Diabetes Success Stories

Though William had been managing diabetes well for several years, he began experiencing symptoms of diabetic neuropathy at age 61. Severe pain, numbness, tingling, and weakness in his ankles and feet made walking difficult and golf impossible. When he lost the ability to sense pressure on the soles of his feet, his balance suffered and he was forced to use a cane.

William and his wife traveled to southern California to visit family for the holidays. His niece Juliet, who works at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, was at one of the family get-togethers. When Juliet realized the extent of her uncle’s suffering, she urged him to schedule an appointment at the clinic. William took her advice.

The first treatment we offered him was infrared light therapy (brand names Anodyne and HealthLight). Infrared light therapy delivers pulses of special wavelengths of light through the skin directly to injured tissues. Though the light itself is invisible, its effects are readily apparent: enhanced blood flow, improved sensation, and regeneration of tissues. It also relieves pain.

Treatment is simple. Flexible pads containing small lights are affixed over the feet, ankles, or other affected areas. The energy that pulses from the lights penetrates beneath the skin and is absorbed by deep tissues. After just 30 minutes of treatment, blood flow is enhanced by 400 percent, and this boost in local circulation persists for several hours after the pads are removed.

Within two weeks of his first treatment, William noticed less pain in his feet and ankles. A week later, he was able to get around the house and go up and down the stairs without relying on his cane. And at the end of his five-week stay in California, he was virtually pain-free.

For more information about new diabetes treatments and how to manage diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com. 

Type 2 diabetes information and research can be found all over the place, but much less is written about type 1. That’s likely because the vast majority of people living with diabetes have type 2. Nevertheless, type 1 diabetes warrants discussion. 

Type 1 diabetes, sometimes referred to as juvenile diabetes because it usually appears before the age of 20 (though it can crop up at any age), results from the inability of the pancreas to produce adequate insulin. Insulin is the nutritional storage hormone. Produced in specialized beta cells located in areas of the pancreas called the Islets of Langerhans, insulin is the key that opens up cells to glucose and other nutrients. If there is not enough insulin in the bloodstream to “unlock” these cells so that nutrients can get in, cells literally starve to death.  

Not surprisingly, classic symptoms of type 1 diabetes include extreme hunger as the body tries to compensate for this inability to feed its cells, and rapid weight loss as the cells are unable to utilize food, regardless of how much is eaten. In addition, untreated individuals with type 1 diabetes are extremely thirsty, drink copious amounts of fluids, and urinate excessively. This is because the kidneys, in an attempt to keep things in balance, excrete as much excess glucose via the urine as they possibly can.  

People with type 1 diabetes are often diagnosed in the emergency room—dehydrated, wasting away, and sometimes in a life-threatening diabetic coma. Their blood glucose is sky high, usually between 350 and 750 milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL; normal is 80 to 110 mg/dL).  

This type of diabetes is defined as an autoimmune attack on the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Researchers aren’t sure exactly what causes the immune system to attack, but viral infections are one possible cause.   

But to reiterate, only 10 percent of all people dealing with diabetes have this form of the disease. For the other 90 percent, lifestyle factors—the foods you choose to eat, the supplements you take, your activity level, and your weight—determine whether or not you will develop diabetes and what course it will take if you already have it. 

For more information on treating diabetes, diabetes risk factors, or diabetes success stories, visit www.drwhitaker.com.

If you are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, you’ll immediately—and unavoidably—be prescribed insulin. If the diagnosis is type 2 diabetes, you’ll probably be told to make some changes in your diet and to begin exercising. But, you’ll also likely be told to take a drug if your blood glucose doesn’t normalize with lifestyle changes.  

Prescribing drugs is what physicians do. Medical school education is largely an exercise in learning which drugs to prescribe for certain conditions. Studies published in the most prestigious medical journals routinely compare the benefits of one drug versus another. Prescription medications are simply the heart and soul of modern medicine.

There are five major classes of drugs usually prescribed to help control blood sugar.  Although these medications may be effective in lowering blood sugar, each and every one of them has its price.  

Most oral hypoglycemic agents are no more than a Band-Aid approach to diabetes—they lower blood sugar, but do nothing to address the underlying condition. The majority increases insulin production, which, is not what’s needed in the case of type 2 diabetes, where folks are not insulin deficient, but rather insulin resistant.  

Other meds affect the way carbohydrates are metabolized in the intestinal tract. And although some drugs do attempt to improve insulin sensitivity, their side effects (including liver failure and death) make them highly suspect.  

Drugs are by their very nature foreign agents. As such, they affect your body in unnatural ways. The most common side effects of diabetic drugs are weight gain, gastrointestinal upset, and sometimes serious liver problems.  

While I’m not against all prescription drugs, I know from decades of experience treating diabetes that natural remedies for diabetes also work. Better still, I have thousands of patient success stories to back up this natural approach.   

For more information on diabetes, diabetic complications, and reversing diabetes, visit www.drwhitaker.com. While there, sign up for FREE e-letters or subscribe to Dr. Whitaker’s monthly newsletter, Health & Healing. 

William’s diabetic neuropathy caused unrelenting pain and near-complete numbness of his feet that made it impossible for him to walk without a cane.  The only treatment his doctor offered was painkillers, but William couldn’t handle their side effects, so he stopped taking them. That’s when he decided to visit the Whitaker Wellness Institute.

While there, William underwent a course of infrared light therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. For William, infrared light, along with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, did the trick. After two weeks of these therapies, he could walk and even climb stairs without his cane, and by the time he returned home, he was pain-free.

This is just one of the many diabetes success stories from the Whitaker Wellness Institute. There are myriad alternative treatments for diabetes that are working wonders, many of which are discussed in this blog, as well as in Health & Healing.

R.B., a type 2 diabetic, had been on insulin for 16 years. She had retinopathy, angina, high blood pressure, a history of two heart attacks, and an open ulcer on her foot that refused to heal. But the most debilitating of her problems was neuropathy. Nerve damage left her with virtually no sensation in her feet, and she could barely get around on her own.

After hitting rock bottom, R.B. came to the Whitaker Wellness Institute and started on a comprehensive nutritional regimen, which included high doses of antioxidants, B-complex vitamins, zinc, magnesium, and targeted nutrients and herbs to help control her blood sugar. Given the severity of her condition, R.B. also underwent a course of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).

Within three days, the feeling began to return to her feet. She had more energy, less pain, and a renewed sense of hope. By the end of her second week at the clinic, she was walking normally. In fact, she and her daughter did something that would have been unthinkable just three weeks before: They spent the next couple days strolling around and sightseeing in southern California.

R.B. is just one of many diabetes success stories. And, in 99 percent of these cases, people have been willing to try natural diabetes treatments, as opposed to conventional methods of treating this disease. Targeted supplements for diabetes, coupled with lifestyle modifications, are just a few of the natural methods used in treating diabetes – and they work.

Bill, a patient of the Whitaker Wellness Institute, had diabetic neuropathy and very little sensation in his hands or below his knees. He was constantly dropping things, and his left leg dragged.

His previous doctor told him there was no hope of improvement and predicted that he’d be in a wheelchair within a year. Rather than accepting this dire prognosis, Bill acted on advice he’d read in Health & Healing, and started taking alpha lipoic acid (ALA).

Bill reported that after taking ALA for about two months, his coordination improved, the pain in his hands and feet resolved, and his gait normalized. His doctor said he’d never seen such a turnaround.

Bill eventually received other treatments at the clinic, but his story is a testament to the therapeutic power of targeted nutritional supplements.

ALA is just one of the many natural treatments for diabetes. Others include nutrients, and supplements for diabetes and simple lifestyle adjustments. Many of these approaches are detailed in this blog. You’ll also find a variety of diabetes success stories that can encourage and motivate you as continue on your quest toward reversing diabetes.

To show you how making a commitment to lifestyle changes is one of the best preventive methods for reversing diabetes, I want to share one of my favorite diabetes success stories. It comes from a gentleman named J.D.

J.D. writes: “Dr. Whitaker, four and a half years ago, I was 43 and in the worst shape of my life. At 6’2”, I weighed 310 pounds, and the only exercise I got was mowing my yard. I insisted on going out for a fast food lunch every day because I just ‘had to get out of the office,’ and those meals were usually ‘supersized’ so I could get as much food as possible for my money.

“I already had hypertension and high cholesterol when a routine physical found a fasting blood sugar of 160, and I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Fortunately for me, my doctor gave me an ultimatum: I could either lose weight or I would have to go on medication for the rest of my life. My wife was determined that I would not take any drugs. We checked out your book, Reversing Diabetes, and began utilizing many of the techniques it describes. I started exercising and our whole family changed lifestyles.

“Today, four years later, I have lost over 100 pounds and it has stayed off. I have never taken medication for diabetes, and my cholesterol and blood pressure health are also under control.
I feel better than I have in years.”

J.D. decided that reversing diabetes was within his reach and he did what was necessary to make it happen. You can do the same.

But even easier is to take steps now to prevent the disease. Preventing type 2 diabetes is a lot easier than reversing it. I encourage you to seek natural treatments for diabetes, many of which are presented here in this blog.

Diabetes is a fearsome disorder, yet one we take much too lightly. Few people dealing with diabetes risk factors or borderline elevated blood sugar levels realize the urgency of controlling diabetes in its early stages.

Most are unaware that diabetes is the leading cause of blindness, kidney failure, and amputations in this country or that people who have diabetes are more likely to have—and die of—a heart attack or stroke than those who are able to maintain blood sugar levels that are closer to normal.  Nor do they recognize that diabetes is a primary contributor to conditions such as erectile dysfunction (impotence) and dementia. As a matter of fact, most people either don’t know or tend to ignore the subtle warning signs. It’s time we all pull our heads out of the sand and look diabetes in the eye.

The ability to manage blood sugar levels is largely an issue of lifestyle. In 90 percent of all cases, diabetes is both preventable and treatable.

I’ve been practicing medicine for more than 30 years and I have tens of thousands of diabetes success stories from to people who have followed my protocol of natural diabetes treatments. Many of my patients have called me over the years to  thank me for my alternative treatments for diabetes. “My blood sugars are normal—without drugs.” “I was able to avoid amputation.” “My vision has stabilized.” “Your advice saved my life.”

In future blog postings, I will share what you need to know to take control of your own health so that you, too, can beat diabetes.

I'll admit, by now it's easy for me to say that preventing and beating diabetes is possible without drugs. I've seen it time and again. It inspires me to see it happen, but by now it doesn't surprise me.

I know that controlling diabetes naturally may not seem possible. Living with this condition -- or even just the threat of pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome -- is difficult. Your doctors may have told you it's too late, permanent, or something worse.

I'm here to tell you, they're wrong. You CAN do it. And all it takes for most people are two things: knowledge and commitment. Ok, if there's a third thing, it's inspiration.  

I can give you the knowledge. The power of knowing what's possible is what launched Health & Healing so many years ago. The commitment comes from you.

And to show you how making a commitment to lifestyle changes is one of the best ways to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes, here's a little inspiration, courtesy of a diabetes success story from Georgia newsletter subscriber J.D.:

“Four and a half years ago, I was 43 and in the worst shape of my life. At 6’2” I weighed 310 pounds, and the only exercise I got was mowing my yard. I insisted on going out for a fast food lunch every day because I just ‘had to get out of the office,’ and those meals were usually ‘supersized’ so I could get as much food as possible for my money.

“I already had hypertension and high cholesterol when a routine physical found a fasting blood sugar of 160, and I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Fortunately for me, my doctor gave me an ultimatum: I could either lose weight or I would have to go on medication for the rest of my life. My wife was determined that I would not take any drugs.

We checked out Dr. Whitaker’s book, Reversing Diabetes, and began utilizing many of his techniques. I started exercising and our whole family changed lifestyles.

“Today, four years later, I have lost over 100 pounds and it has stayed off. I have never taken medication for diabetes, and my cholesterol and blood pressure are also under control. I walk four miles, four days a week, and climb Stone Mountain two days a week. I feel better than I have in years.”

J.D. ends his letter with this. “I think the secret is that you have to decide that this is not just a ‘diet’ but rather a lifestyle change. You also need the support and encouragement of your family and friends.”

J.D. was lucky to have a doctor who told it like it was and a helpful wife. If you don’t have that support, create it. Find a new doctor, join an exercise group, keep reading this blog, enroll in a weight loss program—the possibilities are endless.

Just keep your eye on your goal and remember this: changing your diet or exercising may seem difficult, but it’s easier than dealing with the inevitable complications of diabetes down the line.

I don't need regression analysis, statistical modeling or a supercomputer to know that the incidence of diabetes and blood sugar concerns is skyrocketing across the United States.

I only need to review the number of questions I get about living with diabetes, or respond to the many emails I get each day seeking natural treatments, herbal remedies, or recipes to deal with diabetes.

Considering the complications of untreated diabetes, and the costs to the country in rising healthcare premiums if this epidemic of diabetes goes unchecked, it's good to know that many natural diabetes treatments do exist. If you're dealing with diabetes or blood sugar concerns, you should know that living with diabetes is not only possible, but so is beating it. And Dr. Whitaker's diabetes success stories prove it.

But what does an epidemic look like? That's where the stats and models come in (just flip through the next few slides and watch).

The picture isn't pretty. It's like flood waters pouring across the country, without much high ground to run to.

I'm not sure what the secret is in Colorado, which fares better than most states. I suppose the average Colorado resident is more active than the average American.

If skiing is a way to prevent diabetes naturally, sign me up!