More On The Numbers
Even going back 10 years to my mid-30's, my blood sugar levels--as measured by Hemoglobin A1C and Fasting Glucose--were always a couple of points above normal though nothing worth calling out the cavalry for. Even the Urine Albumin or ACR (Albumin/Creatinine Ratio) which is a gage of the level of functioning of the kidneys, was just above normal. When my personal care physician (PCP) a.k.a. family doctor diagnosed me with Type II Diabetes, it was almost tongue-in-cheek. He said that each measure, on its own, was not worth a diagnosis of diabetes but, together, ooh, aah, maybe, why not?
"Diabetes! Take a couple of Metformin daily and see me again in three months." At the time, it sounded more like he was obliged for ethical and liability reasons to come to a conclusion of diabetes rather than any concrete proof of the disease.
Thus began three-monthly visits to the labs to test these two variables, as well as an annual visit to the optometrist to photograph the back of my eye. This was to see if excess blood sugar was causing the rupture of capillaries back there. The eyesight of diabetics deteriorates for this reason rather than from the normal decline around middle-age from retinal mal-function.
Another ominous feature of my blood was elevated pressure and high levels of cholestrol, especially the abnormally high ratio of total cholestrol to bad (LDL) cholestrol. Neither was ever high-enough to warrant medication but required a change in diet that favoured fish and chicken over red meat and, an increase in leafy greens. My dietary approach was to ignore the advice.
The PCP was vindicated in his diagnosis of diabetes. While the ocular capillaries were always intact, the blood sugar levels were not. I initially avoided the Metformin like the plague and it showed in the tests. As soon as I started taking them, the numbers came down though never into the normal range. It was plainly obvious that my body was not processing sugars normally. In fact, the endocrinologist to which my first bariatric surgeon had referred me emphatically increased my Metformin dosage from two- to three-a-day. There must have been something more compelling in the numbers that he saw leaving me feeling a little disingenuous for doubting my PCP.
It's a coincidence that my three-monthly lab date was just before my VSG. It meant that I had fresh numbers for comparison and could attribute any changes in my digits directly to both the surgery and post-op dietary changes. Prior to those pre-op labs, I had been on a high-protein, leafy-green diet to shed some weight, get my body into ketosis mode and, reduce the size of the liver and rid it of fats and sugars. Despite that, my numbers were still off the charts.
A tabular summary of the results are:
Normal Early Immediately Post-op
Range Dec '10 Pre-op Mar 2011
Glucose 3.6-5.5 mmol/l 7 (high) 6.4 (high) 5.3 (normal)
A1C 4.8-6.2% 6.8 (high) 6.6 (high) 6.0 (normal)
ACR < 2.0 2.1 (high) 0.8 (normal)
Chol. 2.0-5.2 mmol/l 4.6 (normal)
LDL 1.5-3.4 mmol/l 3.3 (normal)
HDL >0.9 mmol/l 0.9 (low)
Chol/HDL <5.0 5.1 (high)
Triglyc. <2.3 mmol/l 0.9 (normal)
BP 120/80 120/80 (normal)
I'm reasonably pleased with the results though everything could come down a notch, especially the cholestrol levels.
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Starting Weight-228.6, SW-221.4, CW-173 GW-125
Keep it up Neeven!!
