New member

[dai88y]

Hello everyone!
I have just joined after many years (16) living with type 2 diabetes.
My diabetic nurse put me on an additional tablet last week but it has really effected me badly. It is Empaglitlozin. I took 2 tablets on consecutive days as instructed but developed pain in my pelvis, excessive tiredness to the point of exhaustion and my blood sugar was 21 when I tested it on the second day. I phoned the doctor as the nurse was unavailable and she told me to stop taking it while continuing with the Metformin (4x 500 mg). She has made me an appt for Wednesday.
I am barely eating now as I am so worried about my sugar level! It was a major birthday on Friday too with surprise party and everything but felt I couldn’t really partake of the food and drink
Anyone else experienced the side effects with this tablet?
Apologies if this is not the correct place to post but I am new to message boards!!

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
Amanda

 

[Inka]

Welcome @dai88y 🙂 Sorry to hear your medication issue messed up your birthday. How’s your blood sugar now you’ve stopped the medication?

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

Sorry to hear that you are struggling with your diabetes management and the medication made you feel so unwell and put what I would imagine was quite a damper on your Birthday celebrations. Do you test your levels regularly? If so, what sort of readings are you getting now that you have stopped the Empagliflozin?

Have you been given any dietary advice over the years to help you manage your diabetes and if so what was that and how closely do you follow it? Unfortunately the NHS advice for Type 2 diabetes is rather behind the curve so if you have been following that advice, it may not have helped you too much

Perhaps you could give us an idea of the sort of things you typically eat and drink for breakfast, lunch and evening meal and we could see if there are any lower carb alternatives we could suggest which might help and give you more confidence to eat nutritious food which hopefully won't spike your levels too high. If however you are already following a low carb diet and still seeing very high levels, then it may be that you need insulin as your body is no longer producing enough itself. You should not worry about needing insulin as it is just replacing what your body used to make to balance your levels and it will make you feel better as high levels are horrid, but it can be a bit tricky finding the balance of doses with food, so if there is some room for appropriate dietary changes (and in fact eating nothing can push your BG levels up more than eating the right things in some cases) then that is the best option to try first.

 

[dai88y]

Welcome @dai88y 🙂 Sorry to hear your medication issue messed up your birthday. How’s your blood sugar now you’ve stopped the medication?

Still high 16+ and thank you for taking the time to reply x

 

[dai88y]

Hi and welcome.

Sorry to hear that you are struggling with your diabetes management and the medication made you feel so unwell and put what I would imagine was quite a damper on your Birthday celebrations. Do you test your levels regularly? If so, what sort of readings are you getting now that you have stopped the Empagliflozin?

Have you been given any dietary advice over the years to help you manage your diabetes and if so what was that and how closely do you follow it? Unfortunately the NHS advice for Type 2 diabetes is rather behind the curve so if you have been following that advice, it may not have helped you too much

Perhaps you could give us an idea of the sort of things you typically eat and drink for breakfast, lunch and evening meal and we could see if there are any lower carb alternatives we could suggest which might help and give you more confidence to eat nutritious food which hopefully won't spike your levels too high. If however you are already following a low carb diet and still seeing very high levels, then it may be that you need insulin as your body is no longer producing enough itself. You should not worry about needing insulin as it is just replacing what your body used to make to balance your levels and it will make you feel better as high levels are horrid, but it can be a bit tricky finding the balance of doses with food, so if there is some room for appropriate dietary changes (and in fact eating nothing can push your BG levels up more than eating the right things in some cases) then that is the best option to try first.

Well I have had the usual monitoring of my Hba1c which has been ok until this year - creeping up though hence the additional tablet! I have to confess to not being great at low carb eating and I am a vegetarian too - I obviously should have taken more care with my diet - I had some advice years ago when I was first diagnosed but have fallen off the wagon as time has gone on! I am learning more, now my blood sugar is so high, and I am reading up on it again. I really must make more effort, and yes, I reckon I'll end up on insulin as she did mention it at my last visit. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply it's greatly appreciated x

 

[rebrascora]

I think we all found low carb quite difficult at first because our culture and traditions are built around carb rich foods. Potatoes and bread were particularly difficult for me. Bread is a quick and convenient carrier for so many foods, it is mind boggling at first to imagine life without it and in fact some people manage on just a reduced portion. Personally I very rarely eat it these days except to be sociable when there is no choice, because I have found other things to eat that don't need bread, that I enjoy just as much, but the transition period was tough. I even feel quite disappointed on the odd occasion when I have it now that it isn't as good as I remember and I certainly don't crave it anymore. Potatoes I have a little less rarely but only a small portion, so I share a standard portion of fish and chips with my partner about once every 2 months. We half the fish and I have about 10 chips and it is enough. Breakfast is creamy Greek style natural yoghurt with a small portion of fruit, usually berries or something from the garden... plums, apricot, rasps, rhubarb and currently blackberries, with some mixed seeds and cinnamon. Lunch is often a chunk of nice cheese with half an apple. Evening meal is either a cooked low carb meal or a pot of olives with cheese (feta or manchego) or some veggie sticks with a sour cream and chive dip, or feta stuffed peppadew peppers and some nuts. Low carb meals are just bulked out with more veggies instead of potato or rice or pasta. I very rarely follow special recipes, but just cut out the high carb elements and replace they with lower carb options, so my chilli might be served on a bed of steamed shredded savoy cabbage cooked with a knob of butter, or green beans or broccoli. Sausages are serves with mashed cauliflower with a good dollop of cream cheese mashed in and maybe a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard. I had a bubble and squeak last week with onions, cabbage, mushrooms and butternut squash. I get lots of ideas from this forum for new and interesting things to eat and I have probably become more interested in food now and experiment more than I did before diagnosis.

I am actually Type 1 so I use insulin, but I have decided to stick with this low carb way of eating because there have been significant other health benefits for me, not least, improvement in skin (much less dry), much less joint pain, no more migraines which were a chronic and acute problem for more than 20 years, much less and more manageable food cravings and better mental health....Oh and better gut/bowel health. It was definitely worth the effort of getting to grips with it but I freely admit it was difficult at first. Seeing my levels come down was a big motivator though before I started on insulin. Once I started on insulin, I was already seeing all those other health benefits so I decided to stick with it.

 

[dai88y]

I think we all found low carb quite difficult at first because our culture and traditions are built around carb rich foods. Potatoes and bread were particularly difficult for me. Bread is a quick and convenient carrier for so many foods, it is mind boggling at first to imagine life without it and in fact some people manage on just a reduced portion. Personally I very rarely eat it these days except to be sociable when there is no choice, because I have found other things to eat that don't need bread, that I enjoy just as much, but the transition period was tough. I even feel quite disappointed on the odd occasion when I have it now that it isn't as good as I remember and I certainly don't crave it anymore. Potatoes I have a little less rarely but only a small portion, so I share a standard portion of fish and chips with my partner about once every 2 months. We half the fish and I have about 10 chips and it is enough. Breakfast is creamy Greek style natural yoghurt with a small portion of fruit, usually berries or something from the garden... plums, apricot, rasps, rhubarb and currently blackberries, with some mixed seeds and cinnamon. Lunch is often a chunk of nice cheese with half an apple. Evening meal is either a cooked low carb meal or a pot of olives with cheese (feta or manchego) or some veggie sticks with a sour cream and chive dip, or feta stuffed peppadew peppers and some nuts. Low carb meals are just bulked out with more veggies instead of potato or rice or pasta. I very rarely follow special recipes, but just cut out the high carb elements and replace they with lower carb options, so my chilli might be served on a bed of steamed shredded savoy cabbage cooked with a knob of butter, or green beans or broccoli. Sausages are serves with mashed cauliflower with a good dollop of cream cheese mashed in and maybe a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard. I had a bubble and squeak last week with onions, cabbage, mushrooms and butternut squash. I get lots of ideas from this forum for new and interesting things to eat and I have probably become more interested in food now and experiment more than I did before diagnosis.

I am actually Type 1 so I use insulin, but I have decided to stick with this low carb way of eating because there have been significant other health benefits for me, not least, improvement in skin (much less dry), much less joint pain, no more migraines which were a chronic and acute problem for more than 20 years, much less and more manageable food cravings and better mental health....Oh and better gut/bowel health. It was definitely worth the effort of getting to grips with it but I freely admit it was difficult at first. Seeing my levels come down was a big motivator though before I started on insulin. Once I started on insulin, I was already seeing all those other health benefits so I decided to stick with it.

Thank you - so many useful tips there that I will definitely try

 

[rebrascora]

Thank you - so many useful tips there that I will definitely try

Lots more tips and support on this forum as it is where I got all my help and inspiration from. The key thing for making low carb enjoyable for me was increasing fat, so double cream in my morning coffee and plenty of cheese and nuts and creamy Greek yoghurt. The fat keeps you feeling full and provides slow release energy and tastes good. Most of my veggies get a knob of butter or a dollop of cream cheese and my salads get a big dollop of cheese coleslaw and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Eggs are great if you like them. I make a 2 egg omelette with mushrooms and onions and courgettes and peppers and cheese and have it with a large salad and a good dollop of cheese coleslaw and if I have that instead of breakfast I don't need anything else until my evening meal and then sometimes just a snack. I like big meals. I don't like to feel starved or deprived but low carb doesn't mean you need to feel hungry or deprived once you learn how to go about it. Sometimes I make a similar 6 egg omelette and then cut it up into wedges and use as a crustless quiche for a snack or as an on the go breakfast or lunch box with salad.
I have a great curry recipe with cauliflower and halloumi that I love and have that either with Konjac rice (zero carb) or on a bed of steamed/microwaved veggies or just the curry on it's own as it already contains plenty of veg. I still eat a little chocolate occasionally, but it is 70% cocoa solids chocolate and I have it with a spoon of peanut butter to bulk it out and make it more satisfying. I have a packet of pork scratchings if I want a savoury snack. You might think "What about cholesterol?" but my cholesterol has come down since I started eating more fat like this despite a lot of it being saturated fat. I do however use soluble fibre supplements ... chia seeds and psyllium husk, which have improved my bowel health and toilet visits enormously (TMI I know) but soluble fibre is important for cholesterol and gut/bowel health and when you stop eating wholemeal bread and potatoes and porridge etc, you need to replace that fibre and I didn't find veggies alone provided enough, but many people here have found chia seeds a real revelation for their gut health. Not only that but they are high in Omega 3 fatty acids so a bit of a super food. Make sure to get the whole ones though, as they are pretty tasteless whereas the milled ones very rapidly started to smell and taste like cod liver oil....YUK!!