The D Bomb
Hydra with Tentacles, Depression and diabetes, LCHF
Last year in August, I was diagnosed with Diabetes. And it was not a borderline where I could hide behind any ambiguity, my HBA1C was 12 !!!!…
The D bomb shattered my very existence.
What a sissy, you must be wondering. In a country which has the highest population of diabetics in the world and with a family history of the disease, this should not have been a surprise.
“ Just because it isn’t a surprise, doesn’t mean it cannot surprise you”.
I realized it first hand, that this disease is very debilitating and works on many fronts, like tentacles of a monster Hydra.
As you would have guessed, with such an alarming STAT (HBA1C of 12) I was immediately put on a high doze of Oral Sulfonylureas.
As a fresh inmate, I started interacting with fellow felons. And I did not like the conversations 01 bit. Every story was a HORROR one.
. Everyone told me, this is a Life long disease, and would remain with you forever.
. Everyone told me (from experience) the medication would keep increasing from here on, starting with metformin moving to Sulfonylureas and reaching Insulin and then more and more of it.
. I also noticed what they did NOT tell me. There are some serious complications awaiting my arrival including damage to Nerves, Eyes, Kidney, Heart, gums and teeth and Gastrointestinal tract. (I am sure I am missing a lot more organs it can/does fuck ;))
If you think, these things got me depressed, you would be wrong. I am a STRONG willed person. A par excellent Stoic mind Trader who has turned a humble pile into something meaningful. I can take it in my stride
OR SO I THOUGHT…………
D bomb got me depressed and HOW!!!. The reason IT GOT me was sheer LACK OF CONTROL i had.
The high doses of Sulfonylureas surely brought the sugar levels down (due to high base effect) but they did not do it without its affects.
Firstly:- I had a couple of semi-serious Hypoglycemic episodes which took day lights out of all the EGO I ever had.
Secondly: My sugar was NOT in control. It looked good relatively because of high base effect. In reality “what they consider Normal” is good enough to invite all the above mentioned complications in my life in very near future.
Thirdly: Sulfonylureas are poisons for a TYPE 2 Diabetic. Their main job is to INCREASE Insulin in the body. In layman’s terms, Type 2 diabetes is nothing but excess Insulin in the body which the cells are refusing to accept.
your doctor gives you medicine that increases your insulin when you are suffering from excess insulin in your body. Go figure!!!
And therefore, if you take the advise of your friendly next door Nincompoop doctor (for lack of a better word), you are done for life. No diabetic ever comes out of this TRAP, ever. Its a viscous cycle culminating with you taking more and more and more of the medication to get the same effect and eventually you die with any or many of the complications mentioned above.
And therefore, all this thinking and sheer lack of control in numbers got me DEPRESSED. It started affecting everything.
My work. I was no longer the Trader I was proud of. I started making all the mistakes that I have written blogs about in (what NOT to do series).
My Relationships. I got into meaningless fights with my wife. you know the kinds where after the end of it all, you don’t even remember (actual ‘noble cause ’) wat the fuck was I fighting for.
My Health: You stop taking drugs when you know it ain’t working anyways. Only a fellow depressed can understand what i am writing here. That loss of motivation where you start saying “WHO cares” to everything.
I had HIT the Rock bottom and I knew something gotta give. My life was going fine and all of a sudden this Shit just derailed me. That’s when I gave myself a little pep talk and sat on my Laptop to see some success stories, if not anything it should lighten the mood from death and despair to hope (howsoever fake)
Also, i started reading what my hero, “Taleb” has to say on the subject. “Apparently he has a view point on everything, and more often than not the correct one.
And that’s WHEN it happened. I came across this OLD frail dude in his 90s. Dr Bernstein. He was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 13 or something. By the age of 30 he had all the complications, you could ever imagine. Right from bad lipids to kidney on verge of failure to heart disease and
THEN HE REVERSED IT.
And he reversed it with a DIET PLAN (ofcourse with Insulin, he is type 1). And he has spent his entire life time teaching and helping and curing diabetics from that day ON.
Get a copy of this book if you are a diabetic. IT WILL CHANGE/SAVE YOUR LIFE.
Subscribe to his Youtube channel where he runs his university. Its a GOLD MINE.
What this Book essentially says is that food can be divided into 03 categories. CARBOHYDRATES, FATS and PROTEIN.
If you are a diabetic, carbohydrates are POISON for you. No amount of medication can circumvent the SUGAR RUSH created by them. Don’t take my word for it, he says. We have the technology now, simply test your sugar after every meal. You would exactly know what each meal type is doing to you.
Here Listen to this fascinating presentation By janav, who has explained it much better than I ever could.
So, I decided to give it a shot. While I was at it, I realized I am UP against a SYSTEM. My wife is a doctor. (MBBS, MD) and so telling her about this shit was like trying to sell an Options derivative product to a SIP investor.
She clearly said “you cannot leave your medication and can attempt “these things” as a side kick and that too after approval of your endo.
She being a doctor and highly networked, we consulted the best endocrinologists in New Delhi. None of the dudes (3) gave a Rat’s ass to my “Low carb High Fat” plan and discarded it as a FAD.
Infact, one of them scared the shit out of me saying high fat would lead to cholesterol and heart complications.
Latest research has already substantiated that dietary fat has NOTHING to do with body fat but that didn’t stop this stone age junkie from ridiculing and scaring me!!!.
and so as you can see, i was left all alone to fend for myself. I had doubts & questions in my mind
What if the entire thing is a charade. I cannot just stop taking medications and trust an internet fad and end up dying a lot faster than the disease would kill me. To be fair to diabetes, this hydra with tentacles at-least kills you nice and slow ;)
While I was grappling with these questions, I had started reducing at least the refined carbs from my diet. And Dr Bernstein’s technique (of testing yourself after every meal was a wonderful feedback mechanism at display)
Sure enough, bhature chhole would take it up to 180. So would a couple of filled paranthas whereas a full ON Steak didn’t move the needle beyond 110. while eggs almost go unnoticed.
I started gaining confidence with this constant feedback loop and then a Twitter acquaintance Mr Vishnu @vishnu570 introduced me to DLIFE.in
With so many success stories of people who have already done it and detailing their journeys, i decided to go full throttle.
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Cut to the chase, 6 months ago my HB1AC was 7 and i got the result yesterday for my latest check-up.
YUP you read that right…. ITS 5.7 and the only medication I am taking is METFORMIN.
As per ADA (American Diabetes Association) I am Now into the category of “PreDiabetes”. Ofcourse according to Dr Bernstein that entire guideline just like their dietary guideline is BOGUS. And therefore battle is only half won.
So what next.
Now that i have tasted success, I intend to take it a notch up by introducing IF (Intermittent Fasting) Please watch Dr Jason Fung explain it in great detail
I have been able to achieve this “Prediabetes” state thanks to Dr Bernstein and friends at dlife.in. Any amount of gratitude would not be sufficient for this selfless act.
here is a podcast we did with them detailing about what they do and how.
A word of caution: I am not a big fan of 0 carbs. Low carb high fat diet is the max I would go to. I do not wish to take my body into a situation where it is totally deprived of carbs and forget the “stressors” completely. “randomness” is the key word here.
Please visit my Amazon page, https://www.amazon.in/shop/mysticfuture
where i have curated books to read and grocery to buy.
comments are welcome.
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