“I’m off that crazy [blood sugar] roller coaster. I went from being in range 50% of the time. My regular range now is 96 to 98% of the time. It made a huge difference.”

Newly married and with a baby on the way, Josh Bostick was ticking off life’s major milestones.

A life-changing diagnosis was the last thing he expected.

Each year, Josh’s employer incentivizes getting an annual physical, leading Josh to run routine bloodwork.

“I ended up getting a call from a nurse saying that I needed to go to the ER right away,” he recalls. “My A1C at the time was 12.7, and my blood sugar was in the 300s at the time of the blood draw.”

Those were dangerously high blood sugar levels.

In short order, ER physicians diagnosed him with type 2 diabetes and sent him on his way with a three-month prescription for the diabetes drug, Metformin.

A Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis

Back at home, Josh questioned the diagnosis. He compared his recent symptoms—increased fatigue, thirst, and urination—with those listed for type 2 diabetes, but found they aligned more with another diagnosis: type 1 diabetes.

Seeing an endocrinologist, he went through another round of lab work. The results were conclusive: type 1 diabetes—a surprise given his age. Most type 1 diabetes diagnoses have traditionally been in children.

“Adults typically aren’t diagnosed as type ones,” he says. “And that’s actually changing. It is becoming more often that older adults in the 30 and ups are actually getting a type one diagnosis.”

Josh later learned that having COVID-19, which he contracted early in the pandemic, may have contributed to the onset of diabetes. Studies have found that COVID-19 survivors have a 66% higher risk of developing type 1 or type 2 diabetes following their diagnosis compared to those not diagnosed with the virus.

Troubleshooting Blood Sugar Levels

Josh’s diagnosis threw him into a major learning curve—as he and his wife were soon to be parents.

“We were learning how to be parents and trying to prepare for that the best we could, and then had a whole other world opened up for care for me,” he says.

He started manual insulin injections a few times daily and saw a nutritionist for diet tips. However, he wondered about the recommendation to eat multiple high-carb meals and snacks throughout the day.

“The breakfast that they presented I should have was a big cup of orange juice, like a muffin, a pastry, oatmeal, and then some fruit,” he says. “I mean they were presenting like 70-80 grams of carbs. My blood sugars were just all over the place. It’s just this roller coaster that you can’t get off.”

Researching options, he found the insulin pump, which would help administer insulin and regulate his blood sugar even while he slept. When his doctor wouldn’t prescribe it because he wasn’t familiar with the technology, Josh saw another doctor, discussed the pros and cons, and got the doctor’s support.

“That’s where I think my advocacy journey really started,” he reflects. “I understand that you’re a doctor and have this knowledge. But for me there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to have the greatest tech that’s out there, the newest stuff.”

Diet Changes and Fasting for Type 1 Diabetes

Still, he noticed frequent blood sugar fluctuations and felt them too. For help, he again did what doctors advise you not to do—searched online for answers.

In podcasts and Reddit threads, he found others managing their type 1 diabetes more effectively with lifestyle shifts.

In the podcast, The Fast Life with Diabetes, he learned about fasting. He started limiting his caloric intake to smaller windows, eventually landing on a one-meal-a-day (OMAD) cadence. He usually eats only a late afternoon snack and then dinner and fasts in between.

With these diet changes, he noticed quick gains in his energy.

“By limiting my calorie intake to a smaller window I was avoiding having all these ups and downs,” he says. “I was able to go and work out and really do any kind of workout. I could go run, I could go bike, and my body was able to support me.”

He also reduced carbohydrate intake for a more ketogenic-style diet. He cut gluten and focused on meat, veggies, and fruits. With those changes, he stabilized his blood sugar.

“I’m off that crazy [blood sugar] roller coaster. I went from being in range 50% of the time. My regular range now is 96 to 98% of the time,” he says. “It made a huge difference.”

Possible Stiff Person Syndrome

Just as he was getting a grip on managing diabetes and parenthood, new stiffness crept up that ran from the base of his neck to the base of his spine. He tried sauna and rolling but it seemed to get worse.

His doctor ran a test called the GAD65 (Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase Antibody Assay), a blood test that detects the presence of antibodies targeting the GAD enzyme, which is crucial for insulin production. For those with diabetes, the level is often high. However, Josh’s levels were so high, he wasn’t even on the chart. The doctor said it looked consistent with the condition, stiff person syndrome. She referred him to a specialist, and in the meantime, recommended muscle relaxers.

“I was just like, ‘That’s it? That’s not an option. It can’t be it because I’m 30.’ I was at the time 30 years old. I had a 2-year-old. I drive to work every day. I can’t be in a sedated state.”

Initially, he tried various physical therapies through a local clinic, including massage, trigger-point injections, and chiropractic. When things didn’t get better after a few months, they referred him to the functional medicine side of their clinic.

Functional medicine focuses on identifying and addressing the root causes of chronic diseases and health issues rather than masking symptoms.

Less Pain, More Energy

The clinic ran extensive lab tests to assess everything from his nutrient levels to gut health to adrenal function.

“Basically, my gut was a total mess,” he says. “I wasn’t absorbing any of the nutrition that I was eating and it was just filled with the bad bacteria.”

He also learned his cortisol levels were dysregulated, low in the morning and high at night—the opposite of how it should be. That showed up in difficulty sleeping.

Testing also turned up high inflammatory markers.

Josh had expected a specific diagnosis from all the lab work, like stiff person syndrome, but that’s not how his practitioners approached it.

“And at the end of the meeting I was kind of waiting for what was wrong, what the diagnosis was,” he says. “The doctor basically said, ‘We don’t do that here… We’re going to take all these puzzle pieces that are messed up with you, and we’re going to approach them and try to bring them back all into range and bring your inflammation down, get your gut healed, and get your nutrients and micro/macros [nutrients] going back in the right direction.’”

They embarked on a multi-layered regimen, including the Autoimmune Protocol Diet (AIP). On the AIP diet, Josh ate a limited range of foods before reintroducing things to see if he reacted to them.

Under his doctor’s care, he also added various vitamins, electrolytes, prebiotics, and probiotics. To help his cortisol levels, he cut out caffeine and reduced his stress.

At some point, testing also turned up small-intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), so Josh took specific steps to clear that.

All his efforts added up. His pain went from about a nine to about a level three.

“Week after week, I really started feeling better,” he says. “My energy was coming up. I was sleeping better. I remember telling my wife—we were on vacation—that I remembered my dream last night. I was like, ‘I can’t remember the last time I remembered any kind of a dream, good or bad at all.’”

Sustained Energy and Clarify for the Day

These days, Josh has minor pain or stiffness after a long car ride and flare-ups if he diverges from his diet. Eating gluten brings back fatigue, tightness, and brain fog. Giving it up has proven worth it and allows him to parent, work, and exercise in a way he couldn’t before.

“I’m able to get on the floor to play with my son and be way more cognitively there for work—and overall just really improved.”

Over the past two years, he’s learned volumes about health and about how to advocate for himself for the best possible outcomes. His health journey and experience with the medical system led him to start Rebel Health Collective, a podcast and platform to spotlight stories and create a community to spread awareness and information to others.

“At the end of the day, it’s your health,” Josh says. “I think we need to take more ownership by looking into treatments and trying to improve our health through different means than just taking pills. If we’re not addressing the root cause—eating better foods, getting more active, and improving our quality of life—we’re just going to keep adding more pills to our collection. I think we’re headed toward a dark spot unless we take it on ourselves to go into those appointments ready and informed, having done our research.”

Find Josh’s podcast, Rebel Health Collective, wherever you get your podcasts, and follow him on Facebook and Instagram at Rebel Health Collective.

The Steps That Helped

  • Self-advocacy—Josh researched options and discussed them with his doctors. For type 1 diabetes and possible stiff person syndrome, he found help outside conventional medicine.
  • Dietary changes and fasting—He eats a low-carb diet and fasts daily, usually eating one snack and one meal a day, which helps stabilize his blood sugar and improve his energy levels.
  • Addressing root causes—Josh pursued functional medicine to address underlying causes of his symptoms. This included extensive lab testing, gut-healing strategies, adrenal support, and personalized supplementation.