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Weight Loss Forum / Low Carb / December 2004BLOOD SUGAR & ATKINS WOE
Hi Folks, Been lo-carbing since back in 1998, when (believe it or not) the Atkins diet (sic --- should be WOE) was recommended to me by a doctor. In addition to Atkins, he recommended chromium picolate to stabilize the blood sugar. Flash forward six years and now I have to change doctors. New doctor did blood work and called today with results. Blood sugar is 120 which is borderline diabetic. [110 or lower is normal, 126 is diabetic] When I mentioned to new doctor that I was following the Atkins WOE, he cringed and didn't seem too happy. I'm wondering if a higher than normal blood sugar is par for the course when on Atkins and new-doc just doesn't know it? Old doc never even gave me blood sugar number, just cholesterol and PSA. Time for me to find another new-doc?? Chi-Bob PS Email address won't work. Sorry, but too much SPAM. Please post to newsgroup. Tks. > Hi Folks, > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > PS Email address won't work. Sorry, but too much SPAM. Please post to > newsgroup. Tks. I think I would find a new doctor, or at least find answers to some questions. I would ask the current doctor why he was against the low-carb diet when most of us understand and believe that carbohydrates traslate into glycogen, a sugar, in the bloodstream? Apparently your WOE was working for you for six years. I don't know why you changed doctors, but I would have plenty of questions for the new one. || I'm wondering if a higher than normal blood sugar is par for || the course when on Atkins and new-doc just doesn't know it? No, a low-carbohydrate diet stabilizes the blood sugar. had you not been low carbing for 6 y ears you would probably be on metformin or some other drug by now. My T2 diabetes is controlled solely by my Atkins plan with no meds. YMMV, as usual -- Peter 270/219/180 website: http://users.thelink.net/marengo What are you carb levels? Are you eating any LC candies? Have yoiu had a HbA1C? What are you exercise habits, age, weight, and height? I wouldn't assume this is typical on a LC diet. In fact, if you were really maintaining a LC diet, I don't think your BG level would have gotten that high. || Hi Folks, || [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] || PS Email address won't work. Sorry, but too much SPAM. Please post to || newsgroup. Tks. > Hi Folks, > I'm wondering if a higher [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Chi-Bob When it is working, low carbing should produce fasting blood sugars near 83 mg/dl. If your fasting blood sugar was 120 mg/dl, it is far TOO HIGH. If you are eating less than 60 grams a day and it is that high, you have a serious problem with your blood sugar. The blood sugar level might well be higher if you weren't low carbing, but that isn't the issue. The issue is that it is too high now on your current regimen, so you need to do several things, right now. 1. Start testing at home with your own blood sugar meter both on awaking (fasting) and 1 and 2 hours after meals. Fasting blood sugars over 100 mg/dl are not normal. Post-meal numbers over 140 mg/dl do serious damage to your organs. 2. Have your fasting insulin or C-peptide levels tested. If they are high when you have that high fasting blood sugar level, you probably have developed intense insulin resistance and you should consider taking metformin, a drug that can bring that insulin resistance down. Other interventions worth trying are supplementing with DHEA (if you are over 40) and chromium picolinate. 3. Find a new doctor who understands how to treat diabetes. These are tough to find. I went to an endocrinologist since family doctors tend to take a very laid back view. Any doctor who doesn't have you testing your blood sugar at home, with a meter, when you are diabetic is by definition a poor doctor. Find a good one. FWIW, I have been low carbing as long as you and my fasting blood sugar went to the same range yours is in last spring despite eating at a level under 60 grams for many weeks. After starting metformin and adding chromium and DHEA to my daily regiment I've gotten it down to near 90. You can learn a lot more about blood sugar, how it works, and what blood sugar numbers are healthy at http://www.geocities.com/lottadata4u/ Good luck! -- --Jenny Type 2 diabetes since 1998. Hba1c 5.7% Low Carbing for 5 years. 140 lbs (goal) Cut the "carbs" to respond to my email address. ----------------------------------------------------- What they Don't Tell You About Diabetes Web Site http://www.geocities.com/lottadata4u/ Jenny's Low Carb Diet Facts & Figures site http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/ Looking for help controlling your blood sugar? Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for your help, Jim, Peter, Roger and Jenny. You all have given me a lot to think about and research. The more I think about this "new" doctor, the more I want to continue my search for yet another. I can't believe that the old doctor never checked blood sugar. And maybe, like my cholesterol, it is higher in the winter than in the summer. [As to why I'm leaving my old doctor --- not my choice. He was seeing something like 14-15 patients a day, 75 per week and was getting burnt out. No time for family. Something had to change, so he is going "boutique." You pay him an annual fee to retain him as your physician and you have unlimited access to him, whenever . While I might be able to afford a year or two, I know that the fee will keep rising and I would have to quit eventually -- so why not now? The trick is to find a doctor who accepts Atkins, who is nearby and who goes to the hospital I want to use. That will give me something to do in these cold winter months.] Thanks again, and happy 2005. Chi Bob > I can't believe that the > old doctor never checked blood sugar. And maybe, like my cholesterol, it > is > higher in the winter than in the summer. Have you had a thyroid function test as well? I have 8 years of sine wave graphs of that, and I am sure my bgs were doing the same. Nicky.  SignatureA1c 10.5/5.7/<6 Weight 95/80/72Kg 1g Metformin, 75ug Thyroxine T2 DX 05/2004 GEtting a meter is a good first step, otherwise you're always guessing in the dark. When you're shopping for a doctor you'll have better informaiton to give him/her. > Thanks for your help, Jim, Peter, Roger and Jenny. You all have given me a > lot to think about and research. The more I think about this "new" doctor, the [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > so he is going "boutique." You pay him an annual fee to retain him as your > physician and you have unlimited access to him, whenever . Hm. I wonder how long that plan will last. He might find he's still getting overworked and change his fees again. Seems it would have been easier for him to just say "Not taking new patients" and go on charging the old ones per visit, or raise his price per hour. On the annual fee, people who have paid it may take more time than they would if they were paying by the hour. > While I might be > able to afford a year or two, I know that the fee will keep rising and I would > have to quit eventually -- so why not now? What about paying the fee for the current year, so you'd have access to him to get more info about what he has been doing, and what exactly he recommends, and if he can recommend a new doctor. By the end of the year he may change his fees again. ANyway that way you'd have good medical advice while shopping for a new one. Also maybe the local Diabetes Society could recommend a local Support Group that could help you find a suitable doctor. Skinny > GEtting a meter is a good first step, otherwise you're always guessing in > the dark. When you're shopping for a doctor you'll have better informaiton > to give him/her. Hey, with morning tests of weight, blood pressure and blood sugar, maybe I can open my own practice?? > > Thanks for your help, Jim, Peter, Roger and Jenny. You all have given me > a [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > per visit, or raise his price per hour. On the annual fee, people who have > paid it may take more time than they would if they were paying by the hour. He told his family he was going to try it for at least a year. Told them pickings might be slim. I wouldn't doubt that the fee will go up again --- haven't seen any prices going down. He hadn't taken any new patients in quite some time. Guess he should have stopped much earlier -- but that is hindsight. The whole purpose of the annual fee setup is that he gives each patient as much time as they need. Told him that he was inviting a clientele of hypochondriacs, but he said they would be weeded out. [In all the time I went to him, I never felt rushed. He answered all my questions and I felt completely at ease with his care. Even had time to BS on my genealogical searches on my family. Told him that since he has the same name as some of my relatives, I was going to find where the two clans joined together. > > While I might be > > able to afford a year or two, I know that the fee will keep rising and I [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > recommends, and if he can recommend a new doctor. By the end of the year he > may change his fees again. Thought about that, but the break has to be made -- so why prolong the agony? He has recommended four doctors so far. Three won't take Medicare patients (Me). (I know, sounds fishy. Could probably proceed with legal action, but who would want to go to that doctor after that?) The fourth, just recommended, is affiliated with a hospital that I have just heard of -- don't have the foggiest as to where it is located. Since I'm really not convinced that the Blood Sugar levels will remain that high, I would rather find a doctor that is accepting of the Atkins WOE. Time (or the next BS test) will tell if I'm making the right choice. bob > ANyway that way you'd have good medical advice while shopping for a new one. > > Also maybe the local Diabetes Society could recommend a local Support Group > that could help you find a suitable doctor. > > Skinny |
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