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OMG I think the berberine worked!

glassyo
glassyo Posts: 7,801 Member
in Health and Weight Loss

I just had an official A1C test done (because I was having other blood tests done) and in 9 months went from 5.9 to 5.6.

I'm no longer pre-diabetic. And with cookies!

(If I need more than one test being under 5.7, I don't wanna hear it. I figured I'd keep going up because that's just my luck.)

Replies

  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 4,295 Member

    Congrats! That's great!

  • poodle_whisper
    poodle_whisper Posts: 39 Member
    berberine has also been thought to help with PCOS
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,363 Member

    berberine will ruin your gut microbiome if you use it for long term. fyi.

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,477 Member

    Too many variables to attribute it to just taking berberine, especially over 9 months and there's no control so it's just a guess really, but good for you reducing your A1C.

  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,801 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48513562#Comment_48513562

    Thanks! I had a celebratory vanilla creme power crunch bar :)

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48513581#Comment_48513581

    It's supposed to help with a bunch of things but, per the internet, there are always opposite opinions :)

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48516911#Comment_48516911

    I bought a 6 months supply just to try it out, did 3 months, and am taking a 1 or 2 week break.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48517571#Comment_48517571

    I kinda wanna fight you on this because, just like when my cholesterol improved when I added an egg yolk to my diet (taking the calories of whatever bread or chocolate I switched it for), it was really the only thing I changed. But it could have been lowering my carbs when getting the diagnosis finally caught up even tho it was more than the 3 months. I just know, without it, I went from 5.7 to 5.9 (and was totally worried I'd be 6.1 with this blood test) but there was that rebellious holiday season where I went went crazy with all the food clients sent us and I wasn't quite that bad this last year.

    Or maybe it's the nut addiction I picked up because I am REALLY surprised I haven't gained a substantial amount of weight with how I pop those puppies in my mouth all mindlessly and all. :)

  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 4,295 Member

    You're right. Lots of differing opinions. I'm pro nuts. That's mostly where I get any "good" fat I get. The rest is animal fat.

    I'm also pro berberine. I took it for a month or so for other reasons, but it blunted my appetite. I still ate well, but I seemed to not get hangry— just hungry enough to get up and cook. I don't understand why more people don't try it before the diabetic-type drugs. So much cheaper and you're in more control.

    I've never heard of egg yolks for cholesterol. Tell me more. But it won't replace bread in my case. I don't eat much bread. (Or chocolate).

  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,801 Member
    edited March 7
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48518015#Comment_48518015

    This is very non scientific but I read a post from a user on another forum how they did just that…started eating eggs and their cholesterol improved. I think it had to do with dietary cholesterol not having anything to do with blood cholesterol (except for that one disease) and that's all I got on that explanation :)

    But I'm a creature of habit so nothing else changed other than how I was getting those 70 calories. I ate the same things in the same amounts at the same times (more or less), my exercise didn't change, my weight stayed the same. I was probably sleeping more then. My numbers didn't change a lot but both LDL and Triglycerides lowered like 3 points so it still improved! :)

    I wish berberine could help with the mindless eating. I've never perfected the eat when you're hungry theory of food consumption. :)

  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,381 Member
    edited March 7

    Interesting. Glad you've had success with it!

    I started berberine because I'd seen reliable sources saying that there was some evidence it reduced cholesterol. A year ago I did my annual bloodwork and my dr sent me an email advising me my cholesterol was getting high, and to reduce saturated fat and sugar. Sat fat wasn't something I tracked so I started looking at it and my normal diet is pretty low already, except if I eat cheese. So do I lose a source of protein and calcium for the sake of reducing sat fat? I went a little nutso trying to nickel and dime a few grams of sat fat off my daily diet to comply with her advice. That plus reducing sugar and I dropped 10 lbs that I didn't need to lose.

    Went in to see her and discuss all this and she told me diet probably wasn't affecting my cholesterol anyway. My LDL is great, it's my HDL that's creeping up. Then I came across another reliable source saying that decline in estrogen will result in higher cholesterol in women. Oh yippee. At least I could resume my regular diet and try to get my weight back up.

    But I still don't want high cholesterol. I already have hypertension. So I thought I'd give the berberine a try. Waiting to see if my next bloodwork will show any improvement.

    As for my gut biome, my guts are already a mess thanks to a) an appendix rupture and b) the resulting bowel obstruction, so a biome is the least of my worries.

    ETA: It's affected my appetite as well, I'm really struggling to come up with ideas for meals because nothing is appealing any more. I mean, I eat because I know I need fuel/nutrients but all the enjoyment has been sucked out.

  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 4,295 Member

    Interesting. I took berberine to lower my blood pressure.

    My cholesterol is high, but my hdl is high enough to keep my hdl/ldl and my hdl/total cholesterol ratios both in the healthy range. I try to keep my hdl high, since I can't figure out a natural way to lower my ldl.

    If berberine did lower my blood pressure, it was such a tiny bit I missed it. I did take the smallest dose I could find, because it was new.

  • myra20199
    myra20199 Posts: 1 Member

    my doctor wants to put me on cholesterol pills statins I am dieting and exercise I wish I can find a way to bring my cholesterol down

  • MaggieGirl135
    MaggieGirl135 Posts: 1,042 Member

    I tried berberine for 9 to 12 months to lower my A1c. After decades of excellent morning fasting numbers and continuing with those, the first time I A1c was checked, I was just shy of pre-diabetes (!). I read some research articles about berberine and its effect of lowering A1c, so I took whatever dose was recommended. I pretty much kept the same diet, although (maybe) a little bit better in relation to sugar/carbs (which isn’t typically overly high for me) and balancing it with proteins or fats. My A1c stayed exactly the same. Just an n=1.

    To comment on what others have said in regards to cholesterol…although cholesterol supposedly is not sensitive to diet, it is for me. For about a year, I was eating one to two eggs every morning (a change from before). My cholesterol went from fine to not so fine. I don’t remember the number, whether it was on the very high side of normal or just a touch over. I dropped down to about 2 eggs a week for a year and then my numbers dropped to solidly in the normal range. Another n= 1.

    Everybody is different.

    Oh, a random bit of information, one day I was evidently not being attentive and managed to bite down and break a berberine pill. It was super nasty tasting.

  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,381 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48518925#Comment_48518925

    Everybody IS so different!

    I eat 0 to 4 eggs a month and I don't think there are any particularly high offenders in the rest of my diet (I'm pescetarian with a heavy reliance on plant-based food). When I started tracking sat fat I was usually in the 10 - 15 range daily and I think the recommended daily max was 20.

    I did wonder what they taste like! I notice that even though I'm swallowing them pretty quickly, they're giving a sort of citrus flavour to whatever I use to wash them down. I've never noticed any sort of residual taste with any other meds so I suspected they had a strong taste.

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