Hi and welcome to Flawed yet Functional! One topic I like to share here is my health journey. Growing up I considered myself perfectly healthy and normal, and I was. Until high school when I started having localized seizures out of the blue. Seven years later things would worsen which lead to the discovery of my AVM. Fast-forward 8 years later through two pregnancies with gestational diabetes, and I receive the diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes as a 33 year old. Through much research and experimentation, I began managing my diabetes through a healthy diet, exercise, and health habits…without insulin. Crazy, right? Today I’d like to give you an insulin free type 1 diabetes update since I just had another visit to my endocrinologist.
Diabetes History
Once receiving my diabetes diagnosis in April 2017, I originally accepted it and the process of carb counting and insulin injections. I had already been on insulin for my second pregnancy, and I have 3 Type 1 Diabetics in my family. I knew the drill, and I adjusted my life accordingly.
But then that fateful night when I discovered gluten and its affect on the human body, particular in how it causes (yep, I said causes. I might be wrong, but I don’t think so!) autoimmune diseases. I dove into the research. I changed my diet the next day and stopped taking fast-acting insulin that day. I didn’t stop because I was doing an experiment or my pancreas spontaneously started producing more insulin (This is NOT a honeymoon period). I stopped because my blood sugar remained in Type 1 Diabetic normal range without the need of additional insulin because I removed gluten from my diet. If you want to read more of my story, click here.
Endocrinologist Visit
Last week I had my regular check-up with my endocrinologist. This was just a regular quarterly visit, so no major labs were taken for me to go over with you. The only thing they checked was my A1c which was 6.6. 6.6!!!! Did you catch my last life update just a couple weeks ago? I was kind of bummed about my blood sugar control over the summer and was sort of dreading getting my A1c checked.
Never fear, it was pure gold!
An A1c is an average blood sugar of the last 2-3 months. The goal is to keep it less than 7.0 for a Type 1 Diabetic which means the average blood sugar was less than 150. For a non diabetic, 100 is their average blood sugar, for reference. The chart below spells out the A1c values compared to blood sugar levels.
All that sweating and being nervous for nothing. However, I will say this is my highest A1c since being insulin free. Nevertheless, even with all that went wrong this summer, gluten, dairy, sickness, and antibiotics for 2 weeks, I still came in under 7.0. It’s a great feeling!
Plans for the Future
I’m still moving forward with the Autoimmune Protocol to manage my diabetes and continuing on with the reintroduction phase. The next reintroduction will be in a week or so, and I’m thinking it will be cashews. There are so many things I want to try that it’s hard to slow down and pick one!
As far as diabetes management, I will continue to test my blood sugar 4 times a day so I’m keeping close tabs on how I’m doing. There is no plan to reintroduce insulin any time soon because my results are good enough without additional insulin. As my doctor likes to say, we are riding this wave for as long as we can!
Relax
This was my biggest take away from my doctor’s visit: RELAX. My diet is working. My theories on health, food, and diabetes are proving true. If I have a high reading, or weeks of readings, due to a gluten exposure or sickness that it is all still ok in the long run. Diabetes is a marathon, a life-long marathon, I need to relax and not sweat a few bad days or weeks.
Relaxing is actually not easy for me. Maybe you guessed? When I was sick, I think I prolonged my illness because I couldn’t just sit and relax. It’s just not how I’m wired. I like to be doing something pretty much at all times.
So this is uncharted territory for me. How will it look to relax a bit in regards to my health care management? I’m not sure! I’ll update when I know though. Maybe I’ll learn a few things that will be helpful to pass along.
That’s a quick summary of my endocrinologist visit after being insulin free for 1 year and 6 months. Bottom line, things are going great! Even if I have a bad day or week ever now and then this grain-free, dairy-free, and egg-free diet of mine is managing my Type 1 Diabetes superbly. My hope is that as you watch my journey to better health that you are encouraged to change your health for the better.
How is your health care management going? Have you made any changes? Are those changes panning out? Do you have any questions for me? I’d be happy to try to help!
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