335 really is not that high. I’ve seen type 2’s come into the
hospital at over 1000. These are usually elderly people, they
stabilize them and then get them on pills and diet modification. When
they test these people, they find that they have ample insulin in
their systems, the bodies are just ignoring it, so they use things to
get their bodies to sensitize to their insulin. With you at 335 and
me at 400, when I was hospitalized, the readings for us on insulin

levels were too low for them to consider us type 2.

Here’s the thing that I find interesting: The healthiest people are
found to have the lowest levels of insulin in their bloodstream. Of
course they don’t have high blood sugar either. Now, you and I had
low insulin in our bloodstreams, but elevated sugar. Not near so high
as some who come in and are type 2’s. Here is my question: Are you
just a healthy guy, who had natural low levels of insulin, who got hit
with a virus or flu, or something that threw your blood sugar high for
a time, that your body would have normalized if you were not
diagnosed? At 19 I was an athlete, got a back injury, so cut back on
my normal activity, I was going through DKA and lost a lot of muscle
and the slight body fat I had at the time. Went from 195 to 155 in a
few months, and looked like an anatomy chart. Never felt sick accept
for a 24 hour flu that was the first that made feel like I was
freezing to death. It was sheer luck that I even found the high blood
sugar, because I diabetic friend tested me for fun.

****how can you say this? i have never, ever had anything like that
happen to me. i never go anywhere close to 200. if your blood sugar is
going insanely high like that then you obviously are not taking enough
insulin. i never, ever wake up to high blood sugar levels.*****

You have to realize that your experience with Diabetes is quite new,
probably less than a couple of years. Also your experience with other
diabetics sounds quite limited. Things change for every diabetic over
time. When I first became diabetic I shared your viewpoint. I had a
friend who had type 1 for 20 years and her readings were crazy from my
point of view, high, low, all over the place. I had the same
perspective as you at the time, she "must be out of control." Turned
out she was more careful with diet and insulin then me, didn’t matter,

my levels were always good, hers were unpredictable.

If you are type 1 and you never go over 200, then you are probably
type 2 and don’t need insulin.(I’m guessing) Today, more and more,
doctors are getting everyone on insulin, type 1 and type 2 and it is
believed to be a mistake by many. From your readings it appears you
are doing more chasing low blood sugar than you probably like. If you
are active, then I guarantee you are crashing a lot. When I was in my
20’s I How high can you get when you are not using any insulin?
Have you tried yet? How high was your BG when you were first
diagnosed? How many units and types of insulin are you taking per day?
What is your body weight? What is your age? How long have you been
diabetic? What kind of daily exercise do you do, if any? Please let
me know.

Brock

In response to your earlier e-mail, yes the dawn phenomena and the
glucose release by the liver is the issue that most type 1’s have in
the morning. I was responding to someone who’s child’s reading were
high and I was relating that for a type 1 there are many factors from
diet, to timing of blood glucose reading to exercise, stress level,
etc. Dawn phenomenon is not an absolute, even though as you point
out, everyone’s liver releases glucose after a 8 hour fast, not every
type 1 diabetic is effected by this elevation by having a
corresponding increase in BG, others rise in an almost unbelievable
way in the morning.

A blood sugar going from 90-250 in an hour and a half, without "making
the mistake of eating a high carbohydrate breakfast", in fact without

eating anything is quite common for a type 1 diabetic. Simply the
dawn phenomena will account for this, I also believe that other things
are in play. Some researchers believe the body is spiking the blood
sugar on purpose, causing ketoacidosis, and essentially getting the
body to flush out acids. It is not uncommon to find elderly type 2
diabetics that come into the hospital with blood sugars that are in
excess of 1000.! Many of these folks have been walking around with
elevated sugar levels for a long time.

Some advanced yogis can elevate their blood sugars at will to induce
deep states of meditation. One that I know of had his blood sugar
measured prior to a meditation, his reading was about 1200.(1200, not
120) About 50 minutes later, after a meditation his reading was 70.
He was not your average bear of course, but I mention this to
demonstrate that blood sugar is a complex animal, not completely
understood.

The idea of a low carbohydrate diet is nothing new to the diabetes
field. There are conflicting opinions. For example Whitaker in his
book "reversing diabetes" states that eliminating carbohydrates in
favor of a high fat, high protien diet will actually induce diabetes
in non-diabetics. I however agree with you that low glycemic
carbohydrates such as tomatoes, bell peppers, avocadoes, salad greens,
and the like are key to having a good stable BG reading for a type 1
or a type 2. Type 1’s and Type 2’s are very different however. Type
2 is easily controlled by many with simple diet modification and
exercise. There are some type 2’s that hardly anything works for.
Some type 2’s have completely reversed their diabetes going on a juice
fast.. this defies all logic, but it has worked for many type 2’s.

Bottom line is I believe that it is hard to say that this one type of
diet will be the best for type 1’s or type 2’s. Everyone truly is
unique. A food which does nothing to one person’s GB will send
another’s through the roof. Is this food allergy??, likely, but as
you well know many food allergies do not come up on any test. It
really requires that someone becomes a scientist and experiment on
themselves until they find what works best for them. What if we let
blood sugar run high and let the body do what it wants to do… will
it correct itself? Is it running high for a reason? Is there
something it wants to do that we do not understand?

No one knows for sure. Especially not me.

Brock

Hi Sue, Nov 2004, why?

Namaste,
Irene

These people commonly reduce arthritic and edema symptoms as they
cure their dysbiosis, candida, Crohn’s and colitis.

Gooogle "inulin references" for a good primer on reversing
dysbiosis with diet.

Duncan

Hi… I know you were addressing that to Irene, but here’s my 2 cents worth
of info…it’s been a while since we discussed it, but Lantus gave several us
on this list joint problems, swelling and aching as if we had arthritis … not
all at the same time; we had all discovered by process of elimination when
we’d been put on it that it was causing our problems and when we stopped taking
it, those joint problems went away. I’m Type 2 and take Novolog before meals.
I don’t feel the Novolog gives me any allergic reaction that I can discern.
I do feel like it’s responsible for making my hair thin on the top which
gives me a side effect of extreme grouchiness. The only side effect my doctor
would admit that Novolog has is that it takes potassium from your body.
Kady

> You will find that a morning blood sugar of 90 might
> spike up to 250 or more before starting to come down.

Not unless you are making the mistake of eating a high carbohydrate
breakfast!!!
Steak and eggs with green pepper, onion and tomato and mushroom will
bring a high sugar DOWN instead at breakfast.
So it has to do with what you eat, and also it has to do with how long
after the last meal you eat PROTEIN - that time should be as little as
possible - 3 or max 5 hrs in the day and for example eat some protein
an hour before bed time and as soon as you rise in the morning . That
will give maximum sugar control and least need for insulin.

> I found that my digestion in the morning is on overdrive

No Brock - it’s nothing to do with digestion, it’s to do with what your
liver doses while you sleep. Actually it is what your liver does 8 hrs
after a meal, and usually when we awake in the morning it is more than 8
hrs after a meal, so the liver is busy making glucose and will continue
to do so until a high protein meal is eaten.
It makes sugar, it is called the "dawn phenomenon". See my previous
para for ways to counter that.

There are other factors there - such as higher testosterone and lower
cortisol in the evening (plus possibly a revved up metabolism from
activity an which uses up glucose faster). These hormone changes cause
insulin to drop, lowering insulin resistance and allowing glucose into
the muscles.

It will not apply to all, especially not women who are above ideal weight.

I have had to lower dinner
> meal-time insulin for this reason. Overnight however, the food starts to
> digest,

No it is the liver that makes glucose at night - it’s not your digestion
at work - unless you ALSO ate a LOT of carbs to raise your sugar
Exactly. That is your liver making glucose because you waited too long
between meals - more than 8 hrs and that’s what the liver does. Your
sugar will continue to rise till you eat protein.
So the faster you eat protein in the Am the better for you.

It goes up 8 hrs after the last meal:-)

> Everyone is different

In some ways yes - but the liver making glucose after an 8 hr fast is
for all of us.

Namaste,
IRene

It is also possible that insulin causes allergy. It does with me. I use
Novolog as that causes the LEAST allergy - but Levimir in particular has
come up before as causing quite severe problems that are quite varied -
and which doctors tend to disbelieve automatically - but I have seen it
too often even just on the email lists to discount it. I do not use any
insulin but Novolog - which I chose to get the least allergy potential
as I am super-allergic type and respond badly to most things.

Even so I still have a reaction to Novolog - as ALL inslins have the
SAME preservative (how stupid is that) and I am reacting to the
preservative.

So when I take insulin I take 500 mg Vit C, 1500 mg Pantothenic acid and
100 mg Vit B6 as well. that overcomes the tendency to allergic reaction.
How much one needs is individual and also depends how depleted the
adrenals are from other reactions beforehand.

I wish you well in getting this under control, systemic hives is no
picnic and ANy systemic reaction needs attention.

May I suggest you read Dr BErnstein’s Book with "Diabetes solution" in
the title, asnd use it to devise a diet that has almopst no
carbohydrates apart from high -antioxidant ones (green pepper,
asparagus, green beans, spinach and other leaves, artichoke, and a
LITTLE tomato and onion and a little rice bran - no other celeals - njo
dairy).
This will reduce the need for insulin drastically - and you’ll find that
the allergic responses also reduce.
I found in my case I could tolerate a maximum of 4 units at a time - so
I made sure my diet was such that no meal ever exceeded a need for 4
units. I ate nmore often and tried to exercise off alternate meal carb
loads, instead of using insulin to get it down.

Exercise is not so easy to use this way till you get a feel for it with
help of the glucometer. HEAVY exercise will RAISE blood sugar. Gentle to
moderate exercise for not too long or not too short - will use up the
carbs just eaten. I use a indoor bicycle and know how much to pedal for
how much carb food.

I’m now off insulin thanks to diet and homeopathy but that’s how I
managed it with an allergy to "insulin" (actually to the preservative).
What the allergen is in your daughter’s case I do not know - if she
managed ANY other insulin it will not be the preservative - I’d suspect
Levimir first in that case….

Good luck.
NAmaste,
IRene

To say that her blood sugar is 375 really means little because this could
have been after she ate something very high in sugar, or when she was in
need of an insulin shot and had eaten prior to taking her insulin or check
her blood sugar.

You will find it very informative to check her blood sugar in the morning,
administer her insulin, eat, then keep checking her blood sugar every hour
to see where it goes. You will find that a morning blood sugar of 90 might
spike up to 250 or more before starting to come down. It might go down
quickly into a level so low that she is in need of more food to get it back

up. Bottom line you will see things that are surprising. Do this for a
week and you will see blood sugar readings in a different, but more
comprehensive light.

I found that my digestion in the morning is on overdrive, so whatever I eat
goes right into the blood stream and glucose readings will rise. In the
evening I find that I digest very slowly, I can eat twice the food as in the
morning and still the blood sugar will not rise, causing me to have to drink
juice 3 hours after a meal to counteract the insulin which is driving my
blood sugar down to uncomfortable levels. I have had to lower dinner
meal-time insulin for this reason. Overnight however, the food starts to
digest, so I take some long term insulin with dinner to handle this
digestion (of dinner) or else I might wake up with high blood sugar. I have
also noticed that if I test blood sugar at 6AM it might be 100, wait an 1
1/2 hours, while eating nothing and the blood sugar might read 210. So
there are a variety of factors that go into a blood sugar reading. Sleep in
and you might think you had high blood sugar all night, when in fact it got
substantially higher in the last 2 hours of sleep.

Everyone is different, you have to monitor it closely to see what is going
on and then things will make more sense to you. Certain Herbs I have found
will make these types of blood sugar swings less prevalent: Amla, gymnea
sylvestre, bitter melon, and others. Chromium Picolinate and Vanadyl
Sulfate also have a serious blood sugar stabilizing effect. The problem
with these herbs and supplements is that if you don’ take them regularly,
you will just be adding another factor to the blood sugar roller coaster.

Good Luck,