[ad_1]
If your child has type 1 diabetes, I'm sure you remember the feeling of coming home after the diagnosis. The only thing I could compare was to go home with a newborn, but this time, the newborn was nine years old and was suffering from a terrifying chronic illness. There was so much to learn and so much urgency behind every new task related to diabetes. I remember fumbling and failing, desperately trying to get a simple blood sugar from Dave's finger as he slept the first night back from the hospital.
And I was still in shock. There was a wrong diagnosis. Severe weight loss. DKA. Near death. Frantic moments at the USI. If you have experienced this, or something close, you understand the emotional impact of these moments, and they will always be with you.
The post-diagnosis followed another familiar plot – an extremely short training session of an endocrinologist and a dietitian on diabetes control through injections and calculation of carbohydrate counts . "Too high too often and complications include blindness and amputation …. Hypoglycaemia too low and too serious and death, "remember our doctor who drew a hypothetical blood glucose curve on paper.
Absolutely not on my watchI thought with instant resolution.
As a physicist, when I looked at the blood glucose chart being prepared, I got drunk on the idea that I could find a way to control that line using the two levers presented: carb and insulin. My love for my son is boundless and my total commitment to finding a way to control blood sugar has not been curbed. Dave reacted differently and cautiously to his training: "Then I will not eat carbohydrates," he said, which sparked a laugh from the doctor and myself.
As Dave recovered, I focused on solving the glucose-insulin problem. I kept detailed records of the insulin dose and results. We tried several "cookies" – oatmeal and a Starbucks Chocolate Chip Cookie – and tried to focus on the magic dosing technique. The results were a little tempting at first, and I felt that the success was close. The models I developed on my computer became more and more sophisticated and I showed my wife every evening "close" results!
After two or three weeks, I got a little discouraged. Some days, the model worked, then Dave reached scary lows, then he reached very high. In the meantime, my wife had ordered Dr. Bernstein's book, Diabetes Solution. The book arrived and I started to read it – immediately, the eye of my physicist was attracted by "the law of small numbers". After reading a page, I became so overwhelmed that I could barely concentrate. I knew we had found our way out of this mess. I recognized that my models and Dave's results were just Dr. Bernstein's predicted results for high carbohydrate foods, that is, the results of a high carbohydrate meal and large doses of insulin were stochastic (random). Dave was right after all: get rid of carbs and blood sugar fluctuations will be absent. And that's what we've done. My family has changed everything in the way we eat to support Dave. (This has had huge health benefits for the rest of us, but that's another story.)
All this happened about 30 days after Dave's diagnosis. After a few months of extensive study in Dr. Bernstein's book, we had Dave from A1C below 6% then under 5.5% and where he stayed six years later – less than 5.0 %. Dave is 15 now. The low carbohydrate rate did not cure him, he still has to do all the work. Here is a brief overview of his day: three basal insulin injections (according to Dr. Bernstein's protocol), regular insulin (eg, Humulin-R) intended to cover high protein and low carbohydrate meals (trick: use R to cover high-protein meals is true revelation), small doses of fast-acting insulin to correct a blood glucose level above 100 mg / dL and a measured amount of glucose / liquid glucose to correct values below 75 mg / dL . So, you see that Dave is still doing all the work … all the finger pricks, all the injections and all the vigilance. It's the same old type 1 diabetes, without the big swings in blood sugar.
When we started treating Dave with a low carbohydrate diet, it was hard to find anyone, especially the younger ones, afterwards. We were almost alone. This is no longer the case and it is difficult to avoid images of CGM flat lines on social media, and incredible reports of perfect CSCs, or recipes of low-carb dishes in the community. of diabetes. Young people and older people with diabetes have a high carbohydrate diet. Professional associations and charities such as the American Diabetes Association and JDRF have not fully recognized the success of reducing carbohydrate consumption, but the secret is unclear and they will have to accept the change to stay relevant. The success of a very low carb diet for children with type 1 diabetes has been so profound that it has been studied by Harvard groups and Duke University. New York Times.
Dr. Bernstein talked to Dave about a year after his diagnosis. He said, "Dave, if you keep doing what you do, you'll be healthier than any of your non-diabetic friends." Five years later, we're on the right track and statement from Dr. Bernstein "you will be healthier alliances of your non-diabetic friends are true. Dave is over 6 feet tall and turns into a football and basketball star. He has normal and non-diabetic blood sugar and he is not the only one.
You will find more information about Dave's journey and other people's stories here:
Dr. Bernstein's "Parents' Reading List" on YouTube.
Dr. RD Dikeman's presentation on diabetes complications and how to avoid them.
Some recipe ideas for meals, snacks and vacations.
Source link
