I have been dealing with some strange issues, or maybe not. Well for one recently i have been diagnosed with an illness called hemochrmotosys. It is thought this is what caused my type 2 diabetes. But that is a separate issue for now. I would like to know if anyone here has had the following happen.
I lost 45lbs and quit drinking beer. I was a heavy drinker. During this time my type 2 seems to have vanished. My blood sugars went from the 120-180 range to 70-120 range. My A1C since 2008 has gone from 10.3 to 5.4 all just with weight loss and the Atkins diet, NO MEDS
Now i seem to have some slight liver damage related to the "hemochrmotosys" but this is something im working on.
But my dr told me i now am aloud to add some carbs to my diet. Just cut back on the iron.
My real question is has any one been able to get type 2 this much under control just by lifestyle changes? Just losing weight and quitting drinking?
Im even able to eat a few spoon fulls of pasta and rice now and my sugars only hit 130 after eating, in the past i would have been 300+
I just hope its not something with my liver under attack (i had liver enzymes 2 to 3 times higher than normal and iron 3 times the highest limit) in a bad way and that is what keeping my sugar low.
I was told the damage is not at that rage yet. But it just seems strange. Blood sugar at 130 after eating, no meds at all.
I have known type 2s whose blood sugars fully normalized after weight loss but can't speak to the experience- I have type 1 diabetes.
I can speak a bit to the liver issue. I have intermittantly had elevated liver enzymes with ultrasound of my liver showing "periportal edema". At their highest, my AST and ALT were about 15x upper limit of normal. Right now though, they're back down in the normal range. Liver enzyme elevation up to 3x upper limit of normal is not considered problematic or neccessarily indicative of liver disease; it's just a symptom of a lot of different diseases with some effect on the liver.
Anyways, my insulin needs when my liver enzymes have been elevated haven't been significantly different. When I've been too sick to eat much for a while, my insulin needs drop slightly but not much. When I recover, I notice an increase in my basal insulin needs of about 15%.
P.S. In my case elevation of liver enzymes seems to be related to gallstones and to pancreatitis... honestly it seems to me that whenever I get sick with much of anything my liver enzymes go up.
Hemochromatosis, a gene defect, can cause diabetes, but it's T1 diabetes. Did you have blood tests done to be sure you are T2? Has your doctor prescribed having blood drawn on a regular basis to lower the iron load?
Wow, congratulations on the weight loss & the beautiful A1c!
Milk thistle is very helpful for liver healing. You can get it at any health food store or online. Use a good brand that's standarized, not a generic brand.
