INTEGRATED HEALTHCARE SOLUTIONS – FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE
Omaha Diabetes Doctor
Welcome To Omaha Integrated Health
Omaha Integrated Health Clinic and diabetes clinic provides a wide range of functional medicine services designed to improve your quality of life. Our integrated health clinic utilizes the latest research and laboratory techniques to deliver positive outcomes. Including our diabetes endocrinologist type 2 diabetes treatments, treatment for neuropathy in legs and feet, and innovative techniques to reverse diabetes naturally.
Here is a look at our range of specialized services.
Knee pain is increasingly becoming a more common problem in society. It is a complaint we see frequently. The most common issue associated with knee pain is considered the normal “wear and tear.” Another ailment that affects the knee is osteoarthritis. The symptoms and progression of osteoarthritis knee treatment and knee pain can be reduced through our Omaha orthopedic knee care clinic individualized approach.
Diabetes Doctor In Omaha NE
If you are like most of my diabetic patients, at some point, you visited a family physician or an endocrinologist, they ran some blood labs, and discovered that you had Type 2 Diabetes.
Initially, you were probably scared, but the doctor comforted you and somewhat lulled you into thinking that everything would be OK. Sure, you have a disease, but the doctor explained that it is “controllable,”…that it’s “manageable,” and that the pharmaceutical companies have plenty of drugs for Type 2 Diabetes- lots and lots of drugs! And boy, were they right about those drugs!
There are, literally, hundreds and hundreds of medications designed just for Type 2 diabetes! “If you just take these pills, diet, lose weight, and exercise,” they explained, “we can manage/control this disease, and you can live a relatively normal life!” Then, they gave you a little pamphlet, patted you on the back, and you walked out of the office with a hundred questions racing through your mind.
You likely left the office feeling a bit uneasy about the disease but confident that everything was going to be OK not realizing that day was likely just the beginning of a terrible, destructive life-long crisis brewing inside your body. You probably also didn’t realize it at the time, but not one of those pills that your doctor prescribed was designed to treat diabetes- instead, they treat the symptoms of the disease, and only the symptoms.
Why does that matter? Don’t we want to treat the symptoms? Of course, we do, but it’s certainly not all we want to treat! Unlike a cold where symptom relief will get you by for a couple of weeks while your body heals, this disease does not tend to heal. It is chronic, degenerative, and progressive, meaning that if all you do is take drugs, you will likely always have it, and it will gradually get worse as time goes by- regardless of whether you take the pills as instructed or not.
What is Type 2 Diabetes?
Type 2 Diabetes is a chronic, degenerative disease that occurs when the body does not correctly regulate or use sugar (glucose) for energy. When too much sugar builds up in your bloodstream, disorders of the circulatory, nervous, and immune systems can occur.
There are two central problems that cause sugar to build up in the blood: 1) The cells in the body become more and more resistant to insulin (the hormone responsible for moving sugar into the cells). This, by far, is the greatest problem of the two. 2) As the disease progresses, the pancreas may also struggle to produce the proper amount of insulin to maintain health. In either case, sugars cannot enter the cells, resulting in high blood sugar levels. High sugar levels in the blood wreak havoc in the body, damaging vital organs, ultimately resulting in organ failure.
Diabetes is becoming one of the most common diseases globally affecting over 400 million people. It is estimated that one in four of us will develop the condition at some point in our lifetime. Despite this staggering and depressing statistic, many go without a diagnosis or end up misdiagnosed.
When they do get a proper diagnosis, they find out very quickly that managing their diabetes is a failing, often miserable, impossible endeavor. This can lead to devastating health effects such as blindness, nerve damage (neuropathy), kidney failure, heart failure, limb amputation, and, ultimately, death.
Symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes?
The most common symptoms of Type 2 Diabetes include, but are not limited to:
• Fatigue
• Blurred vision
• Increased thirst
• Frequent urination
• Slow-healing sores
• Frequent infections
• Weight gain- easy to gain, difficult to lose
• Numbness and/or tingling in the hands or feet
• Darkened areas of skin, especially in neck/armpits
Type 2 Diabetes Treatment
Consider this: We now have more research for Type 2 Diabetes than we’ve ever had at any time in history! We also have more doctors, better treatment facilities, more knowledge, more data, more books, more computers, more specialists, and more medications than we’ve ever had in the history of the world. Do you know what else we have more of than any time in history? Diabetics! So…why is diabetes getting worse?
Something is obviously, desperately wrong with what we are doing and how we treat diabetes! We have to stop just focusing on the symptoms (the results of the disease) and start focusing on the causes.
Your Omaha Endocrinologist
When your diabetes doctor or endocrinologist explains how they want to treat, manage, or control your diabetes, you should ask yourself, “what does that even mean” and “how are they going to accomplish such a feat.” You could go to every doctor or endocrinologist in Omaha (or any other city, for that matter), and what you will find is that they almost always have the exact same recommendations: Diet, Lose weight, exercise, and take these pills!
So…is that it? Is that the answer? Most patients eventually discover that even when they follow their doctor’s recommendations to a “T,” their diabetes and their health will still decline!
As I explained earlier, Type 2 diabetes is a chronic, progressive disease that damages and destroys the body from the inside, causing multiple organ failures and tissue damage throughout the body. Since medications can only treat the symptoms of the disease but do absolutely nothing for the underlying causes of the disease, this allows the condition to progressively worsen as the years go by. So, patients find that, over time, they will typically not only take more medications, they will also take much more potent medications until eventually, they are prescribed insulin.
Once the patient begins taking insulin, they have reached the final stages. There is usually nothing else that the doctor can do. At this point, the doctor has pretty-much emptied the toolbox, and their solutions have come to an end. They will keep increasing the insulin or play shuffle games with the patient’s medications, constantly experimenting with different drugs and different doses, until they are confident that all of their meaningful options have been exhausted.
You may not be a doctor, but does this sound like the path to health?
Is “Diet, lose weight, exercise, and take your meds” really the answer? Let’s take a moment to dissect each one of these recommendations.
Traditional Diabetes Treatment Options
Diet
Just telling a patient to diet, lose weight, exercise, and take medication creates more questions than answers. For example, which diet? The South Beach Diet? The American Diabetes Association Diet? The Keto Diet? Some other diet? Which one? What is the patient supposed to do if the diet doesn’t help? What do they do if the diet helps, but they still have to take drugs? What if they follow the diet and their sugars still go up? Most of my patients tell me that they followed their doctor’s dietary recommendations the best that they could, and their sugars still went up! So, what are the patients supposed to do?
Lose Weight
Weight is, by far, the most discussed topic by both doctor and patient in the diabetic world. The problem is that weight, by itself, is not the cause of diabetes- type 1 or type 2. If weight is the cause of Diabetes, why are about 45% of all Type 2 Diabetics considered average weight or skinny? Why do thin people even have Type 2 Diabetes if weight is the issue? Certainly, they don’t have to lose weight. If weight is the cause, why are there people that weigh much more than you but don’t suffer from diabetes? If weight is the cause, what are you supposed to do when you lose weight but still have diabetes? And, while we’re at it, how much weight are you supposed to lose? What’s the magic number?
Not too long ago, I had a patient that came into my office, and the first words out of his mouth were, “I don’t know what you’re going to do with me, but whatever it is, I don’t want to lose weight!” Why would he say that? Well, to start with, it was because he already looked like he was borderline anorexic. The last thing that he needed to do was lose weight. He was a very skinny guy, but he was still a full-blown Type 2 Diabetic. Weight was obviously not the problem- certainly not for him, and he is not alone. Forty-five percent of 400 million is 180 million average or skinny Type 2 Diabetics.
Over the years, I have helped hundreds and hundreds of patients reverse their diabetes. In all those years, never once did I have a conversation with a single one of those patients where I said to them, “You need to work on losing weight.” And, yet, we were successful at reversing their diabetes. Why? Because weight was not the issue. There’s no doubt that weight can aggravate diabetes, but it is certainly not the cause of the disease.
Exercise
Exercise is another frustration for the patient. When the doctor tells the patient that exercise is important, often this instruction comes without further explanation, again, leaving the patient with a lot of questions. How much exercise are they supposed to do? When should they exercise? How long are they supposed to exercise? What type of exercises are effective? What if they exercise and their blood sugar numbers still get worse?
I had a patient who exercised 2 hours a day every day, but her numbers gradually increased as the years went by. She had no clue what to do. Finally, she felt that she was at her wit’s end. In her eyes, she had gone out of her way to recover and had tried everything that they told her to do but was still failing- big time. Eventually, she came to a point where she felt depressed and hopeless because her blood sugar numbers were “all over the place” and getting worse.
Diabetes Medications
Well, what about all those drugs they claim to have for Type 2 Diabetes? If those drugs worked the way they seem to imply that they will, why does the doctor keep adding more? Why does the dosage keep increasing? Why do most patients end up not only taking diabetic drugs, but adding other non-diabetic medications like blood pressure, cholesterol, acid reflux, pain relievers, antidepressants, or some other drug for some new problem they now suffer from due to either the diabetes itself or from the other drugs that were supposed to be helping them with the diabetes? And, on top of all of that…if the drugs were working, why does their diabetes keep getting worse?
I once had a lady that was prescribed and taking 30 drugs! 30 DRUGS! How can that be healthy for ANYBODY? These pat answers coming from the medical profession are not solving this crisis and the results are profound. No wonder it’s now the 3rd leading cause of death.
So…let’s sum these medical recommendations up. Can changing your diet help? That depends. Can losing weight help? That depends. Can exercise help? That depends. Can taking drugs help? You guessed it…that depends as well. Why? Because everybody’s circumstances are different. The causes of each person’s diabetes are different. The underlying factors that cause diabetes aggravate and contribute to making diabetes worse (those things that the healthcare profession seem to ignore) are different with each patient, and they are not being addressed properly, if at all.
OK, so what can we do?
Well, suppose you want to treat just the symptoms. In that case, you can pretty much stay on the road that the medical profession typically recommends (see above). However, if you want to treat the causes, if you’re going to work on your health, not just mask the problem, I would suggest scheduling an appointment with a functional medicine Omaha diabetes doctor specializing in reversing Type 2 Diabetes. At Omaha Integrated Health, we offer a FREE one-on-one consultation with Dr. Driscoll, to see if you are a candidate for care. Once a patient is under our care, we address both the symptoms and the causes of the disease. Keep in mind that, when you treat and eliminate the underlying causes, the symptoms tend to go away on their own.
Reverse Diabetes
If you are a boxer that suffers from devastating, unbearable migraines every time you leave the ring, the solution is not to cover up or to mask the pain, but to eliminate the reason for your headaches. Stop boxing! If you are a Type 2 Diabetic, and your health is continually getting worse, the solution is not to just treat rising blood sugars but to find out why they are rising…why you are getting sicker…why your health is failing. When we do that, the sugars will come down naturally. But we’ve got to find out what is “broke”!
First, let’s define what it means to reverse diabetes. What we mean by “reverse diabetes” is that we find and address the root causes of the disease, which, in turn, results in lower blood sugars.
So, here’s how this works:
As the patient starts getting healthy again and the blood sugars decline, the need for the drugs gradually decreases as well. As the need for the drugs decreases, their regular doctor, whoever it is that typically prescribes their drugs, can then lower the drugs as necessary, when the time comes, and may even be able to eliminate the drug(s) entirely.
For example, we had a patient whose A1C was a whopping 14.9 when he presented to our clinic. He was taking Metformin as well as insulin and still could not get his numbers under control. We began treatment, and, gradually, his blood sugars came down and his doctor lowered his dosage accordingly. After a little under 6 months of care at our clinic, his A1C dropped to a normal, healthy 5.5 and he was able to get off all of his drugs. That was several years ago, and, as of this writing, he is still not taking any medication.
That is not an unusual scenario at our clinic. We see this happen often. How do we accomplish this on such a consistent basis? Well, we make every effort to work as a team with both the patient and their regular doctor to help that patient get as healthy as their body will let them. Obviously, like all medical professions, we have our limitations. Sometimes, there is an extensive amount of damage- often permanent- that we will have to accept and work around, such as the removal of a kidney, an amputation, a previous heart attack, cancer, or some other damage caused by the diabetes or other condition, that may slow or hinder care. But that does not mean that the patient cannot reverse their diabetes and get healthy again.
As you can see, our clinic takes an entirely different approach to care.
Please read the following, and think carefully…
Why Do I Have Diabetes Type 2?
Haven’t you ever wondered why you have diabetes, but your brother, sister, parent, friend, church member, etc., does not? Why are you stuck with this disease, and others go about life never giving two cents about their blood sugars? Most people aren’t even aware of their blood sugars. You are, because there’s something desperately wrong. So, what did go wrong with your system? What changed? What broke? Why can they eat a Big Mac, a large fry, and slam it down with a virtual 2-liter of soda, and nothing happens, but you eat a couple of fries off their plate, and your blood sugars skyrocket over 200? Something is wrong with your system! Something changed! It wasn’t like this when you were young, so what happened? That’s what we want to find out. That’s what we need to find out!
I have no interest in “treating, managing or controlling” diabetes as a functional medicine doctor. Instead, our office has one goal in mind for diabetes: to reverse it- to lower the A1C naturally so that the patient no longer needs medication. Period.
Functional Medicine Doctor in Omaha
Diabetes Specialist Chris Driscoll
Dr. Chris Driscoll at Omaha Integrated Health is a top-rated functional medicine Omaha diabetes doctor. Dr. Driscoll works with diabetic patients to help them lower their blood sugars. He does this by treating the underlying causes of the disease, allowing his patients to reverse diabetes Type 2 and prevent the associated health issues that often accompany diabetes.
Our Omaha Diabetes Clinic
- First Visit is FREE!
Dr. Driscoll offers a FREE initial one-on-one consultation to determine if you are a good candidate for care.
If it is determined that you are a good candidate, we will schedule a follow-up comprehensive evaluation and lab work to determine what is wrong with your body and why you are no longer healthy. We will then work out a personalized health care plan specific to your body’s needs. We offer natural therapies as well as other options and resources to determine the right custom solution to help you lower your blood sugars and get your body healthy again without dangerous, side-effect-laden drugs.
There is no time to waste when it comes to Type 2 Diabetics. Call us today to schedule your FREE one-on-one consultation with Dr. Chris Driscoll at Omaha Integrated Health.
Best Omaha Diabetes Doctor
Call and Schedule Your Appointment Today
Our team of experienced health care providers includes Dr. Chris Driscoll, DC, and his staff of medical care providers. They dedicate their time to helping those under their care live better healthier lives. Call us today at 402-932-5929 to schedule your FREE consultation. You have nothing to lose!
FAQ
Type 2 Diabetes is a chronic, degenerative disease in which the body does not properly regulate or use sugar (glucose) for energy. When too much sugar builds up in your bloodstream, disorders of the circulatory, nervous, and immune systems may occur.
There are 2 main problems that cause sugar to build up in the blood: 1) The cells in the body become more and more resistant to insulin, the hormone responsible for moving sugar into the cells, and 2) As the disease progresses, the pancreas may also struggle to produce the proper amount of insulin to maintain health. In either case, sugars cannot enter into the cells, which results in high blood sugar levels. High levels of sugar in the blood wreak havoc in the body damaging vital organs, which, ultimately, can result in organ failure.
Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune condition where your body cannot produce insulin and is more likely to develop in younger ages. In Type 2 Diabetes, your body can produce insulin, but the cells become resistant to the insulin and/or the pancreas does not produce enough insulin to sustain proper health. Type 2 used to be called adult-onset diabetes, but due to poor dietary factors, obesity, declining health, and other reasons, it has become more prevalent in younger ages. Because of this, the term “adult-onset” has been abandoned.
An A1C test is a blood test that measures the amount of sugar in the blood and is used to diagnose both Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, but it can also be used to help predict the risk of diabetic neuropathy. It also supports better health management, by recommending an A1C level of less than 7%. Increased blood sugar levels can lead to the development of neuropathy and other issues such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, and kidney failure.
The most common symptoms of Type 2 diabetes are chronic thirst, frequent urination, weight gain, very dry skin, and fatigue. In later stages, patients may experience more serious complications such as blindness, amputations, kidney failure, heart disease, stroke, and other systemic failures.
For Type 1 diabetes, the treatment is limited primarily to dietary changes, exercise, and insulin. For Type 2, the best treatment is to find the underlying causes of the disease and work on getting the body healthy again. As the body gets healthy again, the diabetes can be reversed.
Diabetes can cause a number of health complications such as frequent infections, slow-healing sores, thyroid problems, liver problems, kidney damage and failure, heart disease, hearing loss, vision loss and blindness, nerve damage (neuropathy)- especially in the limbs, dementia, depression, and even death.
Neuropathy is a condition that occurs when too much sugar in the blood damages the walls of the blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrition to your nerves, particularly and especially in the hands and feet. The resulting damage can cause numbness and tingling or, sometimes, a burning sensation that often starts in the toes or fingers and gradually works its way up the foot and legs or into the hands and arms. It can even progress to the point where all sensation is lost.
Left untreated, it can cause a total loss of feeling in the affected limbs. If there is damage to digestive nerves, it can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, gas, bloating, and pain. Damage to the groin area can lead to erectile dysfunction. In fact, it is not uncommon for men to find out that they have diabetes after visiting a clinic for sexual dysfunction.
Other factors that may contribute to neuropathy besides high blood sugars include obesity, high blood pressure, certain medications, smoking, and other conditions or diseases that contribute to nerve and vascular damage.
Symptoms most commonly associated with Diabetic neuropathy include pain and/or swelling in the legs and feet, numbness and tingling, muscle weakness in the extremities, erectile dysfunction, loss of feeling, and damage to various parts of your body. Because Diabetic neuropathy can cause permanent nerve damage, patients can develop ulcerative sores in the feet unknowingly due to the lack of feeling which can further lead to chronic, repetitive infections that are difficult, if not impossible to control. If left untreated, these sores can lead to amputation of the toes, feet, or legs.
By far, the best way to prevent neuropathy is to reverse your diabetes and get healthy again. Until that happens, it is imperative that you take care of your feet. Keep a close watch on your body, particularly the bottoms of your feet, and examine them frequently for ulcers and early signs of infection. It may also be necessary to make changes in lifestyle habits such as cutting out smoking, stopping alcohol intake, losing weight, lowering your stress levels, and any other bad habits that cause or contribute to poor health.
Additionally, diabetic neuropathy in the feet can be prevented or relieved by keeping your feet moisturized and your toenails carefully trimmed. Socks should not have tight bands or thick seams that could cause blisters. It’s also important to make sure your shoes fit properly to allow your toes to move. If you have Medicare, you should also look into your plan to see if you qualify, because it may cover the cost of at least one pair of shoes each year.
If you’re looking for a way to reverse the disease and get your health back, no promises, but we have had great success in this area. Dr. Driscoll is dedicated to helping people like you feel better than ever before. We know that living as a diabetic is difficult, but it doesn’t have to be this way forever. You can take control of your life again by following our simple steps!
Let us show you how easy it is to get started on the path toward reversing the disease today! All it takes is one phone call and we will help guide you through every step of the process so that in just a relatively short time, your symptoms will drastically change for the better! Don’t wait any longer.
