“Diabetes” Testing is DANGEROUSLY Incomplete!
Written by: Dr. Jason Nobles (Clinic Director , Pathway To Wellness – Green Bay)
If you have a family history of diabetes or you simply want to stay proactive with your health, you visit your doctor for regular diabetes testing. The test your doctor runs is accurate, but is it complete? Why is it that despite better and better screening technology, more people are developing diabetes every year?
At your standard screening, the doctor will test your blood Glucose levels and Hemoglobin A1c. This shows your average blood sugar level over a 2-3 month period and tells the doctor how well the body is regulating blood sugar in relation to a normal level. The recommendation is a fasting blood sugar level of 75-85, with the lowest possible A1c or at least below 5.0.
This narrow testing of blood sugar levels gives you very important information that is VERY incomplete. It fails to provide perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle: WHY your results are what they are. You need more information. What about insulin levels? Leptin? C-peptide? Proinsulin? Fructosamine? HOMA-IR? In order to get a complete look at blood sugar, each of the following sugar metabolism categories must be tested.
1) Homeostasis – normal function
2) Insulin Resistance – Insulin receptors become desensitized so more and more insulin is required for normal function
3) Metabolic Syndrome – This is when the metabolic process (how we break down food) stops working properly.
4) Prediabetes – Everything is elevated but has not yet reached diabetes levels.
5) Type 2 Diabetes – Sugar and insulin are elevated and no longer have control of blood sugar even though the pancreas is working overtime.
6) Hyperinsulinemia – Insulin and blood sugar levels are elevated even higher than type 2 diabetes levels.
7) Autoimmune Type 1 Diabetes – This develops when the immune system begins destroying the pancreas.
8) Anti-GAD Type 1 Diabetes – The body can no longer produce the neuro-transmitters needed to protect the pancreas.
9) Pancreatic Fatigue – this is a form of non-autoimmune type 1 diabetes that I discovered. It happens when the pancreas can no longer produce as much insulin because it has been working too hard for too long.
10) Type 3 Diabetes – Too much sugar consumption causes “rusting” of the brain and leads to Alzheimer’s/Dementia
Considering you’ve likely never heard of most of the levels in this list, how complete do you feel traditional diabetes testing is? Why do traditional doctors not test these aspects of blood sugar and metabolism? Simple: Glucose levels are easily manipulated by medication, thereby making the remainder of the picture irrelevant. But is it? What happens when the medication doesn’t control Glucose levels anymore? You know the answer to that. More medications.
How does the cycle get broken? The first step to returning the body to normal metabolic function always remains the same…PROPER and COMPLETE TESTING!!!
The passion I have for this topic is real and it’s personal. This is a picture of me before and after proper testing. Years of poor dietary choices left me diagnosed with diabetes and facing severe reality check: change my life, or spend the rest of it on medications. I took action. Proper testing is how I determined where my metabolism was malfunctioning, and led to my discovery of Pancreatic Fatigue, which I was personally suffering with. Notice how I used the word “was”? Exactly. Metabolism restored!
Please get tested properly. At Pathway To Wellness, we can test all aspects of diabetes so that nothing goes undetected. With this proper and complete testing, we can address exactly what is going on with your body and get you back on track. For more information on diabetes, call or stop in to any Wellness Way and pick up my book: “Pathway To Wellness Approach to Metabolic Syndrome” for a guide to get you moving in the right direction.