kteague wrote:I admit I had the urge to title this "I QUIT!" but figured I wouldn't prank you. Actually, I am considering quitting, but not CPAP. My insurance has decided to no longer pay for my Byetta injections (10mg 2xday) and want me to try other (cheaper) meds. Tried Metformin a couple years ago but it made me ill. I've got only a couple days of Byetta left. Anyhow, I'm wondering if it would be irresponsible to just go off the meds, monitor my blood sugar levels closely, and radically change my eating habits. Before using meds, without diet changes my sugars stayed under 200 unless I ate rice. The only time it was really high (in the 300's) was when I was on Prednisone. I've been doing a lot of reading on diabetic eating and reviewing old threads here about low glycemic index foods. Seems the worst that could happen is I can't control it by diet and exercise and have to call the doc and try another med. I've been wondering if I could do this, and now feels like a good time to find out. A few months ago my blood pressure meds were lowered and I'm still staying in the lower end of the normal range, sometimes even too low, and that has me motivated to more aggressively pursue reducing my dependency on meds.
So, I'm wondering... Has anybody abruptly gone off Byetta? Were there were any consequences? I know that the ability to control blood sugar with diet and exercise is very individualized, so I know I can't predict my outcome by the experience of others, but I am wondering if anyone had a bad experience going off Byetta abruptly.
Kathy -
I don't have experience with Byetta nor am I diabetic but I do collect blood glucose data on myself on a regular basis and have done a ton or research on this and I can tell you the glycemic index concept is not the answer. Do as Jeff suggested and get yourself a copy of
Bernstein's book.
I think I was diabetic when I first started CPAP therapy back in 2006, about the same time I switched my diet from fast food junk and began what current conventional health considers to be a healthy diet ... low fat/low glycemic index diet. This initialized the reversal of my metabolic syndrome and by the time my doc began testing for diebetes, I was classed as pre-diabetic. I could not improve on my health any more however even though I was eating what most consider to be a healthy balanced diet. As I researched more I came across Bernstein's book and a couple of others which then allowed me to realize that it is all about the "volume" of carbs, not the "glycemic index" of carbs. I switched to a low carb diet and have not looked back.
I am seeing an endocrinologist now for thyroid stuff and she has diagnosed me as still having metabolic syndrome but not as being diabetic or even pre-diabetic.
Again, read Bernstein and then do research on primal (primal blueprint, primal body, hunter-gatherer ...
NOT raw meat as is often mistaken for) diets and I swear it will change your life if you happen to be struggling with blood sugar, cholesterol, and/or body weight issues.
Good luck.
EDIT: To clarify meaning of primal diets.
President-pretender, J. Biden, said "the DNC has built the largest voter fraud organization in US history". Too bad they didn’t build the smartest voter fraud organization and got caught.
