Appreciate everyone. I'm not combining anything—Reta is the only thing I'm running. For anyone curious, here's a deeper look at what I went through personally.
Athletic guy in middle age. Fitness has always been part of my life in some form. For the last 1-2 years I've been lifting and doing cardio 5-6,days weekly. Come Sept- 5'11. 205. Clearly not obese…There's some muscle there, but also a bit of soft dad bod. A sluggish metabolism has plagued me, and I've spent years battling climbing Hba1c. On top of that, hypertension and BP have been issues for years. Every diet you've never heard of—I tried them. Supplements, snake oil, all of it. Zero results. Probably DNA, it runs in the family.
For a few years the doc had me maxed out on Metformin plus BP meds. Instead of improving, things crept worse. By Sept I was 1 tick away from an official Type 2 diagnosis. BP sat around 142/98. I'd read Zep worked well for diabetes, so I asked my MD about trying it. Nope, he said. Only once I'm officially diabetic. Or after I gain enough weight to be obese. I pushed back..if this stuff works, where's the preventive medicine in that??
Sorry, the MD told me, insurance and the practice won't allow me to prescribe it. In Oct I got determined, started researching, and found out about Reta, gray market, and so on. Eventually I landed on this helpful forum.
Reta began for me at the start of Nov. 1mg 1x/week. Broadly I stuck to the clinical recommendations. Microdosing wasn't part of it. Every few weeks I titrated up. Jan had me at 4mg, then 5mg/1x week by Feb. Each bump brought minor GI trouble for a couple of days, then it cleared.
Blood labs and BP checks happened every few weeks. By early Dec my Hba1c had gone from mid 60s down to 57. BP came out of pre hypertension. Meds continued regardless.
Short version. Jan is when I quit the meds.
Last week's numbers: Hba1c 52, BP holding steady around 115/67. My metabolism is on fire. I love it. The wife was shocked at results. My physical well being is changed by this stuff.
Ohh, and a surprise side effect that wasn't my goal… 28 lbs gone, 3 inches off my waist, a six pack appeared
and at last I could see muscle that had been hidden under that extra dad bod for a decade. Wife loves that too lol.
Curious whether the MD says anything about the current numbers at my bi-annual in six weeks. Those knuckleheads will probably assume their scripts are finally working.
May you all be blessed equally with great results.
