This is further to my post on Insulin Resistance.... which if you have missed, I would request you to please go through the same which I posted few days back .
Today we are going to check and diagnose our diabetic status with specific reference to our pancreas Beta cells which many medical professionals tend to ignore, though pancreas beta cells are crucial for our diabetic conditions ...
Once you are diagnosed with Type -2 diabetes, you consult a Diabetelogist/ Endocrinologist.
Based upon your Fasting/ PP Blood Sugar, HBA1c, Your Doctor puts you on Oral diabetic drugs. You are told to do physical exercise, control your diet, Reduce Carbohydrate , Fat and so on.....and thus the life starts exploring ..........one keeps experimenting with different Diet , Physical exercise, bringing changes to the life style.... Looking for alternate medicines in Ayurvedic , Homeo pathic , unani and many other remedies suggested / advised by many medical / nutritional experts who basically target reducing blood sugar.
But unfortunately, in most cases, the underlying conditions keep lingering which only flares up at a later date to cause diabetic complications and could lead to injecting exogenous insulin ultimately .
Mr. Cyrus Khambatta, MD, Ph.D in Nutrition Biochemistry, the Author of the Ny Times Best Seller book "Mastering Diabetes"(who lives with type 1 Diabetes for 40 years since his childhood) writes that a simple Blood test called the C- Peptide test at the time of diagnosis or at any stage of your diabetes would indicate how much Insulin your pancreas beta cells are capable of making and could decide the course of your medical treatment.
1. If C-Peptide value exceeds 4 ng/mL, your pancreas are in overdrive to secrete excess Insulin. You have a very strong Insulin Resistance and if you are able to enhance your insulin Sensitivity by a suitable diet, exercise, life style changes , you have done it. You don't need medication at all. However, if you don't treat your IR- Insulin resistance, it can create a host of issues and your IR can damage your pancreas beta cells ultimately which can force you to take injectable insulin.
Excessive insulin is normally associated with obesity as is commonly found among Caucasians, Africans and Hispano's, though nowadays it is found among Asians too to some extent.
The only way is to monitor your IR- Insulin Resistance with a suitable diet and exercise , bring in lifestyle changes to sustain weight loss with an objective of meeting the 7 point checklist as mentioned in my previous post under Insulin Resistance .
2. If C-Peptide value between 3 to 4 ng/mL would indicate that your Beta cells are capable of making sufficient Insulin, but you have a moderate Insulin Resistance. You too can reverse your IR-Insulin resistance by a suitable diet ,exercise and life style changes , you may not need a medication at all.
3. If C-Peptide value between 1.5 to 3.0 mg/ mL would indicate that your pancreas still makes adequate insulin and you have some mild IR-Insulin resistance.. which you can reverse by maximising your insulin sensitivity by proper diet , exercise and life style changes .
4. If C-Peptide value less than 1.5 mg/ ml means that your beta cells are damaged to some extent. . Unfortunately Damaged beta cells are difficult to repair...It may be difficult to control your blood sugar by Diet and exercise. Insulin is a master hormone.. it is required for metabolism of any diet you take whether it is carbo , protein or fat dominated. So if insulin production is inadequate , then you would struggle to control your blood sugar whatever food you take.
Oral medications would be of some help at early stages .... You can keep trying the alternatives in allopathy along with suitable diet & exercise ......Ultimately , injectable insulin may be required sooner or later and it may be wiser to opt for insulin sooner than later in stead of trying out different medications which could result in to health complications.
These kind of type 2's are normally thin built body with a lower BMI as commonly found among Asians, though nowadays prevalent in other continents too. So eating a healthy diet along with physical exercise , resistance training to gain some weight to reach your recommended weight / BMI would be helpful for your turn-around.
Mr Cyrus Khambatta recommends a "Diabetic Antibody panel" test for these class of people to rule out "LADA" - as described in next Paragraph.
5. If C-Peptide value between 0.2 to 1.5 ng/ ml may indicate that you may be Type 1.5 also known as LADA ( Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults ) . If you are above 30 years age, you should go for a " Diabetes Antibody Panel" test which would indicate LADA if you test positive for one antibody. Presence of antibody would attack your own beta cells and ultimately you will become insulin dependent ....you may have unexplained weight loss, frequent urination , muscle cramp , low energy ... Excessive thirst...
At times Type 1.5's are mis-diagnosed as type 2's. If your C-Peptide value is less than 2 ng/ml, Mr Cyrus khambatta recommends a "Diabetes Antibody Panel" test to rule out Type 1.5 or LADA. The earlier LADA is diagnosed , the better is the outcome of treatment .
6. C-Peptide value less than 0.2 ng/ ml would indicate type 1..on testing diabetic antibody panel , you may test positive for multiple antibodies.. you may be younger than 30 years.. ...and you may have all the symptoms of type 1.5...you become insulin dependent.....
Cheers! 🙂👍
One thing good is that diabetes is not the end of life. People with diabetes live longer whether Insulin dependent or Insulin independent ( IDDM / IIDDM) ..because they learn the hard way as to how to live longer with suitable changes in diet, life style and exercise ....
May God bless you 🙏
Stay Safe and Stay Healthy and I wish you to live longer for 100 years!
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