I am a 52 year old male who is 68" (5'8") tall, weighs 180 pounds, and is moderately muscular (I did weight lifting for many years).

Over the last five years or so I have unfortunately noticed my blood sugar numbers creeping up. What started out prior to age 45 at a fasting level of 80 to 85 has now in my latest fasting blood test risen to 115. My two-hour glucose challenge number, in-turn, has now risen today to 189. My A1C numbers, though, have been averaging around 5.5 or so since my sugars began rising five years ago.

What is very unfortunate is that I finally got a fasting insulin test done the other day for the first time, and my number came in at 114 (the reference range is 0 to 25). My internal medicine doctor, in-turn, said that this is the highest insulin number that he has ever seen!

I also tend to carry my weight around in my belly, have a total cholesterol number of 309 (off statins), HDL of 72 and LDL of 190. My triglycerides are 235.

All this said, I am obviously pre-diabetic which is disappointing (and likely due in large part to my genetics). This said, I will now go back on Pravastatin 40 mg per day (I went off it out of fear that it was contributing to my SFN) and try to loose a bit more weight. I will also increase my daily aspirin dose from 162 mg to 320 mg per day.

I am also interested in using R-Lipoic Acid in an attempt to stabolize my blood sugars and insulin. I purchased a bottle of "Doctors Best" R-Lipoic Acid in 100 mg capsules that are not time release.

Could I please get some suggestions from those knowledgable about using RLA for blood sugar control about what the optiminal dose would be? Also, because these are non-time release capsules how often should they be taken per day?

Indeed, is there a time-release version of R-Lipoic Acid? Finally, how much time should I allow after beginning my test of R-Lipoic Acid before re-checking my sugar and insulin levels to see if it had a positive effect?

Many thanks!