Why do you inject insulin if you are not a diabetic?
There are SEVERAL REASONS why I inject insulin. The most important reason is because I know it helps to control my blood glucose levels, and I hope that this will result in better mental and physical health for me thirty years from now, when I will be 92 years old.
How much would I pay when I will be 98 years of age to be in good physical and mental health? Well, that is what I am doing right now: I am paying my dues now, by taking the time to measure my blood glucose and to adjust it if necessary with insulin, so that I will be physically and mentally well when I am 98 years of age.
Another good reason why I use insulin is because it is very very inexpensive... It costs me about 25 cents per day, injecting both Lantus and Humalog as needed, several times during the day as needed... That is about $100 PER YEAR to keep my glucose levels lower than they would have been for maybe 10 hours each day...
Let me translate that into hours for you: That is 3650 hours PER YEAR, which will be perhaps 150,000 HOURS of having not had sugar CRYSTALLIZING my hemoglobin in my red blood cells or snuffing out NEURONS in my body. Will I be better off? I think so... That's why I take the time and trouble to do it now.
And... last but not least... It really doesn't hurt at all. Nothing... zero...
How do you know that using insulin is helping you and it isn't harming you more than it is helping you?
I know it is helping me because my glucose meter tells me so... and I know it is helping me more that it might be harming me because I know that it isn't harming me at all... zero... I have used insulin perhaps 5 times every day for more than 6 years, and I have never gotten hypoglycemia except when I was learning to use insulin, and I have not had any other problem caused by insulin. In fact, my health is excellent, thanks.
If we read the literature about side effects caused by insulin, the only one that is really bad is hypoglycemia (blood glucose levels are too low) But that only happens to people who don't know how to use insulin, or who make a mistake and take too much. If you EAT SOMETHING after a shot of insulin, there is not a chance in a billion that you will get hypoglycemia. It hasn't harmed me yet in more than 10,000 insulin injections in 6 years... and I think it's probably never going to happen to me... never...
Won't using insulin when you are diabetic cause your pancreas to stop secreting insulin? If it does that, then you would become a diabetic.
No... injecting insulin when you are diabetic does not cause your pancreas to stop secreting insulin, if it still can secrete insulin. What causes your pancreas to stop secreting insulin is high blood glucose levels, which overwork and burn out your beta cells. I know, because the glucose meter tells me so, that injecting insulin has not caused my pancreas to stop secreting insulin.
How do you know your pancreas has not stopped producing insulin?
I know, because if I DON'T inject any insulin and I drink a large glass of ORANGE JUICE, my glucose level goes UP to about 160 mg/dl, which is "normal..."
But then my blood glucose starts to come down after about 35 minutes... there is no other possibility: my pancreas HAS TO BE PRODUCING the insulin that brings my blood glucose down. That's how I know that my pancreas is still producing insulin when I need it.
But wouldn't injecting insulin cause insulin resistance?
Insulin resistance is caused when there is a high level of insulin floating about in your bloodstream... But my blood glucose levels are always low, so the amount of insulin floating around in my blood stream is also very low... so injecting insulin is HELPING to keep me from developing insulin resistance.
How do you know you are not insulin resistant?
I know that I am not insulin resistant because blood tests show that I am not insulin resistant. If I don't inject Lantus or Humalog the day before, my fasting insulin is BELOW 3, on a scale from 3 to 25. (If I inject Lantus, of course it is a bit higher... it is the Lantus...)
Insulin resistance is shown to be when there is a HIGH level of insulin floating about in the blood stream, but I have an EXTREMELY LOW level of insulin floating about in my blood, so I KNOW I am not insulin resistant.
A doctor told me that if I inject insulin I could get brain damage.
Your doctor is overreacting to the little bit of knowledge he has learned from other doctors who also learned it from other doctors, and they all repeat the same limited bit of information that says that hypoglycemia can cause brain damage. Extreme Hypoglycemia can certainly cause brain damage, but that is never going to happen to you if you use insulin correctly, which means: never take a lethal dose... always eat something after you take a dose of insulin.
An airplane crash can also cause death, but you are never going to crash if you fly in a commercial airliner, and you are never going to get hypoglycemia if you use insulin correctly.
Ask your doctor to tell you what causes brain damage in diabetics...
There are two causes of brain damage: the first is extremely high blood glucose levels, which results in a loss of neurons in the brain and also all over the body... and the second is extremely low blood glucose levels, which can cause a diabetic to go into a coma because there is no energy for your body.
Glucose is energy, and we must have at least 60 mg/dl... If we have less, we begin to feel dizzy... if it drops below 25 mg/dl we can faint... and if it drops further below than 25 mg/dl we can lose brain neuron... thus brain damage. But you won't ever get such extreme hypoglycemia if you inject the tiny dose that I take, at the correct time, AND eat the correct food.
Using insulin is like flying an airplane: You have to watch the altimeter to make sure you are not going to crash (measure your blood glucose)... and you have to make sure there is enough fuel in the fuel tank (always eat something together with insulin)... and you have to make sure you are going the right speed (make sure you take the correct dose)... And if you want to run a commercial airline, make sure you keep to schedules (right dose, at the right time...)
I think type one diabetes is very profitable in America. What do you think?
Oh, DIABETES is a great business... it is a great disease for the Economy of Doctors... (just think:WHY was the American Diabetes Association OPPOSED to Dr. Bernstein's effort to make the blood glucose meter available to patients? Why are the American Diabetes Association recommended blood glucose levels so much higher than Dr. Bernstein's? etc.) And it is great for the Economy of the Pharmaceutical industry (my respects to the Pharmaceutical industry for giving us insulin... but shame on them for giving us quack medicines for diabetics, too...) And it is great for the Economy of Publishing Companies, and for the Economy of quacks and good authors...
But Diabetes is in fact TERRIBLE for the Economy because it cuts short the life of millions of good and productive people. It destroys their brains, and it destroys their creativity and it destroys all that they could have contributed to the world.
It might even be good for my economy if I earn a lot of money selling my books, or make a small fortune with consultations, or with teleseminars, etc. But if I earn a small fortune or earn my living selling information how to avoid diabetes, or how to control blood glucose, or how to use insulin, I will do so as a maverick, like Dr. Bernstein who bucks the system to do good. But if I do become rich teaching people about diabetes and how to control it with insulin, I will also spend the money to teach more people to stay well and avoid using insulin if they can... (but not to avoid it because they are afraid to use it...)
But I want to earn money helping people to learn how to control blood glucose levels, not by keeping them sick.
And I am sure that ethical doctors also want to help their patients by teaching them to control blood glucose, which will control their diabetes completely.
But there are an awful lot of unethical doctors who are thinking of their personal long term benefit and not their patient's health: let's keep the patient semi-sick and coming back. After all, who is going to blame the diabetes doctor if the patient dies of a heart attack or gets cancer 20 years later?
People can DIE of diabetes if they don't consume... and they might live a long and healthy life if they do consume... The perfect carrott and a stick...
What better incentive can there be for the Economy? Buy or Die... (hey, it rhymes!) Consume or be consumed?
Just think of all the funny-stuff they come up with, which somehow
the F.D.A. and the A.D.A. or individual doctors do not oppose... they even endorse them, for a fee: There are COOKIES for diabetics, and BREAD for diabetics, and CHOCOLATES for diabetics...
And there are medicines that don't help. In fact there are medicines
that make the problem worse, or cause worse problems.
The few diabetics who control their blood glucose by going to a Dr. Bernstein can live a long and healthy life... So they actually serve as an inspiration to all the other diabetics, who go to the bulk of the doctors who are in the American Diabetes Association, who keep their patients sick and dependent on them...
After all, diabetes is not such a bad disease... If you don't check your blood glucose every day, you won't die for another 10 or 20 or 30 years... and who can blame the diabetes doctor if you die from a heart attack 10 years after you visit him?
And you don't have to bother with checking blood glucose every day... Avoid too much sugar and come back and please pay at the cashier... and another consultation... .
I HAVE MET DIABETES DOCTORS who tell their patients that they don't need to
take blood glucose more than once a month... I have seen them with my own eyes.
And I know MANY DIABETICS who think that their diabetes is CONTROLLED because their monthly fasting blood glucose is 120 mg/dl... because of course their DOCTOR told them they're doing fine... But 120 mg/dl causes some complications, for example, more wrinkles... it clogs up the circulatory system, which causes impotence in men... There is nothing good about 120 mg/dl glucose level, and yet many diabetes doctors think it is not so bad as amputations and blindness, so they recommend it to their patients!
I have had people come to see me (I am not a doctor, but some people consult with me as if I am a doctor) who have had diabetes for 20 years, and their doctors treat it with metformin, which is like fighting a fire with a cup of water.
I checked a man's blood glucose and it was 295, after 20 years of following his doctor's advice. Of course this man is very sick now, but his doctor didn't give a damn 20 and 15 and 10 years ago when he gave him pills to control his diabetes and told him not to worry, and sent him home.
Doctor Bernstein's story fighting other doctors and the American Diabetes Association is very sad, but it would be bad for the economy of bad doctors if too many diabetics learn to control their diabetes... That is how the business of Diabetes is run in the entire WORLD.
Actually, I am all for SPENDING MONEY ON GLUCOSE METERS and INSULIN, and books that instruct diabetics, etc. because I think that spending money on something that is actually good for your health is perfectly valid... but I also think many products sold to diabetics are a giant scam.
I have been a doctor for 45 years, and by what you describe that you do, YOU ARE ALREADY A DIABETIC!
No, I am not a diabetic, and I don't care if you are a doctor, you are mistaken... I am not a diabetic by definition of diabetes of the American Diabetes Association
Yes, you are a diabetic, because if you were not a diabetic you would be dead because you take insulin. Insulin would kill you if you don't have need of using insulin.
Doctor... Don't speak nonsense... Excuse me, but you don't deserve to be a doctor.
I am not a diabetic by definition, and I do have need of using insulin, as I think so does everybody else who wants to stay in good health by controlling blood glucose.
I am not a diabetic because my pancreas works perfectly well to bring down my blood glucose if I don't use insulin... My glucose level goes UP, and my glucose level goes DOWN in less than 2 hours... And my fasting glucose level is about 98 to 103 mg/dl in the morning (if I don't take Lantus... )
So by definition I am not a diabetic, even though I like to think of myself as a diabetic and I tell waiters in restaurants that I am a diabetic. I say that because it puts me into the correct frame of mind to eat the food I should eat, and to leave behind the food that I should not eat...
So I control my blood glucose much better with the right dose of insulin, or my pancreas controls my blood glucose if I don't use insulin... And not controlling blood glucose is the definition of diabetes...
My blood glucose is controlled, even if I do not use insulin. And I am not dead. I am 64 years old (in August, 2009), and very much alive. I am in perfect health, and I look a lot younger at my age than other 64 year old men do, so maybe I have done something right.
I bought and read Dr. Bernstein's book. It is excellent, and now I have an even better idea what you are up to.
Good. I am glad that you read Dr. Bernstein's book. Now you understand why I only agree with Dr. Bernstein, I do not believe or ask any other doctor's opinion, unless they also agree with Dr. Bernstein... there are a few but not many doctors who agree with Dr. Bernstein.
It is also why I insist that a diabetic has to find a diabetic doctor who uses insulin himself (or learn how to use insulin from me), because a doctor who prescribes metformin to his patient because he is scared of prescribing insulin is like an airplane mechanic who is scared of flying in airplanes.
I have a bottle of Humulin-R, and a bottle of Lantus is on the way. I see you settled on 30 iu of Lantus split between two daily doses. Do you think it would be risky for me to go right to a 20 iu basal dose for several days (while monitoring blood sugars), and then raise the dose later depending on results? Or maybe it would be better to start with 10 iu?
It would be better for you to start with 10 iu the first day... if you have no problem, try 20 iu the second day... if you have no problem, try 30 iu the third day.... Don't be in a rush, there is no rush. You have not used any dose for many years, now you can use a smaller dose than the optimum for a few days until you find your correct dose. Don't go by my experience alone, because my pancreas is not the same as your pancreas. We don't know whose pancreas is in better shape, and in any case this is not a contest to brag about whose pancreas is working better. You want to find YOUR best dose.
Remember to always eat something healthy. As I have said before: Using insulin is like flying an airplane: You have to be sure you are flying at the right altitude (check your blood glucose)... You have to be sure you are flying at the right speed (take the correct dose)... And you always have to be sure there is fuel in the gas tank (you must have eaten or will soon have food in your body).
Eventually, I would like to go to the two-dose system you use.
I learned the two-dose system for using Lantus from Dr. Bernstein. It gives a better result in morning glucose. Dr. Bernstein, by the way, likes Levemir... I like Lantus... "Don't change something that works perfectly well for something that might also work perfectly well..."
Morning glucose is the most important reading of the day because it represents the previous 12 hours, or so... Today I woke up with 78 mg/dl ... if I would not inject Lantus, I would get about 100 to 105. I don't have any proof that 78 is better than 105 but I know that 78 is less than 105... and I know high blood glucose is bad for diabetics, so I assume "higher" is worse than "lower"... and that means that "lower" is better than "higher"... So 78 is better than 105 for non-diabetics in the long run...
I call blood glucose "the fire within us"... so if blood glucose is heat, then 78 is considerably "cooler" than 105... and it was cooler all night...
And if I am careful not to eat something bad, I can keep my blood glucose good-low very easily in the daytime because I started from a good point.
You will have to learn how to use insulin by trial and error, but don't make any dangerous error... always be careful, treat insulin like a gun... Learn how much does 1 iu of Humulin R or of Humalog affect your blood glucose...
But after you have learned to use insulin, it is going to be fantastic for your good health from this point to the end of your life, which will surely be many years later and in better health (barring an accident or an atomic war, etc.)
Even if I die because of an accident or because of atomic war, until the day I die I will have been in better health. What else can I ask? I am grateful that I learned this at age 54 and not at age 94.
Stay well... read my pages: http://www.rajeun.net/usinginsulin.html and http://www.rajeun.net/usinglantus.html
Thanks for writing.
E l l i s T o u s s i e r
The Incredible Dirty Old Man Who Does Not Grow Older.... and...
The Incredible Dirty Old Man Who Will Not Let YOU Grow Older...
