, hands-on approach to diagnosing and treating illness and injury. Today, more than 20 percent of medical students in the United States are training to be osteopathic physicians. Osteopathic physicians can choose any specialty, prescribe drugs, perform surgeries, and practice medicine anywhere in the United States. Osteopathic physicians bring the additional benefits of osteopathic manipulative techniques to diagnose and treat patients. Osteopathic physicians work in partnership with patients to help them achieve a high level of wellness by focusing on health education, injury prevention, and disease prevention. I am fortunate to have such a good doctor within a mile of my home in my rural small town.
I will begin on my path to reversing diabetes with a plan that my doctor recommended, "The End of Diabetes" by Joel Fuhrman, MD. I found it on Amazon will have the book in a couple days. I will review it and do my best to apply it. I expect to blog about how it works for me by mid-summer when I have my next office visit and I should have some numbers to show my progress. I have other popular diabetes reversal plans with sources below as provided by Diabetes Self-Management Magazine:
A research group led by Dr. Roy Taylor, a professor of medicine at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom released a paper "Reversal of Type 2 Diabetes: Normalization of beta cell function in association with decreased pancreas and liver triacylglycerol" on June 24, 2011 that details how 11 study subjects who were put on a 600-calorie diet for eight weeks regained normal insulin function, had normal lab results, and stopped taking all diabetic medicines, some after only one week. This may be called the "starvation approach."
At least four other approaches are claimed to reverse Type 2 Diabetes. They include low carbohydrate diets, vegan diets, traditional diets for native peoples (Native Americans and Pacific Islanders), and bariatric surgery. Here are some book sources provided by Diabetes Self-Management Magazine January/February 2013 issue, page 11:
"Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes - The Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet." Steve Parker, MD, pxHealth
Scottsdale, Arizonia
2011
"an easy and enjoyable diet to follow"
"Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution, 4th Edition." Richard Bernstein, MD
Little, Brown and Company
New York City
2011
"covers everything about living with and managing diabetes"
"The Blood Sugar Solution." Mark Hyman, MD
Little, Brown and Company
New York City
2012
"claims 80% of his patients reversed their diabetes"
"Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes." Neal Barnard, MD and Bryanna Grogan
Rodale Books
New York City
2008
"describes the science behind vegan eating for diabetics with recipes and tips"
"The 30-Day Diabetes Cure." Stefan Ripich, ND and Jim Healthy
Bottom Line Books
Stamford, Connecticut
2012
"helpful for people getting off a diet heavy in sugars and starches"
Here are some websites that may be helpful to anyone that has diabetes in their life or in the life of someone they love and care about; it sucks to be in this all alone:
Blood Sugar 101
www.phlaunt.com/diabetes
"alternatives to conventional wisdom"
The Low Carb Diabetic
www.lowcarbdiabetic.co.uk
"run by people in the UK with diabetes explains science of low-carb diets with recipes, personal stories, and links to blogs and videos"
DIABETICCONNECT: Low-Carb Recipes
www.diabeticconnect.com/recipes?category=low+carb
"part of a social network for people with diabetes...low-carb recipes"
I will continue my research and likely check out information from the above sources over time. With enough knowledge and using my intuition to apply it, I hope to have the best life possible!
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