Functional Medicine....thoughts?
ConleighS
Posts: 1,058 Member
I went to a diabetes seminar last night put on by Next Advanced Medicine, that focused on functional medicine. I hadn't really hears of this, have any of you? What are your thoughts? One thing they covered was 1.5 diabetes which more has to do with auto immune system, and based on what they were saying it may be I have that and not T2, hard to say though with my pancreas issues. @Ralflott tagged me about a possible new Type3c diabetes causes by pancreas issues like I have. Now more confused. I would look into the FM angle but it looks like their program is like $10k for 6 month program. Again, any thoughts / comments would be helpful. Thx.
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I went to a diabetes seminar last night put on by Next Advanced Medicine, that focused on functional medicine. I hadn't really hears of this, have any of you? What are your thoughts? One thing they covered was 1.5 diabetes which more has to do with auto immune system, and based on what they were saying it may be I have that and not T2, hard to say though with my pancreas issues. @Ralflott tagged me about a possible new Type3c diabetes causes by pancreas issues like I have. Now more confused. I would look into the FM angle but it looks like their program is like $10k for 6 month program. Again, any thoughts / comments would be helpful. Thx.
I wish I could be of help, but I'm not familiar with Next Advanced Medicine. That sounds like a pretty stiff price tag....
My armchair sense of your condition is that it's more like Type 1 (or advanced 1.5, aka LADA), than Type 2, since you seem to require a fair amount of insulin.
Here's my thought (which may be worth even less than you're paying for it!) - In the event you have a genuinely unique combination of diabetes/pancreatic injury, you might be best evaluated by an expert pancreas/diabetes team at a teaching hospital attached to a prominent medical school. Do you have anything of the sort near you?
As far as Type 1 and 1.5 are concerned, there are pretty straightforward tests - fasting c-peptide and various antibody tests, including GAD-65 (glutamic acid decarboxylase-65) and islet cell antibodies.
Here's an active Facebook group dedicated to LADA and the special issues it brings.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LADATYPE1.5DIABETES
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_autoimmune_diabetes_of_adults
Type 3c is completely new to me. Type 3c seems to be characterized not by insulin resistance (like Type 2) or auto-immune attacks on the beta cells in your pancreas that make insulin (like Type 1, and Type 1.5/LADA), but by other damage to your pancreas. And Type 3c, unlike type 1 and 2 (as far as I know), is unique in being best treated with the addition of digestive enzymes to careful dosing and timing of insulin.
Here's another article on Type3c diabetes:
Diagnosis and treatment of diabetes mellitus in chronic pancreatitis
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3831209/
So, it would seem that specialists in pancreatic afflictions who have seen many different cases (and are familiar with what is probably a whole range of results and treatment options) might be a better bet than even very smart functional medicine practitioners who lack this sort of specialized experience.
Keep us posted!
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You are such a fountain of information Ralflott. Thank you so much. I will look into that Facebook group. My medical group does have a diabetes treatment team, I don't know if my endo is part of that or can help diagnose but have to have my Dr refer me to someone...and my Dr is moving offices so I have to find a new one.... I will keep you posted. Thanks again.0
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Earlier we discussed that your medical team never explained how to bolus the right dose of insulin for the meals you eat, which is pretty basic stuff. Before spending 10k on something that isn't mainstream, I would look for a more attentive mainstream diabetes educator. I think Ralf's idea of a teaching hospital sounds good, since you do have a complicated situation going on with your pancreas. That means you should be getting more specialized attention, not less!3
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You are such a fountain of information Ralflott. Thank you so much. I will look into that Facebook group. My medical group does have a diabetes treatment team, I don't know if my endo is part of that or can help diagnose but have to have my Dr refer me to someone...and my Dr is moving offices so I have to find a new one.... I will keep you posted. Thanks again.
If you need any help finding diabetes specialists, please don't hesitate to holler. I have a pretty good endocrinologist attached to a university clinic & medical school, and she seems to know people everywhere!1 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Earlier we discussed that your medical team never explained how to bolus the right dose of insulin for the meals you eat, which is pretty basic stuff. Before spending 10k on something that isn't mainstream, I would look for a more attentive mainstream diabetes educator. I think Ralf's idea of a teaching hospital sounds good, since you do have a complicated situation going on with your pancreas. That means you should be getting more specialized attention, not less!
Yeah, you are right. I was given a sliding scale and told to watch my diet. I was able to get in to my reg. Dr next Tuesday so am going to have him refer me to the diabetes dept. I have been having gastrointestinal problems again so am going to get in to see the gastroenterologist too.0 -
If you need any help finding diabetes specialists, please don't hesitate to holler. I have a pretty good endocrinologist attached to a university clinic & medical school, and she seems to know people everywhere! [/quote]
Thank you Ralf. I will keep that in mind.0 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Earlier we discussed that your medical team never explained how to bolus the right dose of insulin for the meals you eat, which is pretty basic stuff. Before spending 10k on something that isn't mainstream, I would look for a more attentive mainstream diabetes educator. I think Ralf's idea of a teaching hospital sounds good, since you do have a complicated situation going on with your pancreas. That means you should be getting more specialized attention, not less!
Yeah, you are right. I was given a sliding scale and told to watch my diet. I was able to get in to my reg. Dr next Tuesday so am going to have him refer me to the diabetes dept. I have been having gastrointestinal problems again so am going to get in to see the gastroenterologist too.
Whew, that's some tough sledding! I wonder if Creon could use help in supplementing whatever your pancreas is able to contribute in digestive enzymes.
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I'm hoping that my body hasn't adjusted to the creon and it's stopped working.0
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I'm hoping that my body hasn't adjusted to the creon and it's stopped working.
@ConleighS , my understanding of digestive enzymes is that they don't stop working - they're just necessary to provide what your body isn't making in sufficient quantity to handle your diet.2 -
I'm hoping that my body hasn't adjusted to the creon and it's stopped working.
@ConleighS , my understanding of digestive enzymes is that they don't stop working - they're just necessary to provide what your body isn't making in sufficient quantity to handle your diet.
So .... it may be necessary to add additional enzymes. That should help with GI issues, absorption of vitamins, meds, food, etc.
But it may take careful tweaking of your insulin dosing and timing in sync with your diet to get your glucose under control, with the pancreatic issues you've experienced...
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Thanks guys for all of the info. Hoping it won't take too long to see the gastro.0
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