Diabetes and cholesterol

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Diabetes and cholesterol

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raftartan
Posts: 50
Joined: 15 May 2007 26-07-2008 06:30
Diabetes and cholesterol




I was diagnosed as diabetic T2 in 1992 and over the years my HbA1c was typically just below 7 controlled by insulin injections ( up to 90 units per day). Two years after no longer needing to inject insulin or any other medication my HbAic is getting down to 5.3 and am recording bs readings of 4.3 and lower and was wondering if this should reduce my cholesterol without a statin.
raftartan
Posts: 50
Joined: 15 May 2007 28-07-2008 07:09



Further explanation to my earlier point. I had a heart attack (MI) in 1992 with the key primary cause being diabetes.I was told that I would need to take insulin on a daily basis for the rest of my life but to try and keep my blood sugar in control to avoid complications. This I did for fourteen years until I tried to do something revolutionary like trying to get my weight down to what I use to be when I was in my early twenties.As I embarked on this journey I discovered that I could reduce my daily intake of insulin and to my amazement within six months I was no longer taking insulin or any other type of diabetic medication. I continued to test to see if this was a short term phenomenon and found that it was not. Now two years later still no insulin injections with an HbA1c close to six and hope to have it below that shortly. With this success under my belt I am looking at how I can reverse some of the elements that lead to my heart attack while further reducing reliance on medication. your thoughts appreciated.
Cat_M79
Posts: 479
Joined: 29 Oct 2007 28-07-2008 09:57





If you have significantly altered your diet to lose weight that may have already had a positive effect on your cholesterol. Upping your intake of fruit and veg and reducing high fat, high salt foods will do this naturally unless you suffer from hypercholestrolism (where the body produces to much of the bad cholesterol while the good cholesterol is at the right level). If you do have this you may need a statin but only a blood test and a chat with your consultant will tell you for sure x
raftartan
Posts: 50
Joined: 15 May 2007 29-07-2008 19:47





My diet is cholesterol free and am currently taking a statin which some time back was able to reduce dose level by 50% without having an adverse effect on my cholesterol levels currently below 4. When I get the all lipids test I specifically ask for the actual results so that I can see the benefits of my diet with a goal to come off statins completely (with the doctors agreement.I think I can get my HbA1c down to 4.5 which will be helped when I get rid of another 14lbs and my BMI circa 24.My blood pressure medication has been significantly reduced and am fairly stable at 120/80. So still hope for further improvement.
p666ats
Posts: 2
Joined: 09 Nov 2008 09-11-2008 09:30





Hi i recently did this very same thing, for 8 months i was off insulin and feeling great lost lots of weight. I went for a check up last week as i need an operation on my shoulder and all hell has broken loose. I am now back on Insulin also Metformin, cholesterol tablets and 2 others that im not even sure what they are for. I live in Egypt now (moved from uk) and the names of the drugs are different to those in uk. One is called Diamicron which i have to take 1 each day and the other is Capoten 1/4 three times a day. If anyone has a clue what they are i would love to know.
Thanks
JANGAR
Posts: 193
Joined: 01 Mar 2007 10-11-2008 14:17





Well I did not have much trouble finding out about these drugs from this Netdoctor site!

DIAMICRON is a brand name of gliclazide, one of the group of drugs called sulphonylureas for treating Type 2 diabetes.

CAPOTEN is a brand name of captopril an ACE inhibitor used to treat high blood pressure.

When you are permanently on some drug or other you soon learn things about them. I often wondered how you know what drug did what and I discovered that groups of drugs doing the same thing are given names that all seem to end in the same letters. For example, all ACE inhibitors seem to end in -ril or -pril and anti-cholesterol drugs are all statins!
sanchezsantos
Posts: 5
Joined: 20 Apr 2007 17-11-2008 16:14





Since Diamicron is a brand name for Gliclazide, I am somewhat puzzled that this has been prescribed in addition to the Metformin. Is that correct?
JANGAR
Posts: 193
Joined: 01 Mar 2007 17-11-2008 18:39





Yes. From what I have read there are 3 types of drugs which can be taken in various combinations as they all do different things and don't interact with each other.

The max dose I believe for Metformin is 3000mg per day. I am currently on 3 x 500mg = 1500mg. Metformin is usually the first drug to be tried. It is the 'weakest' drug. This may after a while (can be several years) not be enough to control blood glucose so one of the others can be prescribed to take with the Metformin. But these other drugs have a stronger longer-acting effect and can lead to hypos whereas Metformin alone does not usually cause hypos. I've never had one anyway!
raftartan
Posts: 50
Joined: 15 May 2007 25-11-2008 21:36





Have been away for some time but still not injecting insulin and have been able to stop taking crestor (statin) and a blood pressure pill, so overall my medication types jhave dropped from 12 to 4 and if I can maintain progress another two should be eliminated within the next few months. My last A1C was 5.8 and am confident that my next test will be lower again , more like 5. Two things that I have tried was alpha lipoic acid which is currently under clinical trials in a Edinburgh hospital, this helped to bring my blood sugar levels down as I am interested in exploring the limits of insulin resistance. My latest project (BP) is an attempt to understand arterial furring caused by cholesterol/ calcium (and other things) and started taking vitamin C which had an unexpected result with my average BS level dropping to 4.7 which should mean that my A1C test will certainly be lower. Has anyone tried vitam c?
JoanieMarie
Posts: 129
Joined: 26 Jan 2008 27-11-2008 20:01





I was away on holiday almost a month, so missed what was said in this forum.

This thread is very interesting. It suggests that diabetes can be almost reversed -- certainly "improved" -- in some cases.

I used to take a lot of Vit C -- 1000 mg per day. Then I read that this was not a good thing, and stopped. (Must have been more than 2 yrs ago).

Then I was diagnosed diabetic in Jan 08. I've since then only taken 500 mg of Vit C every now and then, so cannot give a verdict on that, but I think I am going back to my 1000 mg per day!!! Just to see what happens!

I forget the name of the person who started this thread (it's one of the weaknesses of this forum -- once you answer you cannot see the previous posts).

It's absolutely great that you've come this long way!

Keep us updated. I've been taking Crestor too, as my cholesterol profile at the time of diagnosis was normal, and then within 9 months I suddenly had higher cholesterol and far too high LDL! Not sure why, but I did change to a higher-protein diet after diagnosis, lost the grain foods and stopped eating fruits. Grains and sugar caused bs spikes.

BUT only 20% blood cholesterol is caused by diet ... My own conclusion is that my tremendous shock at being called "diabetic", and my resultant stress and hypchondria about it (LOL!) caused the higher cholesterol! (There's NO family history and I am not the typical candidate. Lost 12 kg and trying NOT to lose more weight!!)

(And I keep forgetting to take the Crestor ...)

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