Case Study: Cirrhosis And Type 2 Diabetes

Frank is a 43 year old man who came to see me for help with his liver. Six months earlier he had been diagnosed with stage 1 cirrhosis of the liver. Frank only drinks alcohol a few times a year at celebrations like Christmas and birthdays. To say his diagnosis was a shock is an understatement.

Frank developed cirrhosis of the liver because he had a fatty liver and was a type 2 diabetic. However, the diabetes was only diagnosed a year ago. A significant percentage of people with a fatty liver go on to develop cirrhosis of the liver. This is much more likely to occur in type 2 diabetics.

Frank wasn’t the type of person to visit doctors. He claimed he was “too busy for all that”. If he ever felt unwell he just assumed that whatever caused it would pass and he’d get better again. Unfortunately diabetes and fatty liver are both silent illnesses. They can cause significant damage to your body, leaving you completely unaware.

When I questioned Frank, it became apparent that he was suffering with subtle symptoms of type 2 diabetes and fatty liver for some time. Frank had the following symptoms:

• Fatigue, particularly after meals
• An increased need to urinate during the night
• Feeling excessively hot at times, and getting flashes of heat in his face
• Indigestion, abdominal bloating and reflux
• Occasional diarrhea after an oily restaurant meal

Frank’s doctor had put him on metformin to lower his blood sugar, and he was also taking medication to lower his blood pressure. Frank was a carbohydrate addict. He lived for pizza and pasta. He also ate a lot of junk food in the evenings while sitting on the sofa and watching television. Frank has a very stressful job and he finds it very difficult to unwind in the evenings. He knows it’s not good for his health, but eating while watching TV is the only way he knows how to relax.

My recommendations for my patient

• Magnesium is wonderful for reducing stress and tension, and improving blood sugar control. I asked Frank to take a teaspoon of Magnesium Ultra Potent powder with his evening meal each day. Many of my patients find that magnesium greatly reduces sugar cravings.
• The metformin had reduced Frank’s blood sugar significantly, but it was still too high. His first morning fasting blood sugar was usually between 7 and 8. I asked Frank to follow the lower carbohydrate eating plan in my book Diabetes Type 2: You Can Reverse It. It is very important for Frank to eat adequate protein and healthy fats, as they are very satiating and will help to tame his carbohydrate cravings. The herbs and nutrients in Glicemic Balance capsules also help to stabilise blood sugar, and therefore make sticking to a healthy diet easier.
• The indigestion Frank experienced is indicative of an imbalance between good and bad bowel flora. I asked him to take one BactoClear capsule with each meal to reduce the levels of harmful bacteria, yeast and parasites in his gut.
• It is vitally important to improve the health of Frank’s liver and arrest the progression of cirrhosis. The herbs in Livatone help to support the health of liver cells and the herb St Mary’s thistle can even help to regenerate damaged liver cells. The liver performs more jobs in your body than any other organ, therefore when it is functioning poorly this can have a profoundly detrimental effect on overall well being, energy levels and even mood.

Frank told me he’d like to come back every 2 weeks for a visit, because he’s not confident he can stick to a healthy diet if left to his own devices. I’ve seen Frank for a total of 3 visits so far and he is making good progress. He has lost 13 pounds already and said that by having a more substantial breakfast and lunch, he doesn’t seem to battle with sugar cravings in the evenings as much. There have been a few occasions where he ate an entire tub of ice-cream after a particularly stressful day at work, but on the whole he is making good steady progress.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.

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