Ellis a very good answer. I believe you are on the right track.

What does this Hemoglobin A1C mean, what is the concern.


Another layman. Jorge E. Bredee



Ellis: {Hello Jorge... HbA1c is a blood test... they LOOK to
see what percentage of your HEMOGLOBIN (Hb) is of the type
A1c, which means IT HAS A MOLECULE OF GLUCOSE STICKING TO IT.

When glucose sticks to hemoglobin, it damages it, and it is
no longer capable of carrying oxygen... It then continues
circulating for about an average of 4 months... then it is
recycled OUT of our body by the kidneys.

We have to have SOME hemoglobin with glucose stuck to it, because
we MUST HAVE SOME BLOOD GLUCOSE because glucose is the ENERGY
that our body uses... it is "the Fire Within Us" as I have called
it in my page "Diabetes Made Simple"...

But... THE HIGHER THE BLOOD GLUCOSE, the more hemoglobin is
damaged with glucose...

And since it takes about 4 months before a red blood cell is
cycled out of our body, it ADDS up...

We have found that there is a very good correspondence between
the number of red blood cells with glucose stuck to the hemoglobin,
and the level of blood glucose...

So... about 4.5% red blood cells with glucose is about the
lowest I have heard of, in a healthy person and this corresponds
to somebody who has very good blood glucose, about 83 mg/dl...
(Dr. Bernstein, of course...) 5.0% corresponds to about 100
mg/dl 5.5% corresponds to about 120 6% corresponds to
about 135 mg/dl and each full percentage point UP or DOWN
corresponds to about 35 mg/dl, UP or DOWN... See my chart
on this page:

http://www.rajeun.net/HbA1c_glucose.html

This page also explains how the chart was made, the formula
used to make it. The colors are MY OPINION of how to interpret
the various levels.

As I wrote in a previous post, in MY OPINION, the chart seems
to be OFF about +10 points from what MY EXPERIENCE on my home
glucose meter says I should have... that is: an HbA1c of 6.2 I
think is 135 on my home meter, and not 145... and 5.0 is about
90, not 100...

But that is what the FORMULA used to make this graph gives.

Thanks for writing.

Ellis}


----- Original Message -----
From: bikeice@...
To: Rejuvenation@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 11:55 PM
Subject: [Rejuvenation] * * * Should you use insulin prophylactically, or not
?


Hi Ellis:

I think the "should you use insulin prophylactically or not"
arguement might be answered more easily if we knew what your
Hemoglobin A1C and fasting insulin values have been over the
last several years of insulin injections you have done.

If you have low or lower HB A1C and fasting insulin levels as
well as lower fasting blood sugars... I think more people
including physicians would be convinced this treatment is a
worthy anti-aging strategy that is causing you no harm.

Randy Ice P.T., C.C.S.
Vintage Medical Group
Temecula, Calif.

Ellis: [Hello Randy...

It really is not necessary to know my HbA1c and fasting
glucose levels to decide if using insulin has been good for
me or not. IT HAS NOT BEEN BAD FOR ME, so it has to have
been GOOD for me. There is no other possibility.

I have used insulin 5 or 6 or more times per day, every single
day, for about 7 years... that is 6 x 365 = 2000 per year x 7
years... that is 14,000 times that I have used insulin. And
EACH TIME it has lowered my blood glucose...

So you have to decide if lower blood glucose is a good thing,
or if it is not important, or if it is a bad thing... There are
no other possibilities.

And... FOR CERTAIN, it is GOOD for blood glucose to be between 70
and 100, than for blood glucose to be between 100 and 130... or
worse.

WE KNOW this, because WE KNOW that SUGAR IN THE BLOOD STICKS
to HEMOGLOBIN and damages it. But if we KNOW this, then we
CAN GUESS that it also is sticking to THE KIDNEYS, and to
THE NERVES IN THE EYES.

So that is all we need to know.

Using insulin has NEVER caused me hypoglycemian, brain damage,
shut down my pancreas, caused insulin resistance, or any of the
other supposed dangers that doctors are so afraid of... so maybe
those fears and dangers are not real.

And EACH dose of insulin has WITHOUT DOUBT resulted in a lower
blood glucose level for a few hours. Since my dose has usually
been 3 iu or 2 iu, my blood glucose I estimate (based on many many
tests) that it has lowered my blood glucose 30 or 20 points lower
than it would have been.

That is the only thing you NEED TO KNOW, to decide if it has been
GOOD for me to use insulin, or BAD for me to use insulin.

So you don't need to know if my HbA1c has gone down, but I will
tell you anyways:

The first HbA1c's that I got when I began to use insulin were
about 6.2... Now they are about 5.2 ONE POINT less is about
30 mg/dl less on the average, 24 hours per day, for perhaps 6
or 7 years.

(note: 6.2 corresponds to about 140 mg./dl and 5.1 corresponds
to about 105 on the table... My guess is that THE TABLE is off
about +10 points, because my usual glucose according to my home
glucose meter is less than 100.... in any case, it is about
30 points less NOW than before...)

My fasting glucose levels according to my Roche Accucheck meter
used to be between 105 to 115...

Now it is between 85 and 95.

If we go by my table http://www.rajeun.net/HbA1c_glucose.html
6.2 means I had an AVERAGE blood glucose of ABOUT 140!!! I
remember testing my blood glucose levels and getting 160's and
170's and thinking that it was "good"... "because orange juice
is GOOD..."

My HbA1c now is about 5.1, which is not as good as Dr. Bernstein's
4.5 I accept that I am not trying to be as strict as he is, and I
get higher blood glucose because I eat much more quantity than he
does... I also eat fruit which he does not, and I also eat beans
and chocolate ice cream, and I eat much less "perfect" than Dr.
Bernstein.

I am not trying to beat Dr. Bernstein's HbA1c. I am only trying
to beat MY OWN HbA1c... and I have done it, using insulin, and
also by NOT EATING AS MUCH of all the bad foods that USED TO EAT.

It is also true that many diabetics DO GET hypoglycemia and maybe
they get brain damage or they die because they use insulin.

THAT is because THEY USED INSULIN INCORRECTLY.

I have SEEN a diabetic inject 50 iu of insulin to bring down
blood glucose from above 400 mg/dl...

That is ABSOLUTELY CRAZY.

And for me, it is the DOCTOR'S FAULT that the diabetic doesn't know
how to use insulin correctly. And the doctor doesn't know how to
use insulin correctly because THE DOCTOR DOESN'T USE INSULIN
HIMSELF, because if he did use it, he would soon learn how to use
it correctly.

If I was a doctor, I would never allow a patient to inject so much
insulin. To begin with, he should never have blood glucose above
400 mg/dl... but even if he does, he should never inject a "lethal
dose," and 50 iu of fast acting insulin is a "lethal dose" for me...

My fasting glucose levels now are about 85 to 100 (on my home
glucose meter)

One full HbA1c point less.

In any case, my HbA1c has come down considerably, and in my
opinion, taking insulin correctly is not a dangerous anti aging
therapy... and it is very inexpensive, and it does not hurt, and
it is probably going to extend my health because it prevents SUGAR
from damaging my NEURONS.

The single most important damage that we have to prevent is damage
to the NERVOUS SYSTEM... the nervous system is damaged for at least
TWO very important reasons:

1. High blood sugar, and

2. Low blood oxygen (red blood cells)

Therefore, I think that using LANTUS, which is extremely easy
to learn to use because you cannot get hypoglycemia if you have
eaten in the past 12 hours, is one of the best anti-aging
therapies of all.

And of course, raising my red blood cells has not been bad
for me, either, and I don't think it will ever be bad for me
to not lose neurons. - Ellis]

__________________________________________________________

1a. Re: * * * Evidence that type 2 diabetes NOT best treated
w/insulin
Posted by: "C.Marley" kailasha@... kai_la_sha
Date: Mon Dec 3, 2007 5:01 pm ((PST))

C.Marley wrote:

>Ellis: {Hello Dr. Marley. I never said that anybody should
>FLOOD their body with insulin. I, and everybody, should use
>THE RIGHT DOSE of insulin, AT THE RIGHT TIME, in order to
>keep blood glucose near 85 or to bring it down as fast
>as possible if it is higher than 100, so that it doesn't
>cause sugar-damage...

Dr. Marley: You are missing the point. People with insulin
resistant diabetes are ALREADY flooding their bodies with insulin.
Adding more insulin only adds insult to injury.

Ellis: {I am not missing the point. "According to Ellis" people
who are insulin resistant also respond to injected insulin...
I have seen it, with persons who are very insulin resistant,
and inject a small dose of Humalog... maybe they don't respond
as much as people who are not insulin resistant... but they
respond...

The insulin floating about in their body is perhaps damaged
or dirty... or who knows what is wrong with it... but it
doesn't work to lower their blood glucose...

But when these persons inject insulin, it DOES bring their
blood glucose down. I have seen it. I don't believe the
doctors or the books: I believe the glucose meter. Their
blood glucose goes down, in spite of what doctors or books
might say. Try it and see.

And the important point is that they have to lower their
blood glucose and not allow it to get high at all, or else
their pancreas stays on the OPEN FAUCET position because
blood glucose is high... so the pancreas tries to bring
down blood glucose and eventually burns out more and more
beta cells...

Besides, they should use metformin which lowers insulin
resistance, AND ALSO use injected insulin to lower
blood glucose.

- Ellis}

Dr. Marley: So called "sugar damage" is not the problem it
was once thought to be.

Ellis: {So then please tell us what is the real problem...

HbA1c is a measure of how much glucose is sticking to the
hemoglobin in red blood cells. It gives us an idea of
what the average blood glucose was in the previous 2 or
3 months...

But it also gives us an idea of how much blood glucose is
sticking to OTHER tissues of the body, ie, the higher the
HbA1c, the more glucose is probably sticking to NERVES and
KIDNEYS, and EYES, and CIRCULATORY SYSTEM.

We KNOW that persons with high blood glucose have more
damage to the NERVOUS SYSTEM and the KIDNEYS and EYES...
and they have more HEART ATTACKS and STROKE, and they
also have less chance of survival if they have CANCER...

SO if "sugar damage" is NOT the problem it was once thought
to be, then I would like to know why persons with HIGH
HB-A1c have more neuropathy, and more kidney problems,
and more eye problems, and more heart attacks and strokes,
than persons with HB-A1c much lower.

Perhaps it is just COINCIDENCE that high blood glucose
is associated with more neuropathy, more Alzheimer's,
more heart attack, more cancer, more kidney disease, etc.?

The F.D.A. is studying restricting the use of... SALT...

That's right. It has not occurred to the FDA to restrict
the use of SUGAR in food made and sold to the public.

They also think that SUGAR DAMAGE is not the problem it
was once thought to be. - Ellis}

Insulin itself seems to be the problem in hyperinsulinemic
Type 2 diabetes.

Despite the evident faith you have in him, Dr. Bernstein is
not the last word in Diabetes research!

Ellis: {No, he is not the LAST WORD in diabetes research...

He is THE FIRST WORD in diabetes research...

He was the FIRST to say that a HIGH CARBOHYDRATE DIET is
NOT the CORRECT DIET for diabetics...

He was the FIRST to say that diabetics can control blood
glucose.

He was the FIRST to say that diabetics should keep their
blood glucose at the same levels as NON-DIABETICS... that
means about 83 mg/dl all day, before and during and after
eating...

He is also probably the FIRST diabetic type I to live 60
years with diabetes type I, which is no small feat considering
that the first 35 years of his diabetes he had to SUFFER
THROUGH the BAD ADVICE of the doctors of the American
Diabetes Association...

The next 35 years he had to FIGHT THE BAD ADVICE of the
American Diabetes Association (A.D.A.) at every turn he made...

The A.D.A. OPPOSED that diabetics should BE ALLOWED TO OWN
BLOOD GLUCOSE METERS...

The A.D.A. continues to say that even if diabetics type II
are allowed to BUY a blood glucose meter, they don't really
need to USE THEM, since they can get by without any problem
if they measure their blood glucose ONCE every month (before
they visit their doctor, of course) and that ONCE is BEFORE
EATING BREAKFAST, which is not very clever...

And the A.D.A. says it is not necessary for diabetics II
to measure glucose before and after every meal. A

And the A.D.A. says that an HbA1c of 7.0 (blood glucose about 170
mg/dl) is acceptable. Etc, etc. etc.

So... First word in diabetes research is good enough for me.
- Ellis]

And it is definitely NOT a good idea for people with normal
glucose metabolism to be injecting themselves with insulin!

C. Marley, M.D.

{Why not? What is wrong with keeping our blood glucose
controlled BEFORE we become diabetics?

I am not a diabetic and I have normal glucose metabolism
so you are directing your criticism to me... So I would
like to know WHY SHOULD I NOT BE INJECTING MYSELF with
insulin... ?

If you tell me that I might get a terrible hypoglycemia...
I answer that I have never gotten hypoglycemia in 7 years,
after 14,000 doses of insulin.

If you tell me that I might get brain damage...
I answer that I don't think I have gotten brain damage
yet.

If you tell me that my pancreas will stop producing insulin...
I answer that my pancreas is producing insulin better than
ever... I know this because if I don't inject insulin and I
do drink a large glass of orange juice, my blood glucose goes
UP 10 160 in 35 minutes, and then it goes down to below 120
(and later, down below 100) in 70 minutes.

If you tell me that I will become insulin resistant....
I answer that my blood insulin measured before breakfast
after one day of not injecting insulin is off the charts,
below 3, which is "like an athlete" and I am not an athlete.
3 means I am not insulin resistant, and less than three also
means I am not insulin resistant... and 25 is the end of the
chart that means somebody is insulin resistant, so I am at
the extreme opposite end of the chart. So after 14,000
shots of insulin, I am not insulin resistant.

If you tell me that I will get diabetes...
I answer that that is precisely why I take insulin, so that
I will get diabetes many years later than I should have
become diabetic, which will be about age 60 to 65, which is
right about NOW... I definitely am NOT a diabetic yet, after
14,000 shots of insulin.

If you tell me that I will cause insulin resistance...
I answer that I have taken 14,000 doses of insulin in the
last 7 years, and I have not become insulin resistant.

So... please give me some other reasons why I should not use
insulin, since I am not a diabetic.

Diabetics should use INSULIN, "according to Ellis". If they
use METFORMIN and NOT insulin, then they might get lower blood
glucose in the morning... but THIS IS NOT THE MEASURE THAT THEY
ARE BEATING THEIR DIABETES... they also have to have blood
glucose controlled AFTER breakfast, lunch, and dinner...

And in any case, EVEN IF their blood glucose is controlled,
their diabetes is advancing. They are avoiding the SIDE
EFFECTS caused by diabetes, and this is a good thing, but
IT COULD BE BETTER... and it is still very serious...

Their diabetes is ADVANCING because their pancreas is still
producing insulin which is wearing it out... so maybe 5 or
10 or 20 or 30 years later but surely they will be diabetics
type 1... and then they are in much greater trouble than if
they could have kept their diabetes as diabetes type 2...

They could have avoided this if they had used INSULIN and
taken the burden of producing insulin off of their pancreas...

I am not a doctor, so don't listen to me. But Dr. Bernstein
is a doctor, and he says the same thing.

Thanks for writing.

- Ellis}