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Metformin reduction - time to see an effect

MarkStAlbans said:
It absolutely is! And that is my downfall! 🙂

I am slowly training myself to be happy with 1 piece but its hard as I used to kick the ass out of it. LOL

i will be getting the 100% dark chocolate which has very lttle sugar. This will help Im sure 🙂
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Why 100% cocoa? It’s dreadful. If you’re going to have chocolate you might as well enjoy it.
 
Leadinglights said:
I have tried the 80% and it is not enjoyable
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Which just goes to show that we're all different, as I find that Lindt 85% Intense Dark suits me just fine, but like you I ration it - 2 squares a day, occasionally 3.

Holidaying in Cornwall, as we've done every year for the last 12 years, I developed a taste for Kernow 70% and now my wife orders it from the sweet shop in Fowey as my birthday, Valentine's Day, wedding anniversary, Easter and Xmas treat.
 
80% is the max I can eat and no way would I buy or enjoy 100%, so good luck with that!

Mostly I buy Lidl 70% and it is quite easy to restrict it to one square broken into 4 pieces and I eat it with a spoon of 100% peanut butter to make it more satisfying. Any lower than 70% and it becomes too moreish and I struggle to restrict it to just 1 square.
 
I love 90% dark chocolate.
I’ve had some 100% stuff from Hotel Chocolat that was nice.
 
MarkStAlbans said:
Thats where I want to get to and just taking it steadily. Im hoping the numbers stay where they are for the next week and if they do look at reducing again
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It takes time, but don't be in too much of a hurry to dump the the Metformin, it does serve a purpose if necessary
 
harbottle said:
I love 90% dark chocolate.
I’ve had some 100% stuff from Hotel Chocolat that was nice.
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Have you tried Montezuma 100 per cent, absolute dark chocolate range?

We are currently wading through HC 100 per cent batons. A little goes a very long way
 
Sharron1 said:
Have you tried Montezuma 100 per cent, absolute dark chocolate range?

We are currently wading through HC 100 per cent batons. A little goes a very long way
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Yes, I’ve got some Montezuma, but I prefer their lime and salt one! It’s a bit too more-ish, though.
 
Going back to the thread subject, I kind of forgot to take my 500mg of metformin quite often and eventually the GP surgery stopped it. It made no difference to hba1c for the next test.
 
harbottle said:
Yes, I’ve got some Montezuma, but I prefer their lime and salt one! It’s a bit too more-ish, though.
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Ooh, tge lime and salt ine sounds delicious Need to test that one Thanx.
 
Further update Im down to 500mg daily of metformin with numbers staying as they were at 2g. My stomach is back to normal now 🙂
 
MarkStAlbans said:
Ive just reduced my MF by half from 2g to 1g a day as my numbers were lowering well, seeing lots of 4.5s and high 3s.
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Sorry I am a little late to this thread but I wanted to comment on your "high 3s".
Firstly, this is nothing to be consider about. It is not uncommon for people who are not treated with insulin to see numbers in the threes. A hypo is considered to be anything under 3.5 but those of us injecting insulin take 4.0 as teh limit to give us a bit of a leeway.
The other thing is to remember the accuracy of your meter. It only has to be accurate to within 15%. So it may be higher.
And, if the lower readings are from a CGM (e.g. Libre), these could be compression lows) - false lows reported when pressure on the sensor stops the flow on interstitial fluid to the filament.
 
Those are all valid points @helli

I only am circumspect about the lows due to the DVLA'S 5 to Drive doctrine.

Similar for the CAA..

Also forgot to say am losing 1 to 2 lbs a week in weight so this should help maintain the numbers as the dosage goes down.
 
MarkStAlbans said:
I only am circumspect about the lows due to the DVLA'S 5 to Drive doctrine.
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I believe this only applies to people taking insulin or glic'.
(And the rule is not "5 to drive" - it is often misquoted. We can drive with a BG above 4 - but we need to eat some carbs if it is between 4 and 5.)
It is not relevant to someone, like yourself, treating their diabetes with Met or someone on no diabetes medication.

My non-diabetic partner recorded a reading of 2.8 after a long cycle ride when he was not sufficiently fuelled (I believe the technical term is "bonked"). Although he felt terrible, there is no DVLA requirement for him not to drive. He didn't!

I have no idea about CAA but if you are not required to test BG, I cannot see how anyone would be concerned about the reading.
 
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All I can say is when I spoke to them about this the second time, when I declared I was off Insulin, with paperwork etc I specifically asked the question of the guy whether 5 to drive still applied and he said yes.....
 
MarkStAlbans said:
All I can say is when I spoke to them about this the second time, when I declared I was off Insulin, with paperwork etc I specifically asked the question of the guy whether 5 to drive still applied and he said yes.....
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@helli is right, in fact you don't even have to tell the DVLA you have diabetes if you're only on Metformin.
 
MarkStAlbans said:
Im sorry but I dont believe thats true
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Read this, then:-


...in particular the paragraph that says Car and motorcycle drivers do not need to tell us if their diabetes is treated by tablets, diet, or both and they are free of the complications listed over the page.

Those complications being hypos or risk of hypos.
 

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