About a year ago I was introduced to a nice woman who had had type 2 diabetes. Her HbA1c (an estimated 3-month average blood sugar metric) was 6.5 – anything above 6.4 is classified as diabetes. Further, there were heart complications and high inflammation markers present.
She had an interest in taking an active role in her health (these are the best people to work with!) and under the care of an alternative provider that prescribed boatloads of supplements – which she dutifully took.
My first step was to plug all her supplements into a program I built to check for duplications. There were a number of multiple ingredient supplements recommended by others that lead to a regimen filled with therapeutic duplications.
We decreased the supplement regimen – even though it meant a decrease in sales opportunities, it was the right move.
We implemented much of the recommendations in my paper, Avoiding Insulin in Type 2 Diabetes. Utilizing Bulletproof coffee and intermittent fasting were the key factors. Additionally, we added a short course of support to help the GI tract reset as inflammation often starts in the gut.
Soon, we began to see a gradual decrease in blood sugar readings, blood pressure readings, and body weight.
This was the email I saw earlier in the week:
Great news. My A1C went from 6.5 to 5.6 and I am off min. My Wt 193 Bp 122/66/59 Bs 119.
This represents going from diabetic to in the A1c values. The weight loss totals to 25 pounds and the blood pressure textbook (down from hospital admissions for Congestive Heart Failure and BP readings for 218/111). I am not sure if the blood sugar was fasted or not, but I hope to see that continue to decline.
How about stopping her diabetes medication, metformin! That is unusual. A vast majority of the people stay on metformin for life, while picking up additional prescriptions for insulin along the way. This was the reason I sat down to catalog many of these techniques for people in my Avoiding Insulin in Type 2 Diabetes paper.
Is this story over? No, diligence will remain important. But her desire to take an active role and working to implement our strategies has made significant steady progress. The steady piece is why I like where this is headed. We didn’t set up a crash course to get all this weight off in a month or two by extreme measures. Rather, moved the metabolic needle through simple, effective strategies. A consistent approach, while taking a little longer, will typically have longer lasting successes.
So, while Island Drug will lose a monthly metformin prescription, I am happy to have worked with this patient to change her course and regain control of her health. Please reach out for a free consultation if you or someone you know is interested in the same!