I was diagnosed prediabetic (43) and high cholesterol (6.20 non HDL) last July. I went lowish carb until Nov/Dec when shifted to Christmas eating. From July I first started taking Benecol drink and then replaced it with Cardiosmile pine tree plant sterols sachets and Nattokinase capsules.
In January I knew I had to get a hold of my sugar so I bought a Freestyle libre 2 sensor, about £50. It was a brilliant investment showing the impact of meal content and exercise on blood glucose. It showed what to be very wary of - eg grapes. It showed that exercise after meals, like a walk of 30 to 45 minutes kept blood glucose stable - but when exercise stopped it rose significantly. I was puzzled by variability: the exact same meals in the same combination of meals across a day had a low peak in week one, but a higher one in week two. There is more to investigate and I will try again with the CGM but wanted a break because it can become obsessive.
Anyway, the good news is that when my HbA1c was measured this week it had gone down to 39, and that includes the Christmas period.
Also, and this blew me away, my bad cholesterol had reduced from 6.20 to 4.20, just above normal levels. It has never been this low, even when I was a size 10. I have lost a few pounds, but just in the last month on the low carb diet.
Anyway it was lovely to get some good health news. Hope this may be of interest to people wanting to try a more natural approach to T2 and high cholesterol.
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Viveka
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Thanks, I've come down from prediabetes before so I knew that was possible, but I could not believe the cholesterol - it's been too high for years, before GCA was even thought of. I guess I'll have to keep taking sterols, but will try reducing when I've lost more weight. No side effects, so far as I know, unlike Statins.
Think I need to try sterols, can’t take statins, but no doubt will be nagged at annual revue in April… just have to make sure they are okay with BP meds [ familial issues].
The only warning on the Cardiosmile is for pregnant women and kids under 6; the Nattokinase it's pregnant women, allergic to soy, and taking blood-thinning meds.
Well done you, it is great when are changes start to show dividends.If people can find a statin free version of reducing their cholesterol and blood sugar it's definitely worth it as long as there is no urgency or other need to take a statin as well, like in cardiac conditions.
Unfortunately, if you do have to take blood thinners and certain other Cardiac , Blood Pressure and Diabetic medications most of the Cholesterol lowering supplements apart from plant sterols aren't recommended for you to use.
Nattokinase Precautions
Nattokinase is one case in point, it is being researched against Warfarin and Edoxoban because it can also cause blood thinning . It can cause a build up of the prescribed blood thinners in the bloodstream if they are both used at once and therefore is better avoided when using them.
The basic plant sterols and diet are the only option and in many people whom can't remove cholesterol easily from their bodies or with other cardiac or stroke related conditions and it's often not enough.
If people have side effects with Statins ( and try a few different types) and are only on them to lower Cholesterol but they can't reduce their Cholesterol by diet and stanols alone there are statin free prescribed medications available as an alternative instead.
It's worth asking the GP about Ezetimibe or others if people have that issue.
If people have found they are suffering from bruising or cuts that bleed for a while because of fragile skin whilst taking higher doses of Prednisone , Nattokinase probably isn't a good option either because it increases bleeding time and risk of bruising.
A Note and Warning for Members about Freestyle Libre
I think the Freestyle has lots of good points but there are issues with them too, just thought it is worth pointing out here before people make a decision to buy them , as they are rather expensive if not on prescription.
The Freestyle is a useful tool but needs to be used with precautions if you are diagnosed as Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetic on medication.
My husband has one as do five friends . Readings are usually 10-15 minutes behind the actual blood sugar level at the time of reading the results which is important to remember if you are a medicated Diabetic.
You need to take note of the direction of the arrow on your reading , especially after a snack , meal , drink or exercise, not just the numbers because the delay means your readings could be on the way to go up or down from what you may gave already eaten or done, Pin Pricking on hearing an alarm is vital for safety.
We passed on the issues we had to the company and to our GP Practice, whom are making sure that any Diabetics whom get low or high readings on their Freestyle do a prick test to confirm the sugar level before eating or taking more insulin/ Metformin.
This is because the system can give false high and false low readings if it is near to the day the arm sensor is to be replaced, has a fault in the arm in the disc , if sweat affects the reading during exercise or it has been put in incorrectly (which Is easy to do).
On several occasions now my husband has received low readings when he was actually high , and two occasions which could have been quite dangerous high readings when he was very low. If I hadn't been cautious and asked him to check the results first time we spotted this he would have taken more insulin and passed out or needed AandE.
It's not just him, he's not talked to one Diabetic using the Freestyle Libre so far that isn't having this intermittent problem or finding the discs can become faulty because they have loosened and are about to drop off after exercise or a shower. He also buys Tape discs to wear over them now to reduce how often that happens , really for the price of Libre discs you'd think they'd include them as they know it is an ongoing issue.
The Freestyle helps general monitoring of how diet changes or lifestyle is affecting your blood glucose but much like a Smart Watch for blood pressure or ECGs it's results shouldn't be relied upon on alone when making decisions about eating a snack or taking medication for Medicated Diabetics ( Type 1 and 2) . If you don't confirm warnings or results with the traditional pin prick test you can make yourself sick.
It's great that there are so many tools coming into regular use , or unprescribed supplement medications to trial but it's definitely important to use them all as handy add ons to tested medical units , and only use the over the counter supplements or herbal medication after you've checked they won't interact with all your other medications and supplements, or are known to cause more symptoms in people with certain illnesses.
Hope things keep improving for you , take care , Bee
Thanks for this very useful information. My son has just been diagnosed with high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Your comments are useful as I will be trying to help him negotiate his way through these two conditions.
Hi Bee, thanks for all the helpful info. My bugbear is that statins shouldn't be the first option if you have high cholesterol (without further cardio risk factors). I'm not sure how many doctors even mention plant stenols as an option to try. To be fair, I had no idea what the impact would be. I thought they might lower it by 10% or something quite minor. So perhaps docs think the same. But then there is the issue of cost - I understand statins are really cheap like pred and plant sterols aren't at the moment, so that is problematic. I once worked with a public health team on a scheme to pilot mass prescription of statins to people who met certain criteria in a deprived area. The idea was that longer-term it would reduce risk of CVD and health inequalities. I thought it was a horrible study at the time because some of those people would get side effects from statins and wouldn't really need them. Also, once the pilot was done no one monitored the impact. X
I agree, unless the person's cholesterol is very high and they , therefore require a short term course of Statins, along with diet and lifestyle changes to prevent other health problems arising .Or ,if the person has other medical reasons for also using Statins as a Preventative , like cardiac and stroke issues, Statins shouldn't be the first option.
People should be given the chance in normal circumstances to attempt to reduce their Cholesterol and Triglyceride levels by Diet and Lifestyle changes first. This can take at least six months of consistent changes to have a long lasting effect but it can have the desired effect.
The main reason for trying to control your Cholesterol naturally first m if it's medically advisable in your case to do so , is that it is actually the only way that your GP can diagnose if you have a very common genetic Cholesterol issue called Familial HyperCholesteroleimia.
I have FHc but it was only diagnosed decisively because at the time I originally had a series of High Cholesterol blood tests I wasn't known to be suffering with Cardiac issues and I requested to try to lower it Statin Free instead of taking Statins straight away. I already had a good healthy diet and lifestyle, but I made even more changes .
Both me and Mr.Bee ( he's Type 1 Diabetic) whom wanted to try to control his cholesterol without statins to followed a strict regime , trying plant stanols and sterols in the first three months , and a couple other natural medically tested products in the following three.
Mr.Bee improved and remains Statin Free despite having a worse Diet when he can get away with it.
I , however, stuttered along with a minor reduction in bad cholesterol in the first three months , but at six months , with other products my Cholesterol actually got worse.
This was proof to the GP of my FHc, and was probably one of the main reasons that an underweight , very active, dark haired woman under 40 , like me , ended up requiring a Gall Bladder removal because of a high excess of Fatty gallstones.
My Mum's was found after she was admitted and found to have advanced Non Alcohol Fatty Liver Disease , which had not shown up in blood tests , apart from ongoing high Cholesterol, she had been prescribed Statins for many years but had chosen not to take them , only collecting the prescription so the GP was non the wiser. Finally, a recent genetics test as part of a panel I required 100% proved the issue.
Many people have Familial HyperCholesteroleimia but often don't see that it's been recorded as a possibility until they read their medical notes, or it ends up on your chart after a severe medical event , like a heart attack or stroke. Eventually, over a certain age it cannot be controlled by Diet alone and becomes a silent issue increasing the risks of Cardiac Artery Disease, Strokes, Liver Diseases and Gall Bladder problems, as well as increasing the symptoms experienced with other chronic health problems because of the effect it has on blood flow.
People with FHc can have no symptoms of it at all and the Cholesterol problem itself won't get picked up until they have standard blood tests when being checked for another health issue. People with FHc cannot remove Cholesterol or Triglycerides from the body easily or properly so they need long term Statins or a Statin alternative as a simple way to solve the problem and prevent other serious conditions happening.
If the first type causes side effects , try others , if Statins are then proved to be too intolerable for you request the alternatives instead.
It's why it's worth getting , and encouraging family members to start getting Cholesterol blood tests much earlier than we are used to, preferably from your 20's if your family has a history of heart disease , strokes , liver problems or Diabetes.
I always feel like a should get commission for endorsing Statins and finding the one that suits you if you require them because often their use seems to need defending in many cases. But it certainly doesn't mean that I don't endorse the idea of being Statin Free if it's possible for you.
Control the Cholesterol, try Statin Free first if you can, but some of us need to be prepared to need to take Statins, particularly while taking medications that effect it if natural means don't work to prevent more severe health issues.
It's very common , 1 in 250 people in the UK will have some degree of FHc according to health figures , with only 8% of those being identified.Degree of effect it has on an individual is very varied, most people will have mild issues and will be symptomless but the FHc itself will be the root cause of higher cholesterol figures , especially if they usually have a healthy diet and lifestyle and adds to it being a silent risk factor in people suffering in the future or at an earlier age from issues like heart disease , strokes, diabetes, neurological disorders and digestive illnesses.
Many of those can manage to keep their cholesterol within range but only if they maintain a stricter diet and things like High Fat / Low Carb diets are avoided as even healthy fats should be limited if you do have difficulties removing cholesterol from your system. It will also take them a longer period to reduce their Cholesterol to normal levels than generally healthy people using statin free options alone , so many benefit from short term Statins to get within range .
1 in 450 of people with FHc of various levels will only reduce their Cholesterol level consistently by taking long term Statins or an equivalent, which becomes more important to consider if you have a family history of cardiac problems , diabetes and strokes and high cholesterol.
It's amazing really that a genetic health condition that is so common is so little discussed, recognised by GPs, or talked about with patients when they are making a choice about statins or lowering cholesterol.
Severe FHc is not as common but varying levels occur , if you cannot get your cholesterol levels down with natural means , or it keeps recurring or rising , it's important to take steps with medication to reduce other health problems . The most severe effects of FHc are rare.
FHc can affect you from childhood, estimates are that upto 56,000 under 16's in the UK have Familial HyperCholesteroleimia, with only 600 being identified because of having other illnesses or getting genetic tests after FHc has been properly diagnosed in an adult family member.
after being told my cholesterol was a little high, & discussing with doctor, I refused statins & tried plant sterols & psyllium husk capsules. After less than 2 months my cholesterol was down from 7 to 5! Doctor & I were very happy!
No, I dropped the sterols but continued with the husk as I had taken the husk for the 2 months but the sterols for only half of that. My levels were fine at last reading thankfully.
I also refused statins, and I am taking psylllium, but have not tried any plant sterols yet. What did you use? I will wait until after next lipid screening to see results before I go looking for those.
Very interesting- I might get one of these kits. My last HB1Ac a week ago has rocked me; I’m off Pred now as of last week, but as my dose got lower I took my ‘foot off the break’, eating bread and tinned tomato soup, ready meals, pizzas etc. it’s a weak up call for me and I need to get a grip.
Quick question if you don’t mind. The stick on sensor is good for ‘up to 14 days’, it says. I can’t see how many come with the kit, but presumably they can be ordered separately; I think I’d need quite a few, six months worth cos that’s when the Dr said I should have a repeat blood test.
I did exactly the same as you, as I reduced pred I started to go back to normal eating and crept into prediabetes again.
I've seen the sensors sold singly and in pairs. The good news is that it's really T1s and people who are on meds for T2 who would need them all the time. Their value is in finding out what particular foods are doing to your blood sugar, the impact of the timing of exercise and any other variables of interest. So I did it for two weeks, and have bought another two sensors so I can refine the information when I feel ready to go again.
For instance, my homemade oat/seed/nut muesli barely registers on the sensor so I don't need to know about that regularly. Similarly egg salad for lunch with no bread hardly registers, and with one slice of wholemeal bread rises a bit but nothing major.
Things like half a pizza, lentil soup and tomato- vegetable pasta (all homemade) were anomalies - first week they went up a couple of mmols which is fine; second week over three and persistently high. This is the sort of thing I'm going to investigate further.
So, if I were you I'd start off buying one or two and see how it goes. The value is that the figures stay in your mind and you know that you can't stray too far from the path. My goal was to eat healthily most of the time but not to fret if I want a treat or am eating out, and at the moment I am achieving that.
Thank you for replying so soon, and once again very informative. I forgot to say earlier that my HbA1c measured last week was a whopping 44! Like alarm bells went off in my head. I’m going to watch the sugar like a hawk now, but one of my likes is red wine, so I suppose I need to cut back on that too. Damn!
I wonder if it’s worth me getting one of those finger prick test things as well.
I wonder if being on Pred for 4 years, as I have been, has somehow trained my body to become somewhat insulin (the natural stuff from the pancreas) resistant. God knows, perhaps one of the PMR experts could chip in.
44 is in prediabetes so should be reversible, I would imagine. Again, finger pricking is for T2s not under control and for T1s to double check monitor reading in real time.
Check out the Zoe website if you haven't already for diet tips etc.
Oh dear, I think you have put your finger on a major culprit - red wine. Sorry.
44 isn't "whopping". The target for a diabetic on medication is 48 and diabetic often have levels well over 60 and more.
The reason the average level has risen is the pred makes your liver release random spikes of glucose from liver and muscle stores - like driving through an average speed trap at just the limit but every so often putting your food down gunning it for a short distance would put the AVERAGE speed up above what you were allowed.
But just this past week I’m off Pred, I’m 0 Pred. But in the very slow taper of 1/4 mg over a long time I thought I was eligible to resume a more normal existence. I went wrong by eating bread for lunch, canned tomato soup, ready meals from the supermarket, eg Madras curry with pilau rice, and pizza once a week. Plus I really need to cut down on the Red wine as viveka more than hinted at earlier. I have six months before the next blood sugar test.
(CRP was 6 last week, zero Pred. But I will continue carrying ‘emergency’ Pred when I’m away from the house for the next 12 months, or longer.)
SnazzyD has said several times that she has had to watch her carbs at every level of pred. And age also has an effect unfortunately. I think it is a mistake to consider low carb as an "abnormal" diet. The level of carbs and processed food in the modern western diet is what is abnormal.
I have non diabetic hypoglycemia. My endocrinologist had me wear a Dexcom cgm for 10 days to observe what made me drop: high carbs causes me to overshoot insulin then my blood sugar crashes. Now I just use random finger sticks. Fingersticks should be used when you don’t trust the continuous glucose monitor (CGM). Also the CGM measures interstitial fluid which is behind the blood level at times.
In the past my lipid profile was on the higher side. They were not terrible, but they wanted to give me medication’s for cholesterol, none of which I could really tolerate. When I came down with PMR, I was already suffering with reactive hypoglycemia. The treatment for reactive hypoglycemia is a high protein, higher fat, low carb diet. That has kept my sugar very stable so I don’t have any lows. The funny thing is, when I started to go on this diet, my cholesterol improved to the point where cardiologists are raving about it. My good fats are high and bad fats are Low. My coronary arteries still test clear in addition to this diet, I started to take psyllium husk capsules for IBS. This has been a great help for that but, I understand that psyllium husk also lowers cholesterol. Now, of course nobody’s offering me cholesterol, lowering drugs!
I am very interested in what you have to say as my BP, Cholesterol and Blood Sugar are all raised (my BP was high before I started the steroids). I need to bring them all down. I'm only on 2mg of Pred a day and so I probably can't blame them. I'm being much more careful with my diet - I got into bad habits - but my focus is on my Blood Sugar (and reducing sugar and carbs) as I'm terrified of getting Diabetes. Could you tell me a bit more about the things you are taking to reduce your Cholesterol levels. I feel that it's hard to go low carb AND low fat at the same time. I need to feel full otherwise I'll just start eating things I shouldn't.
Personally can't tell you more cause all I did was take the supplements I mentioned in first post. The woman in our very good health shop recommended them. Perhaps Benecol would have worked as well. I don't know. People have also mentioned the psyllium husks which sound good and recently I saw Michael Mosley praising oats again.
Like you, I prioritised blood sugar and did not amend my diet in relation to fat so my cholesterol lowering is down to the supplements, plus possibly that I lost a few pounds in last three weeks.
I rated the CGM cause it frightened me into not feeling hungry.
That's interesting about the supplements. I'll take a look at them. My cholesterol has a tendency to be high and definitely familial.
When I came off my SSRI's for fibro early last year (as i wanted my emotions back) and started keto for a few months, my cholesterol levels were even higher after a few months of keto- apparently that's quite a typical response.
I have cut back alot on carbs again the last 2 months to avoid weight gain on preds, so am expecting the cholesterol is raised.
My PMR then started 6 months after I stopped SSRI's.
One can test BG levels 24/7 and also get alarmed if BG is running high OR low. My personal target is to get my BG between 3.9to 10.0 mmol/Litre, at least 70% of the time.
Difficult but I achieved one or two days 100% in target! It also gives an estimated HbA1c over time+ transmits data automatically to the diabetes team.👏👆
BTW bread, toast, pastry, pizza products and oats, muesli will make BLOOD GLUCOSE spike hence must cut down!
Sorry I can't give any advice about the cholesterol but I can recommend a book on diabetes by Dr. David Cavan called How to reverse Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes (see below). I have a few of his books and they are excellent. The version below appears to be the most up-to-date one and covers the older ones too. I got the book recently on Amazon and it is very reasonable. Dr. David Unwin is another pioneering doctor on the diabetes front.
I also frequent a page on Facebook about the most recent version of the Libre sensor and there are a lot of complaints about it so much so that I did not bother with it.
No its this group Freestyle Libre 2 Users which a closed group on Facebook. Lots of people complaining about the unreliability of the units and having to send off for replacements.
I never had to buy it as I worked extremely hard and got back to prediabetes/diabetes free level, T.G. I'm off the steroids over a year now but still on Actemra for GCA.
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Blood sugar monitor 
Steroids and blood-sugar...
Actemra update 
good blood test results 
Sky high hba1c
