Went to see the Dr. today armed with the book and the letter explaining the diet from Dr. Michael. got the its a “fad diet” dangerous to start reducing meds just eat less you will go hypo etc etc . My wife and family in full support easing myself into the 8×8 and by 1st june ( already down to 1100 cals )will be ready to start the diet fully It feels a little scary to start reducing meds without supervision but along with wanting to sort out my type 2 I would like to prove the blinkered GP that he is wrong. Any help/guidance on how/when to reduce my meds.
many thanks

Hi Marxistfood – such a shame your doctor had such a closed mind – and especially sad as you had taken the notes for doctors from MMs website. I was on fast acting insulin injections after every meal and slow acting insulin at night. I would imagine that the slow acting insulin is very much like your meds and that blood sugars only drop very slowly and there isn’t a huge risk of hypos (I am assuming you are on something like Metformin).

Once I started seriously doing the BSD I had to stop the fast acting insulin within days because of hypos – it was quite scary. But the slow acting insulin was a completely different matter and I was able to come off it very slowly. Do you have a glucose testing monitor? If you do it would be a a good idea to do a blood test of you start getting hypo symptoms because then you can cut the meds faster.

I made the mistake of dropping my insulin too quickly in the beginning and it caused my blood sugars to raise too high. It is basically trial and, but so wonderful that we can defeat this horrible disease with something as simple as cutting the bad carbs.

Your poor doctor will be so confused when you turn up for an appointment with totally normal HB1aC and no meds.

Do drop in to any of the other threads as you will get lots of help. The one week and four week challenges are especially helpful because they are a mix of new people and people who have been doing the BSD for a long time.

Sorry a typo – should have typed that it is basically trial and error when cutting the meds or insulin.

Hi Marxistfood,

I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes last August. My hba1c was 11.8% (106) on diagnosis so I reckon I’d been diabetic quite some time. I was prescribed Metformin but I ultimately decided to not take the Metformin and give this diet a go first (800 cal/20g carbs), so I’ve never taken medication nor been on Insulin.
So, I can’t add in any experience-based advice but along with KrysiaD’s advice, if you tap ‘reducing medication’ ‘stopping metformin’ and similar searches in the search box at the top right of this page, you’ll see a fair bit of additional advice there on what to do.
Also, it might be helpful for any others wanting to offer advice if you say specifically what medication you are on. Is it just Metformin?

I sympathise completely about the ‘fad diet’ business. The practice nurse who gave me my metformin, and who I’d told honestly and openly about doing the BSD, went off to check one of my test results with one of the GPs. She came back in laughing. When I asked her what she was laughing about (thinking to enjoy a shared joke) she said it was just something the GP had said about another woman doing a ‘fad diet’. I was the joke. Hmm. Not good, is it.

In fact, it turns out they were wrong. The ‘bad diet’ for a Type II diabetic is the one advocated by the NHS (and as a previously long-term NHS worker it genuinely saddens me to say that). Like KrysiaD, my blood sugars are now back in the normal range, and have been since November. This diet works. Good luck with it all.

Marie
xx
PS You will prove the b….linkered GP wrong!

Hi Marxistfood I started this way of eating nearly two years ago after having been diagnosed with T2 for around 5 years. I didn’t mention it to my doctor but just carried on my own sweet way. My. Blood sugars had never been way over the top I think just over 7 when I was prescribed metformin. I ended up taking 2000mg a day and there was talk of adding an extra medication even though my BS was in the low 6’s. It was at this point I discovered BSD.

So after around 3 months, and still on metformin, my BS was down to the mid fives. They say metformin only reduces your BS by 10% or less anyway. Four months later my BS was still steady in the mid 5’s. By May 17, three months later , my BS was stable and my metformin was cut in half. Three months later it was stopped altogether. By November last year, after three months drug free, my BS had dropped yet again to 5.0.

My advice to you would be to just carry on and follow this way of eating. Let the medics reduce your medication if it makes them happy. But follow this ‘fad diet’ it might just save your life!

thanks for the replies and support everyone – im sure I will be back with more requests for advice, but it does feel better knowing there is support out there

More advice please and thank goodness for this forum and the support !! Eased into this diet so started loosing weight before actualy starting the 800 cals per day. ;week one weight loss 5 ,1lbs and bloods (test 3 times daily) apart from one early morning 10 and one mid-afternoon 4.2 my average bloods are around 6.5 . My wife thinks I should really cut down on the meds perhaps by half and see what happens Im not sure.( and no Doctor support ) I am pretty certain I remain very low carb and not exceeding the calories. I mostly reach my goal of 10,000 steps I feel and told I look healthier, but just wondered what people thought about reducing the meds by half after the first week. Many thanks in advance

Hi can you say how long ago you were diagnosed with T2 and what medication you are taking and for how long?

Diagnosed approx. 7 yrs ago . morning 2xmetformin and 1 glimifide evening ; 2 metformin
6 month blood test came back really raised they didn’t say how much but just wanted to give me more meds ! My wife researched and Im starting my second week. My wife feels it would be ok to cut down and maybe up the test to 4 times daily . Im not so sure There seems to be varying opinions on this. What I have recognised is the huge amounts of carbs I ate !!

I presume you mean glicazide or some sort – that means it is one of the sulfamide tablets. These can cause very low blood sugar but if you are on 1 daily it should be okay. I test morning before breakfast and evening before dinner – not much point at any other time as you will probably have eaten if you do an after lunch or after dinner test. If you do start to go low – and I mean under 4.5 (81) then think about dropping one of the metformin. Whatever you do, do it slowly – dont drop with one low reading, make sure they are consistent so you know it is a pattern and not a fluke. As both Krysia and Verano have explained, slowly, slowly is the way to go. If you find your BG suddenly goes up at the morning reading then look up Dawn Phenomenon on this site – as you are dieting your body will think it is starving and will sometimes pump out more glucose during the night, giving a false reading. Just a point to look out for.

Hi I can only agree with sunshine-girl. After 7 years on medication I certainly wouldn’t start to drop your medication without medical help. I would be inclined to go back to my GP with figures…. weight loss, over what period, and very important your waist measurement, if you have the old and new. I would ask for an up to date HbA1c , which is the only true measurement of blood glucose over a period of time. Then in three months have another, only then will you know how much better your BG control is. Then I would be asking to reduce medication if my BG was still out of the diabetes range. I don’t know when your last HbA1c was so you you may have to wait a few more weeks if it was very recent. At the end of the day we all want to improve our health but also for it to be sustainable. After all you have been ‘popping pills’ for 7 years would another 3 or 6 or 9 months more be the end of the world if it safely gets you drug free?
Just one more note of caution, you have to stay low carb for the rest of your life if you want to control your diabetes by diet alone. As yet this way of eating is seen as ‘reversing’ rather than ‘curing’ diabetes. Time will tell!

Huge thanks to all !