When-X · Coach map · Not a prescription
When HbA1c or fasting glucose is high
A high A1c or fasting glucose is metabolic medicine. Food, training, sleep, and prescribed therapy come first. Berberine is the owner's marker-tied option, not a metformin replacement you start from a podcast.
Read this first
- Coach, not doctor. Aaron Cuha is a coach, not a doctor. No clinical credential is claimed for him, or for these pages. A number on a panel is a conversation starter with a clinician, not a DIY diagnosis. Nothing here is a prescription, a protocol, or a reason to start or stop a medicine. Educational use only. This database summarizes published research and is not medical advice. Where a dose appears it is a record of what a trial or clinic ran, or what people describe doing, with its source attached. Nothing here is a recommendation for personal use.
- Affiliate disclosure. Knowledge stays free. Every page, every guide and every tool is free to read and stays free. Lab-panel affiliate links, when they exist, live on /bloodwork/partners and print what is earned on the row, or that nothing is earned today. This glossary does not sell panels. The Archive does not order labs.
- Three lab stories stay separate. /bloodwork is the human panel. /testing and /prices/labs are peptide certificate chemistry. /supplements/quality is what is in the bottle.
The coach gate
One high morning is not a diagnosis. Repeat fasting glucose with A1c. Ask about fasting insulin if resistance is the question. Pregnancy and existing diabetes medicines are clinician gates.
What this does not mean
It does not mean berberine is metformin. Trial quality is mixed, most trials are small, and there is no outcome trial. It does not mean you stop a prescribed drug because a capsule moved a surrogate.
Markers to put on the requisition
Candidate supplements, not orders
What people typically order
Ask for HbA1c, fasting glucose, and, if useful, fasting insulin on the same morning. A clinician-ordered panel or a coach-eligible bloodwork partner on /bloodwork/partners can collect those. The Archive does not.
Stopping rule
Name the marker before the bottle. Retest at about ninety days. If A1c and fasting glucose did not move, stop the berberine. Be loyal to the number.