I began this journey on August 2, 2019.
On September 22, 2019, I took my last insulin shot. I didn’t know it at the time.
A while later, I donated my insulin to Insulin For Life, a group that provides insulin and disease management supplies free of charge to those with diabetes who otherwise would go without these life-saving provisions.
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On September 30, I announced the following to the Eat Like a Bear! group on Facebook:
I am off insulin! I ate OMAD for four days and never got near the cutoff I was using, including fasting bG numbers, preprandials and even 1 and 2 hour postprandials. And that is with only a half dose of metformin, down from 1000 mg to 500 mg.
I’ve excellent bG control when fasting, near normal numbers. When eating, each time I only added insulin when my bG approached or passed 200, then kept that dose until the next fast; my numbers improved day-by-day while eating until near perfect bG control. This last eating period, I never got anywhere near needing insulin at all.
Before fasting: 100 u/day, very poor control
After first fast: 30 u/day, from OK to good control
After second fast: 20 u/day, from OK to good control
After third fast: 0 u/day, OK controlCurrently on my fourth fast! Excited to see what happens after this.
I suspect that in a while, I may quit testing as often; my future goal is to decrease the homemade insulin, and there’s no good way to measure that.
On December 2, 2019, I posted a follow-up:
For those of you who don’t know my story, on August 1, I was on 100 u insulin/day with bG usually over 200, sometimes over 300. I was on carvedilol and lisinopril for elevated bG which they didn’t fix really, it was still high. I was on lasix for CHF, used a lymphapress daily for leg edema, on prednisone for adrenal insufficiency and on 37.5 mcg liothyronine for thyroid issues.
On August 2, I started an extended fast. I had some trouble getting myself sorted when I ate again, had to experiment quite a bit, but eventually got myself to my current schedule wherein I fast Mon-Wed and do OMAD, usually the RBS, Thu-Sun evenings.
Today, on no insulin, just metformin, my bG for the past 30 days has averaged 117 (including the recent chocolate fiasco!) On no BP meds, my BP ranges from normal to borderline/high. I am off lasix with no CHF symptoms and haven’t used the lymphapress in months but have normal looking feet. I have weaned off pred entirely and am 1/3rd the way off weaning the thyroid meds.
I’m down 22 pounds; I’m a slow loser compared to many here. But that’s OK!
The NSVs are the biggest deal; moreso than the medical improvements or the weight loss. My life has changed so profoundly, I can’t even begin to express it.
And today, there is a new NSV!
Today, I sent off thousands of dollars worth of insulin to a charity that provides insulin to T1 diabetics in third world countries. I packed it up in loads of bubble wrap with a bunch of freezer packs and went to the UPS store and shipped it off.
I also gave away my rollator last week and am in contact with a charity that can use my wheelchair and walker for folks locally, so that will be disposed of this week too.
I don’t need any of this stuff “just in case” anymore. I have been horribly sick and weak and am committed to the path of being strong and healthy.
There’s no turning back.
And there really hasn’t been any turning back. There have been mistakes, there have been missteps, but absolutely no turning back.
And one of those missteps was making a “keto” pizza on a low-carb tortilla.
