can diabetes be reversed naturally?

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed as diabetic or pre-diabetic you may be wondering what you can do to help treat diabetes naturally.

Diabetes has been called a progressive disease, often requiring multiple medications to lower blood sugar levels and sometimes eventually leading to daily insulin injections. This was the position my 70 year old father found himself in around 12 months ago.

He had been living with Type 2 Diabetes for 15 years. Like most people, he was initially prescribed Metformin, but struggled to keep his blood sugars under control. Over the years he was additionally prescribed Empagliflozin (Jardiance) and Pioglitazone. A letter from his GP stating that Jardiance can cause Fournier's (genital) gangrene, wasn’t a nice surprise. Pioglitazone was placed under suspension in 2013 and has a black box warning for its potential to increase the risk of bladder cancer(1). Metformin can cause vitamin B12 deficiency(2). These are just a few of the listed side effects.

At his regular diabetes check up last year, he was told that his blood sugars were still too high and he would need to start daily injections of insulin.

As you can imagine, he was absolutely devastated. He couldn’t understand how he had got to that position, despite taking all of the medications he was prescribed. He was especially not keen on injecting himself daily with insulin.

Diabetes medication - insulin

Having to go against the advice from his diabetic team at the NHS, he decided to try alternative methods rather than resorting to insulin. He began intermittent fasting immediately, made dramatic changes to his diet and walked for 10 minutes after his evening meal.

At his next check-up 2 months later, his HbA1c, which is a blood test that shows average blood sugar levels over the last 2-3 months, had reduced from 93mmol/mol to 72mmol/mol. That is a 23% reduction in 2 months, without insulin. He was delighted.

He continued with the changes to his diet and monitored his blood sugar levels regularly with his finger prick test, to ensure he didn’t become hypoglycaemic. After a few months he decided to upgrade to a CGM (continuous glucose monitor), which meant he could track his blood sugars easily throughout the day and night and he could also share his readings with others.

He was able to gradually reduce his diabetic medications and eventually he completely stopped them altogether.

In under a year he has managed to reduce his HbA1c by 37% to 59mmol/mol. He has done so entirely naturally and without the need for medications. Other symptoms have also improved, he feels more energetic and his psoriasis has disappeared.

As a point of reference the NHS considers 53-58mmol/mol acceptable diabetes control, under 42mmol/mol is non-diabetic.

My father’s journey continues and he hopes to soon be classed as non-diabetic. He is so grateful that he no longer has to take multiple medications and that he narrowly avoided insulin injections.

I hope this is an inspiration for anyone on a similar journey. These changes can be made at any time, at any age and can dramatically improve health without the need for medications, which often have many side effects.

References:

1) Hashmi A. Pioglitazone suspension and its aftermath: A wake up call for the Indian drug regulatory authorities. J Pharmacol Pharmacother. 2013 Oct;4(4):227-9. doi: 10.4103/0976-500X.119705. PMID: 24250197; PMCID: PMC3825996.

2) NHS, 2022, Side Effects of Metformin.