Hi!. Suffering on Ozempic (I think..)

Jason592

Jason592

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
hi :) (This might be a bit of a waffle but thanks for reading if you make it to the end!)

I've been type 2 before, about 10 years ago but I lost 8 stone back then and my GP told me that I was no longer in the diabetic range. I was suppose to be taking Metformin at the time as well be I didn't.

To cut a long story short, "life" happened and around August last year I had a blood test and was told my level was around 80 so I was prescribed Metformin again but, again, I neglected it until around November when I was urinating so frequently I think i 'woke up' to an extent and started taking it properly.

What didn't help was getting diagnosed with Covid in late December. At the hospital, they gave me another blood test and my level was still too high so I ended up being admitted and was there for 5 days while they sorted me out.

I was given Lipitor and Ramipril to go along with the Metformin and also the Humalog Insulin Pens to use twice a day. My GP nurse also prescribed me Empagliflozin a couple of weeks later as well and I've taken everything i'm supposed to take without fail.

Now just over a month ago my appointment came through for my local Diabetes support clinic so I went and after talking, the nurse asked me if i'd be interested in going on Ozempic as it was only once a week instead of twice a day. Like many of the threads I've read here, she started me on 0.25 with the intention of moving up to 0.50 and then 1.

She also explained to me that one of the side effects, especially if you ate too much, would be diarrhoea but I was happy to go ahead and try it though. And that's been what i've been suffering from for the past 10 days or so, although, rather weirdly, everything was completely fine over the weekend !. I was actually moved to 1000mg slow release Metformin last week to see if that made a difference going to twice a day, but it hasn't really.

So I was just wondering if anyone had experienced the same and if you maybe had any practical examples of the amount of food you can eat to prevent these side effects ?

I appreciate that's very much a "how long is a piece of string" question but any advice would be most welcome. I've read about a few people saying a low carb diet helped so that's certainly something I want to look at. I know probably a lot of my problem is portion size because when I look at some of the plates of food I've had over the past month or two I often think that it's far too much so I suppose it would help to have some examples.

If you've made it this far without falling asleep, thankyou :)
 
Hello @Jason592 welcome to the forum. Sorry I can’t help re the Ozempic as I have never tried it. just wanted to say hi and give your post a bump up.

Am I right in that you are off all the other diabetes meds other than the Ozempic and Metformin .

I do know that having had Corvid 19 it can adversely affects our glucose levels often for quite a while afterwards , even if fully recovered, which I hope you are, fully recthat is.
 
Hi Jason592,

Just wanted to pop in and say hi! I can't advise on foods and meds but some on the forum has said that this effects settle after a few weeks. I know that doesn't help now so may be worth double checking with your GP if there's anything that can be done?

I also wonder if there are any specifics on eating too much... Is it foods that are high in fat and how much is too much? Worth another chat me thinks :)
 
Hello. I thought I’d say hi and that I made it to the end of your post and I take ozempic myself. Beyond that I’m not much use, as whilst I was advised to reduce portions when starting it I don’t remember any specifics being given and I haven’t had any side effects myself. It does actually make me not fancy fatty foods though so maybe you could experiment with reducing fat and see if that helps any
 
I made it to the end too. I can't comment on your prescription but have been struggling with portion control over the past 2 months. The Carbs & Cals book gives you a visual of how much of a food stuff looks like on a plate as well as carb/cal info and you may find this helpful. Also keeping a food diary, painful as it may be. From that you can look into fat and carb content of your meals. Hope you get to grips with it soon.
 
Welcome to the forum @Jason592

Hope you can find a way for Ozempic to work for you, and the the side effects begin to settle down.

I think the idea of a food diary might be really helpful. Be brutally honest! Note down everything you eat and drink. It can be especially helpful to estimate the amount of carbohydrate in the meals and snacks to give you an idea of which foods are the main sources of carbs in your menu.

Then, as you have suggested, you will be able to see how your portion sizes are reflected in your carb intake - which might provide some targets to work on for carb reduction?
 
Thankyou all for your nice welcomes and replies :). I'll "at" you instead of doing a monster multi-quote which annoys me anyway!

@Ljc I'm currently on the slow release Metformin, Lipitor, Empagliflozin and Ramipril as well as the Ozempic needle. So I rattle when i walk :). And I was incredibly lucky to only have a mild dose of Covid. I also suffer from Sleep Apnea which would have really been a problem if things had been any worse, but thankfully i'm fully over it now.

@Cherrelle DUK I've been trying to read my food labels again and avoid anything overly high in fat. I don't know where I heard it, but many lifetimes ago I remember hearing (or reading) that if something is 15-20 grams of fat or less per 100 grams then it is meant to be properly "low fat" so I've been trying to go by that but it doesn't seem to be helping.

@EllsBells I'll have a look at that book, thankyou :)

I'll give you a good idea of how things are with food and me and portion control, and also my mum. I spoke to her earlier tonight and because I'd been waiting in all day for her doctor to phone me, I told her i'd decided to have some fish finger sandwiches for my lunch.

She asked me how many, and I said I'd had two with four fish fingers in each so that's four slices of bread and eight fish fingers. Now, to me, that's completely normal because that's what i've always had. But my mum said that it wasn't enough :). But then she's always been a "feeder" to an extent - she's always been one of those mums who always likes to make sure we're well fed with plenty of food.

But then the devil on my shoulder says that it's far too much and that most "normal" people would have two slices of bread with maybe two or three fish fingers at most. But then my mum will often pick up a frozen dinner for two if we're out that she wants to buy me and she'll ask me if that's enough for me as well - a dinner for two.

But then I've always had a weird relationship with food. I have no interest in it - it bores me. So that's why I find it easier to go by other people's examples and routines so I don't really have to think about it. That's why I'm definitely going to have a look at the Carbs & Cals book.

Sorry for waffling again :)
 
Jason592 said:
Thankyou all for your nice welcomes and replies :). I'll "at" you instead of doing a monster multi-quote which annoys me anyway!

@Ljc I'm currently on the slow release Metformin, Lipitor, Empagliflozin and Ramipril as well as the Ozempic needle. So I rattle when i walk :). And I was incredibly lucky to only have a mild dose of Covid. I also suffer from Sleep Apnea which would have really been a problem if things had been any worse, but thankfully i'm fully over it now.

@Cherrelle DUK I've been trying to read my food labels again and avoid anything overly high in fat. I don't know where I heard it, but many lifetimes ago I remember hearing (or reading) that if something is 15-20 grams of fat or less per 100 grams then it is meant to be properly "low fat" so I've been trying to go by that but it doesn't seem to be helping.

@EllsBells I'll have a look at that book, thankyou :)

I'll give you a good idea of how things are with food and me and portion control, and also my mum. I spoke to her earlier tonight and because I'd been waiting in all day for her doctor to phone me, I told her i'd decided to have some fish finger sandwiches for my lunch.

She asked me how many, and I said I'd had two with four fish fingers in each so that's four slices of bread and eight fish fingers. Now, to me, that's completely normal because that's what i've always had. But my mum said that it wasn't enough :). But then she's always been a "feeder" to an extent - she's always been one of those mums who always likes to make sure we're well fed with plenty of food.

But then the devil on my shoulder says that it's far too much and that most "normal" people would have two slices of bread with maybe two or three fish fingers at most. But then my mum will often pick up a frozen dinner for two if we're out that she wants to buy me and she'll ask me if that's enough for me as well - a dinner for two.

But then I've always had a weird relationship with food. I have no interest in it - it bores me. So that's why I find it easier to go by other people's examples and routines so I don't really have to think about it. That's why I'm definitely going to have a look at the Carbs & Cals book.

Sorry for waffling again :)
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I think as you realise, there's scope to improve your diet and reduce portion sizes but the good news is that hopefully that will help with the side effects. I eat a normal carb diet i don't low carb, but if i was having a fish finger sandwich i'd have two slices of Hovis wholemeal bread (2x15g carb) and 3 fish fingers (3x5g for mine) so 45g carb. I'd probably add some salad to help balance it out. That would be my normal amount not my reducing portion sizes intake.

A good place to start might be keeping the diary of food and side effects, but alongside that working to make your meals balanced, so including a good protein and vegetable as well as the carbs etc.
 
I think normal would be 1 sandwich with 2 or 3 fingers so it sounds like it's quantity that is the issue for you! With any items you consume I think the breakdown is as follows:
low fat = fewer than 5g per 100g
low carb = fewer than 10g per 100g
Lots of low or reduced fat products have increased sugars to make up the flavour so it's up to you on what method of diet you want to follow (not your mother's though ;))
First step is definitely a diary and then make gradual changes that are sustainable going forward.
 
I did buy the Carbs & Cals app for my iPhone last night and found the pictures of the portion sizes extremely useful, especially with the carbs and fat information.

Although I had another horrible night suffering from diarrhoea again. It was at least 7 trips to the toilet and it got to a point where I put the heating on and turned the radiator on in the bathroom, as well as bringing my phone with me so I could at least be warm and have some relaxing music on !

I can't go on like this much longer though. I just can't go anywhere or even think of doing any kind of walking or exercise.

At least with the twice-daily Humalog pens, I could actually go out and start walking. I'd slowly built up my distances I was walking and I'd been doing a mile to a mile and a half most days with the plan on carrying on going a bit further every so often to really get back in to it but that's all out of the window at the moment.

It's a bit of a self-pity rant but I'm still feeling a bit sorry for myself after last night :)
 
I think that most people would be in the same position - that sounds horrendous. Perhaps contact your DN and talk to them about it. There's diarrhoea and diarrhoea. Fingers crossed your tummy settles soon!
 
Sorry you’re still feeling rubbish. Did the upset stomach just come on in the night? If you were ok in the day and unwell at night then does what you had for dinner give any clues as to what’s causing the stomach issues?
 
I had an inclination that i would have problems in the late afternoon as I was bringing up rather foul smelling burps. I also had my first dose of the vaccine yesterday as well but I don't think that was the cause.

I suppose, once again, it's down to the amount I ate yesterday more than anything. Maybe it wasn't that much but maybe if my stomach and insides are on a bit of a hair trigger at the moment, maybe it was still too much.

Will definitely be ringing the nurse tomorrow though.
 
Well I've just spoken to the nurse and we're going to go back to the 500mg Metformin, but only once a day for a week or so to see how things go and then maybe increase it from there.

She said that the problems were almost certainly related to the Metformin and not the Ozempic needle as I'd still be getting them if it was, but then I've hardly eaten anything since Tuesday as it is so I maybe wouldn't be so sure about that.

But the prescription has been sent out anyway so we'll see what happens.
 
Fingers crossed for you
 
Thanks. Thing is, i haven't taken any of my medication since Tuesday and I honestly feel more human than I've done in weeks. I understand fully it's not ideal and I'll likely start it back up again soon, but aside from the expected side effects of the covid jab, I feel pretty good.
 
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