Curing Diabetes

Dear Little Sue,

Great questions! You hit on the special problem of type 1s that I didn't deal with enough. Yes, in types 1s even when beta cells regenerate your immune system mistakes them for foreign bodies and very efficiently destroys them and will keep on destroying them. So far, all that we have to control those misguided antibodies are immunosuppressive drugs. A whole lot of work is going on in this area, however. The drugs used in the Edmonton Protocol by Dr. James Shapiro and his associates were less toxic than the standard ones, and even more research has been going foreward since then.

Best regards,

David 

Thanks for your reply David.

I'm glad to hear plenty of research is being done in this area.  As I see it, until we can stop the immune system destroying new beta cells, all the work on transplanting islet cells (from whatever source) is futile - only marginally better than replacing the missing insulin as we do now. 

The only absolute 'cure' for type I would be getting rid of those darn genes :-(

Dear Jude,

Excellent point! None of us can relax our vigilance about what and how much we eat and how much we exercise.

Best regards,

David 

Dear John,

I don't know about the C-peptide test. Over the years I have looked into it several times. I know that Dr. Joe likes it, but the more I read about it the more confused I get. Just a few days ago when I got back with Dr. Jeff Gerber again, he talked about it. What discouraged me about C-peptide testing in that talk was when he said that it could tell only whether we were producing beta cells or not. That it couldn't tell the amount of them. He wants me to have a C-peptide test, but if its lack of discrimination is true, I don't see the point.

Best regards,

David 

Dear John,

Very interesting. Please let us know what your third number is. And if you get a chance to ask Dr. Joe, I really need to know why some doctors use fasting C-peptide testing and others non-fasting. Does he have any definitive medical literature supporting its use to determine beta cell growth? I haven't found anything that explains it to my satisfaction.

Best regards,

David 

Dear Mel,

I never took insulin shots either. While your (and my) insulin levels are normal, that absolutely does not mean that we are cured. Eternal vigilance!

Best regards,

David 

Thanks for your advice...eternal vigilance is my mantra!  I have complete blood work done by my doctor every 2 to 3 months, exercies almost everyday, keep a constant watch on my diet and weight and use my home blood test for glucose levels at least twice weekly.  My question is how much confidence can I have in my home test meter?

I really appreciate your help and all the work you do keep us diabetics up to date with informtion and some good common sense advice.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!

Mel

Dear Mel,

How confident can you be in the accuracy of your BG meter? My answer is "a little."

One of my biggest gripes is with the accuracy of our meters. Well, I should say that it really is with the FDA's lack of standards for accuracy. Legally, in spite of what people may tell you that meters have to be accuracy within 10% plus or minus, there are really no standards for BG meter accuracy in this country. If you doubt that, please see my article at http://mendosa.com/diabetes_update_39.htm#Accuracy

The meter companies, therefore, have in general little incentive to develop an accurate meter. They are just not sexy enough to sell. They advertise some other stuff, like speed, small blood sample, no need to calibrate, etc. Those things are easier for us to understand.

If your meter is more than a year old, replace it. Even the limited accuracy of your existing meter doesn't last.

If your test strips are nearly expired -- note that I do NOT write "expired" but rather "nearly expired" -- use new ones. They contribute majorly to inaccuracy, as the CDC people demonstrated in an article that I wrote for Diabetes Health magazine.

In my book, the most accurate meter is the AgaMatrix KeyNote. Please see "A is for Accuracy" at http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/9189/accuracy/

Best regards,

David 

Dear Mike,

Good question. Byetta was a wonder drug for me. So good that I don't need it any more. It let me control my hunger, which led to weight gain and all the other problems that go with it. As an experiment to see if I could live without any diabetes medication I have begun to eat a very low-carb diet -- which also controls hunger. For most people, eating low-carb is more difficult that taking Byetta, so I still am very much of a believer in that drug.

Best regards,

David 

Dear Rita,

Excellent! Like you, I drink a lot of water, often sparkling water. Never thought to add mint, which I have, but I regularly use a bit of pure lemon juice without any sweetener. That took a little getting used to, but I agree that it's delish!

Best regards,

David 

Good question. I am guessing and hoping that two years of Byetta has replenished my supply of those little suckers.

Best regards,

David 

Dear Donna,

That is exactly the normal way to take Byetta. You take the smaller dose at first to get used to it. The 10mcg dose later is the best dose to control your blood glucose and your appetite.

David 

Dear Donna,

A blood glucose level in the 80s is actually excellent. Couldn't be better -- except for the way you feel! The problem is that when you have been runing high numbers for a long time and then get down to a normal level, your body takes some time to adjust to it.

Still, there's at least one other consideration. While BG levels in the 80s are normal, you don't want to go much lower and have a hypo. Byetta alone won't cause hypos. But some other medication that you may be taking -- especially insulin or one of the sulfs -- can make you go hypo. If you are taking one of these medications, you may want to discuss dropping it with your doctor.