last updated 17 AUG 2020
Before my first fast, I was on 100 total u of insulin; 40 units of basal once a day and 30 units of bolus twice a day. I did not have good control; though I wasn’t testing regularly, my spot checks were often over 200 mg/dL, sometimes over 300. I began that fast on 30 u basal, no bolus, but low bG readings had me off entirely by the time I ate again. During that fast, I also began weaning Lasix until I was down to 1/4 dose; my BP kept dropping and the lymphedema in my legs and feet was disappearing.
It took several days eating before my bG rose over 200, my designated cut-off for insulin. I wound up needing 30 u TDD to keep bG in a good range, 20 u basal and 5 u bolus twice a day.
Because I’d begun walking with kitties during my fast, I believed I might have regained flexibility. For years, I’d been wearing long, denim skirts that I could put on over my head; this was the only way I was able to dress myself. The week after my first fast, I tried to put panties on and could reach to do so. Excited, I ordered a pair of yoga pants off of Amazon; when they arrived, I realized I could put them on by myself also. I was able to dress myself in normal clothes, except for needing help with the sock on my bad leg. I felt like a real person again, instead of a patient.
After my second fast (cut short because I felt poorly due to weaning prednisone), when I added insulin back, I wound up on just 20 u TDD. I realized I only needed insulin after 4 days of eating, so decided to fast weekly, 3 days fasting, 4 days eating OMAD, usually the RBS.
After my third fast, I took no insulin; highest my bG spiked postprandially was under 160. Sept 22 was the day I took my last shot of insulin.
As I began my fourth fast on September 30, 2019, I announced that I was no longer on insulin. This had occurred in under 2 months; incidentally, I’d lost over 10 pounds. And I could put on that other sock.
On Dec 2nd, I donated my insulin to Insulin For Life, a charity that provides insulin to T1s in third world countries.
Over the holidays, with house guests, I ate 8 days in a row and my bG gradually ran back up to 200. With no insulin, and pharmacies closed on Christmas Day, I had no way to fix this except by fasting it back down, which I did.
I never got near 200 again.
Several more fasts and I’d weaned the prednisone entirely, after over a decade of adrenal insufficiency that had left me bedridden without meds. At the next endo visit, she gave me a half ACTH-stim and my cortisol went through the roof; my adrenals were back.
We then developed a plan for weaning liothyronine, which I was off of by the next time I saw her; repeated TSH tests make her happy; my daily temperatures and feeling well without it make me happy.
Then, for the heck of it, I weaned DHEA, resulting in no hormones whatsoever, just metformin. I had this idea that I could have a fully functioning endocrine system again.
After my 5.5% A1c, I was asked if I planned to stop metformin, and I didn’t think so. But I’ve since had several hypoglycemic instances and did. Given my Libre still reported nice numbers after a few weeks off metformin, and I was off prednisone, liothyronine and even DHEA, at my next appointment, the endo discharged me.
I have since achieved an even lower A1c of 5.1% on absolutely no diabetic medications at all. While this is quite good enough for me, some of the previously diabetic people I know have achieved A1cs actually below 5% and I wonder if that’s in my future. Could I see a number that starts with a 4?
My A1c history is reported below, taken as a screenshot from my patient portal.
My A1c a few weeks in was 8.1%, down from a high of 11.9%. In Nov 2019, on no insulin, just metformin, it was down to 6.7%. In May 2020, it was down to 5.5%, officially out of both diabetic and prediabetic range. Shortly thereafter, I had a couple of genuine hypos and stopped the metformin. In August 2020, on no diabetic medications, my A1c was 5.1% The patient portal gets upset trying to graph the individual results from a lipid panel, so I’ll just report that my triglycerides before starting were 312; a few weeks in that had dropped to 193. I wanted to wait before trying meds, but In November, it was still 206. Realizing that as long as my adipose was releasing triglycerides, this number wouldn’t go down, I agreed to start Vascepa with the result that my May 2020 reading was 111 and in August it was about the same at 107. While the lab reports < 175 is “in range,” I’d like to see it below 100 and would *really* like to see it below 60.
This page will be updated regularly as I proceed.
To really understand how significant these changes are, one needs to be conversant with my medical history.
