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Metformin is a drug. All drugs have side effects, some worse than others. The benefit from taking a drug should outweigh its risks to justify being on it. The primary benefit of metformin is lowering elevated blood sugars. What is your latest HgbA1c? What is your average fasting blood sugar...

What is described simply isn't reflective of our understanding of robust blood glucose control in the euglycemic. The so-called experts on the referenced site (Jason Fung, et al.) are the same ones who say that diabetics have been "cured" by intensive fasting despite maintaining HgbA1c of 6.5%...

Gluconeogenesis occurs in everyone, in those eating the Standard American Diet and those on a ketogenic diet. It occurs in diabetics and in those with completely normal blood sugars. It is neither an explanation nor a justification for why those on ketogenic diets would exhibit abnormal serum...

Given a low-carb diet (which it sounds like you're on) a fasting blood sugar on arising of 115 mg/dl is strongly indicative of pre-diabetes, if not diabetes.

Don't look to secondary/corollary markers for a diagnosis. Either do self-testing or have the right clinical bloodwork done. For home testing, I would recommend the Freestyle Freedom Lite meter and Freestyle Lite meter (slightly smaller), both from Abbott Laboratories, are highly accurate and...

This would be indicated if one subscribes to the theory that LDL drives mortality (similar to serum glucose). If instead LDL is in essence a correlative marker and acute phase reactant then it might not. While others will disagree, it seems to me that the evidence for the former seems weak to...

+1 Viva Naturals provides 940 mg of EPA and DHA in about one gram of fish oil per capsule, of which approximately 700 mg is EPA and 240 mg is DHA. This compares favorably with the prescription drug Lovaza, which provides 840 mg of EPA and DHA in about one gram of fish oil per capsule, of which...

Pathetic, but sadly not surprising. Agree that much higher standard of quality control is required. That would mandate a higher level of regulatory agency funding. Good luck on that. On a policy level, the most egregious problem is advertising. There are only two developed nations that...

I will leave it to others with specific expertise to comment on any relationship between ingestion of sugar (including fruit sugar) and endogenous testosterone levels. That aside, in general, my view would be that if you naturally always have completely normal non-diabetic blood sugars (lucky...

Curious. Are you a diabetic? Do you know your typical HgbA1c and fasting serum glucose values?

Agree, as you say, that it is highly unlikely any double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials of non-patented hormones will ever be conducted, whether in respect of Alzheimer's disease or any other pathology. As to your ultimate point, it is my understanding that medical doctors in the...

Your elevated fasting serum glucose, insulin, ALT and HgbA1c as indicated in your labs are all consistent with diabetes. Confusingly, your amylase is high, which is usually low in diabetics (unless they are in diabetic ketoacidosis (unlikely) or also have pancreatitis). Did your recent surgery...

Table 2. Ingredients and doses of BlackmoresExecutive B Formula. Active Ingredients (per tablet) Dosage Vitamin B1 (thiamine) 75 mg Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) 10 mg Vitamin B3 (nicotinamide/niacin) 100 mg Vitamin B5 68.7 mg Vitamin B6...

What treatment regimen are you on for your diabetes?

Metformin yields best results when combined with a low-carb diet. On a Standard American Diet, it will have mixed results at best in terms of reducing fasting and post-prandial serum glucose levels and there will be a much greater incidence of gastrointestinal issues (diarrhea, upset stomach...

Are you on regular Metformin or the extended release form? The latter is very helpful if you're having gastrointestinal issues from the drug.

That was certainly my experience. After a couple of years on Metformin I noticed that a consistent decline in my serum B-12 levels had taken me well below the bottom of the reference range, which I attributed to the Metformin. Started on a 500 mcg/day oral B-12 supplement, and after a few...

I'm sorry you think it's "stupid," but that's exactly what diabetics do to see how different things affect their blood sugars. It is quite definitive. That's an interesting theory and could be true. Right now there's no clinical evidence to support it. You're right that studies have never...

Lots of focus on insulin use because it's tough to manage and critical to those who need it (many Type 2s and all Type 1s). The rest of the book applies to those like yourself, especially the focus on carbohydrates. No one with blood sugar control issues will ever achieve truly normal blood...

You mention that you're being thrown into a hypoglycemic state. What blood glucose levels are you experiencing at those times? Are you on any medications for your blood sugar (metformin, insulin, etc.)?

I'm guessing you're referring to your ferritin, iron and thyroid values? Some similarities to my previous labs. I stopped donating and supplemented with a modest daily iron pill (ferrous bisglycinate 25mg.) for three months. Ferritin went up to where it should be, along with iron labs, and...

I had just assumed you might have a doctor who you were seeing on a regular basis. If you can order an OGTT on your own, that's fine. A metformin prescription probably would be covered by insurance even without a diagnosis of diabetes (my insurance has done so), but generic metformin is so...

Good for you. If you can afford it (or if insurance will pay), go for it. Clearly pre-diabetic levels. What was much more concerning were your post-prandials of 156 and 177. Those are more typical of diabetes. That consideration really applies to those who have been on a diet for some...

Quite so.

If the lowest fasting glucose you observe is 98 mg/dl and the lowest post-prandial levels (at one hour or two?) are 120s/130s, then yes, you are certainly at least pre-diabetic (mild diabetes). As noted above, that is not a benign condition. Pre-diabetics experience serious cardiovascular...

Of course, it's a far more complicated picture biochemically than either one of us is describing, and you are correct on several points. But my essential point is that the direction of causality seems much more likely to be that high blood sugar/diabetes is responsible for obesity in diabetics...

They aren't the same thing, but your definition doesn't go far enough. Insulin resistance in those with the wrong genetic makeup results in some portion of carbs being converted to glucose and neither being stored as glycogen in the liver/muscles or as triglycerides in fat tissue, but instead...

You are right. Technically we don't know that (basically because insulin resistance is rarely tested for, per se). But we do know that the majority of the obese do not present with high blood sugars. It is true that more Type 2 diabetics are fat than are thin. And more of the obese have...

The evidence simply doesn't support that. Many of those who are insulin-resistant are obese. That is consistent with the notion that poor blood sugar control promotes obesity. However, the converse is not the case, i.e., the majority of the obese are not insulin resistant. Or at least they...

DragonBits, no one can diagnose you without taking a history, examining you, running the proper labs, etc. But I will say that, in general, I would expect that a patient who presents with a consistent fasting glucose of 100-110 mg/dl and routine post-prandial glucoses of 145, 156, 177, etc. is...