What to do with an outlier?

typeone gritWhat do you do as a doctor when a patient is doing something different, what appears to be against your conventional teaching, yet is having fabulous results?

If you are a smart doctor, you will pay attention. A lot of attention.

Ahmed Afifi is now a friend of mine, joined by a common goal of education and support for those people with Type 1 Diabetes looking at options in management. He has Type 1 Diabetes and running Low Carb in his own management. He has great control and doing well.

He is an outlier. He is also a diabetes educator and journalist in the Middle East.

Read his encounter when visiting an Ear Nose and Throat Surgeon who is becoming diabetic himself and married to a woman with Type 1 Diabetes. The medical profession have to pay attention to the outliers, the patients that are doing so much better than everyone else.

“Today while visiting an ENT Dr. for a sinuses problem.. this conversation started between us….
Dr.: Do you have any medical problem?
Me: yes I am T1 Diabetic.
Dr. looked at me with a pity look full of empathy and said: for how long.
Me: 13 years.
Dr. A1C
Me: 5.6
Dr. : What !!!! What about the one before?
Me 5.4
Dr. and the one before?
Me: 5.5
Dr. I will refer you to an Endo cos I guess you have no Diabetes
Me: No forget it,,,, You see the insulin pump hanging in my belt proves to you that I do have it 100%
Dr. Ok but I am sure
Me: Why?
Dr. cos of 2 things I was doing my annual check-up yesterday and my A1C was 5.8 !! and my wife is t1 and her A1C is 6.9 in best control ever with best Dr. in town
Me: Then 2 things Dr. First: You gonna be diabetic soon if you will not catch yourself faster and second: I can get your wife A1C down to 5 if u listen to me blindly>>>
Dr. Became sceptic and start checking my nose and forget about what we talked thinking I am crazy – before I leave I left him a note with my Diabetes page!!
That was 2 pm – now it is 11 pm_ Phone Rang 10 mins ago
Me: Hello
Other side: Hello this Dr…… Can I drink some coffee with you in the weekend and talk about what you told me !!!!!!!
Me: Yesssssssssss.”

Ahmed’s story gave me goosebumps.

Ahmed is a member of the TYPEONEGRIT Facebook group. It started as a group of parents of Type 1 Diabetes children supporting each other in the low carbohydrate option in diabetes management.

Their results are amazing and achieving control levels that are in the best 1% of all HbA1c results of Type 1 Diabetes. They are the outliers. They are getting results that Endocrinologists cannot believe.

The smart doctors will have to start paying attention… and the sooner the better for us all.

https://www.facebook.com/amdiabetic
https://www.facebook.com/groups/660633730675058/?fref=ts

Gary Fettke No Fructose's photo.