Ready for the talk - round 2! I'll go to a new doc in February and it should be time for a new a1c then as well. What is your advice about asking to come off the one metformin a day?

Most of you know my story over the last year - numbers are below - I'll admit I haven't tested much lately, but will have about a month and a half of numbers to share before going. Before eating earlier was 91, 1 hour after was 97. My last a1c was 5.0.

I get most docs are reluctant to take people off meds like this because they don't see follow through from their patients with the diet and exercise. How do I convince my doc of this? Or do u think I can even come off the one pill a day? That is one of my goals for this new year!

Dr Jason Fung routinely works to remove his patients from diabetes drugs using low carb diets and fasting. It can be done.

You have a track record of being able to do something that most of any doctor's patients cannot or will not do - you have lost over 100 lbs and you've dramatically improved your glucose levels. I would say if a doctor was going to let any of his patients try to see if they could do without metformin, it would be someone like you.

All the best to you as you continue to improve your health!

Dr Fung even has a chart for blood sugars of a "typical patient" to get them off ALL meds in a few months. http://intensivedietarymanagement.c...t-to-Expect.pdf
That is is goal of the doctors who heal diabetes through diet, e.g. Westman, Gerber, etc.
If you have this new doctor run all the tests, not show him your history or meds, it would be unlikely that he would prescribe you any medication as it stands now. I agree with Liz, you have proven dedication to meet your health goals, you are young and now exercising too. You could be another diabetes warrior Not giving you medical advice, but I know others who dropped all meds In a month: http://www.diabetes-warrior.net/201...ow-carb-primal/. And http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthsc...-Cure-Diabetes/

I seriously considered going in and not telling him about the diabetes, having the test done and see what happens. I wasn't sure what would get me off on the worse foot with him though! Ha! I'm definitely having the conversation with him about coming off as much as I can. If not now, then at least what is my goal. What do I have to do?

I could swear I already posted here, but...OH YEAH it was right after 12:30 last night, when the board goes off-line. lol

ANYWAY...When I started LC back in '03 I was doing induction levels of carbs. I felt tired and weak, and figured out it was because my BG was running 70-90. (I was used to 95-110, so it was a big drop) I didn't have insurance at the time, so I just quit the Metformin cold turkey. My BG still stayed down, but more like 90-105 iirc. The highest a!c I got while off Metformin was a 5.7...usually 5.4 or 5.5.

Anyway I would suggest you consider taking half doses and monitoring your BG several times a day to get an idea of how much you are still needing Metformin. It is tied to how many carbs you eat, exercise, and your weight. As you lose, you might need it less, too.

BTW if you go back to eating starches/sweets you MUST take your Metformin.

BWorthey is NOT EVER going back to eating sweets...we won't let him

Since you are planning to take a month and a half of BG numbers anyway, This would be a good time to test how you do eliminating the metformin. You are closely monitoring....see what happens at half and no dose. And since you work in healthcare, check your BP daily at reduced med doses while you are at it

Nope - not going back to the sweets and such.

And are you saying cut the bp med or check and see what my bp does because of cutting out the metformin? I'm actually curious about cutting back on the bp med too - it's been in the 105/60 range. I know just because it's that with the med it may not be that without the med, but I'm curious about that too!

I'm not sure what JEY had in mind, but if your BP is that low, I'd sure want to see if I could reduce or eliminate the hypertension meds. I was on BP meds for a short time before I began eating LC. After a few months of low levels like yours, I talked to my doctor about eliminating. Despite many dire warnings on the internet I was able to eliminate it with no problems. 10+ years later, it still runs 110-120/70-80, thanks to LC.

Good luck!

I had no idea your BP was that low! I meant try to eliminate your BP meds and keep checking it up to doctor's appointment, then you can assure yourself and him hypertensive is also not needed with all your major health improvements. BP was separate from and in addition to the previous suggestion to reduce your metformin before the appointment and see yourself if needed... just keep testing BG. Now, if we could only convince you to drop the statin...

I personally was prescribed statins and with experimentation ended up on less than half a dose. I don't have side effects and won't go completely off. My cholesterol runs 300+ without it and I am content if it is around 200-250. Latest test was 201, but I was not LCing.

If you look at global statistics, mortality goes up the lower you go under 200 or above 259. In my own family this super high cholesterol is typical; my grandfather died of a heart attack at 60 and on the other side, my father died of one at 56. Neither smoked, was overweight or diabetic.

Now, my aunts and uncles on both sides are in their 80's...all have taken statins since the 80's and have no side effects...and most importantly none has suffered a heart attack. All but my mother has a good quality of life. The oldest aunt died at 90 of pneumonia; 2 uncles died in their 90's from just wearing out.

So, while I have listened to podcasts and watched videos and read opinion re:statins, I am not getting on that bandwagon. I think my own personal family history speaks much more loudly. I would really hesitate to encourage someone else to go off those particular meds, especially not knowing their family history. But I know I am in the minority on these boards.

Gotcha - wasn't sure if there was some connection with the metformin and bp I didn't know about!

And actually, I dropped the statin back a couple of months ago. I guess back in October when I went back and he wanted to up it again. Will be curious what the numbers will be when I go in February and what the doc says about that! Man, the more I think about this, this doc is gonna hate me! Ha!

If I was naturally in the 200-250 range I wouldn't take it either...do you know your #s? Or at least what they were when you started the statins?

Numbers are in his signature, at 10 months on LC, perfect 73 Trigs and a crazy low 152 TC, while before Trigs were 532. Statins were working a bit too well, and to bring down the wrong number. Only LC brought down the dangerous Trigs.

Bworthy, a good doctor should be supportive of all your amazing efforts to regain your health. It will be interesting to see those new cholesterol numbers, and you know yourself what is important...those perfect low Trigs, your slowly recovering HDL heading up, and the new guidelines for LDL.

I overlooked that. 152 is crazy low IMO too.

BWorthey...sure will be interesting to see your TC in February!

Yeah, I'm curiosi too. My previous doc was focused on getting the ldl below 70 and that was the reason for keeping me on and then upping the statin. The more I read, the less I liked about them. I didn't feel my numbers were that bad. And I didn't like the side effects. So, guess we'll find out in February!