Hi, I am new here and to diabetes

[angelthompsoncole]

Hi everyone my name is Angel and I have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I did not understand how important and how serious the disease is. I was prescribed Metformin and I took it for a little while then I just quit taking it, I don't know why, but I did. Last week Wednesday I noticed that my vision was very blurry and I thought that it was just my glasses, so I went to the eye doctor and he said to check my sugar and I did, it was 502. This was on Saturday I went to the ER and they gave me a shot of reg. insulin and a prescription for Metformin and sent me home. Monday I went to my family doctor, he also proscribed me Amaryl 2 mg. to help bring my sugar down. It is coming down slowly and my vision is still blurry. The meds are upsetting my stomach big time, I've had diarrhea since Sunday. I have also had a lose of appetite. I find it real hard to eat when your not hungry, but I know that I must. I have changed my diet from constantly eating fast foods to eating protein and veggies, I have cut out carbs. I was wondering if anyone else has had these symptoms or could help explain things. Thanks!!!

 

[Northerner]

Hi Angel, welcome to the forum 🙂

Metformin is notorious for causing stomach/gastric problems, and although these often ease as you become accustomed to it, many people find that a slow-release version of the drug is much kinder (Glucophage SR, but may have another product name where you are).

Blurry vision is also frequently experienced when blood glucose levels have been high for a period - your eyes should return to normal once you have got your levels under better control, and the advice given is not to buy any spectacles or contact lenses whilst they are like this as you will not need them in a few weeks.

We always recommend reading Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter when you are new to diabetes, plus the excellent Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker gives a very good introduction to looking after your diabetes well. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have! You may notice that some things on our site are unfamiliar as this is primarily a UK site - I notice that your blood glucose measurement is in mg/dl, over here we measure in mmol/l, so your 502 mg/dl is equivalent to 27.8 mmol/l here (you divide your numbers by 18 to get ours).

 

[jalapino]

Welcome angel....and I must say what a lovely name 🙂 I did notice you said you are type 2 but your profile says type 1? metformin is a bugger on ya tummy....I still get upset tummy but lots of peeps get used to it...so good luck with it all and keep in touch with the forum 🙂

 

[LeeLee]

Hello Angel, welcome. A lot of us go silly after diagnosis and hope it will go away. After an initial change of diet and losing 70lbs, I came off the rails and gained half of it back - and my blood sugar levels went back up. After going on metformin and losing loads more weight, things are looking good.

Metformin's nasty effects usually improve after a few weeks. Make sure you always have it with food. I find that eating a low-carb meal with it reduces the 'wind machine' effect. As Northey says, the slow release version is better for some people. Also taking charcoal tablets at the same time as the metformin can help a bit.

Good luck - you will soon get used to your new diet, and hopefully your vision will improve. Keep smiling! 🙂

 

[Mark T]

Welcome to the forum Angel 🙂

 

[KateR]

Hi Angel, welcome to the forum and the windy brigade. Seriously you do get used to it after a while.

 

[Caroline]

Hello and welcome. You do get used to metformin after a while. It is an appetite killer in many, me included. It is hard to eat a proper meal when you don't feel like eating. Give it a little time and if you are still having problems go see your doctor and see if you can getthe slow release version.

One of the things I have found is if I have too many carbs in my meal I get the fall out a cople of hours later so have cut down carbs quite a bit.