Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution - The Complete Guide To Achieving Normal Blood Sugars (PDFDrive) - 3
Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution - The Complete Guide To Achieving Normal Blood Sugars (PDFDrive) - 3
Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution - The Complete Guide To Achieving Normal Blood Sugars (PDFDrive) - 3
Diabetes Solution
Before and After
FOURTEEN PATIENTS SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES
1986,1had ballooned to 189 pounds and was at a loss for how to lose
weight. My'good control' regimen had left me feeling out of control.
Clearly, something had to be done.
"In that year, I attended a meeting of medical writers at which Dr.
Bernstein spoke. It became clear that his credentials were impressive.
He himself at that time had lived with the disease for four decades and
was nearly free of complications. His approach had been formulated
largely through self-experimentation. His knowledge of the medical
literature was encyclopedic. Some of his proposals were heretical; he
attacked the usual dietary recommendation and challenged dogma
surrounding such basics as how insulin ought to be injected. But it
seemed likehewas doing something right. During histalk, I hadto use
the bathroom twice; he didn't.*
"I decided to spend aday athisoffice to gather material for anarti
cle to be published intheMedical Tribune. There, hisindependence of
thought became clear. 'Brittle' diabetes [entailing anendless sequence
of wide blood sugar fluctuations] was a misnomer that usually indi
cated an inadequate treatment plan or poor training, more than any
inherent physical deficit, he said. Normal blood sugars round-the-
clock were not just an elusive goal but were frequently achievable, if
the diabetic hadbeentaught the proper techniques. Beyond treatment
goals, he armed his patients with straightforward methods to attain
them. His secret: small doses of medication resulted in small mistakes
that were easilycorrectable.
"Bythen, my interest had become more personal than journalistic.
In early 1987, still wary, I decided to give it atry. The first thingI no
ticedwas that this doctor visitwas unlikeanyprevious ones.Most had
lasted about 15 minutes. This took 8 hours. Others said I had no com
plications; Dr. Bernstein found several. Most said my blood sugars
were just fine; Dr. Bernstein recommended I make changes to flatten
them out and to lower my weight. Those hours were spent detailing
the intricacies involved in controlling blood sugar. His whole ap
proach blasted thetheory espoused bymy first doctor — thatI should
depend on him to dole out whatever information I needed. Dr. Bern
stein made it clear that for diabetics to control their disease they
needed to know as much as their doctors did about the disease.
Frank Purcell isa seventy-six-year-old retiree who, like many ofmy mar
ried patients, works closely with his wife to keep his diabetes on track.
Eileen, who goes by the nickname Ike, tells the first part ofhis story.
Ike: "Frank had been treated for many years for diabetes, and had
beentreated orally because he was atype 2.As far as we were aware, he
had a functioning pancreas. The thing was, as a younger man, he'd
been told that he had high blood sugar, but it was ignored. This was
going back to hisarmy days, in 1953 or so. No onesuggested medica
tion, no one called it diabetes, and nothing more was done. They just
said he had high blood sugar. They called it 'chemical' diabetes. It
showed up on bloodtests, but not on urinalysis. I guess in thosedays,
having it show up on a urinalysis was some sort of determinant. He
did modify his diet— he stopped eating so much candy, andhe took
off weight — he lostabout 30 pounds in those days.
"In about 1983, Frank had a mild heart attack. He began to see a
cardiologist, who has been monitoring his health care very carefully
since then. For about two to three years, he took beta blockers and
maybe one or two heart medications. As far as we could tell, his heart
problems were verymuchin resolution — I mean he'dhadaheart at
tack, he'd had no surgery, and seemed to be doing okay. But when he
started working with the cardiologist, the doctor notedthathisblood
sugar thing was ongoing, and he began to feel it was of concern. He
prescribed Diabinese, which was the oral medication of choice of the
time, I guess, and he monitored Frank's blood sugar about every four
months.
"I mightsay thatI never even knewwhat anormal bloodsugar was.
No one ever talked about it. I had no idea whether it was 1,000 or 12.
The onlything wewere ever toldwas thatit was high or wasn't high.
This went on and on forcloseto sevenor eightyears. If he had seen Dr.
Bernstein back then, who knows what could have been different? But
eventually, the cardiologist said he thought Frank ought to see an en
docrinologist. He didn't feel hewas able to control Frank's blood sugar
well enough himself with medication, and so he felt the condition
warranted closer attention.
"Wewent to see a gentleman who was chiefof the diabetes clinic at
a major hospital here in upstate New York, where welive. Now, this is
averywell thoughtof medical facility. The doctor met with us,andhe
kept Frank on the Diabinese, and monitored him every three months
or so. Hisblood sugars were 253,240, andhe would say, 'Let's try an
other pill.' It was always medication. Glyburide, Glucophage — the
Before and After 7
whole bit. But trying to gethis blood sugar down wasvery difficult.No
one evermentioned diet, really. And rarely wasit everbelow 200when
we went in. Rarely. When I finally found out what the numbers meant,
I said to the doctor, 'Don't you think we ought to see a dietitian? I
mean,we'reeatingthe same foodwe always have.'We wereon the nor
mal diet that anybody'son. I had friends who are diabetics who watch
certain things that they eat,and so I thought it made a certain amount
of sense. He said, 'Sure. That's a really goodidea.'
"He gave us the name of a young woman, and we saw her three
times. She said, 'Eat eleven carbohydrates every day,' and she gave
us the food pyramid — we didn't need her for that — and nothing
changed, except Frank stopped eating dessert. He would have the oc
casional bowl of ice cream, or a piece of cake when he felt like it, or
a cookie. I always bought the newest foods that came out — low-
fat, low-sugar. I was more concerned about fat during that stage, as I
recall.
"This went on until God intervened. I mean that. What happened
was, Frank had anattack of serious hypoglycemia [low blood sugar].
No one had warned us that this could happen. No one had told us
what hypoglycemia looked like. I thought it was a stroke. He was out
of hishead. He couldn't answer questions. The only thing that gave me
some smidgen of doubt was that he got up and walked to the bath
room and put on histrousers. I called 911. When the medic gothere,
hehooked him up to some glucose, puthim onagurney and trundled
him out of here, and headed for the medical center. In the middle of
the ride, Frank woke up and said, 'What the hell am I doing here?' The
young man said he certainly seemed to be coming out of his stroke
well. Bythetimewegot to thehospital, hewas virtually himself.When
they decided to do a finger stick, his blood sugar was 26, 26 mg/dl. I
didn't have the education in diabetes that I've gotten with Dr. Bern
stein, but I knewenough to knowthat this was not good. Who knows
what it wasbeforehe got the intravenous?
"Now, we'll never know if he accidentally took his oral medication
twice thenightbefore — it's very possible — but I tell you, however it
happened, it was the Lord who was watching over Frank and said,
'Now it's time todo something.' As scary as itwas, itwas also ablessing.
"I have a doctor friend who's a close colleague of Dick Bernstein's.
My friend had had an uncle who'd beenveryill with diabetes and its
complications, but hislife hadbeen prolonged in a much more com
fortable fashion by Dick Bernstein. I would talk to my friend about
8 Beforeand After