I finally feel like I am getting better

[PMoon]

I month or two ago, I was in this forum whining and moaning because I was trying so hard and not getting good results with my blood sugar control. I was having miserable pain in my feet that made me walk funny. I feel like I should write about it here in case it will help someone else.

I started low carbing on March 24th. I didn't really make a note of it at first. I had to remind myself when I started by going back to my glucose meter and see what day my FBS went from 134 to 99. In just one day.

It was very soon after I started LC that the neuropathy pain in my feet started. I was very let down about it. Why would I be getting sicker now that my blood sugar was getting better. Brian told me he knew people who didn't get neuropathy pain until they started healing. I wonder if it is a 'getting worse before getting better' kind of thing.

When I first started LC, I was taking some metformin that I had been prescribed about 18 months ago. It didn't seem to make much of a difference at all in my BS if I took it or not. I thought I might need a higher dosage, but I needed to get to a doctor to get a new prescription, so I was taking only half of a 1000 mg tablet once a day. Now, I wonder if the pills were just too old and lost their potency. I ran out of them early in May and didn't get to take any more until a doctor prescribed me some on May 18.

I got weighed that day at the doctor. I didn't weigh when I first started. (I don't like to weigh too much because I find that to be the wrong kind of feedback for me.) But from my best calculations, I had lost about 30 lbs between 3/23 and 5/18. Also, some time not long before that appointment, my feet had stopped hurting. Now I have been pain free for at least a month.

So, on 5/18 I told Paige (the practitioner... she wasn't a doctor, maybe a NP, she was introduced by her name, so I don't know what to call her except Paige, LOL.) I told Paige that I wanted metformin and why. I told her I wanted 2000 mg a day, but she said no. She wanted to start with 500 mg with breakfast, then give me more if I needed it. I was a little miffed, thinking the 500 wouldn't help at all. Thank goodness I was wrong. Soon after I started taking the metformin, I started taking 5,000 units of Vitamin D3 a day, too. It was such a coincidence that my BS dropped right after I started taking that. But I'll never know how much of a part it played, if any.

I got the new pills that day. Within probably a week or so of taking them, my blood sugar started to come down from the high 90's-low 100's. I know those numbers are very good. But I had still been obsessing about Dr. Bernstein's tight control. And those numbers weren't good enough for me.

For the past couple of weeks my BG is usually in the mid-80's. Often low 80's and sometimes in the 70's. I know it is not much lower, but those numbers make me feel proud of the hard work I have been doing.

The funnest part though is that I have a little lee-way in what I can eat. I don't cheat or eat off plan. I don't use that language relative to my eating habits. It's important to me, emotionally, to know that I can always eat whatever I want... I just have to be prepared to accept the consequences. As a result of that, I experiment a lot. And when i find something doesn't agree with my health goals, it's usually easy for me to avoid that--I simply don't have any desire to have it.

There are a few things I have yet to experiment with. I bought some wild green plums from a vendor at the farmer's market Friday. I big shopping bag full. (Paid $10 for them. The farmer gave me a deal because it was close to shutting down time. I took all that he had.) I have a long and romantic history with wild green plums. From the time I could walk until I was in my early 20's, my family used to forage these on the roadsides together... to the point of sometimes getting run off peoples' property. LOL They are only in season for a few weeks. In the past decade, they are getting extremely hard to find. So I always get them whenever I am able. Anyway...

I had all these plums in the house and me and my little B started eating them. I literally ate as many as I wanted--sometimes a big soup bowl full at a time, with salt! We finished them off in two days. (They start to go overripe really fast and don't last long.) I also checked my BS a lot during this time to see what was happening. I stayed in the mid 80's the whole time! It's so good to know I can have these again next year!

I've also done experimental GTT tests on myself. Not drinking a sugary drink, but eating as many carby foods as I care to have. I don't need to know what my BS does when I eat sugar. I need to know what it does when I eat foods I want. I've completely given up pasta, rice, potatoes, flour, beans and sugar. But I like carrots and tomatoes! And nuts (been cooking w/ a lot of almond flour.) And sunflower seeds, almond milk, and dairy. When I eat a meal with a lot more of these acceptable foods than I would normally have I test my BS at 30 minutes, one hour and two hours and it's still been in the mid 80's. I especially like this because I hate measuring food and counting carbs. I just like to know what I can eat and can't eat.

This has only been going on for three weeks or so. But it has been a nice 3 weeks. I hope it lasts.

[jem51]

that's great. i am unmedicated. but i do the same; i test when there is some question.

[NurseMonkee]

That is great. I am glad that you're controlling your diabetes. It feels great, doesn't it? WTG.

I am also able to add in a lot of foods now that I couldn't before. My only rule is portion control. I don't want metformin to be my "free pass" to eat, eat, eat. My goal is still to reduce my dosage and not depend on it so much. I know that in my case I might never truly be off it (have PCOS also), but I at least want to help my diabetes along by making better choices with my foods. Just because I can now have something, it does not mean that I can have unlimited portions.

[drewsmimi]

I appreciate this success story. What a change in your readings!!! Am doing low carb...along Bernstein levels but maybe not as strict, but I've also given up the things you have given up and it's hard to believe that life still goes on...and quite well at that. Keep up the great work.

[shunsweets]

I'm doing Berstein's only I do 3/0/10 - I don't eat lunch and keep really low at breakfast and supper but still am having high fastings and post meal spikes so today is day 1 of metformin for me - 500SR with supper to go up to 1000 if tolerated/needed in 3 weeks. Hope I have the good results you are all seeing. I'm worried about GI symptoms at work.

Thanks for the inspirational story PMoon !

[Georgia Lee]

P Moon, just wanted to say thanks for the story!

[PMoon]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I am still feeling good. I have started on CPAP therapy recently, I'm sort of taking into account all of the positive health changes I am making. Other than my BG going up several points during TOM, everything is going pretty well.

I've been taking a LOT of supplements lately. And I felt something was causing me to feel nauseous and just cruddy all the time. So, I've stopped taking most of the supps. The cruddy feeling has gone away. But I feel tired. I have started adding things back, one at a time.

I am always in the middle of a medical experiment. LOL

[NurseMonkee]

Try introducing your supplements 1 at a time.
This is how I found out what was making me sick last year.

Sometimes, too many, too fast, is not good.
Your body needs time.

I am up to like 20'something. LOL.
This is from someone who couldn't even take down a chewable pill before.

[flipflop]

HI THERE