IBS and Type 2 diabetes

[SilverLady]

Hello
I have been diagnosed as having familial Type 2 diabetes and have tried to keep the sugar levels down through diet and exercise but from my last blood sugar test (14.01.2021) my doctor has told me that I have to start taking medication of metformin - I have IBS and was informed from an Educational session that I had done online with my local NHS trust that having IBS I should ask to have the slow release metformin - this I have done and will start taking this next week. My main problem with having IBS the foods I eat regularly stop me getting severe IBS symptoms (I take loperamide daily to help) - grapes, bananas, ham and tomatoes and bioyoghurt which I have for my lunch at work are not good for me as they contain too much sugar - I am unable to eat wheat, dairy products, bread (white and brown), spicy foods, porridge to name some. When I have severe IBS I take Buscopan.
I am at a loss - when I feel hungry I grab a biscuit or snicker bar - I am trying my best to avoid - its not easy.
I have joined this forum for help /advice.

 

[grovesy]

Hello
I have been diagnosed as having familial Type 2 diabetes and have tried to keep the sugar levels down through diet and exercise but from my last blood sugar test (14.01.2021) my doctor has told me that I have to start taking medication of metformin - I have IBS and was informed from an Educational session that I had done online with my local NHS trust that having IBS I should ask to have the slow release metformin - this I have done and will start taking this next week. My main problem with having IBS the foods I eat regularly stop me getting severe IBS symptoms (I take loperamide daily to help) - grapes, bananas, ham and tomatoes and bioyoghurt which I have for my lunch at work are not good for me as they contain too much sugar - I am unable to eat wheat, dairy products, bread (white and brown), spicy foods, porridge to name some. When I have severe IBS I take Buscopan.
I am at a loss - when I feel hungry I grab a biscuit or snicker bar - I am trying my best to avoid - its not easy.
I have joined this forum for help /advice.

As differnt people have differnt triggers for IBS. I would also if they have not suggested take any suggested increase of the Slow Release Metformin,slowly too. I was advised by my first Diabetic Nurse to take with my largest meal.

 

[SilverLady]

As differnt people have differnt triggers for IBS. I would also if they have not suggested take any suggested increase of the Slow Release Metformin,slowly too. I was advised by my first Diabetic Nurse to take with my largest meal.

Thank you my diabetic nurse did say to me about taking one tablet for 2 weeks before doing the full dose (1 at breakfast and another at evening meal) but I will bear in mind perhaps to start in the evening to start with for the first 2 weeks.

 

[mikeydt1]

i have a different form of bowel disease and was first put on metformin but it played total havoc so then tried the sr version with no joy since then have been put on to 2 medications which my body and bowel can tolerate.

if you start to get any weird problems then please contact your doctors.

 

[trophywench]

Well bananas and grapes are both very high carbohydrate so yeah, cut them out by all means - but neither ham nor tomatoes are contra indicated by diabetes - an the assumption that you neither eat half a pigs worth of ham nor half a ton of tomatoes at one sitting. Ham = meat = protein - no carb, tomatoes = mainly water! we can't digest the seeds anyway so they come straight out the other end, and they can also be too acidic for folk with eg rheumatoid arthritis - but not diabetes. If your IBS allows you to eat them, I've never ever heard 'not suitable for diabetes sufferers. All salad veg is fine as far as I know - though maybe your IBS can't cope with 'green leafy' veg? I'm likewise entirely baffled by someone saying you can't eat Bio yoghurt - unless it's got a dollop of what's AKA jam in it? (ie sweetened fruit puree)

Now - berries in general have far less carb than most other fruit, but not sure what amount of berries your IBS can tolerate?

Porridge has shedloads of carb anyway so isn't at all healthy when you have diabetes, and as most T2s have greater insulin resistance first thing in a morning - to eat it at breakfast time is a double NO! Bread has a lot anyway too so you don't need to cut down on that - it's half the battle for some folk who are addicted to bread, so already not eating it means you're in front of them already!

You - like all of us here - need to treat yourself as a one man clinical trial and see what your body can tolerate and what it can't, same a you had to when you were diagnosed with IBS, except the tolerance which diabetes has for food X isn't shown physically and plainly like with IBS. No, it's only demonstrated by the glucose circulating round your body in your blood. So, get a meter and test your blood at home for yourself - you'll probably find the advice in the following link a reasonable way to do this and inform you what you can tolerate OK and what you can't

Type 2 Diabetes - A Personal Journey: Test, Review, Adjust (loraldiabetes.blogspot.com)

 

[AndBreathe]

@SilverLady - you mention having to avoid dairy produce, but you regularly have bioyoghurt. Is the bioyoghurt plant based, or is your dairy issue bit more specific?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @SilverLady

Sorry to hear that you now have to balance two demanding conditions, each with their own dietary requirements.

As other have said, managing T2 diabetes by diet is often largely based around discovering the amounts and types of carbohydrates that your metabolism can cope with, and several of the things that your IBS struggles with (bread, wheat products, porridge) are quite likely to be best avoided in BG terms too.

Possibly a good first step is to meep a food diary for a few weeks noting the carbohydrate content of all your meals and snacks. There is no magic target number as individuals vary widely in what works for them, but many members find aiming for 100-120g of carbs a day to be a good starting point.

 

[SilverLady]

i have a different form of bowel disease and was first put on metformin but it played total havoc so then tried the sr version with no joy since then have been put on to 2 medications which my body and bowel can tolerate.

if you start to get any weird problems then please contact your doctors.

Thank you - I will