- 4/23/2019: my family doctor informed me that I had type II diabetes based on the figures: fasting glucose 253 mg/dL, （normal range：65 – 99 mg/dL） A1c = 10 （normal range：4.8-5.6%）
- 8/20/2019： A1c = 5.7， after meal glucose 125. Note: It is easy for me to control the after meal numbers under 160. However, my morning number stays between 160-180.
- 12/13/2019：A1c = 5.9.
- 8/30/2020： Note: it is quite easy for me to control the after meal numbers under 140. My morning fasting numbers have dropped to 120-140.
A retrospective of my life
- My last annual checkup was in 2013. I found out my fasting glucose number was 109 and it was marked as pre-diabetes condition on the report. I had been healthy. I did not pay attention to the report then. I recall that my family doctor then only told me I had low vitamin D and she prescribed some vitamin D supplement for me. She did not mention about my glucose number at all. Maybe she thought the number was fine and maybe she thought I was responsible for my own health. Anyway have we changed our family doctor due to other incidents which made us think she is not responsible and careful enough as a professional.
- Diet: I used to eat extremely a lot of fruits, while I have never had more rice or flour food than average. So I guess eating too much fruits is the culprit for my diabetes. I remember I carried a whole backpack of fruits to office when I was pregnant with my first child. One time my colleague was shocked that I told her that I just ate 6 kiwis. Well those 6 kiwis was only small part of fruit intake that day. I always could finish a pound of blue berries in no time. Nevertheless, I like bitter flavor by nature. Bitter melons are always my favorite. God said people like those food that are sweet and appeal to their eyes, but bitter ones are good for health. However, I seldom eat my favorite bitter melon as my husband disliked it so much.
- Gestational diabetes: I was diagnosed for gestational diabetes for two pregnancies.
- Weight: I am easy to gain weight. During my puberty I was overweighted. In my college, I took pills to manage my weight in an acceptable range. After marriage, I’ve constantly gained weight year after year. However, I did not bothered by my figure and was not concerned about my weight as I was fine at jogging and hiking. My flexibility was OK as well. I guess my parents gave birth to me as a very strong and healthy baby.
- Mental health: I figured I should have baby blues. My husband has a very passive personality and he simply keep silent if there was a conflict. I have felt fatigued.
- I started my menopause in recent years.
- Heredity: My dad was diagnozed for type II diabetes in his 50s when I left home for college. He has been using insulin injection for a long time and he never has a health diet.
Solutions
I was horrified by the fact that diabetes is not curable and will lead to a lot of other critical health conditions. I imagined that all my organs were soaked in sugary blood every minute. I was despondent. The doctor prescribed a medicine metformin for me. I did not touch one pill. I believe every medicine has its side effects. I believe our human body is a perfect God-given system. I need to understand why and how my body machine stops functioning well and find out if there is another way to bring my body machine back to its full functions before I take medicine which is always a second choice due to its side effects.
After staying depressed for a while, I started to do research on my own. My husband recommended me to Dr. Feng’s idea on diabetes. I started to understand my body and to know of intermittent fasting (IF). Surfing online, I also found Dr. Berg and started eating his favorite kales. I began to understand that diabetes comes from bad diet habit and I will be able to reverse it if I change my habit. Based on Dr. Feng and Dr. Berg’s youtube videos and articles and other information from various resources, I summarized my own Elaine’s Food List. On August 20, 2019, only four months after I found out my having diabetes, I went to see my endocrinologist at Stanford. Well my glucose numbers had gone back to the edge of normal range. Three months later, my endocrinologist told me I did not need to see her any more at our second meeting. But I still have one doubt: my morning fasting numbers are still high. The endocrinologist told me it was normal and explained it was so called Dawn Syndrome which I also found some online information. I continued on my good diet habit while putting this puzzle aside. At the same time we were in the pandemic and everybody stayed home. I decided to share cooking with my husband instead of my doing it all the time before: I cook for four days and he cooks for three days a week. Thus, I’ve been relieved to some extent. He shares some burden and complains less. My problems is that I always try to arrange for others and try to take care of everything for others. I think I should carry on this good practice with my children as well.
Recently, I noticed that my morning fasting glucose also started to drop. I started seeing my Chinese medicine doctor Dr. Zheng every week due to my injured arm from playing golf. I listen to Dr. Zheng’s lecture on Chinese medicine and cases. On youtube, I watched a lot of videos about Chinese medicine on healthy diet. I’ve got to know more about metabolic syndrome from the viewpoint of Chinese medicine. I obtained two very important understandings: one is that our pancreas works when we eat; while our liver works when we don’t eat. The second understanding is that our body is a complete whole system. If something wrong with our body, we have to look at it as a whole to cure it and to maintain it. Be mindful of my intake of carbohydrate helped me bringing down my after meal numbers. However, this pathological change of having type II diabetes means more serious deterioration in every system of my whole body. To fully recover from this change takes time and I need to nurture and give my body enough nutrients, exercise, sleep, and mental relieve. After I persistently conduct a good diet for more than one year, my morning fasting glucose level showed promising signs. I guess this might have something to do with the improvement in my liver and/or kidneys.
Never fail to do anything good which you deem as petty; never dare to do anything evil which you consider as trivial.
Good habit will benefit our whole life. Life is so beautiful if we are healthy and happy. There is a lot of knowledge on every tiny thing: drinking water, sleeping, eating, sporting, relationships…. Everybody has different health and mental condition. No matter how much you love a person, you cannot forget your own needs. Don’t take one more bite, one more cup of soda, one more piece of fried chicken, …. instead, clashing your teeth, shaking your hands, getting up from your table, drinking a glass of water, going to bed a little bit earlier …
References
Understanding Chinese Medicine; Eight Principles of Diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine