Hi. I was diagnosed in September 2020 and I have had no support (during covid) other than a telephone consult to tell me what my blood level is and how much metformin to take. I had my first face to face in April this year and although it was useful at the time, I am now feeling very low as I am on 4 metformin a day (2am and 2pm) and my recent bloods show no change. I have been referred to the Tier 3 weight loss service (back in April) but they are so behind they are just dealing with March referrals. I am now worried that my BG is not changing. I was 7.3 in January on 1 metformin and increased to 3 metformin. April I was 7.0 and increased to 4 metformin and my recent reading was 7.0 again. I am scared as to what happens now. That's me.
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- Thread starter Jmiss
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Being totally honest....not really. I have a sweet tooth and like bread. I weight 17stone the heaviest I have ever been. I ride my bike to work twice a week, walk my dog and try to do 5,000-8,000 steps per day. I think I thought the metformin would do the work for me. Lack of support has not helped either.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I got very depressed taking just one tablet of Metformin, along with Atorvastatin. I decided to stop taking them for my own safety.
I'm of the opinion that for an ordinary type 2 the way to deal with it is to eat a diet low in carbs and keep glucose levels low.
I used a blood testing meter and could see how the amount of carbs in a meal altered the height of the spike afterwards. I moved back into almost normal levels and it seems I will stay there from now on if I eat the same way.
There are things you can bake or buy which are lower in carbs than normal bread.
I'm of the opinion that for an ordinary type 2 the way to deal with it is to eat a diet low in carbs and keep glucose levels low.
I used a blood testing meter and could see how the amount of carbs in a meal altered the height of the spike afterwards. I moved back into almost normal levels and it seems I will stay there from now on if I eat the same way.
There are things you can bake or buy which are lower in carbs than normal bread.
rebrascora
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- Type 1
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Hi and welcome.
I too had a really bad sweet tooth and would say it was almost certainly a sugar addiction pre diagnosis and I also ate lots of bread. For me the diagnosis was the kick up the pants I needed to change that and I went cold turkey. (I am an all or nothing type person). All I can say is that I now don't crave those things and I have a much greater appreciation for other flavours like savoury and sour and bitter as a result of cutting those things out of my diet. I actually feel like I now eat "in colour" as oppose to "black and white" before.
As mentioned above, the Metformin will have very little impact and if you continue to indulge in those high carb foods your diabetes will likely progress even with the Metformin, and short of injecting insulin all the oral meds need some dietary adjustment to prevent the risk of progression, but the right diet can in many cases reverse that process. There are even people who had got to the stage of injecting large amounts of insulin who changed their diet and managed to come off not just the insulin but all diabetes meds.
We can make suggestions of suitable meals if you want some help, so do ask, but you need to make the decision to change. If I can do it anyone can because I was pretty bad 😱 The first few months can be challenging but after that you just stop craving them.... or at least I did and others here too and many of us feel a lot fitter and healthier and younger for making those changes.
I too had a really bad sweet tooth and would say it was almost certainly a sugar addiction pre diagnosis and I also ate lots of bread. For me the diagnosis was the kick up the pants I needed to change that and I went cold turkey. (I am an all or nothing type person). All I can say is that I now don't crave those things and I have a much greater appreciation for other flavours like savoury and sour and bitter as a result of cutting those things out of my diet. I actually feel like I now eat "in colour" as oppose to "black and white" before.
As mentioned above, the Metformin will have very little impact and if you continue to indulge in those high carb foods your diabetes will likely progress even with the Metformin, and short of injecting insulin all the oral meds need some dietary adjustment to prevent the risk of progression, but the right diet can in many cases reverse that process. There are even people who had got to the stage of injecting large amounts of insulin who changed their diet and managed to come off not just the insulin but all diabetes meds.
We can make suggestions of suitable meals if you want some help, so do ask, but you need to make the decision to change. If I can do it anyone can because I was pretty bad 😱 The first few months can be challenging but after that you just stop craving them.... or at least I did and others here too and many of us feel a lot fitter and healthier and younger for making those changes.
Leadinglights
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- Type 2
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- She/Her
Quite a good explanation in this link about the importance of dietary changes for reduction in blood glucose and weight loss. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
As said metformin alone will not hack it, people do have the misconception that it will as they are not given dietary advice as well as the meds.
As said metformin alone will not hack it, people do have the misconception that it will as they are not given dietary advice as well as the meds.
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Welcome to the forum @Jmiss
Sorry to hear that you‘ve had a bit of a rough start to your diabetes ‘career’, and not been able to have as many appointments as you might if the pandemic hadn’t nobbled things for you.
I can completely understand why you would feel deflated having quadrupled your dose of medication, and then not seeing much change in your levels.
Are the results you are quoting from blood tests taken from your arm and sent off to a lab? I am wondering if they are your HbA1c? This used to be given as % (eg 7.0%), but is now more usually reported in mmol/mol - 7% being equivalent to 53mmol/mol. There’s a converter on this page of the main DUK website. HbA1c gives an idea of blood glucose levels over the past 3-4 months, and it can be best to try to get this to move gradually with sustained moderate changes, as too rapid a change can put pressure on fine blood vessels.
As others have said, Metformin doesn’t work directly on the meals you are eating. Rather it works away in the background by increasing insulin sensitivity, and reducing the amount of glucose trickled out by the liver 24hrs a day. So it provides sort of ‘background’ support (which can really make a difference), but really needs to work alongside changes to your menu.
One of the things about diabetes management is that lots of small things really do add up to make a big difference. And everything is important and worthwhile.
Try not to be too disappointed at the lack of effect of your tablets. And it’s great that you are cycling, walking and keeping active too. A few tweaks to your menu could make all the difference.
Start with some small manageable changes. Perhaps ditching the sweet treats, or reducing their frequency to once a week, or setting yourself a daily limit of the amount of total carbohydrate you are aiming for (which can help you make choices to ditch foods which punch well above their weight in terms of how carby they are).
Good luck, and let us know how you are getting on 🙂
Sorry to hear that you‘ve had a bit of a rough start to your diabetes ‘career’, and not been able to have as many appointments as you might if the pandemic hadn’t nobbled things for you.
I can completely understand why you would feel deflated having quadrupled your dose of medication, and then not seeing much change in your levels.
Are the results you are quoting from blood tests taken from your arm and sent off to a lab? I am wondering if they are your HbA1c? This used to be given as % (eg 7.0%), but is now more usually reported in mmol/mol - 7% being equivalent to 53mmol/mol. There’s a converter on this page of the main DUK website. HbA1c gives an idea of blood glucose levels over the past 3-4 months, and it can be best to try to get this to move gradually with sustained moderate changes, as too rapid a change can put pressure on fine blood vessels.
As others have said, Metformin doesn’t work directly on the meals you are eating. Rather it works away in the background by increasing insulin sensitivity, and reducing the amount of glucose trickled out by the liver 24hrs a day. So it provides sort of ‘background’ support (which can really make a difference), but really needs to work alongside changes to your menu.
One of the things about diabetes management is that lots of small things really do add up to make a big difference. And everything is important and worthwhile.
Try not to be too disappointed at the lack of effect of your tablets. And it’s great that you are cycling, walking and keeping active too. A few tweaks to your menu could make all the difference.
Start with some small manageable changes. Perhaps ditching the sweet treats, or reducing their frequency to once a week, or setting yourself a daily limit of the amount of total carbohydrate you are aiming for (which can help you make choices to ditch foods which punch well above their weight in terms of how carby they are).
Good luck, and let us know how you are getting on 🙂
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