Successful first week on Atkins

6lbs in 7 days.  A friend of mine who had the VSG commented that this clearly proves my issue all along was the insulin resistance. I go for blood work this and next week (and dang, I bruise easily).  Hopefully I will miss a diabetes diagnosis and saved myself a lot of heartache. The discoloration on my legs is fast improving. I feel vibrant on Atkins and can power through my tough workouts. Thank you to all, especially LVS, for help during my crisis. Onward and upward (er, downward on the scale though : )  ).

Hey.. Jers... are you checking your sugar at all?  A little finger prk?   I remember my initial loss.. 10 lbs in 3 days (ooh.. kinda like what I just put on).. I was psyched after that! Don't sweat the blood test and DO NOT beat yourself up over the numbers!  You're doing the do, girly.. and this will take care of it!!!!  :) God Bless! Lori

I haven't done anything the doctor hasn't asked for.  I have blood work on Wednesday, this is the cortisol test where I have to take a steroid the night before, and later this week I have the rest of the panel--insulin, thyroid, etc. FWIW, when I had my blood checked in October, my BG was 122 (fasting)--this is when I was doing carbs, per my trainer.  15 years ago it was 110 (nonfasting).  Anyway, I'm truly hoping that the IR diagnosis was just prior to diabetes and that on low carb I'm bringing my numbers down.  We'll see what the test says.

....  ok...  getting a little p'd off here....  and no one said anything in October about a 122 fasting?  Ok.. ok.. that's past.. moving right along.  Here's a hint.. my nephew (who I check fairly often because after all, he is a MALE, a little chunky, and comes from a long line of diabetics) can eat an entire plate of mashed potatoes.. I mean PILED high with breaded chicken and corn and crapola.. egads... and I'll check him right after and then 3 hours and he'll come up a 98.  Now that's a healthy pancreas (for now). Did your doctor ask you to pick up a meter?  Knowledge is your best defense here... sometimes very seemingly innocent stuff causes an insulin response, so it's best you KNOW what does it to ya.

RE: 122, GP said, "It's a little high.  Let's recheck it." Endo will check it w/in next 2 weeks.

I got that same response from my PCP about my thyroid when he first checked it. "6.5, a couple points above normal. Here's a prescription."   No sense of urgency, nothing explaining to me what that means or how abnormal it really is. I tell ya I've about had it with my PCP.  He's like that about everything. Nothing excites him and he doesn't really seem to care about my health. The wife feels the same way when she sees him. We're both in the market for a new one.  I think a lot of PCPs/GPs are like that.. perhaps they just see so many patients that things become boring and monotonous so they just quit caring.  Well I don't have to put up with it. There's tons of them out there.

Well, it just goes to show that we are all not wired the same.  I knew there was something wrong when I kept gaining on low fat.  Thank God they finally figured out that I'm insulin resistant and those refined carbs were killing me.   Hopefully this is all you will have to deal with for now and you can keep things under control. Congratulations on the big six! Mary

Great job on the 6lb loss!  I've been following your story here and concerned I may have the same problem.  Have the discoloration in my legs (not the neck thing) and react to food the same way you do.  Have an appt. with my primary coming up the end of the month and gonna request we look into this more carefully.  It is scary and I'm glad you're on top of it now.  Have always had thyroid testing done (TSH) but never gone further than that...will check it out.

Here's the thing--for years I relied on a GP.  I'd say "I eat carefully (portion/choices) and exercise."  Okay, we'll check your thyroid.  Came back normal each time.  Rarely did they suggest checking my glucose and when it was checked, it was never flagged (I think "pre-diabetes" is a newer "classification").  Anyway, this last time I pressed forward hard and demanded an endo consult.  It was only there that anyone ever commented on the IR mark on my neck.  I still can't see it--keep looking with mirrors. Oh well.  Anyway, still as I said hopeful that Atkins will reverse things. So my thought to you?  Don't expect the GP to know what the endo will know.  My GP never looked at my neck.

Well, I'm gonna press my primary for an endo consult as well.  I never heard of the mark on the neck before and I'm a nurse...however been out of active clinical practice for a while now.  I think the whole "insulin resistance" is a fairly new concept.  I too have had my thyroid checked often over the years and it always comes back normal.  Time to look into this all further.  Tracking what I eat carb wise and it's amazing....even giving up the flour and sugar stuff, I eat an awfully lot of high carb fruits and veggies.  Your whole situation has made me much more aware and I thank you.  You certainly sound like you're on the right track...hopefully I'll get some answers too.