After 7 weeks of low carb

I ended up getting some blood work done sooner than I had expected because I had to change doctors (my old family doctor is moving to So. Cal) and my new doctor (a low-carb advocate) decided he wanted to see my current A1C and lipid panel to see how the low-carb diet is working for me. I was diagnosed on 10/8/09 with an A1C of 11.1. So basically, these results are after about 7-8 weeks of making the diet changes immediately after diagnosis.

Here are my new numbers:

A1C: 7.2 (I find this to be excellent after such a short period but once my September readings are removed in another month, I expect to be below 6%)

NOTE: Just about a week earlier, I used the Bayer A1C home test and got a 7.1 so that gives me a lot of confidence that the home test is pretty darn accurate. I’ll be using it again to compare against my next set of blood work.

Triglycerides: 191! I have always been in the 300-400 range and had developed fatty liver. I am thrilled with this reading. Got to get it below 150 but I am confident I will.

HDL: 37 (Much improved though more work needed to get it over 40)

LDL: 161 (Again, much improved though more work needed to get it under 100; may consider taking a statin but my doctor may recommend supplements first)

C-Peptide: 4.1

My understanding from reading that I have done is that normal c-peptide for a non-diabetic is usually between .5 ng/ml – 3.0 ng/ml. So, mine is slightly elevated (though some non-diabetics see slightly higher as well).

So, am I correct to interpret my c-peptide to mean that I am making a bit more insulin than the non-diabetic and that could mean I still have some insulin resistance? I would imagine that had I had a c-peptide test done at diagnosis that it would have been quite a bit higher definitely confirming insulin resistance. Anyone understand this test sufficiently to evaluate my interpretation? It’s pretty clear that I am type 2 and I believe this confirms it but I wonder if a few months from now, with my continued improvement in BG control if my c-peptide could move back into the normal range.

Appreciate your thoughts. I am a victim of bad genetics and have been fighting the risk factors all of my life and it feels good to see my lipids returning closer to normal levels after 48+ years of being abnormal.

My new doctor feels that my numbers have improved significantly and that we thinks I can get all of them back to normal range with my current WOE and exercise. That sounds good to me. I would prefer not to have to take any medications if I can control this without. I have another appointment in a month and will have blood work done then as well. My hopes and expectations are that my A1C will be in the 5% range.

Dan