Newbie

[Bron]

Hi, I was diagnosed with type 2 a year ago during an MOT at my surgery !! I'm now on 4 tablets of Metformin slow release per day and I'm ready to flush them down the loo and take my chances ...I have never felt so miserable in my life, was fine before !! I can't eat any of the foods I loved before, I'm not big on vegetables or "healthy" food, I bake a lot for the family and can't enjoy any of it ! So I tend to be "good" for a few days then binge on nice stuff ...had enough of this,...

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome

Are you sure you are on the slow release version of Metformin? I understood that it was a larger dose tablet that was taken just once a day but I may be mistaken about that. Are you getting side effects with it and if so, do you take it with food, as that is really important with Metformin and not just a snack but eat something reasonably substantial, take the tablet and eat a bit more...ie take it mid meal.

What is your most recent HbA1c reading. That gives us an indication of where you are on the diabetes scale and how radical you need to be with your diet. I had to be very dramatic about cutting down on carbs as I had sudden onset symptoms and a rather high HbA1c of 112, which people here explained was very dangerous. Despite my best efforts at following the dietary advice I was given my the nurse for 5 weeks and feeling like I was eating cardboard, my food was so bland, my reading had gone up instead of down. It was right at that point that a member here explained that I needed to cut out things like my breakfast porridge and bread and pasta (even wholemeal), rice, potatoes etc. That was the point at which my BG started to drop towards the normal range. It takes some getting your head around when you have been used to eating a high proportion of carbs with every meal, all your life, but it is not only doable but enjoyable once you get the hang of it. Having low carb treats is really important and increasing your fat intake, so that you do not feel deprived. It is necessary to re-educate your palette but you have to be open to that and it doesn't take long to achieve that. I have always drunk my coffee with 2+ sugars or sweeteners and I am currently learning to drink it with just cream and no sweetness. The cream is important because it takes the bitterness off the coffee but it also feels like you are spoiling yourself rather than being deprived. Same with veg. Cook your cabbage in a little butter or bacon fat or add cream cheese and stir it in when it is cooked. Same with spinach and kale. Have cheese on your cauliflower etc.
As regards baking, experiment with other sweeteners like Stevia and use half ground almonds instead of flour and wholemeal spelt flour instead of white flour. You binge because you feel deprived. If you have the odd healthier treat, you learn not to binge.....I can tell you that there was no-one more addicted to sugar than me and I stopped pretty much overnight and I don't even really miss it that much. In fact I feel that I taste food better and savour things like the odd banana that I have chopped up with creamy Greek yoghurt and cream (the fats in the dairy slow down the absorption of the sugars from the banana into your blood stream) far more than I ever enjoyed bananas before. I had an apple for the first time in months the other day. Cut it in half and had half in the morning and the other half in the afternoon and it was gorgeous.... when I was eating masses of chocolate and sweets etc, I would not really have thanked you for an apple or eaten it and barely registered it.
You do need to tackle this problem for the sake of your health and your family and retrain yourself, but once you get the hang of it, I hope like me you will see it as a positive.
If the baking is proving to be too much of a temptation and you are not keen to experiment with lower carb recipes, then it might be best to have a break from it and find some other way to treat your family, at least for a month or two whilst you get into a new routine with food.

As an example, I start the day with a mushroom omelette or a cooked breakfast or this morning I had antipasti consisting of salami and Serrano ham and olives and cheese with my coffee and cream. Or try some natural creamy Greek yoghurt (Lidl Milbona is the lowest carb I have found, comes in a 1Kg pot and tastes lovely) with berries... raspberries are in season now and one of the best fruits for diabetics. Treats are a chunk of cheese, nuts (I love brazils and they are one of the lowest in carbs and Lidl do big bags of nuts quite cheaply), olives, pickled gherkins, the odd square of dark choc 70%+, celery and sweet peppers and raw mushrooms with a sour cream and chive dip. Salads taste so much better with some avocado and creamy cheese coleslaw is not too bad for carbs. If I have an omelette and salad for breakfast, I tend to just have a chunk of cheese for lunch or some nuts and then a dinner of meat or fish (it is salmon tonight) and veg with a couple of potatoes. Desert is usually plain Greek yoghurt and berries

I hope I have given you some "food for thought" as a way forward. We are all in the same boat here. It is not easy in the beginning so you need to set yourself a period of a couple of months of "Me Time" to get your head around it and not baking during that time would make it a lot easier in my opinion. I am sure your family would rather have you healthy, no matter how gorgeous your baking is and in the long run those cakes could contribute to them becoming diabetic in the future too, especially as there is a genetic element to it. A lower carb diet should be beneficial for pretty much everyone.

Good luck. We are here to support you

 

[Bron]

Hi, Bron and welcome to the forum.

I understand how you feel as I have had 4 months of a low carb diet and have started to miss some of my old favourites. However, reminding myself of what might happen in the future if I don't keep my BG under control is enough to keep me on track. To be brutally frank it scares me, which is all the motivation I need.

Be strong, and maybe talk things over with your DN. Our diabetes isn't going to go away so we all have to learn to live with it. We manage our diabetes. It doesn't manage us.

Martin

Hi, Bron and welcome to the forum.

I understand how you feel as I have had 4 months of a low carb diet and have started to miss some of my old favourites. However, reminding myself of what might happen in the future if I don't keep my BG under control is enough to keep me on track. To be brutally frank it scares me, which is all the motivation I need.

Be strong, and maybe talk things over with your DN. Our diabetes isn't going to go away so we all have to learn to live with it. We manage our diabetes. It doesn't manage us.

Martin

Hi..thanks for replying. I only see my nurse every few months, she works 2 days a week and it's impossible to see her between appointments. To be honest I haven't a clue what I'm doing as regards to food, no idea what my sugar reading is, all I think of is food I can't have !! I last saw her in May, next appointment is the first week in August...

 

[Bron]

Hi and welcome

Are you sure you are on the slow release version of Metformin? I understood that it was a larger dose tablet that was taken just once a day but I may be mistaken about that. Are you getting side effects with it and if so, do you take it with food, as that is really important with Metformin and not just a snack but eat something reasonably substantial, take the tablet and eat a bit more...ie take it mid meal.

What is your most recent HbA1c reading. That gives us an indication of where you are on the diabetes scale and how radical you need to be with your diet. I had to be very dramatic about cutting down on carbs as I had sudden onset symptoms and a rather high HbA1c of 112, which people here explained was very dangerous. Despite my best efforts at following the dietary advice I was given my the nurse for 5 weeks and feeling like I was eating cardboard, my food was so bland, my reading had gone up instead of down. It was right at that point that a member here explained that I needed to cut out things like my breakfast porridge and bread and pasta (even wholemeal), rice, potatoes etc. That was the point at which my BG started to drop towards the normal range. It takes some getting your head around when you have been used to eating a high proportion of carbs with every meal, all your life, but it is not only doable but enjoyable once you get the hang of it. Having low carb treats is really important and increasing your fat intake, so that you do not feel deprived. It is necessary to re-educate your palette but you have to be open to that and it doesn't take long to achieve that. I have always drunk my coffee with 2+ sugars or sweeteners and I am currently learning to drink it with just cream and no sweetness. The cream is important because it takes the bitterness off the coffee but it also feels like you are spoiling yourself rather than being deprived. Same with veg. Cook your cabbage in a little butter or bacon fat or add cream cheese and stir it in when it is cooked. Same with spinach and kale. Have cheese on your cauliflower etc.
As regards baking, experiment with other sweeteners like Stevia and use half ground almonds instead of flour and wholemeal spelt flour instead of white flour. You binge because you feel deprived. If you have the odd healthier treat, you learn not to binge.....I can tell you that there was no-one more addicted to sugar than me and I stopped pretty much overnight and I don't even really miss it that much. In fact I feel that I taste food better and savour things like the odd banana that I have chopped up with creamy Greek yoghurt and cream (the fats in the dairy slow down the absorption of the sugars from the banana into your blood stream) far more than I ever enjoyed bananas before. I had an apple for the first time in months the other day. Cut it in half and had half in the morning and the other half in the afternoon and it was gorgeous.... when I was eating masses of chocolate and sweets etc, I would not really have thanked you for an apple or eaten it and barely registered it.
You do need to tackle this problem for the sake of your health and your family and retrain yourself, but once you get the hang of it, I hope like me you will see it as a positive.
If the baking is proving to be too much of a temptation and you are not keen to experiment with lower carb recipes, then it might be best to have a break from it and find some other way to treat your family, at least for a month or two whilst you get into a new routine with food.

As an example, I start the day with a mushroom omelette or a cooked breakfast or this morning I had antipasti consisting of salami and Serrano ham and olives and cheese with my coffee and cream. Or try some natural creamy Greek yoghurt (Lidl Milbona is the lowest carb I have found, comes in a 1Kg pot and tastes lovely) with berries... raspberries are in season now and one of the best fruits for diabetics. Treats are a chunk of cheese, nuts (I love brazils and they are one of the lowest in carbs and Lidl do big bags of nuts quite cheaply), olives, pickled gherkins, the odd square of dark choc 70%+, celery and sweet peppers and raw mushrooms with a sour cream and chive dip. Salads taste so much better with some avocado and creamy cheese coleslaw is not too bad for carbs. If I have an omelette and salad for breakfast, I tend to just have a chunk of cheese for lunch or some nuts and then a dinner of meat or fish (it is salmon tonight) and veg with a couple of potatoes. Desert is usually plain Greek yoghurt and berries

I hope I have given you some "food for thought" as a way forward. We are all in the same boat here. It is not easy in the beginning so you need to set yourself a period of a couple of months of "Me Time" to get your head around it and not baking during that time would make it a lot easier in my opinion. I am sure your family would rather have you healthy, no matter how gorgeous your baking is and in the long run those cakes could contribute to them becoming diabetic in the future too, especially as there is a genetic element to it. A lower carb diet should be beneficial for pretty much everyone.

Good luck. We are here to support you

Hi..I'm laughing sorry..I have no idea what an HbA1c is !! I was on ordinary metformin for about 4 months and have never felt so I'll in my life!! I couldn't leave the house/toilet and felt dreadful. I'm on slow release now but still feel bloated most days. Black coffee is fine for me but I can't get round this no cereal or toast and jam for breakfast, no potatoes with a meal, no pasta etc!! I'm sick of boiled egg or tuna salad and no puddings, totally miserable..I don't know anyone with diabetes either friends or family. I hate it. We went out today and were going to Greggs to bring home sausage rolls till I remember I can't eat the damned things ..and what's a Sunday roast without roast potatoes and Yorkshire lol....

 

[Drummer]

Although you can't eat the sausage rolls with their flabby pink inside that could be anything - you can eat sausages full of flavour and real meat - you can have roast meat and all sorts of veges, or fish, seafood, and I made a dessert with a couple of sugar free jellies, a large tub of yoghurt and a pack of frozen berries which was difficult to make last to the third day as it was delicious.
Why have black coffee when you can have cream in it? Why not experiment with cream and water with lots of eggs and various flours which are not high carb to see if you can come up with Yorkshire puddings you can eat.
Whilst you have no interest in finding out what your Hba1c is or having a meter to test with - it is as if you are belting down the motorway not knowing your speed and will only know how good your judgement is when the fines start to roll in.

 

[Bron]

Although you can't eat the sausage rolls with their flabby pink inside that could be anything - you can eat sausages full of flavour and real meat - you can have roast meat and all sorts of veges, or fish, seafood, and I made a dessert with a couple of sugar free jellies, a large tub of yoghurt and a pack of frozen berries which was difficult to make last to the third day as it was delicious.
Why have black coffee when you can have cream in it? Why not experiment with cream and water with lots of eggs and various flours which are not high carb to see if you can come up with Yorkshire puddings you can eat.
Whilst you have no interest in finding out what your Hba1c is or having a meter to test with - it is as if you are belting down the motorway not knowing your speed and will only know how good your judgement is when the fines start to roll in.

I've always drunk black coffee, and it's not that I'm not interested in my hba1c..I've not been told about it !! I go for my blood test, then a week later I see the nurse who just asks me how I am, and I need to do more to get my level down ! That's it ! I asked at the beginning for a meter but she said they don't advocate using them because they're not accurate ! I am belting down that motorway cos I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing !

 

[Bron]

Hi, Bron

OK, I understand where you are. Plenty of dietary advice to be found on the site and members will chip in with what works for them. You should start checking your BG levels, though. My DN gave me a meter. Maybe yours will do the same.

Remember we're all here to help.

Martin

I've asked for a meter but they don't give them out, not accurate apparently..

 

[SueEK]

Hi Bron, I feel for you. I too struggle with ‘healthy foods’ although I am certainly no baker. I miss my carbs desperately, having said that I have reduced them drastically as to be honest that was probably 80% of my diet. I do still have bread but I have weight watchers at 9g a slice but not very much of it, I also have a couple of roast potatoes if having a roast and occasionally a Yorkshire pudding as well, ditto with mashed potato though only a small portion. Having said all that I have tested and retested to make sure my levels are not going mental. If they only go up by 2-3 then I will have the same meal again but perhaps once a fortnight. This has to be a forever change and because of my fussy eating habits I have adjusted as best I can. I can only advise you to try to do the same and find a balance of food you can manage.
I would strongly agree with the others that you get a tester because you may find there are foods you like that don’t cause you too much bother and then you can look forward to them, and also the ones that you really should avoid.
So many of us struggle with our food and I wish I liked all the veg, stir fry’s and stuff that lots of people talk about but I just don’t and couldn’t bear to eat them.
Just one other thing I also am on 4 Metformin a day and I have changed from having 2 in the morning to having 2 at lunch time instead as I felt so unwell in the mornings, this has cured the problem. I did run this past my GP first.
I wish you well Bron and remember we are all here to help you as best we can and we also have the same struggles. We are both still relative newbies to all this and neither you nor I will get it just right for probably some time yet - we can but try. X

 

[KARNAK]

Hello @Bron welcome to the forum,🙂 how are you today? a bit peed off I should imagine. Its quite important you find out your HbA1c from your Health Care Professional (HCP), also daily Blood Sugar Levels (BSL) need to be tested so you can adjust your food intake to what suits your big D, "Diabetes", not easy at first as we have all found out. Take a bit of time to go through the forum and read how other members are coping, please read this thread to start with, https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/useful-links-for-people-new-to-diabetes.10406/. Scroll down to the T2 (Type 2) section, lots of excellent info there.

You can ask any question you like open 24Hrs a day, doesn`t have to be big D related, keep us informed of how you are coping, take care.🙂

 

[JMyrtle]

It's not that meters are unreliable GPS are not allowed to supply them to us type 2s unless we are on insulin because of the cost, but of course they don't want to tell us that so they come up with any old excuse.
Most of us use the Code free meter from home health, it costs about twenty quid on eBay and then the test strips are about £7.00 for fifty, you can also get them off Amazon but many people prefer not to do business with them.

 

[Docb]

The "rules" also say you should be offered a meter if you are taking a medication, like gliclazide, that promotes insulin production. Fundamentally they are a seen as a means of identifying and dealing with hypos, not as a feed back mechanism for efforts to reduce blood glucose levels when people are at risk of prolonged hyperglycemia.

Its a short sighted approach, looking at short tem costs only. It does not take into account the savings made by keeping those people capable of managing their diabetes out of the doctor's surgery or the time saved in adjusting treatment by basing it on results rather than guess work. What seems to be clear from comments on the forum is that some surgeries are more enlightened than others. My own feeling is that those who do not offer meters to those that want them actually believe the reasons they give for not doing so, probably because that is what they were told in training somewhere in their past. Some re-education, or a change in the NICE guidelines, is needed to change things.

 

[daryeljames]

Hi, I was diagnosed with type 2 a year ago during an MOT at my surgery !! I'm now on 4 tablets of Metformin slow release per day and I'm ready to flush them down the loo and take my chances ...I have never felt so miserable in my life, was fine before !! I can't eat any of the foods I loved before, I'm not big on vegetables or "healthy" food, I bake a lot for the family and can't enjoy any of it ! So I tend to be "good" for a few days then binge on nice stuff ...had enough of this,...

Hi Bron, doesn't sound like your getting the best introduction to type 2.
Like you, I am symptomless and get a miriade of concerning symptomes from taking the pills.
Your DN should have refered/offered a course like 'DESMOND' it tells you the basics. I found the diabetic nurses patronising to the point of rude.
Can I offer an alternative take on the 'no this' and 'no that'? Try increasing meats, fishes (and vegetables). If you say no to something you just crave it more.

 

[Pine Marten]

Hi Bron, I second what the others have been saying - and you are legally entitled to see your health records including HbA1c under the Data Protection Act, so they can't legally refuse you.

The Codefree meter from Home Health is as accurate as any, and the link is here: https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/ and they take off the VAT for diabetics.