Hello out there

[Hippo]

Hi everyone, I am 60 YOA had diabetes T2 for about 3 years. Didn't want to believe the GP when he told me the results. Then, I spoke with my Father who then informed me that he had it and also his Father had it. So, I guess it was inevitable that it drizzled down the hereditary line. I have eventually got my Hba1C down to 43 and have tried several Diabetes T2 meds but to no result in fact, got many of the serious side effects. Despite me telling my GP, he still insisted that I take the meds contrary to the meds advice etc. (Stop taking the meds and consult a GP it said). I put up with the side effects for months at a time, only to be told by another GP and Diabetes Nurse that I should have stopped them. Who can you trust and believe?
I have lost almost 4 stone in weight by diet and exercise - walking, cycling and be generally active with some Over 50's groups.

Just spotted another person on here that had the same issues and has been put on Insulatard and Novorapid which has drastically reduced the Hba1C count. Went to my GP and asked for these only to be told they are too expensive. Postcode Medication eh??

So, has anyone else used these 2 drugs and had good things happen to them??

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Hello @Hippo and welcome to the forum.

It sounds as though you've done really well to get your HbA1c down to 43, especially if you've now stopped taking the meds and are managing with just diet and exercise.

Insulatard and Novorapid are types of insulin, so you'd need to give yourself multiple daily injections if you had those. And if you can maintain an HbA1c of 43 (which is really good) without drugs there wouldn't be any need for you to have them - insulin is only given to type 2s if they can't get their blood sugar down any other way (so if stopping taking the other drugs means your HbA1c goes up a lot then insulin might be the way to go in the future, but I can't imagine any doctor in any postcode will think it's necessary for you at the moment).

I'm going to tag @Ljc because she's type 2 and on insulin, and also @Drummer because I know she had horrible side effects with standard type 2 meds, chucked them out, and got her blood sugar down with diet and exercise instead, so they both have some experience relevant to your situation.

 

[Ljc]

Hello @Hippo welcome to the forum. WOW you have done really well to get your Hb1ac down to 43 without meds. Imo providing the changes needed to control diabetes are not too onerous or restricting then doing it without diabetes meds is a good way to go .

Juliet is correct, those of us with T2 are usually only put on insulin when other meds fail to lower our BG (blood glucose) enough and for you at the moment insulin would be a total overkill, like using a cannon to swat a fly. I needed to go onto insulin because my Hb1ac was really high and my finger prick tests were up in the 20s the other meds were bad for my kidneys as they don’t work so well they also hardly helped in lowering my BG levels.

It seems to me that atm you really don’t need any diabetes medications. We have quite a few people on here who are managing their diabetes very well without any meds Drummer that Juliet has tagged is one of them .

 

[Drummer]

Hello - I used a meter to measure my after meal levels and eat a low carb diet - under 50 per day at first, now under 40 as I am just on the top edge of normal - I suspect that many years of glucose intolerance means that my 'glucostat' is stuck up at the high end, but I am officially in remission, and feel so much better these days.
I can eat well on the low carb diet - I only need to eat twice a day, and have stir fry or salad with berries and cream a couple of times a week. I have coffee with cream too, twice a day, and I add a small amount of salt and a little cinnamon to my morning mug, also I drink a mug of water four times a day to ensure hydration - I increased it to five or six during the hot days of summer this year.

 

[Hippo]

Sorry guys, I may have mislead you about me taking meds. I am still taking the Metformin because the GPs and nurses have told me that, to stop would be counter productive. I take 500mg with evening meal daily. I want to stop taking this because of the side effects but the Gps etc tell me that this is the best form of Diabetes meds. I have not been offered anything else to counter the side effects despite asking for this. I might add that I am also asthmatic and suffer with IBS.
Looking at the forums on here, I see various solutions that can be offered to ease the side effects but still my GP refuses to offer these. They don't offer any justification either.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I am still taking the Metformin because the GPs and nurses have told me that, to stop would be counter productive.

There are different medications, of course. (Including slow release metformin.) As you note, the alternatives are more expensive, but it does sound unreasonable not to consider them given your reactions.

 

[Ljc]

Sorry guys, I may have mislead you about me taking meds. I am still taking the Metformin because the GPs and nurses have told me that, to stop would be counter productive. I take 500mg with evening meal daily. I want to stop taking this because of the side effects but the Gps etc tell me that this is the best form of Diabetes meds. I have not been offered anything else to counter the side effects despite asking for this. I might add that I am also asthmatic and suffer with IBS.
Looking at the forums on here, I see various solutions that can be offered to ease the side effects but still my GP refuses to offer these. They don't offer any justification either.

Metformin is well known for its gastric side effects, tbh , though I am no medic I wouldn’t have thought one 500 mg would make much difference to your BG levels but it’s known to have other beneficial effects which may be why they want to keep you on it.

How. bad are your side effects, if it’s difficult to leave the house then I would stop them.

Their is a slow release version that some people tolerate better.
Metformin is best taken with a meal or directly afterwards.
Imo their is no reason why you can’t ask to trial doing without it for say three months to see if you maintain good BG levels.

 

[Hippo]

thanks again guys,
its really frustrating to have to keep making GP appointments (takes around 2-3 weeks each time). Then, only to be told that Metformin is the only answer. I have friends in the south of UK and Germany who are also afflicted with this type of Diabetes. They have been on controlled meds for around 18 months and only after 3 months of being diagnosed (none have side effects). All 8 of them have told me that the UK has pilot project areas where new and more robust drugs are being offered to Type 2 sufferers. And also with much less acknowledged side effects. So, I will return to the GP and ask again for a review. Thanks again for all your input guys. I will update as necessary. 😉

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

It might be worth asking for a referral to a hospital diabetes specialist nurse (not a surgery nurse, who may have done a short course on diabetes but will probably know less than you do about it - a hospital DSN is a proper expert). I don't know whether your surgery will agree, but if they do you would get more expert advice and if the hospital will prescribe you the slower acting version of Metformin or something like Gliclazide instead those are less likely to upset your stomach, and your GP is less likely to argue about your having them.

I wasn't actually sure from your original post whether you'd followed the advice to keep taking the Metformin or the advice to stop! If it were me I'd stop for a while and see how it goes, but I wouldn't do that without also limiting carbs and doing a lot of blood sugar testing before and a couple of hours after meals. Do you have a meter? If not it would be a good idea to get one, if you can - a lot of people here buy the Codefree because the test strips are relatively cheap - https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/ - if you get this, you will need more strips than it comes with, and also do make sure you select the option to say you have diabetes (which means you don't have to pay tax) and also select mmol/L, which is the measurement we use in the UK.