Hi diagnosed 1 week ago

[Judgeged]

Hi folks, my name is Ged, I’m 57 and need educating.
I’m relatively newly diagnosed (1week) and up to three days ago I felt great, I instantly gave up sugar, bread and potatoes of all sorts when I realised that my blood glucose was 29.8 on my Safe AQ meter (it had been reading 4. Something or 5. Something for months) initially I was convinced my reading was a faulty meter, but no, what I was reading was a result of takeaways and immobility, we were eating about three takeaways a week and I was sat watching tv most of the time, I realised earlier on that there’s no one to blame but me and my lack of caring about what I put in my mouth ooh err mrs.
in a week my blood glucose level is now 6.4 (pre food) and 8.1 (post food, then t falls within 2 hours) I’m now on my eliptical trainer everyday (because I haven’t exercised for a long time) I’m starting off baby steps I’m currently up to 12 Minutes on level 8 and incrementally increasing the time every week by 1 minute.
I started this post saying up till 3 days ago I’ve felt great, well that is the truth, until I cheated and had two burgers and a milkshake from mcDonalds, since then my upper abdomen feels bloated and it’s really uncomfortable does anyone know what’s happening with my stomach is it the food or the fact I took the Metformin just before the food, thanks for any advice or help

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Judgeged

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but it sounds like you’ve got off to an amazing start! And huge congratulations on the reduction in your BG responses before/after food. Those look ideal!

I can’t answer your question about metformin from experience, as I’ve never taken it… but have read other members say it can help to take mid-meal rather than on an empty stomach?

It may also be a slight reaction to the very different nature of the food to what you’ve been eating recently? Those McD milkshakes are a whole meal’s worth of carbs in one go! (or a whole day’s worth for some of our members 😱 )

 

[Leadinglights]

I suspect your stomach was just feeling complete overload of carbohydrates from what you ate, hopefully your stomach will settle quickly. But taking the metformin mid meal is supposed to help if that was the cause, Some do suffer discomfort from Metformin but it sounds as if you had been ok up to then.
It is good you are getting a grip of your diet and staring some exercise as it will all help. Do have a read around the forum and the Learning Zone is a good resource as is the book or app Carbs and Cals as it give the carb value of various portions of a whole range of foods and meals which allows better choices.
For example your burgers would be about 30g carbs each and a medium milkshake 60g carb so no wonder you felt unwell as that is a big hit on carbs all in one meal.
Some people do have the occasional burger but ditch half the bun.
This link may also help you finding some good meal choices and give you a better understanding of what you need to do. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/ Low carb is suggested as being no more than 130g total carbs per day but is not NO carbs, it is choosing your carbs wisely.
It is a low carb approach which some people find successful. Others find a low calorie of shakes - based regime gives them a kick start. Whatever you choose has to be enjoyable otherwise it will not be sustainable.

 

[trophywench]

Ah well! Like most things in life we do that proves disastrous Ged - that at least has taught you a lesson - if nothing else! So learn from it and resolve not to do it again. Plus can I say - stop 'sitting on your bum' so much. You don't have to become a gym addict - just move consistently more, a bit of a walk, a bit of housework - it's all 'exercise' and it all helps.

 

[Vonny]

HI Jed, I too gave up all starchy carbs when I found out I had the big D, but I've found out since from this forum that it's not necessarily the best thing to do. Apparently if your BG drops too quickly it can cause vision issues. Luckily this wasn't the case for me, but it's something to be aware of. Gradual reduction in carbs is recommended.
As @trophywench says, just keeps moving a bit more. I gradually increased my steps to between 14 and 20k. Now that it's winter I'm struggling with motivation so I've just started The Conquerors Challenge and am walking from Hobbiton to Mordor Any extra you can do is helpful, even it it takes you to Mount Doom (apologies for any non-Tolkien addicts out there!)

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

I was all set to give you a big gold star for your opening post..... up until the last sentence ruined it. Those McFlurrys may well be the doom of civilization, especially on top of a burger.... assuming you ate the bun. If you ditched the bun, I can give you quarter of a gold star. 😉 Seriously though, we all lose it from time to time with our diet, but best if you can try to only lose it half way, not all the way plus some! I still remember the night I ate a whole packet of sea salt and balsamic Jacobs crackers and my levels hit 27 and I was panic stricken that I was going to have to go to hospital because my heart was pounding on my ribs to get out of my chest. Not sure if that was the sugar rush or the panic but it was horrible and I spent the whole night drinking pint after pint of water trying to bring it down again and respective toilet visits of course. Learned a valuable lesson and now if I am going to binge, I do it on low carb foods.

Hope you feel better soon. It may well be the Metformin which has upset your system taking it before food (never a good idea with Metformin) but that is an awful lot of carbs hitting your system all at once, so it may also be your body telling you that it can't cope with that food anymore. Hopefully it will help deter you in future. Plenty of nice low carb foods to enjoy once you get your head around it.

 

[ianf0ster]

As @trophywench says, only binge on low carb food - if you can manage to retain that much control. I know it's difficult after a lifetime of eating things that (at least now) harm us. I still occasionally binge on nuts or cheese and so much that I eat more calories than I would if I ate the higher carb snack that I'm trying to avoid. But my priority is my remission from T2D not my weight, 2 or 3lbs either way makes no real difference to me so long as it's only fluctuating not trending.

 

[42istheanswer]

I still sometimes go to McDonalds (on a low carb, and currently also reduced calorie diet) as my kids like it (and one is so fussy that having a "safe" place to eat out is important). However, rather than having what I used to have (medium meal deal with fries, full sugar coke, a cheesy side and maybe a McFlurry) I now have a burger (I do eat the bun!) and a coffee (black with a couple of sachets of milk as that's what I prefer) or a crispy chicken salad again with a coffee. Occasionally the cheesy snack but then not the burger, and have a salad or similar when I get home to fill me up. So it is still more carby than my usual meals now, but doesn't on its own push me over my aim of max 130g carbs per day. Because of the fat percentage it doesn't for me push my post meal BG too high either.

In my opinion, it's better for most people's psychological well being to allow yourself occasional treats, and try to keep them to being occasional and planned, rather than to tell yourself that you are never allowed X food again and then feeling that you have totally failed if you succumb to temptation, as that can lead to the spiralling of having more and more of the foods that you want to restrict due to feeling that it is already too late.

 

[trophywench]

Gordon Bennett! - if a person regards a McDonald's offering as a 'treat' - they can't have tasted many, many things I have and love - eg steak Diane, or Tournedos Rossini, or beef Wellington - none of which are cheap since they're all fillet steak and you need a decently bred butchered and aged fillet to start off with.

 

[42istheanswer]

I only like steak/beef well done and it isn't generally affordable on my budget anyway. A steak restaurant wouldn't work for my mentioned fussy child either, they don't eat meat....