Dave England
New Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi everyone,
I am a 63-year old retired Registered nurse living in Spain (I also have a BSc (Honours) degree in Biology). I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 5 years ago. I was initially treated with Metformin, but despite being careful with my diet, my blood sugar suddenly shot up to 420 mg/dl (23.3 mmol/l in UK money). I was then put on Metformin with Sitagliptin, but after 18 months (three years ago), I suffered a severe reaction - nausea, vomiting and a complete loss of appetite. My medication was changed to Sitagliptin morning and evening and Gliclazide at midday. The symptoms slowly abated but during the next 6 weeks I lost 15 kilos in weight (I was 125 kilos to start). Despite this happening, I felt really well whilst eating next to nothing. Since then, my fasting blood glucose, (tested at home) has never gone above 110 mg/dl (6.1 mmol/l) and is normally in the range 85-95 mg/dl, and my HbA1c has been around 6%, which, having read about the research by Newcastle University, I think may have more to do with the 8 weeks ultra-low calorie diet resulting from the Metformin reaction than the medication. Unfortunately, exercise is difficult due to a number of orthopaedic problems from too much lifting as a nurse (the 20 years or so I played rugby has nothing to do with it).
I am a 63-year old retired Registered nurse living in Spain (I also have a BSc (Honours) degree in Biology). I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 5 years ago. I was initially treated with Metformin, but despite being careful with my diet, my blood sugar suddenly shot up to 420 mg/dl (23.3 mmol/l in UK money). I was then put on Metformin with Sitagliptin, but after 18 months (three years ago), I suffered a severe reaction - nausea, vomiting and a complete loss of appetite. My medication was changed to Sitagliptin morning and evening and Gliclazide at midday. The symptoms slowly abated but during the next 6 weeks I lost 15 kilos in weight (I was 125 kilos to start). Despite this happening, I felt really well whilst eating next to nothing. Since then, my fasting blood glucose, (tested at home) has never gone above 110 mg/dl (6.1 mmol/l) and is normally in the range 85-95 mg/dl, and my HbA1c has been around 6%, which, having read about the research by Newcastle University, I think may have more to do with the 8 weeks ultra-low calorie diet resulting from the Metformin reaction than the medication. Unfortunately, exercise is difficult due to a number of orthopaedic problems from too much lifting as a nurse (the 20 years or so I played rugby has nothing to do with it).
