RNY CURED MY...

I had my RNY last week Monday Oct. 4th at New York Hospital with Dr. Dakin. By Thursday Oct. 7th I was off metformin and insulin and my numbers are completely normal. Today Oct. 14th ten days after my surgery my range for one week of numbers was between 69 and 120mg/dl and my average was 103. 
Incredible! I have been cured of diabetes. If for nothing else, the operation was worth it. However, I have since lost 20 lbs and can close the jacket I could not wear just before surgery. Amazing.

Congratulations! Doesn't it feel awesome? Do keep track of things, though, as you start to incorporate more variety of foods back into your diet. And I would still have an A1C run with your labs from here on out because some RNY patients see their type 2 diabetes return a few years after the surgery - I'm not saying that will happen to you, but just keep an eye on things. For now, though, enjoy not having to stick yourself every single day anymore!

Thanks Jill. Yes it does feel awesome. Having the diabetes cured is worth having the surgery alone and then losing all this weight is going to be the best game changer ever. I agree with you I will have an A1C test done with my general doctor. No more sticks!!!

I hope that I did not speak to soon. Today for no reason that I can figure out, my insulin spiked to 230 mg/dl, went up and down several times today and finally settled down at 111 mg/dl. This spike came out of nowhere. I did not eat any sugar or major carbs. I can only hope that this is just one of those things and my body is going through a readjustment period after a week of perfect numbers.

Hi, Jeff,
I can relate.  My primary reason for RNY was to help slow or abate the progression of my diabetes.  Before surgery, I was on 2 types of insulin 5 x a day and 3 max doses of oral meds.
During the pre-surgeryliquid protein fast, I was able to reduce my insulin by 2/3.  In the hospital, I was taken off my meds and given tiny doses of insulin (3 -10 units).  I was told when I came home to monitor my sugars 2 x ad ay and if I went over 150, to take a metformin.  

At first I was running 75 to 110, but then slow rose daily to 140...150...167...so gave into taking a
metformin.  I am still on the liquid protein only.  This morning I awoke to a 149, did not take a meformin, drank a protideit drink and proceeded to clean for 2 hours.  Took bs again and it was up to 200!!!  So took the metformin.

Difficult to understand.  My RN sister says to give it more time, that as I lose weight that too should help my inuslin resistance. 

Good Luck to you and know you are not alone!
Lori

We both started at about the same date. After thinking about it, we need to give it more time before we can judge anything. It's only a week and a half. Our bodies need time to adjust to their new cir****tances.

Taking "a metformin" won't do you any good. Metformin is a drug that works cumulatively, so taking just when you have high levels won't do anything. If you don't take it consistently, then there's not much point in taking it at all. The way metformin works, it will not bring down a high glucose spike, as it does not trigger an additional release of insulin. Rather, when taken consistently over time, metformin will help to reduce the amount of glucose your body releases into your blood stream naturally and will help to decrease insulin resistance.

My understanding is that metformin controls the amount of glucose in your blood from your
food or produced in your liver.  It also increases one's response to insulin.  I already know
that my liver produces glucose when I do not eat.  My fasting levels have typically been my highest.  Metformin does reduce my blood sugar.  I have taken it for 10 years (at the onset as
a treatment for PCOS, which worked beautifully) and had only been off it for a week.  I was taking it along with other meds right up until surgery.  As I said, it does reduce my blood sugar level nicely at this point.

Of course it can work - otherwise, it wouldn't be used at all! My point was simply that only taking it once in a while won't do much good, and it sounded like that's what you were doing was trying to only take it on an as-needed basis. It's not like insulin in that it won't quickly bring down a spike - it works over the long haul. Your insulin sensitivity may have also already been improved as a result of your surgery, weight loss, and adjusted dietary intake.

If it works, take it, but it is highly likely that the less frequently you take it, the less likely it is to mke a noticable difference. That was all I was trying to say.

I still have some metformin in my kitchen. I haven't taken it in many months now - closing in on a year - so it is well out of my system by now. If I do have a glucose spike, I don't take one because I know that, based on how it works, that would be pretty pointless unless I planned on continuing to take it cosistently for at least a few weeks.

You're so early out that you're still healing. Any sort of physical stress can cause blood sugar levels to fluctuate high, so do give it a bit of time to settle down. I had to have insuliln injections when I was in the hospital immediately after my surgery even though I had never been on insulin before - I obviously wasn't eating anything!