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Ricx83

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Type 2
Hi Everyone,
I was diagnosed with Type 2 about a year ago and started Metformin with the aim of reaching 4 tablets daily, however after 3 tablets a day I ended up suffering one of the more common side effects from what I can gather and was switched to a slow release version. I now take two tablets daily with this been reviewed on Wednesday. I don’t currently self test, however last week my Mother in Law was round and I felt ill, I had the shakes felt really tired and had a banging headache she persuaded me to use her test kit as she too is Type 2 (fresh needle thing obviously) the reading was 20.2mmol a couple of pints of water later and an hour or so of rest and it was down to 16.9 is this just down to diet? Is it worth mentioning Wednesday or do these things just happen? One last question, I do need to loose a large amount of weight but cannot find any type of diet that suits both weight loss and diabetic requirements the usual commercial diets seem to be high carb so not good for bloods does anyone have any suggestions please? Thank You
 
Hello and welcome @Ricx83

Low carb is the way to go, should sort you out in no time with any luck. You need to self test otherwise how will you know what's what?
 
I'm eating much as I used to but without the carbs. So, no bread, rice, noodles, pasta, potato etc. I went on a diet at the end of July (before being diagnosed) and coupled with more exercise (got myself an exercise bike) I've managed to loose two stone. Since dropping the carbs following diagnosis I've loosing even faster!
 
Ricx83 said:
Hi Everyone,
I was diagnosed with Type 2 about a year ago and started Metformin with the aim of reaching 4 tablets daily, however after 3 tablets a day I ended up suffering one of the more common side effects from what I can gather and was switched to a slow release version. I now take two tablets daily with this been reviewed on Wednesday. I don’t currently self test, however last week my Mother in Law was round and I felt ill, I had the shakes felt really tired and had a banging headache she persuaded me to use her test kit as she too is Type 2 (fresh needle thing obviously) the reading was 20.2mmol a couple of pints of water later and an hour or so of rest and it was down to 16.9 is this just down to diet? Is it worth mentioning Wednesday or do these things just happen? One last question, I do need to loose a large amount of weight but cannot find any type of diet that suits both weight loss and diabetic requirements the usual commercial diets seem to be high carb so not good for bloods does anyone have any suggestions please? Thank You
Click to expand...
Yes that was very high.
 
Hello @Ricx83 welcome to the forum.

Definitely tell the Dr no wonder you where feeling poorly,
ask for a meter to test but don`t hold your breath they
seem reluctant to give them to T2.

How will you know what your levels are without testing?
Let us know how you get on and ask any question you
like, take care.
 
Welcome to the forum @Ricx83

Sorry to hear of the difficulties you are experiencing.

BGs in the 20s can make you feel really grim, and they certainly suggest something isn’t right with your current diabetes treatment.

Do you have any idea of your approximate carb intake on an average day?

I think this can be a very helpful piece of the puzzle for Drs and diabetes nurses to assess what is going on, because they may be assuming that you are eating many more carbs than you are?

Certainly something to mention on Wednesday as it sounds like it needs investigation.
 
Thanks everyone for your advice. I will speak with doctor on Wednesday and see where we go from there..... keep you posted and thanks again
 
Hi @Ricx83 and welcome to the forum.

As others have mentioned, your reading was rather high. Can you give us more info about what you’d eaten and drunk that day and the day before perhaps. We may be able to point out some very obvious things to watch out for.
 
Hi @ColinUK,
Sorry I cannot remember I think I had Jacket Potatoes for Lunch with cheese which I thought was quite healthy, however after reading the posts Potatoes are high carbs which I now know are not good for blood sugars. I have learnt alit from these forums over the last 2 days and it has suprised me how much I have been doing wrong.
 
Ricx83 said:
Hi @ColinUK,
Sorry I cannot remember I think I had Jacket Potatoes for Lunch with cheese which I thought was quite healthy, however after reading the posts Potatoes are high carbs which I now know are not good for blood sugars. I have learnt alit from these forums over the last 2 days and it has suprised me how much I have been doing wrong.
Click to expand...
For many years I could tolerate a jacket potato but I can no longer can . The only way you would know for would be to test before and 2 hours after eating.
 
I'd suggest getting into self testing especially pre and post meal alongside keeping a food diary xx
 
Hi @Ricx83 and welcome from me as well. Don't beat yourself up about "doing wrong". You were just reacting to the sort of messages put out in general and you cannot be blamed for that.

To come back to the last point in your first post about a diet meeting the needs of losing weight and controlling blood glucose. Many on here have found that the low carb route has done just that and I would describe it as a lifestyle change rather than a diet. The starting point is to get yourself educated so that you can work out whether it will be a good option for you. So keep reading around the forum and ask questions about anything that does not make sense.
 
Hi @Ricx83 I would like to add in my support for trying a Low Carb Way Of Eating first before trying to cut calories.
When I went Low Carb I actually ate more calories (because of no longer eating Low Fat) than before, but still lost weigh in addition to gaining control of my Blood Glucose.
Low carbs keeps insulin low which allows the body to use its stored body fat for energy. High insulin won't allow it to do that!

Now this way of using Low Carb to lose weight doesn't work for everybody ( though for controlling BG it works for all normal Type 2's).. But since it is sustainable, often enjoyable and requires no starvation or unlimited willpower, it is an obvious good starting point.
All the very low calorie diet approaches reduce your resting metabolic rate, making it progressively harder to keep losing weight and then maintaining that weight loss. Hence the term Yoyo diets.
 
@ianf0ster Thanks for your advice. I am going to sit down with my Wife tonight and write out a list of Low Carb foods, as I have previously stated I have tried the commercial diets but with little or limited results so getting this Low Fat stuff and Skimmed milk out my head and eating normal everyday foods I think I can work with without the boredom and hopefully improve my health along the way too. Thanks again for your advice
 
Docb said:
Hi @Ricx83 and welcome from me as well. Don't beat yourself up about "doing wrong". You were just reacting to the sort of messages put out in general and you cannot be blamed for that.

To come back to the last point in your first post about a diet meeting the needs of losing weight and controlling blood glucose. Many on here have found that the low carb route has done just that and I would describe it as a lifestyle change rather than a diet. The starting point is to get yourself educated so that you can work out whether it will be a good option for you. So keep reading around the forum and ask questions about anything that does not make sense.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your advice, I will keep reading on, I know that not everything works for everyone but I have got to give it a try. On face value it appears to be something I can easily work with
 
The way I think of it is if I fancy a curry it's the curry I want not the rice that goes with it. So I cook rice for the family and I have a bowl of curry.
 
@adrian1der - Hear Hear!

When I was little I can well remember the other 3 members of my immediate family laughing at me, cos I used to eat the boring bits of meals first to get them out of the way (cos mom consistently expected us to clear our plates) so I could enjoy eating the more interesting things fully. The bread and butter served with the salad, first.

Didn't have such things as rice or pasta for dinner in our house in the 1950s so the most boring thing was always the boiled potatoes then! Stew was cooked in the oven, so when we had stew we also had a jacker spud with it. I'd scrape the spud out and get that down my neck soaked in the thin liquid then enjoy the well cooked beef and root veg and finish up with the lovely crunchy jackets! save the best till last. Hence on Sundays and a roast dinner - the roast pots were last.

Fruit cake - eat the cake and dried fruit, save the bits of chopped peel till last. Cherry cake - eat the cake, then the cherries.

I'd never heard of diabetes at that age.
 
Hi All
Firstly thanks to everyone of you your advice has been most helpful. I had my doctors appointment yesterday and the doctors have prescribed another tablet to take alongside the Metformin, this new tablet is called “Canaglifizin” which I will start today/tomorrow depending on when the pharmacist has it ready. I have also been given a test kit and asked to monitor bloods at various times of the day for 8 weeks and report back to the doctor either the results. However based on all the info regarding Low Carbs I have been following this for 2 days now and last night before bed my bloods were 9.9 and this morning was 10.2 and I actually feel like I have been to sleep last night so Thanks again guys, I’m gonna keep at this now and hopefully see the sugars drop and hopefully get energy levels back to near normal.
 
Hi @Ricx83, welcome to the forum. I've just read through this thread and second what has been said about eating low carb, and testing - it's great that they have given you a test kit as most type 2s have to fund their own, like I did. And I'm glad to hear that you are already seeing improvements! It's a great incentive to keep going when you can see the results.

If you haven't yet seen them there are lots of recipes and recommendations on the forum. A handy book to get is Carbs & Cals, which has pictures of different foods with their carb values and so on. I have an old paperback and it's still very useful. I think there's an app too if you're techy (I'm not!).

Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
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