As I continue to monitor DH's bg, and he continues eating as he should, why does his number stay in the same vicinity for so long, albeit w/o spikes and while still much lower than before? He is eating the foods he is supposed to, even with no wifey there to remind him to forego the carby sides and not order his meat with carby sauces or crust. He snacks on the things we know will keep him from crashing while his body adjusts to burning fat. He also takes Metformin, morning and night. Still, while his baseline is coming down, it's doing it slowly. Heck, mine is coming down slowly as well and the highest number I saw was in the mid 120s.
Is his system still holding on to the excess sugar he had in his blood to begin with, and he now has to process out the extra along with what comes in to play with each current meal, even though it's as little as possible, now that he is eating lc? He is in the really low 200s - often his number is 203 fasting or pre-meal and it returns there in the 1-2 hour time frame. Considering that his highest number was 350 almost two weeks ago, I'm happy with the reduction but of course, I want it down where it should be and I'm trying not to be impatient.
What's a reasonable time frame for him to be down to where it should be, with lc and Metformin?

He's still insulin resistant. That means his cells aren't dealing with the carbs from his food, or the glucose created by his liver. Patience grasshoppers, it's only been what, a week?

Also, this is probably very likely, when someone has had high BG for a while it actually destroys the beta-cells in the pancreas so he can't make enough insulin. In fact, having a BG over 150 (I think it was) long term, can do that.

He probably should be on insulin if he still isn't getting his sugars down.

I'm not sure if the beta-cells will regenerate eventually, but they will continue to be killed if the BG is too high. Insulin would help that.

I read about the high BG killing beta cells from Dr. Davis (Wheat Belly, I think).

I can't believe your husband's doctors didn't have him on insulin with BG so high.

He was taking it briefly after being in the hospital in '13 with pancreatitis. He had a large gallstone lodge in the bile duct and he became septic. The insulin
had him roller-coastering really bad so they took him off of it.
I guess he needs to go see his doc for supervision with this. I hope he will understand not to continue him with the glipizide since he is now eating sf.
Still, is it true that he has to process out the sugar that was already in his system as well as any new glucose he gets in a meal? I am starting to apply what I've read about glycemic load of foods, even vlc ones. I wonder if I should be thinking of having him aim for the lowest glycemic loads of his options.

There are some long acting insulins out there.

His liver is likely contributing to his blood sugar too. We can manufacture glucose out of protein. If he wants to see low fast he might try eating no more than 80g of protein and the rest fat. If it still stays high then either his liver is producing lots of glucose or he isn't producing enough insulin.

Everyone needs insulin. Even to deal with low carb food. It also carries protein to your cells.

Hasn't it only been less than a week!? Nancy answered, but one suggestion would be if you can't find a LC doctor that you also consider Diabetes Nutrition Services. Most are done by Skype now, ones like Kelley Pounds https://lowcarbrn.wordpress.com/my-...ut-my-services/

I will definitely try the protein reduction. I have been looking all over for the kind of chart that was in Protein Power when I read that, about how much you actually need. You would think that would be an easy thing to find online but it's always been some slight difference from what I was looking for. An actual number to shoot for is helpful. I sent him to work with some fat bombs today, for a snack that didn't have too much protein. The nuts, cheese, and lunch meat had me concerned that it was too much protein.

No, it's been closer to two weeks. There were a few days that we were starting to work at it, before I posted that first comment on the 25th.

The skype would appeal to him simply as a way to get help w/o taking a whole day off from work.

His body is trying to adjust to the difference and I think it will take a little bit longer to find a baseline. Practice makes perfect and since he will be doing this for the rest of his life, I would just keep doing what you and he are doing and by this time next year he will be a lot more healthy like my DH.

That has been my plan, but I want his sugar to quit being so high that it is doing damage to his body. I know it's significantly lower- over 100 pts. on average, but I do worry that we won't be able to reverse a lot of it.
Dr. Fung says insulin overload is the problem. Does that mean after we get his blood sugar under control or even before that?

Dr Fung is of the opinion that high insulin is more dangerous than high blood sugar, especially when reducing insulin and meds as one begins eating LCHF and fasting. He considers insulin resistance to be the disease and high blood sugar a symptom.

Some patients never lower their glucose enough to not need meds. You might want to read some of Dr Fung's case studies to get a sense of how they progress. And know that you are doing all you can to improve things. My eye doctor told me it takes years of high blood sugar for it to show up in the eyes.

Dr Bernstein had peripheral neuropathy and was able to reverse it with diet. Stay the course and it will resolve itself.

For me walking and any resistance training helps.

Yes, and he likes lifting weights. I told him I would go out with him to lift weights, out in our garage but he hasn't taken me up on it yet. He so does not feel like himself. He is under constant strain of worrying that he is either about to lose his job or be demoted. He's been that way for about ten years, ever since things got weird in the car business. He's phenomenally talented at what he does but the business model has been changing and also, people are just not buying like they used to. I don't believe he's in any danger but there are definite issues with the store where he works.

Uh, to a point. He's not anti insulin if your numbers are really high (from memory, in the 200's and above) just that trying to get perfect blood sugar with added insulin is doomed to fail in time.

True. I'm not saying that he doesn't at times prescribe it but he works to get his patients off of it whenever possible (of course not possible for type 1s). He says that insulin resistance=type 2 diabetes and high blood sugar is a symptom of that disease.

Recent question on BG levels. Read all the comments, I sat with "Carolyn" Tuesday...she is amazed by all her health improvements in one week.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Duk...26277417451043/