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Type 2 newbie!

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J

Julieheller

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Feeling quite anxious about diagnosis but wasn’t surprised as half my family are diabetic!
Wondering how long before metformin takes to drop blood levels , I was 14.6 to start with
 
Hi @Julieheller and welcome to the forum. I was doing a combination of metformin and low carb (which I'm still on!) and saw a significant reduction after just a couple of months, from 76 to 54, then another drop to below diabetic levels 5 months on. I think it will all depend on what dietary changes you are making. Have you gone low carb? Not all Diabetic Nurses give sensible advise regarding diet. The NHS still seems to be fixated on low fat whereas it's actually carbs which are the real culprits.
If you are reducing carbs, do it gradually to avoid problems with your eyesight. I wasn't aware of that before I joined this forum and I was exceptionally fortunate that my complete eschewal of carbs didn't damage my vision!
Have you experienced any side effects with metfortmin yet? I had a dodgy tum for a fortnight, but luckily that settled down. There is a slow release version if you do have problems with it.
 
I have reduced my carbs considerably , I miss them more than the sugar!! Tum been slightly off but nothing too much I’m now taking 500mg x3 so hope it continues!
 
Welcome to the forum
Is 14.6 the result you had from an HbA1C, and I assume that would be in %, some G Ps do seem to still use that rather than the new units which are mmol/mol where a number about 48mmol/mol will give you a diabetes diagnosis but I think that equates to 6.5% so at 14.6 yours is quite high so you have quite a bit of work to do to get it down. But as Vonny says better to reduce your carbs slowly to avoid eye and nerve issues. Keeping a food diary and estimating the total carbs you are having and reduce by a third for a couple of weeks then another third until you get to where you need to be.
If many in your family are diabetic you must have a bit of an idea of the foods to avoid but this link might help you have a new approach. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
 
Hi Julie and welcome 🙂 how are you?
 
Slowly getting used to this new way of life and eating differently , I’m getting use to meds I’m on metformin and hoping level will drop as they were quite high
 
What was your hba1c? There's lots of different approaches to eating. You just need to find what suits you but there's lots of opinions here. Feel free to ask questions and ignore the answers lol 🙂
 
Welcome to the forum @Julieheller

Glad you have joined us. Feel free to ask away with any questions you have, or just use it to offload among folks who instinctively ‘get it’ 🙂
 
I’m also type 2 my hba1c was 112 at the start I’m pretty sure since being on metformin and low carb I went down to 63 or 66 then back into remission but I’m still on low carb and metformin and staying in remission so it’s been 1 year since diagnosis and sitting in remission .
 
I’ve merged your two introductory threads to keep responses to you all in one place @Julieheller 🙂
 
Hey. It might be worth you looking at myfitnesspal app on a phone to measure what you are eating in terms of carbs and calories. I was v overweight and a pasta addict at diagnosis, have now turned it around.
 
How long before metformin side effects wear off , just gone up to 3x500mg daily but feeling quite nauseous?
 
Julieheller said:
How long before metformin side effects wear off , just gone up to 3x500mg daily but feeling quite nauseous?
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It all depends if you can tolerate it or not. Some people have no reaction at all - others have increasingly more dreadful side effects.
I gave up on the tablets as I felt so bad. Just sticking to low carb was enough to move from a Hba1c of 91 at diagnosis to 47 after 80 days and then down to 41 at 6 months.
 
Julieheller said:
How long before metformin side effects wear off , just gone up to 3x500mg daily but feeling quite nauseous?
Click to expand...
Drummer said:
It all depends if you can tolerate it or not. Some people have no reaction at all - others have increasingly more dreadful side effects.
I gave up on the tablets as I felt so bad. Just sticking to low carb was enough to move from a Hba1c of 91 at diagnosis to 47 after 80 days and then down to 41 at 6 months.
Click to expand...
Hello Julie - fellow newbie 🙂. Hope we stop feeling nauseous soon!

Drummer - This is really good to hear that you've got yourself back to healthy Hba1c levels without meds. I've started the slow release Metformin because the normal version made me feel terrible with awful tummy trouble but that's making me feel nauseous and really tired. My aim is to be med-free with the diet changes and continuing to lose weight.
 
Julieheller said:
Wow that’s impressive,how many carbs did you eat to achieve that?
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I went back to the level I used doing Atkins, 50 gm a day.
I now eat a maximum of 40 gm a day - I intended to lower my Hba1c further, but it remained exactly the same, so it isn't an automatic or direct matching up between daily intake and Hba1c.
I checked my blood glucose with a meter to be sure it was normal.
 
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