Reversing Diabetes type 1 - is that really possible?

[mhassine]

Thank you Dr Jeff and Christina,

You encourage me to write on several topics this Forum is concentrating on. My dog was unexpectedly diagnosed with diabetes type 1 at end-April, and this completely overhauled the way she eats, has her outings, gets supplements, gets healing, and the way I take care of her has been radically revised. Along the way, we got rid off many assumptions on the intentions of the traditional allopathic vet medicine, the way processed food is organized and monitored in this country, and threw away many given assumptions on whether diabetes type 1 may be reversed. Actually it can.

I have to share stories, disappointing ones, but cheerful ones too. We made a lot of discoveries along the way.

My dog is my guide on a new path of healing, love, and how to control ones' fears.

 

 

[mhassine]

Cassie is about 9 years old according to the shelter I met her at about 3 years ago. I just fell in love with her personality once I was browsing dog and cat pictures back in April 2015. It was not clear to me whether I would start with a girl dog and a cat boy, it seems to me that the pair fits nicely together. A few years earlier I had accepted to take care of such a pair for friends, and I took care of them over a long Christmas New Year period. I had just came back from a job overseas, and my household items had not arrived. So the friends were planning a long outing in Europe then were heading for a trip to Egypt.

Cassie had been at the shelter for more than 3 months when I met her. She had been surrendered by her former human friends at end-January 2015, and they dropped her off exactly where they found her when she was a puppy. Stories differed among shelter personnel. She had either been abused by other dogs, or the couple was getting separated, or they had money issues and could not take care of the dog. Cassie at end-January was 96 pounds, a huge girl, overweight and profusely depressed. She was unresponsive to ball play, hates to be around other dogs at the time of food, and unable to establish eye contact. On top of this, she had been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which made her adoption very unlikely. In March 2015, there was a failed adoption, her new human friends promptly returning her back after a few days of unsuccessful adjustment. The shelter people told me she was attacking the other family pets. Not an easy start.

 

[mhassine]

I was convinced I could reverse the hypothyroidism--I was possibly foolish to believe that this could be reduced, but I was convinced that good food, care, and long walks would help make the trick.

Her personality rapidly blossomed. After the first 3 months or so of adjustment, she turned out an astute mind reader, a smart girl who befriended humans and other dogs, and...and alpha girl too--a cop in the dog park, where the shelter told me never to take her to because she was aggressive with other dogs.

Her looks always attracted comments--she's a Husky-Golden retriever mix with white-blue eyes. I adopted her at 74.5 pounds, a noteworthy decline in weight from her starting 96 pounds. We would walk a lot--2 to 3 hours every day. I invested in different all-weather walking shoes, and dropped size too. My health improved correspondingly.

From the outset, I cooked for her, initially stews with pork meats and mixing every time a lot of veggies. I was then cooking with coconut  oil  and turmeric which were helping to reduce her massive arthritis. Levothyroxin had been brought in since her time at the shelter at 0.6 mg twice a day. I would supplement her food with kibble from the store, as I figured out one puts chocolate chips on a nice ice cream. It was never the main ingredient, only a treat and a small addition to the cooked meal. On the way, I had to brush aside comments from certain vets, on why I don't feed the dog ready made food, which is already so well balanced and thought-through. I knew what I was cooking, I knew the ingredients, and the dog loved it. That was my answer.

 

[mhassine]

 

[mhassine]

Fast forward.... I continued to lower Cassie's insulin, and we are now down to 11.5 units of insulin (twice a day), and we are coming from 18 units!!! I reduce the insulin very slowly (by about 1/3 of a unit or so) and I monitor the dog twice a day with a pet glucose monitor. I maintain a spreadsheet with my notes about what happened in the day, the length of the walks, and the dog's mood.

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Fantastic, @mhassine !

Do you get the drop of blood you need to test her sugar twice/day from ear ear, nails, gums...?

Also, if you start correlating her BGs with her walks, food, BEAM insulin, etc. we could publish the results here and in the holistic vet journal (JAHVMA).

Would you be interested in doing a study like this?

It sounds like you already have some great data.

Dr. Jeff

 

[Dr. Christina]

We have not heard updates about Cassie. Still, there are some very important statements she made that I want to underline for the new year.

"My dog is my guide on a new path of healing, love, and how to control ones' fears."
This is really the key to a happy, relaxed, stress free life with your pets - know they are on a path of health. Full health is not a place you get to and stay as outside influences can affect any of us. When ill, there are so many approaches to try on this journey that you never need to give up. Realizing there is no one "right" way to feed and treat our animals relieves many people of fears and guilt.

"I was convinced I could reverse the hypothyroidism--I was possibly foolish to believe that this could be reduced, but I was convinced that good food, care, and long walks would help make the trick." So true, and even true for the diabetes. Not every animal can be cured, but almost any dis-ease can be. Sometimes good food, etc is not enough. Often, at some point in an individual's life, deeper energetic treatments like homeopathy or TCVM (Chinese medicine) are needed.
Dr. Christina

 

[Dr. Jeff]

So, so true @Dr. Christina and I wanted to add one other point for @mhassine

That is, that the key to treatment of both hypo-thyroidism and Diabetes Mellitus is early intervention.

The symptom manifestations of both of them are related to the amount of the glandular cells which have already been destroyed.

The longer the cellular destruction persists, the less likely that the dis-eases can be totally reversed.

The cellular destruction is a result of dysregulation of the immune system resulting in anti-thyroid and anti-pancreatic islet cells (which produce insulin) so as always the very best early treatment is maintaining a healthy immune system.

The BEAM symptoms are an awesome marker for immune (as well as overall) health.

So just keep doing what you're doing with fresh feeding, supportive supplements and homeopathy with Dr. Yasson.

Dr. Jeff

 

[mhassine]

Thank you both for your support!

I test Cassie with an AlphaTrak2, which requires only a tiny droplet of blood. I usually draw it from her carpal pad. I used to prick her on her ear but the ear is not fully vascularized, so I could prick and miss. The carpal pad is more convenient, and it may cost me a treat or two. The vet would take the dog in and use an AlphaTrak2, so my reading is as good as theirs (or slightly better given the home comfort). When the dog is first diagnosed with diabetes type 1, pet parents are rarely told that diabetes can be reduced, let alone reversed. Pet parent are actually told that it is (i) irreversible, (2) spills into other issues if untreated. They are usually (3) passively or actively blamed if the glucose does not improve. On top of this, once I took my dog **off** her prescribed food (an expensive brand with all the wrong ingredients), her glucose dropped by 150-200 points. I also elected to replace her *very* expensive insulin with which the dog was treated in emergency care with OTC insulin, which was 7 times cheaper but exactly the same molecule. I hope this experience may be useful to other pet owners!

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Thanks again @mhassine !

It's crazy how important the fresh and vital nutrient rich diet is for management of pets with Diabetes.

Yet how little emphasis is placed, in all of medicine, on nutrition.

I agree 100% that it can be proactively treated and that prescription food often is not helpful and may even worsen blood sugar.