A Slide from Epic Norfolk Study

I wanted to share this slide I found as a part of the Epic Norfolk Study on Hba1c. It shows the benefits of lower Hba1c .. contrary to what is being practiced today.

[Hidden]

rksharmakumar

Hope you find this useful

Posted as i told you i would do this as soon as i get time

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Fantastic job, Hidden !😀

[ramana42 Volunteer]

Excellent post. Personally,it will help me to set my goals.Right now,I will settle for the white column and reduce the insulin dose,in the medium term.For the long term,I shall try to move to the green column,keeping the insulin dose at lower level.It will be tough without LCHF,but I will score that goal.

[cure Administrator in reply to ramana42]

ramana42 IMHO Hba1c below 5 is very good for person who is controlling his sugar level with diet and exercise....his liver function is perfect...

But when its with medicine...no one can be very precise in adjusting dose....

and so medical practitioners dont advise below 5...they totally relay on medicines... and statins which disrupts liver function...

[ramana42 Volunteer in reply to cure]

Very true.Ever since I started on insulin,I am happy with anything close to 6.5.I think that at 75, I should be satisfied with that.My effort is towards reducing insulin dose. But,things went haywire since several months due to some collateral issues that I mentioned above.I am planning to post my recent experiences soon.

[rvmasalvad Volunteer Star in reply to ramana42]

All said and done, with age Diabetes can't be controlled with diet and exercise alone. Medical advice is to manage diabetes wtih all three i.e., diet ,exercise and medicine. A judicious mix is best control. It does not matter if hba1c is slightly higher than 5% as older you are you may not be much affected with slightly higher sugar levels.

[ramana42 Volunteer in reply to rvmasalvad]

My problem started with breathing problems.Since I could only breath partially with my my nostrils,I was getting a very dry mouth in the night leading to very disturbed sleep and increased A1c.Since it was related to disturbed sleep,I was told to give up certain medicines I was taking for depression and tension.That further worsened the matters and A1c went beyond 8 for the first time,which was not at all acceptable.Somehow,I could sort out these issues and yesterday my numbers were 77 and 105.I could cut down my insulin dose before breakfast.I hope to see my A1c well below 7 when I go for my next quarterly check up in Dec 2017.

[Luckysugar]

My A1c was in white graph since I was diagnosed with T2 in 2011. I have been in green one twice (5.7%) since I join lchf diet from this forum.

[ramana42 Volunteer]

Here I wold like to add my two cents.It is wonderful to gain knowledge about diabetes,so that we can fight it effectively.We do succeed,but it gets undone by the advancing age.If you take my case,I have the will,knowledge and resources to fight this menace and most of the time I succeed also and so far avoided any diabetic complications.But,with advancing age,what I call collateral issues crop up,such as breathing problems,sleeplessness and some others like depression,anxiety etc.All these collaterals play havoc with the diabetes management,so much so,I had to consult several doctors of different specialities to get into shape.What I got was opposing opinions and ultimately I decided to use my own instinct and stick to a single objective of controlling the diabetes even it means taking additional medicines to control the collateral issues.Right now things have improved but I am on my toes for any collaterals that may crop up.

[Hidden in reply to ramana42]

Yes

As you rightly say ... while we cannot just do away with the medical consulataion... some time in life we have to gain some knowledge

We can at least try to gain some knowledge in nutrition/foods

Even Drs study about these for only 2 weeks in their curriculum

And today internet is helping us gain some knowledge on foods..

We all agreed that food is our medicine...

[Luckysugar in reply to ramana42]

You have my respect ramana 42 as a knowledgeable diabetic on this forum. Thank you for passing on your knowledge and experience on diabetes and other health issues. We are all different in terms of age, gender, belief, life and health background. There is no one side fits all in diet, medical treatment or exercise. We somehow need to be our own doctor to do what we believe is the best choice for our current health and well-being. However, there are many preventable health issues that people can avoid or being able to reverse the conditions without drugs apart from diabetes such as insomnia and depression. Many people this day tend to face these issues due to many reasons including me. We all have choices to choose which way or method to feel better again. Wishing you the better health and good luck.

[Hidden]

Thanks for the informative graph.

I have been experimenting with different things to control, if not get rid of my T2 and other medications

I had my blood work done on Oct 16, 2017. Here are some interesting results:

My BP bumped up a bit to 130/90 from a three- year steady 120/80.

HbA1C: 5.3%, FBS: 121 mg/dl, PPBS: 147 mg/dl, Mean Blood Glucose: 105.41, Serum Cholesterol: 211 mg/dl, Serum Triglycerides: 99 mg/dl, HDL: 54 mg/dl, LDL: 137.2 mg/dl, VLDL: 19.8 mg/dl, Creatinine: 0.73 mg/dl, T3: 80 ng/dl, T4: 6.67 ug/dl, TSH: 4.38xU/dl.

I have been on weekly 36 hr Intermittent Fasting since May 2017. I did a 7-day water fast ending Sept 16, 2017. I stopped taking thyroid and statin meds about three months ago. Two months ago I halved my BP and diabetes meds. After the current results I am back to the original dosage of Glyciphage 250 mg (for my T2) and Telpres CT 6.25 (for my BP).

I cannot claim to be fully on an LCHF diet but do avoid a lot of carbs. I understand fasting bumps up cholesterol levels. Does my fasting explain the 5.3 HbA1C and the high blood sugars which seem contradictory? What would be my way forward? Is there anything I can improve? Is there anything I am doing wrong? I have totally given up on my doctor.

Thanks.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Keep it going. Take medicines as advised by the Dr.. Keep adjusting the diet. Your lipid levels are good. Mainly, TG is low and HDL is at a good level.

[shrisamarth Volunteer in reply to Hidden]

FBS: 121 mg/dl, PPBS: 147 mg/dl

If you regularly hit similar nos. then your Hba1c is not correlated with your BS nos.

[Luckysugar in reply to shrisamarth]

Very good point shrisamarth, what could cause this result?

[Hidden in reply to shrisamarth]

My regular readings are roughly 100 to 115 (FBS) and 115 to 125 PPBS with the usual meds. Since Jan. I've had strange results: 115/116, 123/117, 116/79, 107/99 with the PPBS lower than FBS. I was curious about why this happened but the doctor told me it was nothing unusual and I don't need to worry. At my last visit to the doctor he took me off Dibizide M and asked me to take only Glyciphage 250 mg at night. I reduced it to half that on my own and I suppose that did the damage. Now I am back to 250 mg and am seeing the doctor tomorrow (Oct. 19) and shall get back on the forum if there's anything interesting.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Please let the doctor know about the dosage change when you go to the appointment this week.

[Hidden in reply to Activity2004]

After 3 days on metformin 250 mg my FBS/PPBS is 92/102. Similarly BP is 130/80 with Telpres CT 40/6.25. Today I met the good doctor and "confessed". He put me back on the full regime of meds. I asked him if I could safely lower my meds. He said he could not prescribe any lower doses as I was already on the lowest available! When I pointed out my low HbA1C and high BS he laughed and said HbA1C was only an average over 3 months and cannot really be trusted - if I fasted 7 days this average would certainly be down. He wasn't happy with my long fast and also my intermittent fast and told me not to skip bf - I may skip dinner.

Doctor's prescription: Glyciphage 250: 0-0-1, Thyronorm 12.5: 1-0-0, Atorvastatin 5 mg: 0-0-1, Ecosprin 75 0-1-0, Multivitamin: 0-1-0, Tazloc CT 6.25: 1-0-0. The last is instead of Telpres CT 6.25 and he said it was the same thing.

So I am back to square one. My attempts to get rid of meds through fasting and (my kind of) LCHF have come to naught. I am wondering how to go on from here.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

I will be in touch with you later today, Rakins. It’s okay.😀

[Sakarani]

What is the meaning ADA/AHA