Yet more update on my quest to cure myself of diabetes.

I am off my blood pressure medications, which means I am no longer taking any prescribed medications. To me, that is a huge achievement. In March this year, I was on at least 6 different medications. At that time my doctor suggested going on insulin to help control my blood glucose level. That was the turning point. Now, seven months later, I am free of all the medications.

I just met with my doctor again for a three month checkup. I had all my results and data to review with him. I had more data than he did, since I have access to the results from the lab tests as well as my own data. I have made progress over the last three months in all areas, although in some areas I have made more progress than others. Here is a bullet point summary:

Yet more update on my quest to cure myself of diabetes. It is now six months into my quest, and I continue to make some encouraging progress, and I am learning a lot.

Keeping my blood pressure in range has been a challenge. I am taking Ramipril, plus half a water pill. I have noticed the water pill can elevate my blood glucose level, which means I have a trade off between blood pressure and blood glucose level. That is why I only take half a water pill a day, trying to compromise. My hope is that as I reduce my weight in the future, my blood pressure will normalize to the point I don't need medications.

In my last update I reported that I was no longer taking medications to lower my blood glucose level. Since then I have successfully continued to maintain my blood glucose level with just diet and fasting. I am carefully monitoring my blood glucose level, and so far I am averaging around 6.0 mmol/L. It is interesting that without the medications, my blood glucose level is more stable, in that it does not move up and down as wildly as it did when I was taking medications. The moving average line is almost straight.

It has been a while since my last update. I have been waiting for things to report on. Well, looking back, I think I now have something I can share. A couple of weeks back, I reduced and then stopped taking my Metformin (blood glucose reducing). About 3 days ago I stopped taking Glyburide, which was the last medication for controlling my blood glucose level.

My latest update, and I am continuing on course. My wife is happy with her weight loss too. She sorted though her wardrobe and got rid of a load of 'fat' clothes, that no longer fit. I shrunk my shirt size and my waist size, so I will be gradually replacing some of my clothing too.

We have been quite active, doing kayaking and cycling a lot. The activity is good to keep my blood pressure in range. I find a sedentary life leads to higher blood pressure, but lots of exercise can fix that (a drug free treatment).

Post-doctor appointment. I have 3 more months before I see him again. I am continuing on the path, and I hope and expect to have more progress to show 3 months from now.

In the last 3 months I have achieved so much. I plan to continue to do what I have been doing, and get more incremental improvements. My wife and I are permanently on the new lifestyle, the new diet. I know it is the right thing to do.

If you have been reading these updates, you'd read about my grumblings over my bathroom scale. It was unreliable and annoying the heck out of me. It is at this point in my life, that I would like a reliable way to measure my weight. I want to see my progress as I lose weight.

So I got a new scale, a Weight Watchers Digital Glass Scale from Costco. It seems to be more reliable so far. Moving it around does not change the result, and it reads down to 0.1 lbs compared to 0.5 lbs on the old one. My wife likes it too, although she insists I not be in the same room when she uses it.