[kelley812812]

I'm 24 and was diagnosed with Type II about 5 months ago. My A1C was 8.5 but my glucose tolerance test was perfectly normal.

I was slightly overweight at 5'8" and 190 lbs. but have never been concerned with weight because of my very high muscle content. I'm very active and can leg press 350 lbs.

I've changed my diet to virtually no carbs and lost about 25 lbs in about 2 months. Not hard to do because I don't like sweets and as an athlete, we try to eat healthy anyway. I brought my A1C down to 6.5 in this time and the docs were amazed. I also reduced my rheumatoid arthritis flare ups, reduced my cholesterol by 60 pts., BP from about 160/90 to 130/75 and cleared up my PMDD and Psoriasis. ( I know...I'm a mess.)

My problem, however, is that my liver enzymes are still about 3 times too high and my endocrinologist, gastrointestinal doc and gynecologist don't know how to fix this. It is enlarged, but not diseased and the biopsy showed no abnormalities.

My messed up liver really affects my blood sugar when I sleep and my doctors don't believe me even after I show them my monitor results. On average, I'm about 240-280 right when I wake up in the morning and drop to about 130 after I eat my first meal. I eat normally and by evening I can bring it down to around 80 or 90 before bed.

This has been the norm now for about the last month. If anyone knows what's wrong with me...please help.

I'm scared of meds because my problem doesn't seem to be primarily with my pancreas, but my liver...It just puts out too much sugar at night.

[EeyoreButterfly]

There are meds that can inhibit your liver from putting out glycogen. I forget which ones they are, but others here should know. If your doctors are not believing you or cannot figure out what is wrong, it is time to find another doctor.

[kelley812812]

Yes, there are meds to help reduce the sugar put out by the liver, but they last all day. Metformin, for one, may help, but it still doesn't fix the root problem.

Does anyone else suffer from this???

Also, I am limited in my Dr. choices because my insurance is through the military. I have ,however, seen several different ones and not one has ever heard of food lowering blood sugar like mine does. I'm very frustrated.

[EeyoreButterfly]

Metformin does not prevent you from releasing glycogen, it allows you to use your insulin more effectively. (At least, that is what I was told).

What do you mean "they wouldn't fix the root problem?" It soudns like the problem is that your liver is putting out glycogen. A med that inhibits your liver from putting out excessive glycogen makes sense to me. I don't think that is something that you can fix without meds. It can at least help you while you try to figure out why your body is doing this.

[dbc]

Originally Posted by EeyoreButterfly

Metformin does not prevent you from releasing glycogen, it allows you to use your insulin more effectively. (At least, that is what I was told).

Actually Metformin does both - it's not clear (to me, at any rate) which is the more effective action. Metformin is sometimes used by T1/T1.5s to suppress the liver glycogen dump, makes for more even bs levels.

[EeyoreButterfly]

Thanks for the clarification dbc. I hadn't heard that before.

[Scrabblechick]

Yeah, sounds like Met would be a good choice for you. Talk it over with your doc. If you have fatty liver, as I'm told many just-DX diabetics do (mine was OK), getting your BG under control and eating that low-carb diet will help your liver heal and as it does, those enzymes will normalize. But it does take time.

Try this: eat a small, protein snack before bed, like peanut butter on a cracker, a piece of beef jerkey, handful of nuts, lunchmeat or a piece of cheese. This may help give your liver something to do besides dump glucose. Give it a week or so and see if your morning numbers at least start trending downward. Many folks here have suggested this as a way of dealing with high morning numbers, and it has worked well for many of us.

[sprzepiora]

Do you doctors not believe you are was it a figure of speech?

[rotcoddam]

Have you been tested for Cushing's disease?

[jps]

I'd keep low carbing if I were you and keep looking for drops in your liver enzymes. It sounds like fatty liver, something that is relatively common with D2.

I started seeing good changes in my liver enzymes within a couple of months (see below). I suspect the time it takes to remedy a fatty liver varies.

Low carbing enabled me to control my sugars, which secondarily allowed me to drop weight (best side effect ever!). I saw a positive correlation with weight loss and liver enzymes returning to normal (see below for the numbers).

[kelley812812]

My doctors really think I'm lying or skewing my monitor's numbers some how. I don't know.

Neg. for cushings, hashimoto, arthritis, cancer, graves, and about 20 auto immunes.

Thank you all for your help.

[lorilei]

That sounds incredibly frustrating...hopefully they will get to the bottom of this soon...