First I want to thank all the people that Responded to my first post...Nice to know you all
Sunday day 5
Yep my test strip turned Dark Purple yesterday...so thats a good sign...
Could not work this past weekend...felt to crappy and weird...Didnt think I needed to be out there Driving a Van full of Drunk College kids from Bar to Bar as shaky as I felt...No big deal they will be there next week and I have an understanding Boss..
I think a lot of my feeling bad came from the massive change in my blood sugar levels...they dropped overnight more than 100 points from about 220 to 120...Man my finger is sore must have checked my BS 40 times this week...Before meals,,,hr after meals...in between meals.....The change is simply amazing...before I was running about 180-220 before meals and would spike 100-200 pts after I ate...instant stuper....as of yesterday I was 90-110 before meals with a 10-20 point spike after meals...Unbelievable....and no feeling bad after eating...This sort of scares me(THE BIG JUMP DOWN)..normaly I can bring my BS down by adjusting my meds(Glipizde and Glucophage)but the only way I know to bring it up if it drops to low is to add sugar and this seems like it would mess up the induction and Ketosis....ANY IDEAS HERE?...I hope to wean off the Glipizide(it helps reduce BS) and stay on the Glcophage( it helps repair your Pancreas)for awhile untill my Pancreas gets back on par...than get off all meds...
Here is what I have learned from researching the net and talking to doctors and nutrtionalist ect.It took alot of repeated questions to doctors to get them to give this info up and it might help some of you out there to understand it better...When your first told you have high blood sugar they try to correct it by diet...You guessed it....Low fat...low calories....no sugar
limit your carbs somewhat...well we all know how hard it is to get this one to work for you and stay on it...So they put you on Glipized which lowers you BS and run blood tests to make sure they are not killing your liver and kidneys....This slows the process down for awhile but they have to keep increasing the amount of Glipizde...unless you a realy good at following there diet your BS goes all over the place and Starts to destroy your Pancreas from over work...so they put you on Glucophage(great stuff)to try to help your Pancreas heal....So here is the real heart of the matter...this is realy bad....YOUR PANCREAS CANNOT HEAL ITSELF AND PRODUCE INSULIN AT THE SAME TIME....one or the other not both....So if you think your doing ok no sugars ect but eat a plate of Spagette instead of the recomended three ozs your killing your Pancreas(and I dont know to many people that eat Three Ozs of Spagette)....In the mean time they raise your meds more untill it starts to kill your liver and kidneys....meanwhile your Pancreas just weres out and cant be healed...Where does this leave you?....They cant raise your meds anymore...their destoying your liver and Kidneys...Your Pancreas is basicaly dead....You might have guessed it...The needel...Insulin shots every day for the rest of your life!!!!!!This does not happen overnight...It took about 5 years to go thru this scenario with me...WHY!!!!WHY!!!????WHY?
I have only been on the Atkins for about 5 days and shown myself I can control my sugar levels so easy on it and not be suffering from a low cal low fat diet....I only hope my Pancreas hasnt been hurt to bad where it wont recover...If I lose weight on this diet that would be great but I am more so happy that I have found a way to control my BS ....
Now back to my WHY!!!!....I am so infuriated with these mainstream doctors that put millions of people thru this 5 year syndrome over and over
I think most of it has to do with BIG BUCKS(MTBSW) you have patients you can string out for 5 or more years..office visits...bllod tests...Meds...Meds...Meds...a bottle of 90 Glucophage cost between $398...$500...for just one bottle...I need a bottle and a half a month...that makes me sick...plus Glipizide..test strips $45-60 for 50 of them and they say test 3 or 4 times a day...because of the price of the strips Iam lucky if I check 3or4 times a week...
Anyways hopefully Iam past all that now I have found the LC Life style...now for some GOOD news...for the last 5 or 6 months when I wake up it has taken me like 2 to 3 hrs to guit hurting and feel good enough to do anything...just feeling yucky...Well today Sunday got out of bed stood up...Wham withing 5 to 10 mins..I was feeling pretty good...cant wait to get thru a few more weeks of this to see how I will feel than
Anyways Thanks again and Iam glad I found you Folks.....BIG JOHN

That is incredible Big JOhn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a testament!!! I never quite understood what was going on with the blood sugar and pancreas on a personal level until I read your post.

I am so glad for you that you posted. This is great. Soon you'll be sprinting long distances (lol).

Keep it going and keep the faith - you can do it!!!

God Bless,

Charlie Girl

Congrats Big John, you are doing great. I know what you mean about aching when you get up in the morning. My feet used to kill me to just put them on the floor. I know that the huge amount of water I am drinking has made a tremendous difference in me. Keep up the good work!! Maybe one day soon you won't need the test strips or any meds for diabetes. Take care of yourself.

I'm glad you posted Big John. I had been wondering how you were doing.

That is good that you are beginning to feel the positive effects of Atkins so soon after waking up. It will get better as you go on. One day you'll be bouncing out of that bed.

I am glad you are doing so well.

I am also amazed how mainstream doctors refused to accept low carb. I asked doctors for years for an explanation for my weight gain and no one suggested carbs. Last year, when I went for a check-up after losing 80 pounds, my doctor refused to believe that I had done it by low carbing. He insisted I must have finally decided to follow his advice to cut calories and increase exercise. Well, I tried to cut calories for years but I couldn't stand being hungry, so I always ended up increasing them again and I never lost weight. If anything, trying to cut calories made me gain more weight because it would send me into an eating binge triggered by wildly fluctuating blood sugar. I do exercise more now, but that's because I have more energy and find it easier to do things now that I have lost over 100 pounds.

I used to get really mad about it, but I don't anymore because it doesn't do any good. Now, I just do my best to educate whoever asks me. I get lots of questions because losing over 100 pounds is pretty obvious, so it gives me lots of opportunities to try to corect people's misinformation about low carbing.

Big John,

I am glad to see you feeling better! This way of life is going to be great for you!

I agree with you completely about the big money in disease. There is another side to the diabetic story - the neuropathy problem. Doctors can get paid for up to 8 operations to amputate different parts of the toes/foot/leg in a diabetic patient. There are doctors out there that will make sure you have 8 different operations for this condition - yet there are natural alternatives that have been proven to work in scientific studies. I had a dentist when I was growing up that put fillings in our teeth when we didn't have cavities because his wife was sick and he needed the money. Cancer is a huge money maker. People need to educate themselves on what is really going on today in medicine, and realize that they need to get educated about their conditions and not just blindly follow doctors.

Anyway - off my soap box

I cant wait to see your post at 14 days and the one month mark.
I KNOW you will have lost weight and feeling good thing will be through the roof.

Do NOT cheat, your our guinea pig (no pun intended or implied) and we want to see your results!!

Hang in there Big John and post more for us to see.

Big John!
You are great! I love reading your posts. They make me think and they make me smile. You have a great attitude. I look forward to reading more of your insight.
Congratulations on your progress.

Hi Big John, and welcome to the forum!

Like you, my blood sugar was completely out of control. My fasting numbers were always over 300 and when I started LC they dropped dramatically.

{Insert basic disclaimer here to talk with your doctor about this ... even LC dense, they know all about meds vs. natural BS range. My opinion is just as another diabetic who has experienced the same thing - I'm no expert!}

The first thing I'd do is watch the glipizide. The glucophage is not a problem right now, since it just makes your body more sensitive to insulin, but the hypoglycemic drugs like glipizide can send you into a coma if you're not careful. Obviously, you know what you're doing because you are checking your BS often. I would adjust the dose to match my glucose ... i.e., don't take the medication if you are in that 90-100 range.

As far as bumping your numbers up when you are too low (and what a horrible feeling that is!), eat something carb-based ... preferably low fat and low protein content. I used to keep carrots on hand for this purpose ... they're not low glycemic enough for me to use early on for 'food', and they're not included in Induction, but they were my low blood sugar emergency medicine and vastly preferable to sugar pills!

The plan was to eat 1/2 carrot, check my BS 5-10 minutes afterwards to see an upward trend. If I didn't see it, I'd eat another 1/2. (That always guarenteed a modest rise in my sugars.) As soon as the numbers started to climb back into the normal range, I'd *always* back up the carbs with protein to avoid a BS bounce effect.

The goal of most LC plans is to get our sugars steady, so even though this method may lessen your level of ketosis for a short while, it's worth it. Eventually you won't need the glipizide at all, your numbers will flatten out, and you'll be able to keep your carbs lower.

Your fingers will be sore for awhile, but it's worth it to make sure you are not getting into the scary range. Keep on poking, friend!

Good luck!

Big John - welcome to the forum, and it's great to see you are feeling so much better so quickly!

Good for you!

Valerie