Interesting observation

Hi Everyone, I was at my regular 3 month check-up for type2 diabetes yesterday. All was well, but what was new was that I was given a test for the progress of the neurophaty in my feet and to my surprise learned that nearly normal feeling has returned. I am putting this down to my ketogenic diet. This is a benefit that I now only vaguely remember reading before.
I'm doing twice a week fasting as well and yesterday went 36 hours of total fasting without discomfort. I put this down to my being in ketosis as well.
Something that I learned is that when I have slipped out of ketosis it's much  easier to get it started again by a day of fasting. It seems a shame that the health professionals don't seem to have a clue as to what a ketogenic diet is.
Regards, Douglas

Yes, I've found my feet improved gradually too. It was a great feeling when I noticed that it no longer felt like I had a stone under my arch while walking. Though the discomfort as the nerves started waking up again was pretty unpleasant at the time.

The self-healing powers of the body are amazing, when you stop irritating and inflaming it. My husband has had big improvements in retinopathy, for the same LC/ketogenic reasons. Such a contrast to the "official" view of down hill all the way.
Sally

That's great news Douglas. I often wondered if normal feeling could return after neuropathy.

I had a large patch on my right leg, above the knee which had no feeling for several months. This wasn't down to diabetic neuropathy, it was because nerves were cut through accidentally when I had a catheter ablation for a heart problem. The surgeon told me I would never have any feeling there again. It didn't worry me too much, it was a small price to pay for a heart that beats regularly again.

Now I sometimes have tingling and then a burning feeling in that part of my leg. After each episode of this I have noticed that I have regained a bit more of the feeling. So I thought it was logical that diabetic neuropathy could be reversed. Now you have confirmed that it can and does happen.

As you say it's a great shame that HCPs don't have a clue about ketogenic diets, often once people hear that they have neuropathy they are led to believe it's the beginning of the end. This needn't be the case, as you have proved.

Thanks for sharing this and not only giving hope to others who are suffering from neuropathy themselves but also telling us how you are reversing it.

Indy51 wrote:Yes, I've found my feet improved gradually too. It was a great feeling when I noticed that it no longer felt like I had a stone under my arch while walking. Though the discomfort as the nerves started waking up again was pretty unpleasant at the time.

They say that misery loves company so I am glad that someone described that "stone under my arch" which is what I had for a while. Mine is easing also and I keep testing to see if my foot is comfortable and flat to the floor. Something is getting better. I used to think of it as a birds claw feeling.

Sally wrote:The self-healing powers of the body are amazing, when you stop irritating and inflaming it.  My husband has had big improvements in retinopathy, for the same LC/ketogenic reasons.  Such a contrast to the "official" view of down hill all the way.  
Sally

"The official view down hill all the way"

From Diabetes Self Management

We’ve heard that diabetes is a chronic progressive illness. You can’t get better, you have to get worse. The best you can do is slow it down. But at least five approaches now claim to “reverse” Type 2. What does that mean?

The official expert line on Type 2 has long been that people start by controlling the condition with diet and exercise. But they move fairly quickly to pills (like metformin), then to insulin or insulin plus pills. In recent years, insulin has been started more quickly, and new drugs like the incretin mimetics are changing the progression of treatment. But it is still thought that the disease progresses and can’t be stopped.

Being told you are “chronic progressive” is like having a curse put on you. It can sap your confidence and destroy your hope. But is it true? Dozens of Diabetes Self-Management readers say no. On a blog post by Diane Fennell about a study of low-carb diets in Sweden, people commented eloquently on how they have gotten better by reducing carbohydrate intake.

Bob wrote: “By limiting carbs, my A1c dropped from an 8.6 to a most recent reading of 4.9. I also know people who eat whole-grain pasta, bread and have oatmeal every morning, because a doctor told them so, bemoaning their numbers.”

Following a different (acid/alkaline) diet, Dan wrote that his A1C dropped, and his cholesterol and blood pressure are normal. He’s off nearly all his statins, blood pressure medicines, and insulin.

Terri wrote: “I am a diabetic who eats a low carb vegan diet. I am far healthier now at 53 than ever before and maintain perfect glucose control.”

And on and on. It’s worth reading the whole thread, and there are scores of similar discussions all over the Internet. The reality is that people with Type 2 get better all the time. They reduce their medicines or get off them completely. Their glucose levels, cholesterol, and blood pressure come down and their symptoms improve.

So how do they do it? Low-carb eating is one major way. Dr Richard K. Bernstein discovered and promoted this approach in his book Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution. Many others have followed. The British Web site Low Carb Diabetic asks, “Would you treat an alcoholic with more booze, or a drug addict with more heroin? Starchy carbs are poison to all diabetics.” The site’s authors (a mix of both Type 1s and Type 2s) claim they all have normal glucose numbers and that it wasn’t hard to accomplish.

More on this story here http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/blog/can-type-2-diabetes-be-reversed/

For the best explanation you are ever likely to read for why low carb works check out Rods work here.

https://lowcarbdiabetic.forumotion.co.uk/t1195-self-management-of-t2-my-first-year

Oh yes I forgot that one. I'd reached the stage of "feet going to sleep" and tingling/numb fingers after meals, shortly before I fell asleep.

The podiatrist noted some lack of sensitivity mainly to the tickling stick. Not only did the actual symptoms improve but tests now show no neuropathy at all - just a small dead spot which is mechanical (hard skin/callus).

After my gallstone op (they did it the old fashioned way, opening me up from navel to rib cage and delving in with both hands) I spent a considerable time when I couldn't bear to be touched near the scar as the sensation jumped around like the worst kind of tickling. It took a few years but the nerves seem to have rerouted themselves.

My feet would start tingling again if I hit over 8 postprandial. I don't think that happens any more but I don't intend to test that.

Likewise I've known not a few people who have reversed diabetic retinopathy. They say it can't be done, but they mean it can't be done eating a high carb diet.

Douglas V wrote:Hi Everyone, I was at my regular 3 month check-up for type2 diabetes yesterday. All was well, but what was new was that I was given a test for the progress of the neurophaty in my feet and to my surprise learned that nearly normal feeling has returned. I am putting this down to my ketogenic diet. This is a benefit that I now only vaguely remember reading before.
I'm doing twice a week fasting as well and yesterday went 36 hours of total fasting without discomfort. I put this down to my being in ketosis as well.
Something that I learned is that when I have slipped out of ketosis it's much  easier to get it started again by a day of fasting. It seems a shame that the health professionals don't seem to have a clue as to what a ketogenic diet is.
Regards, Douglas

Hello Douglas good to read your post here  

I know you wrote a few months ago about your 'cancer of the tongue'. I sincerely hope that after your operations all is well now?

All the best Jan

No sign of the oral cancer returning. It's now 8 months after the operation. I'm eating a lot of curcumin spice which is said to prevent cancer,especially oral cancer. Curcumin is one of the few supplements that has lots of positive research behind it. Normal feeling of the tongue is slowly returning as well.
Am very healthy otherwise. Thanks,

Great news @Douglas V

Douglas V wrote:  No sign of the oral cancer returning. It's now 8 months after the operation. I'm eating a lot of curcumin spice which is said to prevent cancer,especially oral cancer. Curcumin is one of the few supplements that has lots of positive research behind it. Normal feeling of the tongue is slowly returning as well.
Am very healthy otherwise. Thanks,

That is good news indeed.    

Just done a google search and it is interesting to read about the positive research re Curcumin and Cancer.

All the best Jan

A friend sadly now long dead, but who exceeded his doctor's best guess by a few years, reckoned that turmeric was best if you added black pepper - the piperine has a more than additive effect with the curcumin. I'll remember the word I wanted for this later.

chris c wrote:A friend sadly now long dead, but who exceeded his doctor's best guess by a few years, reckoned that turmeric was best if you added black pepper - the piperine has a more than additive effect with the curcumin. I'll remember the word I wanted for this later.

The word is synergistic ,ie the effect of the two exceeds their sum total.

Yes, I read how the body doesn't want to absorb curcumin and how pepper will help.
What I do, without knowing if it really works is, First, mix a rounded tea spoon of curcumin together with a little olive oil, because curcumin dissolves in oil. 2nd, I put a little more then half a teaspoon of pepper corns into a coffee grinder and afterwards add the ground pepper to a small amount of red wine. The reasoning is that piperine, the good stuff in pepper, easily dissolves in alcohol. I stir both up and let stand a half hour or so, then mix them together, add some tomato paste for flavor, some water and drink it down. One would think that the pepper would burn all the way down, and irritate the stomach, but it doesn't at all.
According to articles on the Internet curcumin is good for many things, including alzheimer's disease. At least the part about preventing cancer seems likely to be true. I also eat a resveratrol tablet everyday and it has the same problem as curcumin of not being absorbed, but there's speculation that piperine also allows the reveratrol to absorbed. Peperine is said to also be good to block fat storage in the body.
Maybe I wander some as this forum should be about diabetes and low carb, and not supplements, but maybe it will be of use for some.

Pasha wrote:
The word is synergistic ,ie the effect of the two exceeds their sum total.

I KNEW THAT!

about ten minutes after I gave up trying to remember it, it popped unbidden into my mind . . .

. . . along with the time I thought my neuropathy had returned because I had a feeling there was a stone in my shoe.

Actually there WAS a stone in my shoe.

I put loads of turmeric into my chicken or prawn curry, then sprinkle liberally with black pepper when I serve it.