Diabetes

Hi All, I am a friend of Spyder's, I am the woman who she wrote about earlier today. It has taken me a long time to surrender to the fact that I just can't do this on my own and that if I want to live to a "ripe old age" that I need to get my diabetes and heart disease under control. I have begun my journey towards a healthier life. My diabetic readings have been out of control -- 298, 178, ..last week i had one that was close to 400 -- then it drops to 60 and I have to get someone to get me orange juice -- a roller roaster. I have made an appointment with a specialist, endocrinologist from the Rodenbaugh Diabetic Center @ Penn Tower in Philadelphia. Has anyone had diabetes and now it is gone?? Did you have a specialist?? Did your doctor suggest or support your decision to have your gastric bypass or did you have resistance. I know I will have many more questions and will look forward to all the support pat

Hi Pat Welcome to the NJ board : ) Yes .. I am no longer diabetic. Yes... it was totally from having the WLS RNY surgery. Yes my doctors .. primary care physician at first.. was helpful, encouraging, but the legwork.. finding a surgeon... learning about it.. etc I did on my OWN. Once I found a surgeon... it went very well.. and everything fell into place. It took having a good long look.. I was 39.. 650 pounds.. diabetic..and my primary care doctor looked at me and said: "Tim we need to find an answer to your weight and health or you wont see age 50". Short term.. I would suggest a low carb diet as much as possible. Are you insulin dependant? Or do you control yours with medication.. ;pills etc? Low carbs will help the diabetes until you find a solution... be it surgery or something else.. that is best for YOU : ) I am no longer diabetic.. (sorta). I was diagnosed after a particular bowl of halloween candy in 1999.. my sugar went to 336.. I went to the bathroom every 30 minutes.. it was **scary**. My doctor put me on the Atkins diet.. and I successfully controlled my diabetes that way for a year.. reading in the 110-140 range but considerably less than the 300s. THEN.. I changed doctors. When I was on the Atkins diet.. I didnt lose a pound .. not ONE.. and I did it faithfully. But it did control my diabetes. I was on glucotrol XL aka.. glucophage.. 5mg 3x a day. My sugars were so so... for the next several years. In 2004 I had surgery.. last December. I was 601 pounds. Today, August 29th, I am 440 pound. I have lost 160 pounds. In JULY 2005, My SIXTH month update with my surgeon went REALLY well.. my glucose levels were 110 (thats with not taking **ANY** medication since May of this year) My glucose A1 - C test was very good.. all my serum levels and blood sugar was *normal*. So to answer.. YES one reason my doctor and surgeon were VERY supportive was my diabetes. Along with my sleep apnea, super morbid obesity, arthritis.. and other issues. My SURGEON said "Timmy, you have to go a year with these good glucose levels.. and if you do then yes OFFICIALLY .. you are not diabetic anymore. But according to him.. I need to have low levels off medication for a year to be **officially not diabetic**. The lessened weight has caused it.. that and the LIFESTYLE from having RNY bypass surgery is such that I dont eat many carbs at all.. its protein protein protein... first... : ) I wish you every encouragement.. and YES I would seriously consider having the WLS RNY surgery... it has changed my life. I am no longer diabetic (at least for now), I am losing weight.., feeling better and hopefully wont be sleep apnea after losing more weight. My doctors are **thrilled**... both were very supportive of my having the surgery and very pleased with my 8 month, 160 pound weight loss. godspeed.. let us know if there is anything else you need, please dont feel shy about asking questions.. ASK ASK ask away : ) Take Care Timmy Ray

Check out the ds, dueonal switch, it has a very high success rate for diabetes, it is used in eroupe to cure diabetes, check the forum here ,and visit duenalswitch.com, this proceedure can be hard to get, the number of doctors doing it are less than 50 in the us, and insurance balks at the higher cost. ask at the forum.

I had been diagnosed with Type II diabetes, and also had sleep apnea, as well as high cholesterol, stress incontinence and weight-induced asthma. Although my sugar levels rarely exceeded 250, I no longer have any of those ailments at all. Good luck. RNY 6/16/03 -- 336/156 "Still a Work in Progress"