Diabetes? weird situation

[Susanna77]

I went to the doctor today to show my blood test results. He checked me out for diabetes and I had to do one of those tests where after they draw blood out, you're given a sugary drink and then wait an hour before they draw blood again.

Now: thing is. My sugar levels show very high while fasting but then it shows "normal" one hour after the sugary drink.

Chances are there was a mistake at the lab, unless there is a metabolic disorder. I have to be re-tested but I'm a bit scared it could be right, or it could be something worse. Has anyone ever experienced anything like it?

On a side note in line with the law of attraction I've been joking that my doctor was a bit of a Dr. House because he doesn't wear a Lab coat (only sweatshirts and jeans), he drives a motorbike (jacket and helmet hanging in the background), doesn't say a lot (even though I wouldn't say he's rude like Dr. House) and blurted out "you have diabetes" before he realised there was an inconsistency. And it looks that like in good Dr. House fashion he got a medical mystery to solve...

[AliB]

I used to get a lot of hypos and suspect that a similar thing may well have been happening to me. They culminated in Type 2 Diabetes eventually about 12 years ago and gradually my body's own ability to produce insulin has been diminishing so I now have to supplement with injected insulin.

What I have recently discovered through a long process of elimination is that it looks extremely likely that I have Liver and/or Pancreatic flukes and have probably been host to them and their ancestors for at least the last 37 years of my life!

Apparently some parasites can affect the blood sugar balance within the body - either high or low depending on what and where they are. Trouble is that testing procedures are pretty hopeless at finding them and negative results are very common. Parasites can range from tapeworms of several feet in length to microscopic protozoa but testing misses an awful lot more than it finds.

My discovery came about really by chance. After many years of fatigue, IBS, weight gain (some can cause weight loss too), digestive issues, an inability to digest carbs, the diabetes, hair loss, a whole-body pounding thing and finally a virtual collapse of my digestive system I found that adopting a gluten-free diet helped a bit but still did not solve the carb-digestion issue. I then switched to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) which helped some more but STILL did not solve the carb digestion issue. I then lit upon a forum thread somewhere that mentioned parasites and a lightbulb went on.

About 2 weeks ago I started an herbal parasite protocol and since then I have been able to actually feel the blasted things moving in my back/Liver area and sometimes in my intestines. It is not pleasant to think they are in there but I am mostly gutted to think that they have very likely been the cause of my health issues all these years.

There is something that Diabetics experience and I have too, called the 'Dawn Phenomenon'. Apparently the Liver dumps a load of sugar into the bloodstream during the early hours and that is why the blood sugar is higher in the morning. Why it does that no one knows but personally I would not put it past parasites to be able to trigger it somehow. They can get pretty much anywhere in the body and do any kind of damage. They rob us of our vital nutrients, change chemical processes, excrete toxins that can affect any part of the body, even the brain and dump their waste as they go encouraging fungus like Candida. Yuk.

Unlike our ancestors we no longer follow the parasite cleansing/de-worming protocols that they regularly used to do (my friend who is in her late 50's remembers her Gran giving her castor oil at the end of each month for de-worming!). We do it for our pets but never contemplate that we may also be carrying the things! You don't have to go abroad to pick them up either - they are all around us.

I am really hoping that as I get the better of these beasties my body will then be able to start to heal and to work properly again. Who knows, I may at some point no longer be diabetic! Wouldn't that be a thing!

Very little is known in this field. Doctors are extremely ignorant (although they would never think so!) on the subject. As we have stopped taking the anti-parasite herbs and other remedies, the incidence of 'modern' diseases has been soaring. No one really knows why. But our bodies are weakened by chemical exposure the like of which the World has never seen before, the unrestrained use of prescription (and recreational) drugs like anti-biotics that radically disrupt the gut flora and weaken the immune system and bodily defenses, the highly processed and modified substances that pass for food in our 'Western' diet. All these factors gang together to create bodily hosts that welcome parasites and pathogens.

I have found that the pounding, whist not gone is much more tolerable (it would often keep me awake), my digestion is more settled and I am able to digest more foods, as a result I am sleeping better and I have more energy. It is early days but at long last I feel as though I may well finally be on the right road.

If you are experiencing weird symptoms (or even ones that are nowadays considered to be normal!) don't dismiss the possibility of parasites being behind it. I did and it has cost me 37 miserable years of my life.

[Susanna77]

Thank you so much for your reply. Your symptoms are exactly all I have. I cannot eat carbs like normal people and if I go past a tiny amount I feel very sick. I also had several bouts of Candida.

In fact all you said matches another section of the test results I got and that also puzzled the doctor. My "Protein C Reactive" was well off the charts. Apparently it can mean that there is an inflammation somewhere in the body and the immune-system is on full alert, so you mentioning parasites makes sense.

What's the herbal medication you're taking?

[AliB]

Originally Posted by Susanna77

Thank you so much for your reply. Your symptoms are exactly all I have. I cannot eat carbs like normal people and if I go past a tiny amount I feel very sick. I also had several bouts of Candida.

In fact all you said matches another section of the test results I got and that also puzzled the doctor. My "Protein C Reactive" was well off the charts. Apparently it can mean that there is an inflammation somewhere in the body and the immune-system is on full alert, so you mentioning parasites makes sense.

What's the herbal medication you're taking?

Hi Susanna. I rooted around the internet for a while to see what was needed and decided to concentrate on things I either had or could get hold of easily. Raw garlic is good. Difficult to take but if you put it through a garlic press and swallow it with water its tolerable - one or two cloves a day is helpful. Don't bother to buy the flavorless stuff - its useless. The chemical that gives it its taste is what works against parasites.

I am also taking Wormwood and Quassia along with black walnut, drinking oregano tea (oregano oil seems to work well too). Clove capsules and oil seem to be good for killing the eggs but I haven't managed to get hold of any yet.

I have been contemplating getting some Humaworm from the States (I'm in the UK) as that has all the necessary stuff in it and seems to have a good track record on the internet in general (have a read of the testimonials on their site too!). I first heard of it on another forum but hadn't really considered parasites as a potential trigger for my symptoms at that time.

I PM'd Pterodactyl on this site as he/she said that he/she had taken it but had had to resort to drug treatment to get rid of flukes as they are notoriously difficult to shift. I was interested to know what drug was prescribed but haven't heard back yet. Personally I am trying to beat them 'holistically' as I am concerned about the possibility of drug resistance if they are not all destroyed.

I have even contemplated getting a Hulda Clark type 'Zapper' to see if that would have any more effect.

Apparently they are much more active around the full moon (how the heck they know I haven't the foggiest - gravitational pull, water levels??) and boy, did I know it last night with the full moon. They were really having a right old go. I usually take the Wormwood in the evening and that often sets them off - I can feel all sorts of movements in my back and intestines. But even before I took the Wormwood last night they were going for it. I took that and washed it down with a large mug of oregano, thyme, lapacho (pau d'arco) and parsley tea with honey to have a good go at them.

Not sure if it helped but things have been a little quieter today. I haven't felt too good today though and read somewhere that die-off can create different problems. It seems that they can harbour viruses which can be released when they die so it is quite common to get cold and/or flu symptoms and other weird things.

Has your Doctor checked to see if your liver and/or pancreas is inflamed or enlarged? I have been going this alone because the NHS is so hopeless. Testing would be pretty non-existent, but I think I might just go along on Tuesday and see if the Doctor would send me to get my eosinophil levels and C-reactive checked.

Whilst they can affect any part of the body, the fact that your sugar levels are raised does suggest the possibility that they are in your liver and/or pancreas somewhere.

Is your Doctor someone who might be open to the idea of parasites? How did you or he pick up the fasting blood sugar problem - did you show symptoms of diabetes?

[ginkgo]

This is a very interesting thread. I learned this from an herbalist. There are over 200 parasites that can live in the human body. She gave a lady some tea and the lady's husband called the herbalist and was upset. He said that when the lady woke up she had dead bugs lying on her pillow.

The herbalist said that mucus protects the parasites and removing it causes them to die. So the parasites in her head were killed and were expelled through the ears! The herbalist started out in this field after she took herbs and passed a foot long tapeworm! She freaked out after seeing what was living in her.

Fasting is the most powerful way to remove mucus and kill those "unwanted guests." Also it is free and saves you money. Here is something from a site: "Parasites tend to develop in unclean, unhealthy intestines. They feed on proteins that that have not been digested properly. A parasite can be a microscopic organism or a 15-foot tapeworm. According to one survey it was found that one in six people in the US had parasites. Testing a stool sample is how parasites are found. Most people have no idea that they have parasites."

It mentioned trichinosis (worms) but does not say that you get it from eating pig that is not cooked enough. Jews and Muslims (not Kosher or Halel) do not eat pig. The Christians worship the bible and it says that you should not eat them. But they are too busy fighting the idea that the earth orbits around the sun (they finally accepted it but now want to kill everyone that teaches evolution).

I wanted to copy a lot more on that site but that would violate the fair use rule of copyright. Here is the site: Bowel & Colon Parasites

It has lots of suggestions for getting rid of these things. Actually they cannot live in a healthy body. The focus should be on the terrain, not the invading organism. Also it suggests taking Fiberzon but their link to it is bad. Here is a link to Fiberzon and the Treasure tea.

Jotoba trees grow in places in the Amazon rainforest that are dark and wet and loaded with fungus. The Jatoba bark is very strongly anti-fungal and is unexcelled at killing parasites. But the Fiberzon and Treasure tea have this bark and also cats claw inner bark and pau d'arco bark which are also great at killing parasites, bacteria, viruses and fungi. Cats claw is the best thing for fixing the intestines. See Amazon Herbs. The Amazon rainforest has more things competing with you that can hurt you than anywhere else like big cats, snakes, spiders, frogs and even fish that will eat you in minutes (piranha). These items also help with the candida albicans fungus.

Have you heard of the weight loss method where they put a tapeworm in you to eat your food? Then they remove it. This sounds like a joke, but it is not.

[Susanna77]

I rooted around the internet for a while to see what was needed and decided to concentrate on things I either had or could get hold of easily. Raw garlic is good.

Oh I love garlic. In fact I just had a chick pea salad with lots of raw garlic (much to my husband's disgust). I wouldn't eat a whole clove but in bits mixed in a salad or beans is lovely. I also use it daily in my cooking but perhaps when it's cooked it's not as good.

I am also taking Wormwood and Quassia along with black walnut, drinking oregano tea (oregano oil seems to work well too).

Going to look for oregano tea today when I go shopping.

All the other things you mention I will look late/research r when I get back from the supermarket.

Has your Doctor checked to see if your liver and/or pancreas is inflamed or enlarged? I have been going this alone because the NHS is so hopeless. Testing would be pretty non-existent, but I think I might just go along on Tuesday and see if the Doctor would send me to get my eosinophil levels and C-reactive checked.

My doctor has not checked yet for pancreas. The liver was checked within the blood tests I did and seemed fine. I am a bit concerned about the pancreas side of things. I know I've always had sugar imbalance but not sure how long this infection that shows in the C-reactive has been there (only found out in October and it showed again). Unfortunately, I am only getting all these tests because I have private health insurance. The doctors kept giving me one blood test while fasting in the morning and that was it (same in the UK when I lived there), when they should really monitor you for a few hours to see how your body reacted to sugar. (I usually get tested once a year but only in October did I get checked with the proper test for diabetes).

But when you go private then they pay more attention and ask for more tests (I wonder why...cough cough).

I do have health insurance though, otherwise between my husband and I we'd have spent thousands by now if we didn't have it. The alternative would be to carry on feeling ill until we dropped. (Husband has VERY high cholestrol).

Is your Doctor someone who might be open to the idea of parasites? How did you or he pick up the fasting blood sugar problem - did you show symptoms of diabetes?

I'm not sure. My mum knows a doctor who is very open to it. In fact she says the only way to really tell is by having the faeces checked, but she says labs hate doing it because it puts the lab environment at risk, so the doctors don't even bother referring people to these kind of tests. She also thinks everybody should take "de-worming" tablets once a year.

Interestingly, my husband showed parasites in his blood, about 2-3 years ago and we all had to take these tablets. He was clear since.

Ginko: your post freaked me out. I have to read it again carefully when I return. Very interesting though. Thank you for your input.

As a side note: I'm going to be taking Vitamin C (2g) a day again and acidophilus (which I usually do anyway to keep candida at bay).
Also, I did a bit of research on eating cheak peas and beans (I love both) and these seem great to control blood sugar levels but not sure on its effect on parasites (that is, do the parasites feed on this type of food). Something else to look at.

[AliB]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

It has lots of suggestions for getting rid of these things. Actually they cannot live in a healthy body. The focus should be on the terrain, not the invading organism.

Absolutely it is about changing the environment to make our body unhospitable to parasites and pathogens. The trouble is that whilst we can control to a certain extent what we eat, there are also a lot of factors out of our control that affect us all the time.

Air and water pollution, lack of nutrients in the fruit and vegetables (unless you are privileged to have a large garden and can grow your own, but even then you cannot control what is in the rain that is falling on them), chemical exposure within our homes, in our clothes, within the very heart of everything we breathe or consume. We cannot escape it all.

I was reading Hulda Clarks' 'Cure for all Diseases' where she states that Methanol (Wood alcohol; polyethanol; Aspartame; etc.) can actually attract flukes to the pancreas. She pointed out that even some diabetic medications contain it. I went off and checked and sure enough there it is in my Metformin. So the very thing that is supposed to help my diabetes may actually be keeping it going!!! Duh.

Unfortunately I am not yet in a position to be able to give up the Metformin so will just have to plug away with the herbs for the meantime.

Humaworm's site says that the diet does not need to be changed. I would beg to differ - I am sure that removing the beasties sources of food must make the process more successful in the long run.

What I personally feel is the more important area to concentrate on along with a better diet is to boost the immune system and gut environment. Hippocrates said 'all disease begins in the gut'. Even right back then he recognised that the gut is the starting point and once it is breached we are open to invasion.

The indiscriminate dishing out of antibiotics has, I believe, had a far more reaching effect than even the Medical Profession realises. They now (finally, only 80 years after Fleming created Penicillin) understand the peril of drug resistance and have cut back on who they give them to and what they give them for, but I am sure that antibiotics have played a major part in the breakdown of our resistance to many pathogens. There are few in our Western Hemisphere or the World in general who have not been exposed to them at some point.

Because they destroy most bacteria, both bad and good, they then leave the gut open to attack. Kill the soldiers and the city is undefended. There are some pathogens that remain untouched like Candida and with the gut swept clean it now has the opportunity to take over. In small amounts it is pretty benign and may even be beneficial - in large amounts it is lethal. Parasites often have ways of controlling our food choices, creating cravings for food that they all feed off. Parasitic waste can also encourage fungus like Candida so it is a vicious cycle - they benefit from each other, but we benefit from neither.

So rebuilding our gut has to be of the utmost priority. If we eat good, healthy and nutritious food and try to keep ourselves as free as possible from 'man-made' rubbish and chemicals the gut will start to heal and rebuild itself. Much of the gut flora is there for immune support.

I am considerably better since having been on the Specific Carb Diet which cuts out anything processed, grains, starches, dairy and sugar, but that alone has not been enough to get rid of the beasties which is why I am now slapping them with the herbs.

Possibly if you were born from extremely healthy parents who have never been exposed to modern chemicals and foods and drugs, and you have never had to be in contact with them either, then you may well have a body that is easily able to cast off pathogens, but for most of us that has never been an option.

[AliB]

Susanna, you don't have to buy Oregano tea, even if you could get hold of it - just put a good pinch of dried oregano into a little jug and pour boiling water over it. Leave it to steep for 5 minutes or so then strain and drink. You can add a little honey to it. It can be quite bitter so I prefer it with a little honey. Adding it to your cooking can help too. I have some dried Pau d'arco herb that I got from a herbalist and add a pinch of that too.

Boy I have had quite a day. Whilst I had been feeling pretty good and had a bit more energy since starting the parasite cleansing, I was feeling a bit rough yesterday. This morning I was ok but by this afternoon I had started shivering. It was so weird. I was incredibly tired and just snoozed for most of the afternoon/evening. Strangely I didn't have a temperature. My body though was very hot even though I felt cold and couldn't stop shivering.

Eventually my liver had a bit of a clear-out. I could feel something working down through my liver and into the hepatic ducts and the duodenum. It must have been associated with the shivering. It seemed to settle down after that. Whether it was flukes or just hepatic stones/grit I don't know but I will be watching the toilet like a hawk over the next few days!

I probably ought to be doing this under supervision but there is no point me going to the doctor as they would have a clue, and not only do I not know of a good naturopath but I can't afford one either. We don't have insurance like you do in the States, well, there is Private but they wont even consider you if you have an existing condition and neither does the insurance cover 'alternative treatments'.

If you can find a good Naturopath who specialises in this sort of thing then you would be blessed. I don't know if Ann Louise Gittelman has a practice over there that you could enquire about? She is very up on parasites.

Just out of interest I take Vitabase Blood Sugar Formula which I get sent over from the States and that has really helped bring my blood sugar down to normal levels. Mind you, I am still hoping that once I get these little beggars out of my body, it might just start to work properly and I won't need them any more.

[Susanna77]

Alib:

I went to have my blood tests the day before yesterday's and it was a bit different from the first time I had this test done. This time I was given twice the amount of sugary water to drink (YUK YUK YUK) and I had blood drawn EVERY HALF AN HOUR for three hours. Basically, this time they are not just measuring how my body reacts to the sugar but also the insulin levels. (I also had to pee on a container each time).

It's funny my mum had told me about a doctor who is very much into this parasite thing and who walked into the room while the nurse was seeing me? The said doctor. Bearing in mind that she's only at that hospital once a week and the hospital is huge I wondered if the universe/cosmos/whatever was giving me a clue I didn't have the chance to say anything actually; I couldn't say "they're taking my blood but it's probably parasites".

I'm at the doctor's April 23rd; let's see what happens from there. I'll let you know in case any of the information I may get helps.

I made a note of what you suggested and just putting on hold until I see if the test results show anything specific.

[Susanna77]

OK, apparently I have a metabolic disorder that usually precedes diabetes (type 2). I have waaaaaaaay too much insulin circulating in the body (nearly 4 times more than it should). However, the sugar in my blood is not lowering as it should as it seems I've become insulin resistent.

I'm taking some tablets used for diabetes (even though this is not diabetes as such, it's hyperinsulinemia) to give the pancreas a rest because it's working way too hard...and tp little effect.

I had my first tablet today but brain still a bit foggy and not much energy. I don't know how long these things take to kick in. Changing diet and exercise is a must I've been told.

I'd like to add more but...as I said above...brain is foggy and so is eyesight. If these tablets help I'll be SO happy. Tired of being tired.

[Dharma]

Look at your relationship with the 'sweetness' in your life. Have you glossed over it much like how your body doesn't even receive sugar (sweetness) anymore?

[Susanna77]

Originally Posted by Dharma

Look at your relationship with the 'sweetness' in your life. Have you glossed over it much like how your body doesn't even receive sugar (sweetness) anymore?

Aaaaaah Louise Hay. Yes, that is part of the plan. I have a pile of books to read on healing but Louise Hay comes top of the list.

This situation is not new. God knows how long I've had this. I remember having it from school time and I really struggled to focus at class. So I need to look at various aspects of my life and I think I know where to look

Thanks.

[Sahira]

Hello, I'm new here, from Sweden.

I can't help but wish to share some information and experience about diets and diabetics. I used to be a raw foodist myself but stopped since my teeth didn't do well on raw foods.

I've been reading some facts from Steve's intake of fruits and it only made me understand things clearer.
For example: as long as person tries to fill up on carbs, no fats, no protein, trouble will most certainly arise. The calorie intake will not help by filling up on more veggies or fruit. You would have to eat tremendous amounts of veggies.

Try this way insteead:

1. More natural fats, animal and/or olive oil (no carbs in it)
2. Eliminate carbs like fruits (bananas are very high in carbs, gives you 'sugar' etc), poatoes, rice, pasta and breads
3. Eat only veggies growing above the soil, and berries, herbs
3. eat, if you like, raw mylks, cheese, yoghurts, eggs

This regimen is more natural for us in cold countries like Sweden and parts of USA. Check native people, the Massai is a very good example.No heart disease, no high blood pressure, no diabetes; they eat meat and drink milk etc.
You experience No insulin hickup and you will feel full and satisfied which makes you stop binge eating, feel nausea from all the sugary carbs.

Underweight will gradually gain healthy weight and muscle mass (a raw food diet is very low in good, wholesome protein, thats why so many are feeling their strenght deteriorating after a few years)
Overweight and diabetics do wonderfully on this diet. There are many testimonials, some very long term.

I think we are about 6 000 thousand people trying this in Sweden with extremly good results. Many doctors follow this themseves since it is so effective. It's called: Low Carb - High Fat. People are thrilled and we get very educated through our LCHF-forums. We are able to study the latest in research about this and it looks like we are going back to eating like times before the agriculture era. No, grains, no breads, no such carbs and we feel so good! And we though fat was BAD. Hey, I have never had such clean, white teeth...no hunger for sugar, no nasuea, just plain calm on fattening food from ancient times. I feel like a cave man but so relaxed. I was always hungry and snacking away on raw foods. It was so hard to fill mysef up on fruit, nuts and seeds. And expencive. Now we never worrie.Ever...

Thank You, Sahira

[funchy]

I'm glad to hear you went back in for a re-test. This should give you much more insight as to what's going on.

If you're pre-diabetic, you might be eligible (and might need) a blood glucose meter anyway. This will let you see for yourself in a few seconds what your blood sugar is doing.

I might caution you to talk it over with your doctor before self-medicating. Anything strong enough to kill worms or other parasites is inherently toxic and could harm your own body's cells in the wrong amounts. I'm a horse person and we de-worm our horses every 2-3 months, but the kind of drugs you need to effectively kill of parasites like tapeworm are very strong. One thing I do know with de-worming is that you need to know what kind of parasite you're treating for in order to choose the right treatment.

From a diet standpoint, I'm really impressed by the results raw foodists get when the diet is done properly. Have you seen the documentary that follows 6 people who kick all their diabetes medications in 30 days by adjusting diet & activity levels?
Sustainability and Raw Food Blog » Simply Raw - Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days : A Review

There seem to be many opinions about the cause of diabetes and IR. Some people advocate lots of meat or dairy, and then there are studies which show a link between animal products and blood sugar problems, so don't dismiss fruit/veggies just yet. If it were as simple as bananas causing diabetes, every gorilla would have diabetes. There is a lot we don't know about causes of blood sugar problems.

I hope you'll post an update after you see the doctor again. Hope you feel better!

[liamona]

Originally Posted by Sahira

Hello, I'm new here, from Sweden.

I can't help but wish to share some information and experience about diets and diabetics. I used to be a raw foodist myself but stopped since my teeth didn't do well on raw foods.

Welcome, Sahira! You may want to read some of the recent threads about the raw diet and teeth, and also curing cavities.

I think we are about 6 000 thousand people trying this in Sweden with extremly good results. Many doctors follow this themseves since it is so effective. It's called: Low Carb - High Fat. People are thrilled and we get very educated through our LCHF-forums.

There are some here in the States, too. I follow this diet, because it helps stabilize my low blood sugar problems (among other things).

And we though fat was BAD. Hey, I have never had such clean, white teeth...no hunger for sugar, no nasuea, just plain calm on fattening food from ancient times. I feel like a cave man but so relaxed. I was always hungry and snacking away on raw foods.

I had a similar experience with a low-fat diet. I ate whole grains, fruits and veggies up the wazoo, but always felt hungry, and was just completely obsessed about food (and getting fatter and sicker on this "healthy" diet!).

Isn't it nice to eat infrequently, feel full, and not think about eating in between? It's so freeing.

[liamona]

I admire Dr. Bernstein (author of The Diabetes Solution among other books). He's cured his type 1 Diabetes problems mainly through diet (low carb). However, his doctors wouldn't listen to how he succeeded, so he became a doctor primarily so that his studies could be published in medical journals.

As former astronaut and family physician Duane Graveline says, "This is a sad commentary of the reality of challenging orthodoxy."

The following information is from Dr. B's site:

"He then began to measure his blood sugar about 5 times each day, and soon realized that the levels were on a roller coaster. To even out his blood sugars, he adjusted his insulin regimen from one injection a day to two, and experimented with his diet by cutting down on carbohydrates. However, three years after he began measuring his own blood sugar levels, his complications were still progressing, so he researched scientific articles about the disease. What he found was astonishing: complications from diabetes had repeatedly been prevented, and even reversed, in animals. Not through exercise, but through normalizing blood sugars! This was an incredible revelation, since all of diabetes treatment during that time was heavily focused in other directions, such as low-fat diets, preventing severe hypoglycemia, and preventing ketoacidosis, a potentially fatal extreme high blood sugar condition.

Bernstein set out to achieve normal blood sugars, and within a year had refined his insulin and diet regimen to the point that they were normal around the clock. After years of chronic fatigue and debilitating complications, he felt healthy and energized. His serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels were now in the normal ranges, and friends commented that his complexion was no longer gray.

Now the trick was to get the word about his discovery out to doctors and those suffering from the disease, which proved an uphill battle. Bernstein knew that there were millions of diabetics whose quality of life could vastly improve, if only he had the means to reach them. As a layperson he had difficulty gaining the attention of those in the medical field, so in 1977, he decided to give up his job and become a physician—”I couldn’t beat ‘em, so I had to join ‘em.”

At 45 years old, Richard Bernstein entered the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 1983 he opened his own medical practice near his home in Mamaroneck, New York. Today, Dr. Bernstein treats hundreds of patients a year, helping them to create effective personalized treatment plans that allow them to lead normal lives."

[liamona]

Originally Posted by funchy

From a diet standpoint, I'm really impressed by the results raw foodists get when the diet is done properly. Have you seen the documentary that follows 6 people who kick all their diabetes medications in 30 days by adjusting diet & activity levels?
Sustainability and Raw Food Blog » Simply Raw - Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days : A Review

There seem to be many opinions about the cause of diabetes and IR. Some people advocate lots of meat or dairy, and then there are studies which show a link between animal products and blood sugar problems, so don't dismiss fruit/veggies just yet.

Yeah, maybe a raw fruit/veggies diet without grains and with enough fat and some supplements would work; it certainly would be better than the current low-fat SAD diet the ADA now recommends.

If it were as simple as bananas causing diabetes, every gorilla would have diabetes. There is a lot we don't know about causes of blood sugar problems.

That's a good point. I think there are some real mysteries behind the cause (multiple causes?) of diabetes. It could be that there are certain things in the modern diet, like high fructose corn syrup and trans-fats combined with highly-processed grains that's damaging to the body and/or pancreas.

I dug up a couple of news stories that had some other information on possible causes:

PCBs Contamination: New Cause of Diabetes Found

Vaccines Implicated in Rocketing Childhood Diabetes Rates

"The MMR II product information leaflet can be found here: MMR II. The list of potential adverse reactions is long - and added to the end of this article. It includes:-

"Adverse Reactions ...........
Endocrine System
Diabetes mellitus ............"

I was a bit taken aback by this, but clicking on the above MMR II link opens a PDF file of Merck's product safety sheet that corroborates this article (so does a Google search).

[Susanna77]

Update:

Today is the first day my mind feels sharper. Yesterday I hit rock bottom. No energy, depression but no brain fog as such, just sleepiness. I'm not sure if today's improvement is due to medication - "metformin" - or because I haven't been eating sugary foods. (I always feel very low when I come off sugar).

I'm a very big believer in synchronicity and law of attraction and the day after I went to the doctor I put a book on diabetes on my shop's counter to read later. A client that had been in the day before came in again to ask something and noticed it. She apologised for being nosey but she'd would like to know why was I going to read that book. So I told her and as it happened she was a retired nurse and diabetic. I got lots of good advice and she offered to send me a glucometer from the UK! (I was going to buy one...no such thing as freebies in my country).

Also, a lot has been said about raw food/veggies vs protein in this thread. I'd just like to throw this into the discussion:

I'm from the south of Portugal where we have a mediterranean diet. I was always fat (well from age 3). So was my dad. My childhood friends always ate far more than I did and their parents were already taking on bad food habits, such as fried food, sugar drinks and lots of white bread. Not to mention sweets, including sugar in breakfast cereal and yogurts. Yes some had rotten teeth but they were slim. I was fat and my parents were careful with what they gave me (saying that I had a huge appetite, but then again, so did my friends).

My dad sometimes used to comment how his thin as an insect friends could devour so much food without putting weight on...(my dad loved salads and fruit more than a plate of chips, a rare thing in our house).

My dad was a farmer. Everything that entered my house was organic: meat, fruit and vegetables.

I think the trend nowadays is to blame today's eating habits, but that doesn't explain everything. I am 32 and until the age of 20 my diet was probably 85% organic (if not more). Maybe sometimes our bodies have these "faults" and need to be corrected (either with medication or food choices...and maybe some healing using the power of the mind).

[ginkgo]

As far as medications and body faults, your parents could have taken a drug that caused you to be born with faults. What caused the law that drugs had to get approval by the FDA was the drug, Thalidomide. See the picture on that link of a baby with a thumb on its foot. Pregnant women took it for morning sickness. It caused women to have severely deformed babies like a foot coming out of their elbow.

If you eat apples, oranges of pears while pregnant, it can also do the same thing. Just kidding. A drug that can help your acne today is Accutane. It can also give you deformed babies.

[funchy]

I found a free viewing of "RAW: Reversing Diabetes in 30 days" online, and I just watched it last night. It's worth watching. The video and related books may be something they can ship worldwide. (Tip: the book prices on Amazon.com were much lower than their site) There are also raw and health-food clubs offering screenings of the movie in many places.

Out of 6 participants, by the time they left, they all had significant improvements in not just blood sugar but in weight, blood pressure, and other medicines required. I'm a born skeptic about everything, so I liked seeing follow-up commentary and showing visits with the people's own family doctors confirming the improvement.

I am not diabetic or even IR, but I found the movie interesting nonetheless. I was so intrigued by great results different "raw" people get, and I'm tempted to do another 30-day raw trial.

[liamona]

Originally Posted by funchy

I found a free viewing of "RAW: Reversing Diabetes in 30 days" online,

It does look promising, and I hope there will be follow-up studies that show how people do on the diet after being on it for years.

This is similar to diets and weight loss; success is not measured in how many pounds you lose initially but how much you're able to keep off over the long term.

Anyone can get good results with a whole foods diet initially, especially if they were eating a grain-filled SAD.

[scorpio1980]

Originally Posted by funchy

I found a free viewing of "RAW: Reversing Diabetes in 30 days" online, and I just watched it last night. It's worth watching. The video and related books may be something they can ship worldwide. (Tip: the book prices on Amazon.com were much lower than their site) There are also raw and health-food clubs offering screenings of the movie in many places.

Out of 6 participants, by the time they left, they all had significant improvements in not just blood sugar but in weight, blood pressure, and other medicines required. I'm a born skeptic about everything, so I liked seeing follow-up commentary and showing visits with the people's own family doctors confirming the improvement.

I am not diabetic or even IR, but I found the movie interesting nonetheless. I was so intrigued by great results different "raw" people get, and I'm tempted to do another 30-day raw trial.

I watched that awhile back, and if you notice they eat very little fruit. I believe a high fat low carb diet is the answer to blood sugar problems. At least low GI carbs.