This remission dataset

documents - and provided the means of - my losing 100 pounds of fat and rendering myself, according to my doctor, "no longer diabetic" within a year of diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. Despite my doctor's use of the word at the time, I don't claim to have "cured" myself. By this expert consensus definition, I achieved remission, having reached and sustained normal levels of blood glucose (blood sugar).

Type 2 diabetics who can achieve remission, or normoglycemia (euglycemia), are as close to a cure as is possible for a disorder characterized as chronic (no cure) and progressive (only gets worse). Remission can vastly improve quality of life and can forestall T2D's usual progression through comorbidities toward premature death.

Day-to-day data are self-reported. Medical outcomes are documented by Kaiser-Permanente.

normal? really?

Here's a secret. When it comes to blood glucose levels, nobody knows what "normal" means.

As noted before, medical research finds increased incidence and risk of diabetic comorbidities or "complications" (late-stage symptoms) correlating with blood sugar levels currently deemed "pre-diabetic" or even normal.

We know this more precisely now, yet it's nothing new. The correlation of elevated blood glucose with morbidity and mortality is long-established; it informs our current definition of normal as fasting blood glucose under 100 mg/dL, although in an entirely inadequate way.

As long ago as 1980, impaired glucose tolerance (defined as blood sugar levels of 96 mg/dL or greater after a clinically-administered "challenge" of 50 g oral glucose), roughly doubled risk of death due to coronary heart disease.

In short, that level of post-challenge glucose intolerance, several points within today's "normal" fasting range, kills people. Quibbling over the additional 25 mg/dL that distinguish the "pre-diabetic" from the diabetic seems as useful as speculating over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.


p.s. I was recently surprised to find an untapped prescription for glucose test strips, and was able to get it extended. I'm gathering new data on my own progress and setbacks, and should be able to publish them soon. I shall also finally incorporate into the data the standards for normoglycemia that have been tightened - obviously to my mind not enough - since my original intervention in 2003.

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