The diabetes code

So this isn’t exactly lyme related, but just figured I’d post about this because it is a simple trick that can improve health, well being and inflammation. Older members who may have brewing metabolic syndrome probably have the most to gain.

But I read The Diabetes Code several months ago. My dad is diabetic and has lots of symptoms from it, including GI distress, insomnia, full body pain, etc

The book is fascinating and describes how metabolic syndrome actually works, and how damaging and inflammatory it is to the body. The interesting part is that he shows a graph that basically says that insulin levels start rising about 12y before blood sugar levels. So even if your glucose is good, if you eat like crud you could be at risk.

But basically we took Fung’s simple plan to get rid of diabetes…low carb diet (doesn’t even have to be ketogenic) + daily 16:8 intermittent fasting. My dads morning glucose is down from 180-200 range down to 130!!! And he’s cut his medication by 25% already! It’s only been like 2.5 months

The other interesting thing I learned is how to read a metabolic panel. I always knew that cholesterol didn’t tell the story, and he talks about how cholesterol levels have been dropped from the criteria for metabolic syndrome. Rising cholesterol by itself isn’t a problem, could be due to healthy dietaey cholesterol.

The things to watch out for:

Rising glucose: fasting blood glucose (id be paying attention over 100), high a1c (5.7 or higher)
High triglycerides
Low HDL

Long story short, if you’ve got any of those signs, IF may benefit you and help reduce inflammation

Post Edited (dcd2103) : 10/19/2021 11:20:29 AM (GMT-6)

He hasn’t as far as I’m aware. Since he has full blown diabetes I’m sure he has hyperinsulinemia. But would make sense for someone with normal sugar to have it tested, especially if you have other markers like high triglycerides.

Sad state of affairs with modern medicine.

I found with diabetes there are actually two problems. First there is the insulin resistance, and then there is the death of pancreatic beta cells.

Due to adrenal and metabolic issues, insulin levels rise and cells become less sensitive to it. This is similar to drug tolerance, such as how if you take morphine it will become less and less effective. In fact, insulin resistance actually shares some of the same biochemical signaling pathway with opioid tolerance and I found that taking naltrexone could reverse this, although sometimes I needed to take a bit more than the usual low doses. (I took as much as 10 to 15 mg naltexone per day.)

The second problem is that once glucose levels rise, it injures the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. The beta cells die, and you get diabetes. The beta cells do regrow, but slowly. There are drugs that can speed this up, particularly depakote (valproate). This was the original reason I took depakote, and I discovered by accident that it kills borrelia because I got a huge herx from it. However, even with drug stimulation it still takes around 2 to 3 months for the beta cells to grow.

Anyway, I was able to cure my diabetes with these two drugs, no diet or fasting involved. I really did not want to be fasting with an active infection, because fasting temporarily weakens the immune system.

And unfortunately, I have had similarly bad experiences with some doctors, as you have. A lot of doctors just want to prescribe metformin or gliptins, which only temporarily relieve the symptoms and don't really solve the problem.

Yes, I did try taking canagliflozin, which makes you pee out sugar. So I could 'drain the reserve' by taking hydrocortisone to release the sugar, and then canagliflozin to piss it out. This did not make me feel very good, because with low insulin levels I had low glucose uptake so I felt hypoglycemic even though my blood sugar was increased.

Once my pancreas recovered, I did not need to do this anymore. Higher insulin levels aren't entirely bad, it also increases muscle activity, so you can use up the sugar. The problem was that I needed to reverse the insulin resistance, which I did with naltrexone. Once I got my adrenal issues under control, I was able to reduce the naltrexone.

Read the diabetes code. The whole point is that lowering blood sugar doesn’t usually lead to better outcomes. It’s a false metric, usually because with drugs the way you’re lowering it is by pushing it from the blood into the organs, which means more insulin resistance. Damage, cardiovascular issues and metabolic syndrome are still likely to occur in this scenario

Metformin is one of the drugs that is kind of neutral in the way it works. Some of them like insulin (in t2d, t1d you have no choice) or sulfonylurea class drugs are like throwing fuel on the fire.

But he can easily get it down to below a 5.5 and off all medication if he does a simple IF/low carb approach. Why live w diabetes and drugs when you can fix it?

Post Edited (dcd2103) : 10/19/2021 2:05:08 PM (GMT-6)

The book I'm reading: The Complete Guide to Fasting, seems to say the same thing about diabetes as the Diabetes Code.

dcd2103 said...
Read the diabetes code. The whole point is that lowering blood sugar doesn’t usually lead to better outcomes. It’s a false metric, usually because with drugs the way you’re lowering it is by pushing it from the blood into the organs, which means more insulin resistance. Damage, cardiovascular issues and metabolic syndrome are still likely to occur in this scenario

The typical outcome with invokana (canagliflozin) isn't much better. Although it avoids weight gain and associated cardiovascular risk by making you piss out the excess sugar, it doesn't fix the primary metabolic defect and patients taking canagliflozin still have a risk of other effects of diabetes, particularly leg and foot problems.

I think it's okay as a short term solution if you need to get rid of the excess sugar and lose weight. I took it and it does work for this, but it's not really a long-term solution.

dcd2103 said...
Metformin is one of the drugs that is kind of neutral in the way it works. Some of them like insulin (in t2d, t1d you have no choice) or sulfonylurea class drugs are like throwing fuel on the fire.

Metformin works, but it's only temporary. The diabetes comes back as soon as you stop taking it.

dcd2103 said...
But he can easily get it down to below a 5.5 and off all medication if he does a simple IF/low carb approach. Why live w diabetes and drugs when you can fix it?

Losing weight, getting the adrenal stress problems under control, and getting my pancreas to heal did fix the problem. I don't take diabetes meds any more and my a1c is normal.

The weight loss was a small part of it. Getting the HPA axis stress under control was a much bigger factor, as this directly contributes to insulin resistance. Getting the pancreatic beta cells to regenerate cleared up the rest of the problem.

Type 2 diabetes.

His father had it but I though type 2 diabetes isn’t hereditary.

My husband has been slim all his life - but his father was heavy around the mid section.

Interesting thread- more depth than the diabetes forum here (!). They just blindly say listen to your Dr.

Ive been very near pre-diabetes in the past, fasting sugar in teens. Along with a messed up lyme body, stress from that (high cortisol) was a big glucose elevator for me. Even when I ate like a saint (no carbs or sugar) it was still high.

Now that I eat gluten free bread and also get unneeded carbs/sugar in G/F snack bars Glucose is regularly high 90's and Ac1 is 5.6-5.7, still not great.

I should prob study that book, or look for a condensed youtube version since I hate wasting time reading an actual book cover to over.

Garzie said...
that's interesting Girlie - in my humble opinion - slim and type 2 diabetes - would to me raise the suspicion of something other than the normal cause going on
As in 95% of cases its due to diet and lifestyle combined - mainly diet ( some people regard it as the normal outcome of a diet too high in carbohydrates ) - but it tends to go hand in hand with obesity or at least excess weight for most - as it changes the endocrine system and the gut.

“ Slim and healthy people also get type 2 diabetes
Researchers have found a way of dividing type 2 diabetes patients into subgroups. Surprisingly, only one in four patients goes through what is considered the most common course of the disease.


Overweight, an unhealthy lifestyle and old age are factors that many of us associate with people who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
But this isn’t entirely true. In fact, the disease can hit the slim, the fat, the young and the old.
This diversity of patients does not make life easy for doctors and researchers, as it creates a need for a great variety of treatment forms. For example, lifestyle changes only work for some patients and not for others. The ideal time for an insulin fix also varies greatly, depending on the patient.
However, now two Danish researchers have cracked part of this code. Based on data from a comprehensive English study, they have identified three subgroups of type 2 diabetes patients that have different diseases patterns.
It was previously believed that the most common course for diabetes is that the patient first develops insulin resistance – which means that the effectiveness of the insulin is reduced. To compensate, the beta cells in the body produce more and more insulin.
Kristine Færch
In addition to showing that diabetes is expressed in a variety of ways, the study surprises by showing that only 25 percent of the type 2 diabetes patients follow the course of the disease that scientists so far have considered to be the most common one.
”This finding is the first step towards more targeted prevention and treatment for patients with the different subgroups of the disease,” says Kristine Færch, a senior researcher at the Steno Diabetes Center, who co-authored the study.
Classification determined by blood sugar“

https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/features/do-thin-people-get-diabetes

https://www.healthline.com/health/diabetes/can-skinny-people-get-diabetes#risk-factors-for-type-2

Yep, anyone. Past pro level endurance athlete, very low body fat then ( and still pretty low for 50,s guy) and my glucose was higher then. It’s actually better now, since competing in survival mode is huge stress on the body. It’s confusing for some people.

Your typical dr knows minimal about diabetes or body density . 15 years ago , 6ft 180 lbs with 6-8% body fat , a Dr purely looking at a weight hieght chart said I need to lose weight and exercise more to lower my glucose. I pulled up my shirt a little and pointed at my abs lol. surely some conventional drs, are better now. One can only hope. His gut was more like a “keg” , most likely didn’t practice what he preached, Imagine that.

Post Edited (astroman) : 10/21/2021 11:25:00 PM (GMT-6)