Type 2 Diabetes
Origins
In 1500 B.C., diabetes was first recognized by the ancient Egyptians. It was considered a rare condition that would result in excessive urination and weight loss. However, in 1776, Matthew Dobson actually measured the concentration of glucose in the urine of patients and found it to be increased. In 1812, the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery was founded, and diabetes was recognized as clinical entity (Polonsky M.D., Kenneth, "The Past 200 Years in Diabetes", 2012).
Since then, there is over 38 million children and adults suffering from diabetes in the United States, and the national cost of diabetes was more than $412.9 billion in 2022. While type 2 diabetes is most often found in middle-aged and older adults, it has been increasing in younger people. Two of the most important factors of developing diabetes are inherited predisposition to the disease and environmental triggers. However, both lifestyle choices and genetics play a strong role in its development (American Diabetes Association, 2024).
Mechanisms
In type 2 diabetes, the body does not properly use insulin, resulting in insulin resistance. While beta cells will initially try to create extra insulin to make up for it, this is not sustainable over time. The pancreas eventually will not be able to make enough insulin to keep blood glucose at normal levels (American Diabetes Association, 2024).
Symptoms
Prediabetes can be caught in advance by monitoring blood glucose levels before the risk of type 2 diabetes further develops. Some people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes will have mild symptoms that may go unnoticed. However, the most common symptoms include frequent urination, excessive thirst, hunger that is not satiated even while eating, extreme fatigue, and blurry vision. Other common symptoms include slow healing wounds such as cuts or bruises. Those with type 2 diabetes may also experience tingling, pain or numbness in the hands and/or feet.
Without intervention, type 2 diabetes can potentially lead to further complications such as cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, diabetes-related eye disease, neuropathy, foot complications, skin complications, oral complications, hearing loss, diabetic ketoacidosis and stroke (American Diabetes Association, 2024).
Treatment methods will typically include healthy diet, exercise, and prescribed oral and injectable medications (including insulin) to aid in meeting target blood glucose levels (American Diabetes Association, 2024). As stated in Quit Metformin to Better Manage Blood Glucose, metformin is the number one line of treatment against type 2 diabetes being written at 90 million prescriptions per year. This generates about 2 billion per year in sales for drug manufacturers. However, despite metformin's efficacy for lowering blood glucose levels, its mechanisms remain unclear & it does not combat mitochondrial injury, which is actually the underlying cause of type 2 diabetes. Cold therapy may aid in the reversal of type 2 diabetes and replacing pharmaceuticals such as Metformin as treatment.
How Cold Reverses Type 2 Diabetes provides insight into how ice baths can modify the impact of type 2 diabetes. Deliberate cold exposure has been shown to improve glucose sensitivity due to the thermogenesis mechanism for activation of brown fat. This mechanism is further explained in Quit Metformin to Better Manage Blood Glucose where Professor Thomas Seager describes the processes of mitophagy and mitobiogenesis. In mitophagy, cells identify and destroy defective mitochondria, while in mitobiogenesis, cells make new mitochondria. These processes lead to mitochondrial recovery, resulting in mitochondria coming back even stronger. Through this mechanism and improved mitochondrial benefits, it may increase energy expenditure, lower blood glucose levels, consume triglycerides, result in weight loss, stimulate the thyroid, and treat type 2 diabetes.
As mentioned in Quit Metformin to Better Manage Blood Glucose,
for Morozko customer and friend Jason Kurchner, type 2 diabetes was
an important wake up call for his health. Kurchner increased his exercise,
eliminated processed foods from his diet, reduced his consumption of high
glycemic carbohydrates, and ice bathed every day. Yet, Kurchner's blood
glucose readings failed to improve in response to metformin that had been
prescribed by his doctor. In fact, there were still no improvements even
after his dose was doubled. Ben Bikman, PhD revealed studies to Professor
Seager that showed how metformin works in opposition to exercise,
keeping someone in a state of mitochondrial injury. Through Bikman's
findings and Seager's suggestion, Kurchner quit taking metformin
immediately after, and he began to get better.
Not even six weeks later, Kurchner's blood glucose reading was at 94 mg/dL, and this was not even taken while fasting. Kurchner no longer met the criteria to be considered diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic.
In Ketosis & Ice Baths Reversed My Type 2 Diabetes..., AJ Kay shares her story, along with her cat Jack Jack. After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes with a HbA1c of 7.1, Kay had begun to take her symptoms of excessive thirst/urination and slow healing blisters seriously. Combining a low carb/keto diet, hot yoga and experimenting with ice baths eventually dropped her HbA1c from 7.1 down to 4.8. By the fall of 2018, she was cured and no longer worried about the fate of her four daughters due to her compromised health.
To learn more on the effects of cold therapy & the mechanisms of ice baths against type 2 diabetes, please click here to purchase a copy of Uncommon Cold.
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