Treating Diabetes with a Low-Carb diet

[JaneV2.0]

I think it's pretty common; I know my SO experienced it.
You may have to get a new prescription as your eyesight improves.

[SteveinMN]

I'm wondering if anyone here has had the same thing happen and if it resolved itself.

I experienced that. "Resolved itself"? Not sure what that means. My opthalmologist told me that changes in (average) blood glucose will affect vision. However, he said if I kept my BG at its new lower level then I should expect the new eyeglasses Rx to hold. And it has. I waited until my BG was stable for a couple of months before I went and got new glasses. At the price of my specs, I wanted to be sure.

[Geila]

The thing is, I can't drive safely right now. I've only ever needed reading glasses, and a mild prescription at that. And I looked up the reddit post and it says it might take a month for the blurred vision to go away: https://www.reddit.com/r/diabetes/co...sion_question/

I just made an appt at the optometrist for an exam on Thursday morning. I'll need something to wear until things settle down. I get the same thing that the person describes in the post above where if I'm outside and it's sunny I see perfectly well, but if it's overcast like today or if I'm inside the house everything is blurry. I'll get something cheap and just plan on retesting in a month or two.

This afternoon I went for a 20-min walk in the rain to relieve some stress. I just tested my glucose (before dinner) and I'm at 103. I'm glad that I stopped taking the glipizide. And I'm so happy that the numbers are dropping so quickly. I just have to figure out how to deal with the side effects of doing so.

Steve - it sounds like maybe your eyesight got better, not worse?

[SteveinMN]

Steve - it sounds like maybe your eyesight got better, not worse?

Well, I'm almost legally blind without glasses, so it's a relative thing. I just noticed that my eyeglasses Rx before BG improvement required me to move my glasses almost off my nose before computer or printed text became clear. I don't know as I'd call it better; just noticeably different.

[Geila]

Well, I'm almost legally blind without glasses, so it's a relative thing. I just noticed that my eyeglasses Rx before BG improvement required me to move my glasses almost off my nose before computer or printed text became clear. I don't know as I'd call it better; just noticeably different.

Oh, okay. That's interesting.

My morning BG reading today was 133, just 3 points away from the 'safe zone'. But I wonder why the upper limit is listed as 130 if anything at 126 or over is diabetic. Shouldn't the safe limit be more like 120 or 125? I think it might keep folks at too high of a level if you stop trying to get it down once you hit 130, so you're technically high all the time.

Steve - I forgot, how low are you able to keep it with just diet alone?

[Geila]

Just found out that my abdominal ultrasound revealed that I have a fatty liver. Luckily, I also found this article that says clinical studies have found that a low-carb diet can produce "rapid and dramatic reductions of liver fat and other cardiometabolic risk factors": https://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism...131(18)30054-8

I've also requested a foot exam to test for nerve damage. I get very hot feet sometimes at night (sometimes painfully hot) that I had attributed to perimenopause but now find out that it's one of the more serious signs of diabetes and might indicate nerve damage. The Atkins book also recommends having vitamin B-12 levels tested so I've requested that as well.

Now, my weight... I finally lost the 2 lbs I'd gained with the glipizide. So hopefully something will finally begin to happen.

[Geila]

I know a lot of people that have lost huge amounts of weight once they went on metformin. My husband lost 50lbs and a friend 90.

TT - do you remember how quickly your husband began to lose weight when he started the meds?

[SteveinMN]

I wonder why the upper limit is listed as 130 if anything at 126 or over is diabetic. Shouldn't the safe limit be more like 120 or 125? I think it might keep folks at too high of a level if you stop trying to get it down once you hit 130, so you're technically high all the time.

Interesting question with an involved answer. Some of the factors involved:

- There are many ways to measure BG level -- fasting, after meals, etc. Different values can be expected at different times. A1c is a three-month average of BG level (and uses a different measure than a fingerstick). Add in the fact that BG meters can be off as much as 10-15% per reading and it's smart to build in some "slip". So different numbers are specified.

-Those ol' moving goalposts. There are several well-conducted and -documented studies that show organ damage occurs whenever BG levels hit 140. For years, the ADA was happy with readings of 180 two hours after meals (which meant BG undoubtedly was higher during and up to two hours after a meal). Moving the limit to 130 captures in the net many more people who might have been called "pre-diabetic".

Charitable Steve believes that these folks, statistically, were likely to present with full-blown diabetes relatively soon unless diet and exercise changed significantly with the "pre-diabetes" diagnosis -- and history show that just does not happen for most people -- so it's wise to catch them early. Salty Steve thinks it's a cynical attempt to get more people onto the diabetes treatment express. I have no problem with health care providers giving patients the heads-up about their BG and where they're heading without changes; I'm less kind about the parade of specialists and medications that every T2 is supposed to get simply because they're diabetic.

- Hypoglycemic reactions are serious. They can lead to disorientation, loss of consciousness, or even death. Some diabetics have hypoglycemic unawareness, so they don't even know they're crashing. The line of thinking among medical providers is that BG running high provides a bigger cushion against going hypo. That is true, especially for the folks with hypoglycemic unawareness, but I think its just one more instance of protocol running amok -- that many more diabetics suffer long-term body damage from unnecessarily-high BG levels than the very few who will go low and not even know it. But, again, that's me talking.

Steve - I forgot, how low are you able to keep it with just diet alone?

I've had fasting BGs under 100 a few times. Most mornings I'm in the 120s (dawn phenomenon) but it's my highest reading all day, so I haven't sweated it much. I do know of far more active people on keto who have BGs as low as 80 routinely.

[frugalone]

I'll add my 2 cents: It worked for me. I was diagnosed about 10 years ago. I lost about 20 lbs., my A1C is below "diabetes level," and I don't have to use insulin, just Metformin. An added bonus: I suffered from stomach ailments/chronic indigestion all my life. Between the low-carb diet and vegetarianism, most of my tummy ailments have vanished.

[Teacher Terry]

It started within weeks