Questions on Dr. B's Diet

[Bendrixx]

Hi everyone, this is my first posting.

I'm a type 1 diabetic of 15 years, and a few months ago I started the Dr. Bernstein Diet when I'd given up seeking advice for help from my doctors.

I started getting this dull, never ending ache on my left side right around my stomach that would radiate up toward my chest and around my side. I had every test in the book done, and no one could find what was wrong with me...I'm talking endo's, esopho-ultrasounds, full body CT's, bacteria checks, and tests for weird tropical bugs and the such. 2 years 600 scopes, scans, tests,and 3 billion dollars later, nada. They kept finding LITTLE things...like elevated amylase and lipase (but then a month later, completely normal levels), No one, and I mean no one had a friggin' clue what was going on.

To top that off, I dropped 100 lbs in a year and had really bad mal nourishment, low vitamin D levels (around 8!), and felt like crap all the time. Tired, feverish, queasy sometimes...like I was running a low grade fever or infection.

Everyone assumed the worst..pancreatitis, etc (but they endo scoped all that and did the endo ultrasound..aaaaaand did like 3 CT tests...and my pancreas ended up being perfect. Not even a trace of blockage on the old gallbladder.

I gave up trying to figure it out. I'd run glycos in the 6's my entire diabetic life, hardly drank, don't smoke and my only vice is coffee.

Pissed, tired and frankly destitute, I'd read The Diabetes solution about 5 years ago and laughed out loud for 2 straight hours as this guy tried to tell me blood sugars in the 80's all the time, were possible for a type 1.

Well, 2 months ago, I said screw it, I'm going for blood sugars between 80-100 all the time, even if it kills me. Lows, I don't care. Passing out, I'll find someone to drive me. I was that serious. That was 2 months ago.

Here I am today, feeling a LOT better. I now own the 80-100 range, and I'm going next for 80-88 as Bernstein suggests. I've dropped 20 lbs, feel alert, relaxed, and my side pain is GONE. It comes back as soon as my sugars climb over 120 though like clockwork. I even notice it when they elevate a significant amount within a short time in the "normal range" of 80-120.

I know this contradicts Bernstein's suggestions as well, but I've found I feel a lot better drinking a substantial amount of water (about 32oz a day).

With all that history, and all that said,

My only, 1 nagging question is this. Although I've felt like crap for basically 5 years now, my kidney and blood tests have always been IMMACULATE. Even my cholestoral and blood pressure have been really good my entire life

I just got back from the doctor about a month ago, and for the first time, I have slightly elevated CREATININE levels, and my blood pressure was up to 150/82.

The only thing I'm doing differently is the diet. Has anyone run into this yet? I feel awesome, compared to even a few months ago.

The doc gave me meds for the blood pressure, but has no prob with the diet, or the creatinine levels, but wants to keep an eye on them.

This makes me really nervous though. I want to make sure my kideys are happy, I need these babies for about 50 more years!

I'm wondering if this is just part of the transitional period people experience in the first stages of the diet. I know "ketosis" is one of the markers in the beginning. TO my knowledge, Creatinine IS basically that, the spilling of sugars into the blood stream.

Help me out here people. I need someone wiser and more experienced at this to shine a light for me.

Thanks!

[Nancy LC]

One part of your story struck me... could you have celiac disease? It goes hand in hand with autoimmune diseases like Type 1. If you found that your symptoms got better on Bernstein it could be that you reduced your gluten intake enough to allow some healing but if you do have celiac disease, or sometimes people with a really bad gluten intolerance have similar symptoms, then you'll probably do much, much better on 0 gluten in your diet.

To top that off, I dropped 100 lbs in a year and had really bad mal nourishment, low vitamin D levels (around 8!), and felt like crap all the time. Tired, feverish, queasy sometimes...like I was running a low grade fever or infection.

[Bendrixx]

Yeah, they've done 5 celiac tests on me, blood, and even an endo...nada. Only thing they've found is mild irritation near the top of my stomach where my esopho meets it. I've been thinking maybe...maaybe Candida???...but with all the tests blood, urine, stool, endo, etc, you'd think they'd have caught it somewhere in there. I had a test for it weeks ago, but the lab LOST my sample that they were doing that test for. Awesome. All other samples for the 150 other tests came back normal. They've aslo done H pylori, blasto, a bunch of parasite stuff, even checked my blood for antibodies, or even an immuno response that would show I'm actually fighting something from an auto-immune disorder, and it all came back a-ok. Again, the only thing now that's off, is the slightly elevated Creatinin levels. It's interesting because I've also been hitting the Alpha Lipoic Acid in the 300-1200 mg range lately as that helps a lot with the side pain as well. Could it be elevating the creatinine levels?? I've also been taking 1 small aspirin per day in the morning.

[Bru88]

The aspirin can cause stomach problems, had to stop taking mine because of irritation to my stomach. Felt like heart burn. Never had a problem until a few months ago...Bru
I had probably taken aspirin for 5-6 years.

[v-effect]

Hi there,

Interesting about the creatinine levels- I have occasionally had elevated levels- which sometimes the doctors have attributed to having blood work done the day after exercise. (FYI I'm T1, 34 years old; dxed in 1996) There are a lot of tests (outlined in the beginning of Bernstein's book) that can give you a clearer understanding of the functioning of your kidneys than just a creatinine. But I think your larger question is: is a protein rich diet compromising your kidneys. I recall researching this a while back and finding that a reduced protein diet may be necessary if you *already* have kidney damage. But a higher protein diet will not *produce* kidney damage. I'm sorry that I don't have references quick to hand.
I too was concerned with this- and I manage it like this: I don't really eat more protein than I would on a high carb diet, but I do eat much more fiber and vegetables.

V.