Blood Sugar Support in Greenville, SC
Blood Sugar Support at IHP Greenville. Dr. Hendry, DAOM — functional medicine, root-cause diagnostics, personalized care. Call (864) 365-6156.
"Dr. Hendry has been working with me to heal my GI tract. 100% improvement in how I feel, taking 1/4 of my blood pressure meds, and am no longer taking cholesterol meds."
— Karen Hill · January 2025 · Google Review
Fasting glucose at 98 and HbA1c at 5.6 are both "normal." They're also the patient who is already producing three times the insulin required to maintain that glucose — and whose pancreatic beta cells are quietly exhausting under the demand. Fasting insulin is the early marker, and most conventional panels never order it. I test fasting insulin as a routine marker in anyone with fatigue, weight that won't respond to caloric restriction, abdominal distribution, or afternoon energy crashes — because insulin resistance produces all of those for years before blood glucose rises. Zhang's 2008 trial showed berberine achieved HbA1c reduction equivalent to metformin. That's where my supplementation protocol starts, alongside the gut dysbiosis and magnesium deficiency driving most of the insulin receptor impairment.
How Blood Sugar Support Works
Blood sugar support at IHP uses fasting insulin (more sensitive than fasting glucose for early insulin resistance), HbA1c, HOMA-IR calculation, comprehensive metabolic panel, magnesium, zinc, chromium, and other glucose-regulating nutrient assessments. Treatment combines dietary protocol (low-glycemic, time-restricted eating), targeted supplementation (berberine, magnesium, chromium, alpha-lipoic acid, cinnamon), acupuncture for insulin signaling regulation, and Chinese herbal medicine (particularly huang lian/Coptis, known as Chinese berberine, with extensive blood sugar evidence).
Conditions Treated with Blood Sugar Support
Functional Blood Sugar Support vs. Fasting Glucose Screening Only
Standard metabolic screening measures fasting glucose and, if abnormal, HbA1c. Fasting glucose rises only after insulin resistance has been present for years — by which point significant metabolic and vascular damage may already have occurred. At IHP, Dr. Hendry uses fasting insulin as the primary early detection tool: insulin resistance drives hyperinsulinemia years before blood glucose elevates into the pre-diabetic range. A patient with a fasting glucose of 92 (completely normal) may have a fasting insulin of 18 uIU/mL (significantly elevated, indicating insulin resistance already impeding fat metabolism, driving inflammation, and stressing the pancreas). Additional markers including the HOMA-IR calculation, post-prandial glucose curve, and HbA1c together provide a complete metabolic picture. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data, when available, reveals reactive hypoglycemia and glucose variability patterns that fasting markers cannot detect. The standard approach catches metabolic disease late; the functional approach identifies and reverses it early.
Research & Evidence
Insulin resistance is detectable years before conventional glucose-based screening identifies pre-diabetes. Ley et al. (2006, Nature) established the connection between gut microbiome composition and obesity-related insulin resistance, demonstrating that Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio is associated with energy extraction and metabolic syndrome. Research by Lustig et al. documented that fructose-driven de novo lipogenesis drives insulin resistance independently of caloric intake — establishing a dietary mechanism for the epidemic prevalence of metabolic dysfunction. Berberine (huang lian) has been compared head-to-head with metformin in multiple Chinese clinical trials; Zhang et al. (2008, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism) demonstrated equivalent HbA1c reduction at 3 months, with the additional benefits of reducing LDL cholesterol and triglycerides that metformin does not provide.
Your First Appointment
Bring prior glucose and HbA1c results, fasting insulin if available, and any diabetes-related records. Describe your energy pattern relative to meals, cravings, and symptoms of hypoglycemia (shakiness, irritability, brain fog 2–3 hours after meals).
Why Dr. Hendry for Blood Sugar Support
Dr. Hendry's knowledge of berberine (huang lian) — an herb with clinical equivalence to metformin in multiple trials — and his functional medicine investigation of insulin resistance provide a uniquely evidence-based natural approach to blood sugar dysregulation.