mike wrote:
Yes, that is where they were prior to this last fast. I've been a T2D for 20 years. I was in reasonable control prior to a stroke in 2014. Then for some reason, my meds stopped working as well. I tried a new drug, and it put me in to the ICU for ten days; it had caused my triglycerides to go above 1600... I was put on insulin in the hospital and continued afterwards. I started gaining weight and could not control eating. I'm 6'3" and went to 270 lbs. I stopped insulin and immediately dropped ten pounds without my sugars getting worse. My wife had recently started a keto diet and was having some success. I started and dropped thirty pounds, but then stalled. This particular diet was also advocating long fasting and I thought I would give it a try. It was much easier than I thought it would be. In my first fast, my sugars also dropped like yours, but both the recent ones have leveled off in the 80s. They suggest re-feeding for 3x the fasting period before doing another fast. I did another. Before the first fast, my A1c was 9.8 and after the second re-feeding 3x period it was down to 8.4. Then the 2017 California fire hit. I was working our EOC for 80 hours a week. Huge setback. I stopped exercising pretty much over the winter. I got back In the saddle come spring and started more exercise and built up strength and endurance. I stayed around 210 pounds this last year while building muscle, but sugars have crept back up. I'm hoping to keep it up this winter, then do another fast in the new year and see where I end up.
I'm not a doc, so these are just some thoughts.
You may have pancreatic insufficiency. I realize the point of your long fasts is to stimulate stem cells to increase pancreatic function. You appear to have enough function when you are fasting, but not when you are eating. A serum insulin test two hours after eating could say whether you are insulin resistant or not enough insulin. If you had results with high glucose and low insulin (say < 20), it would indicate you aren't making enough insulin.
Dr. Roy Taylor, in the UK at the Newcastle MRI center, was able to put T2 diabetics in remission with an 8 week, low calorie (600-800? cal/day) diet. He demonstrated that it was a very little amount of fat on the pancreas that was removed that created the benefit. However those who had been T2 for longer than 4 years did not show a complete benefit.
Link
Raymund Edwards is the guy who does the long fasts. He agrees with your 3x eating to fasting ratio. In his Optimal Ketogenic Living private Facebook
Group, he does coach people. I think he is very good. One of his points is for fasters to slowly increase their potassium intake, saying that this will decrease muscle loss during fasting. His group has 50,000+ people and he has a lot of experience coaching fasters.
When you aren't fasting, you may want to consider some insulin to control your glucose as your numbers are in the range where hyperglycemic damage can occur. Dr. Jason Fung has said that he coaches people to reduce meds when fasting, with somewhat higher serum glucose. But he does want some control. Fung has a huge
blog. He also has given many lectures that are on YouTube and also books.
Dr. Richard Bernstein goes into great detail on insulin dosing to get ideal blood sugars. He has an online YouTube
"Diabetes University."
In summary, I think you are on track with your fasting, but you might consider adding insulin to your routine to help control your glucose when you are not fasting.