Please take a moment to read one of our patient’s amazing story about her daughter finding some relief from Type 1 diabetes after working with us!
From the blog: Be Balanced 52
It is highly unusual that Kendal is still not on insulin, 10 months after diagnosis. A lot of people ask me about this so I thought I would write about it this week.
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 is an autoimmune disease, which means your immune system starts mistakenly attacking some part of your own body. With Type 1, the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas are attacked and eventually eliminated completely. Everyone needs insulin to survive. Think of insulin as the gateway for the “sugar” in our blood to get to your cells to give you energy. When you don’t have insulin the sugar has no way to get out of your blood and into your cells. Since your body isn’t producing insulin you have to get it externally. There are two ways to get the insulin: shots or an insulin pump. Kendal was on shots for a couple months just after diagnosis. She would get one insulin shot just before each meal, and one at bedtime to tide her over for the night. So yes, four shots a day. It was extremely difficult to keep her blood sugar in the recommended range of 70 to 180.
Dr. Ben Galyardt
I went out on a limb and took Kendal to a doctor that I had seen to improve my overall health and to see if he could fix my neck pain. I say I went out on a limb because Dr. Galyardt is a kinesiologist. I thought it seemed a little weird taking Kendal to this type of doctor for diabetes but he focused so much on nutrition when I saw him that I thought maybe he could help her. After doing some tests for food sensitivities, a full blood panel, and a few visits we made several changes: we went gluten free, dairy free and low glycemic. He also taught me how to pair food to reduce spikes in blood sugar levels. This doctor changed our lives. Shortly after making these changes Kendal was completely off insulin. Completely. No shots.
Do I think he cured her diabetes? NO. Does he think he cured her? Of course not. We are simply feeding her in a way that works best with her limited insulin production. Will this work forever? Unfortunately not. Kendal’s immune system will most likely continue to attack her beta cells and she will eventually stop producing insulin altogether. I’ve also been told that an illness, especially a high fever, could cause this to happen very quickly, ending all insulin production and forcing us back to the regimen of 4 shots per day.
Please click here to read the rest of this article (article no longer available at bebalanced52) and follow Kendal’s story. We’re so honored to be a small part of making this amazing child feel better as she battles this disease.