Daryl
Wed, Aug-22-07, 16:43
The NYTimes had an article by Gina Kolata which rendered me speechless for almost 12 hours. I have now recovered.
The article focused on how diabetics aren’t aware of the need to lower cholesterol and blood pressure in addition to controlling their blood sugar numbers. (Most diabetics die from heart disease.)
Ms. Kolata accurately reports the standard medical line-therefore take drugs-one or two for each problem! Reader please note-a recent American Diabetes association Presidential Address seriously proposed the one-a-day combo pill approach for all Americans. Put a blood sugar drug (metformin), a cholesterol drug (statin), a little aspirin and maybe some B vitamins in a pill and everybody could take one a day. Cheap!
Some bullet points:
The newsflash that we need to get the medical establishment to understand is that the cause of the cholesterol problem most of the time is the glucose metabolism problem. This is not the chicken and the egg circular thing. There is a starting point and that staring point is glucose metabolism. Return glucose metabolism to normal and the blood pressure goes down and the cholesterol normalizes. Oh yeah-and the triglycerides plummet and the good cholesterol (HDL) goes up.
I can point to many articles in the medical literature which clearly show the relationship between cardiac arterial disease and abnormal glucose metabolism. This relationship extends to the early stages of blood sugar problems-stages known as metabolic syndrome, hyperinsulinemia, impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance (pre-diabetes). Many times a patient has their glucose metabolism problem diagnosed when they go to the hospital with chest pain or a heart attack. If doctors were educated to look for the glucose problem so that it was diagnosed in the early stages, the blood vessel disease could be treated or avoided.
More newsflashes! The medications prescribed don’t fix the destructive process of the abnormal blood sugar metabolism. The medications cover up the evidence of the problem, but the destruction often continues. If you fix the blood sugar metabolism so that the blood sugar (and insulin) numbers are normal without medication, then I have seen evidence in patients that blood vessel disease actually improves. Just give the medicines, and the medical dogma that the diabetes inevitably worsens and progresses turns out to be true.
Whoa! (We say that in Kansas.) The medications often have side effects. Take a look at the book written by Duane Graveline called “Lipitor, Thief of Memory”. Dr. Graveline is an MD and was a NASA astronaut. Just do a Google search for the side effects on any of the medications recommended for treating diabetics. You’ll find a significant list for most meds.
Now, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take these meds if you need them. They may help you, if you need them. But what should happen first and foremost is to control your metabolism using nutritional change. For Type 2 diabetics, this means using carbohydrate control to get the best blood sugar control possible. After your blood glucose numbers are normal without medication, your cholesterol numbers will usually be well within the recommended range. Cholesterol numbers often change during the active stage of metabolic change-so don’t make decisions about your personal outcomes until you are stable for a while.
Here is the disclaimer. If you are a Type 2 diabetic on medications, you need a physician trained in using this approach to help you taper your medications. Carbohydrate control is so powerful a tool that your medications for blood sugar control may need to be decreased very rapidly to avoid low blood sugar (hypoglycemia.) Of course, that is the great thing about carbohydrate control. In many cases, when dietary carbs are controlled, patients are able to decrease or completely stop medications to control blood sugar. The blood sugar numbers become normal without medication. Cholesterol levels normalize for most patients and blood pressure returns to normal as well.
Ok, I’ve calmed down. Read “Atkins Diabetes Revolution” for a more complete discussion of these issues, as well as the references. Dr. Atkins knew how effective this method is. He spent his professional life trying to help patients benefit from using this method.
I have been lucky enough to experience how effective this treatment is for patients in my own medical practice. It is from the practical experience of watching patients improve that I learned how effective this nutritional treatment can be. I can continue to hope that other physicians begin to learn the benefits this method can offer patients.
http://rjr10036.typepad.com/askdrvernon/2007/08/gk.html
The article focused on how diabetics aren’t aware of the need to lower cholesterol and blood pressure in addition to controlling their blood sugar numbers. (Most diabetics die from heart disease.)
Ms. Kolata accurately reports the standard medical line-therefore take drugs-one or two for each problem! Reader please note-a recent American Diabetes association Presidential Address seriously proposed the one-a-day combo pill approach for all Americans. Put a blood sugar drug (metformin), a cholesterol drug (statin), a little aspirin and maybe some B vitamins in a pill and everybody could take one a day. Cheap!
Some bullet points:
The newsflash that we need to get the medical establishment to understand is that the cause of the cholesterol problem most of the time is the glucose metabolism problem. This is not the chicken and the egg circular thing. There is a starting point and that staring point is glucose metabolism. Return glucose metabolism to normal and the blood pressure goes down and the cholesterol normalizes. Oh yeah-and the triglycerides plummet and the good cholesterol (HDL) goes up.
I can point to many articles in the medical literature which clearly show the relationship between cardiac arterial disease and abnormal glucose metabolism. This relationship extends to the early stages of blood sugar problems-stages known as metabolic syndrome, hyperinsulinemia, impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance (pre-diabetes). Many times a patient has their glucose metabolism problem diagnosed when they go to the hospital with chest pain or a heart attack. If doctors were educated to look for the glucose problem so that it was diagnosed in the early stages, the blood vessel disease could be treated or avoided.
More newsflashes! The medications prescribed don’t fix the destructive process of the abnormal blood sugar metabolism. The medications cover up the evidence of the problem, but the destruction often continues. If you fix the blood sugar metabolism so that the blood sugar (and insulin) numbers are normal without medication, then I have seen evidence in patients that blood vessel disease actually improves. Just give the medicines, and the medical dogma that the diabetes inevitably worsens and progresses turns out to be true.
Whoa! (We say that in Kansas.) The medications often have side effects. Take a look at the book written by Duane Graveline called “Lipitor, Thief of Memory”. Dr. Graveline is an MD and was a NASA astronaut. Just do a Google search for the side effects on any of the medications recommended for treating diabetics. You’ll find a significant list for most meds.
Now, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take these meds if you need them. They may help you, if you need them. But what should happen first and foremost is to control your metabolism using nutritional change. For Type 2 diabetics, this means using carbohydrate control to get the best blood sugar control possible. After your blood glucose numbers are normal without medication, your cholesterol numbers will usually be well within the recommended range. Cholesterol numbers often change during the active stage of metabolic change-so don’t make decisions about your personal outcomes until you are stable for a while.
Here is the disclaimer. If you are a Type 2 diabetic on medications, you need a physician trained in using this approach to help you taper your medications. Carbohydrate control is so powerful a tool that your medications for blood sugar control may need to be decreased very rapidly to avoid low blood sugar (hypoglycemia.) Of course, that is the great thing about carbohydrate control. In many cases, when dietary carbs are controlled, patients are able to decrease or completely stop medications to control blood sugar. The blood sugar numbers become normal without medication. Cholesterol levels normalize for most patients and blood pressure returns to normal as well.
Ok, I’ve calmed down. Read “Atkins Diabetes Revolution” for a more complete discussion of these issues, as well as the references. Dr. Atkins knew how effective this method is. He spent his professional life trying to help patients benefit from using this method.
I have been lucky enough to experience how effective this treatment is for patients in my own medical practice. It is from the practical experience of watching patients improve that I learned how effective this nutritional treatment can be. I can continue to hope that other physicians begin to learn the benefits this method can offer patients.
http://rjr10036.typepad.com/askdrvernon/2007/08/gk.html