husband has type 2 diabetes

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v1ckidow

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my husband was told yesterday that he has type 2 diabetes. the drs put him on 500 mg metformin tablets and told him to take 1 a day for a week then 2 a day then if needed 3 a day. Is that normal? His reading hi after lunch around 2:50pm then around 23 after evening meal.
His readings so far are:
after breakfast yesterday 20.1,
after lunch yesterday hi, 1 tablet taken after reading
after dinner yesterday 23.5,
first thing today 23.7 had food and 1 tablet after
breakfast today 20.2
lunch today hi
what should i do to help him bring levels down?
 
Hi V1cky its very early days for your husband yet, it is normal yes about the info you gave about Metformin thats how i started on it anyway.Have you been given any information on diet and things like staying clear of carbs which can be found in pasta,bread etc etc.Its shows alot for you to have come on here and joined here so pleased you found this forum quickly 🙂
 
Hi, and welcome to the forum 🙂 Sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis. It does sound as though his levels are pretty high at the moment, but that's not unusual so soon after diagnosis - the good news is that things should get much better soon, and you have now found lots of friendly, experienced people who will do their best to help with any questions or concerns you may have, so please do ask if anything is bothering or confusing you.

Diabetes is chiefly about carbohydrates, so it's important to try and keep portions of these small as you start to learn how they affect his blood sugar levels. I would suggest reading Jennifer's Advice and Maggie Davey's letter, and if you can get a copy of Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker to help you through these difficult early stages 🙂

How soon after eating are you taking the tests? Ideally, you need to know the value before eating and then one or two hours after eating so you can work out how much they have risen by. It will take a little while for the medication to start working, so don't expect things to come down overnight, it should happen gradually over the coming weeks. Any regular exercise will help bring levels down also, as will losing any excess weight if this is a problem at all for him.

Remember, you're not alone, we will do our best to help! 🙂
 
not gone over diet yet i thought carbs where good for him as there on the list we where given, i just want to help him get it under control. i just sit and google for help with it as this is all new and i'm not sure what to do with diet ect for him? 😱 checking his levels just under 2 hrs after food, its hard as he drives a taxi for a living so he has to pop back home for me to check them.
 
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v1ckidow said:
not gone over diet yet i thought carbs where good for him as there on the list we where given, i just want to help him get it under control. i just sit and google for help with it as this is all new and i'm not sure what to do with diet ect for him? 😱
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Most carbs can cause alot of spikes for diabetics spikes meaning a high blood sugar reading, theres no reason why we cant have a little of things but type 2 is all about keeping it in moderation,the links Northerer has given will be a great start, the Gretcher Becker book is amazing and will help alot x

It will be a lot of confusion to start with we have all been there, your now a member of this forum so use it to your advantage I swear you will be advising newby partners of diabetics before long x the first thing you did was join here for that I admire you and your husband is lucky to have a caring wife as you are
 
Hi V and welcome to the forum. Carbohydrates are the worst things for raising the levels. At this stage it would be useful to reduce the carbs so that his levels start to come down, at a steady pace, not by a sudden large amount.

Certain types of carbs are worse than others but simply if its white bread, rice or a breakfast cereal, then change it for wholemeal and even then a smaller portion, but to be honest even wholemeal was too much for me. Go easy on the potatoes and pasta too.

My problem was worse at breakfast, and I loved toast, but soon found with the help of a meter and some testing strips, toast was no for me. I found out about Burgen Soya and Linseed bread from the forum and changed to that with an egg, or a slice of ham etc and all was much better.

Its hard at first to understand it all, I'm 8months in, and can at last cope with it much better than at first when it was all a huge puzzle. Ask away on here as you get more into it, there is always someone to help.🙂
 
thanks steff, what sort of things should he be eating as his loaded with carbs since yesterday because we thought they where ok, just want his levels around normal if they can.
not sure why i thought bread, pasta, rice ect was good for him now just going by what i've read. how did i miss that 😱
 
v1ckidow said:
not gone over diet yet i thought carbs where good for him as there on the list we where given, i just want to help him get it under control. i just sit and google for help with it as this is all new and i'm not sure what to do with diet ect for him? 😱 checking his levels just under 2 hrs after food, its hard as he drives a taxi for a living so he has to pop back home for me to check them.
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Try not to get overwhelmed by it all V1cki, it will come in time. Many people find that following the principles of the GL Diet (Glycaemic Load) is good for people with diabetes, as it teaches about food that will release it's energy slowly and steadily. I'd suggest The GL Diet for Dummies. It might sound complicated, but it's not really and you'll soon get the hang of it - we are always here to help 🙂
 
ok so carbs are a no go area? the info we got from the diabetic nurse and diabetes.org.uk website both say plenty of starchy carbohydrate foods. now i'm confused please put me in the right direction as i'm not sure how to look after him. :(
 
v1ckidow said:
thanks steff, what sort of things should he be eating as his loaded with carbs since yesterday because we thought they where ok, just want his levels around normal if they can.
not sure why i thought bread, pasta, rice ect was good for him now just going by what i've read. how did i miss that 😱
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Well things like nuts are good to snack on but as i said not to many, other things for breakfast that are good for me anyways are poached or scrambled egg with bacon all grilled of course, the breakfast meal can be the hardest to get alot of the cereals out there are a pain in the backside, but they is a bread out there called burgen bread which is good I eat that alot usually toast it and have scrambled egg on top x

Someone with a whole load more of knowledge will give you a more comprehensive idea of foods to eat etc
 
v1ckidow said:
ok so carbs are a no go area? the info we got from the diabetic nurse and diabetes.org.uk website both say plenty of starchy carbohydrate foods. now i'm confused please put me in the right direction as i'm not sure how to look after him. :(
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Carbs are not out of the window, but it's important to choose the ones that your husband can tolerate well, and in the right quantities. I would count up the carbs in each meal - you can get a great little book like the Collins Gem - Carb Counter to help, or there is a book called Carbs & Cals: A Visual Guide to Carbohydrate & Calorie Counting for People with Diabetes which has pictures of meals with their carb and calorie counts - lot of people here use it. With this information you can see what the total for each day is and would be a good idea to try and keep this to around 100g-150g per day until you learn more. 🙂
 
so just do the level 2 hrs after tea and reading 17.6, all tea was was basmati rice, chilli con carnie and sugar free squash, now confused what meals i should be cooking?? :confused:
 
v1ckidow said:
so just do the level 2 hrs after tea and reading 17.6, all tea was was basmati rice, chilli con carnie and sugar free squash, now confused what meals i should be cooking?? :confused:
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Hi Vicki was the chilli home cooked or was the sauce from the jar? ive started making alot of home cooked meals as theyre so much better then shop bought as you can see what your putting in there.The rice can be a struggle to but brown rice is a good alternative to basmati etc, dont put to much pressure on yourself V1cky your learning and it will all come to you x
 
Welcome to the forum v1ckidow 🙂

The problem with the advice from people like Diabetes UK and many diabetes nurses is that they seem to set the advice level for diabetics on insulin. No one with an ounce of common sense is ever going to advise someone with essentially a glucose-tolerance issue to eat more of the stuff.

DUK and others advise lots of starchy carbs because the alternative is to eat lots of protein and fats. Unfortunately they don't draw a distinction between unhealthy saturated and trans fats and mostly ok and in some cases essential unsaturated fats.

Interesting they only put your husband on metformin if he is getting 23's and HI's. I would of half expected something a bit stronger! Metformin isn't that effective at lowering blood glucose levels by itself!
 
v1ckidow said:
so just do the level 2 hrs after tea and reading 17.6, all tea was was basmati rice, chilli con carnie and sugar free squash, now confused what meals i should be cooking?? :confused:
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What was the level before tea?

17.6 isn't all that bad if the pre-level was 15. It would be more shocking if he had started from a 5 or 6.
 
Steff said:
Hi Vicki was the chilli home cooked or was the sauce from the jar? ive started making alot of home cooked meals as theyre so much better then shop bought as you can see what your putting in there.The rice can be a struggle to but brown rice is a good alternative to basmati etc, dont put to much pressure on yourself V1cky your learning and it will all come to you x
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rice was out of a packet that i just microwave and the chilli con carnie was already in the tin from asda as we did mot have long for tea with us working and the kids at home.x
 
Hi Vickie, I was diagnosed diabetic in 1988. I went into hospital and was given insulin. I felt a lot better in 15 mins. Three days later I was discharged on tablets. I tested my bloods, with readings like your hubbys, and rang the diabetic nurse after two days. She came around and put me on insulin there and then. Next day I felt a whole lot better as my readings came down. My eyes went blurred vision and had eight weeks off work as the eyes gave up the sugar. Those readings of your hubbys are far too high. Get him an appointment with your Doc or better still the diabetic nurse (she knows what to do and is more experienced with diabetics). Dont worry keep calm and note down the readings. He should never have been allowed out with those readings. MM
 
Austin Mini said:
Hi Vickie, I was diagnosed diabetic in 1988. I went into hospital and was given insulin. I felt a lot better in 15 mins. Three days later I was discharged on tablets. I tested my bloods, with readings like your hubbys, and rang the diabetic nurse after two days. She came around and put me on insulin there and then. Next day I felt a whole lot better as my readings came down. My eyes went blurred vision and had eight weeks off work as the eyes gave up the sugar. Those readings of your hubbys are far too high. Get him an appointment with your Doc or better still the diabetic nurse (she knows what to do and is more experienced with diabetics). Dont worry keep calm and note down the readings. He should never have been allowed out with those readings. MM
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Austin, you're forgetting her husband is a taxi driver and it may affect his livelihood to go on insulin straightaway. Insulin would bring the levels down quickly, but that doesn't mean he should necessarily be put on it straightaway - the doctor will have much more information to hand than we do so at this early stage.
 
Mark T said:
What was the level before tea?

17.6 isn't all that bad if the pre-level was 15. It would be more shocking if he had started from a 5 or 6.
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didn't check before tea so not sure, dr only gave him the tablets as his fasting bloods where 15 on the first and 17.5 on the second and an average of 23.6 over a month or so we where told so not sure.
as this is all new to us both i'm checking his level first thing in the morning the 2hrs after food as i know how to use the readers because of family history i had to do it for my little sister as she was blind from birth while mum sorted the insulin out. just not sure how to deal with type 2 or what meals are best.
all meal plans welcome as i've hit a wall with what to get ready...😱
 
v1ckidow said:
didn't check before tea so not sure, dr only gave him the tablets as his fasting bloods where 15 on the first and 17.5 on the second and an average of 23.6 over a month or so we where told so not sure.
as this is all new to us both i'm checking his level first thing in the morning the 2hrs after food as i know how to use the readers because of family history i had to do it for my little sister as she was blind from birth while mum sorted the insulin out. just not sure how to deal with type 2 or what meals are best.
all meal plans welcome as i've hit a wall with what to get ready...😱
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How about an omelette? 🙂
 
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