My Approach to Dealing With T2 Like A Hobby

This post was started on August 30, 2018, and hopefully posted September 1, 2018. I'm being surprised by how quickly revelation happens in the process.

One of my goals is to be on very low to no meds for Diabetes. And then, no relapse. My belief is that the disease is metabolic in nature and diet induced in practice. As such, it's reversible. Reversible works both ways, and it can be acquired again !

Reverting a bit back to engineer, the plan is:

• internalize what to do
• fast at least 16:8 every day
• low carb high fat 
• exercise regularily
• reduce meds
• practice daily fasting, at least 16:8, at most 20:4
• consistently make low carb high fat meal choices
• resume exercise every 3 4 days: weights, tabata, bike
• reduce meds as far as practical, recognizing that:
• hyperglycemia is very survivable, to wit, I'm not dead yet
• hypoglycemia can be extremely dangerous
• Note well: the meds cause hypoglycemia

Fasting and LCHF have been underway for some time. Exercise has restarted. Meds reduction is worth some discussion.

BG levels and insulin levels are inversely related, that is, low BG levels mean too much insulin. One long term goal is to have insulin as low as practical. Note well that insulin comes from both my meds and my pancreas. 

There were 3 antiglycemic meds in my stack before this all started. Byetta, glipizide, and Lantus. I stopped taking Byetta on July 15, 2018. Reductions in glipizide started August 19, 2018. What was 21 pills per week, became 9 pills per week, became 3 pills in a week, and will go to zero next week. I'm free to take the drug 'tactically' - if I want an insulin bolus from my pancreas. We'll see.

Titration of Lantus is difficult for me. There's an emotional aspect to it. After all, this stuff is dangerous in 'too high' a dose, and I'm demonstrating that I don't always know when I'm hypo. Kinda scary, but IDGAF. There's the LCHF diet strict discipline that I refuse to practice, and that impacts my BG numbers. There's also a moving target aspect, where the longer I practice daily fasting, theoretically the lower my need for supplemental insulin. Whatever mental or BG response driven mental model I build for dose size, it reduces over a timeframe of days and weeks and months.

Withdrawal is a bitch. And I seem to have one hell of a hobby.