newbies say hello here!

[PURPLESALLY]

Hi all diagnosed last week and put on metformin once a day straight away. There is no telling when I will get an appointment with the diabetes nurse (from these forums the nurse is not particularly helpful anyway) so I have been trying to gather management information from everywhere. I have bought myself a meter and am experimenting with foods. Its not easy cos every website talks about losing weight. I know my body reacts to lower carb diet because thats how I lost weight years ago. The trouble is I don't need or want to lose any more weight. Does anyone know of any where I can get info for diabetics who are not over weight.
Since taking the metformin I have felt more tired and headachey, is that normal!!!
Any thoughts, feeling very alone and uninformed

 

[Stan the Baron]

Hi all diagnosed last week and put on metformin once a day straight away. There is no telling when I will get an appointment with the diabetes nurse (from these forums the nurse is not particularly helpful anyway) so I have been trying to gather management information from everywhere. I have bought myself a meter and am experimenting with foods. Its not easy cos every website talks about losing weight. I know my body reacts to lower carb diet because thats how I lost weight years ago. The trouble is I don't need or want to lose any more weight. Does anyone know of any where I can get info for diabetics who are not over weight.
Since taking the metformin I have felt more tired and headachey, is that normal!!!
Any thoughts, feeling very alone and uninformed

Hi, think you need to be a bit pushy to get what you want, if you need or have been told to see the nurse, make the appointment, don't wait for one. To my mind you didn't need to buy a meter, but as you have get the strips on prescription save you a fortune. I';m new here myself, but I've been through it all, as for low carb diet, why bother in my book, just eat less , of everything, that's what I did and lost 5 stone now. A few mods needed sure, anyway if you're interested, just ask, I'll do my best to help, as I'm sure many other will. 🙂

 

[PURPLESALLY]

Hi
Thanks for your reply. I bought a meter cos I wanted to have some control and felt a meter was the only way I would know if I was doing the right thing. As I said I do not need or want to lose weight which is why I am struggling. I want to manage my condition the best way I can but the only information I can find assumes you need to lose weight.
I have it in my diary to contact the clinic on Monday, thought I would give them a couple of days to follow through with their promise to contact.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Hello and welcome @PURPLESALLY
As you don't need to lose weight the simple solution would be to lower your carb intake and increase your fat and protein.
Very pleased you have a meter as this will help you, many use the term eating to their meter 🙂

 

[Ditto]

Hello and welcome to the forum PurpleSally. 🙂

 

[Ralph-YK]

To my mind you didn't need to buy a meter ... as for low carb diet, why bother in my book, just eat less , of everything, that's what I did and lost 5 stone now.

There's a difference between loosing weight and managing your BG. Not all food affects your BG the same. For example, meet and fat don't raise your BG much. It's carbs in particular that raises.
This is where the meter comes in. It tells you which foods raises your BG, and by how much.
As an example, a full roast beef dinner doesn't raise my BG. A bow of shredded wheat (No sugar) makes it spike.

get the strips on prescription save you a fortune.

Try it. This is a big issue though. I've met people on insulin and other hypo causing meds who didn't get strips. People on metformin have real problems getting any support in this area

 

[Ljc]

Hi @PURPLESALLY
I am glad you have got a meter , this will help you find out what carbohydrates you can and can't tolerate as we are all very different in this, before I needed to go on insulin I could eat porridge without spiking too high , others here can't touch it.
As the last thing you need to do is lose weight, you need to replace the carbohydrates, good fats (I don't mean oil) and protein
Ie, cheese, butter, eggs, meat , some nuts are not too high in carbs.
Personally I don't eat anything that is made to be low fat , ie diet or low fat yogurts.

What meter have you bought, as the cost of the testing strips can be very high and we may know a cheaper one to self fund while you're doing battle to persuade gp/ nurse to provide one.

 

[Maz2]

HI and welcome to the Forum. A meter is a very good way of sorting out what foods suit you and which do not as we are all different. It is mainly carbs that cause the trouble.

 

[Stan the Baron]

Hi
Thanks for your reply. I bought a meter cos I wanted to have some control and felt a meter was the only way I would know if I was doing the right thing. As I said I do not need or want to lose weight which is why I am struggling. I want to manage my condition the best way I can but the only information I can find assumes you need to lose weight.
I have it in my diary to contact the clinic on Monday, thought I would give them a couple of days to follow through with their promise to contact.

Hi, I get that you don't want to lose any weight now, trying to be delicate here, not easy, but while not asking , is your BMI in the right range, if it is then sure you don't need to lose weight. Don't know how much you're read or been told, but so many things can affect you blood sugar reading on the meter, apart form the obvious, how long since you last meal and so on, but sleep, or lack of good sleep, stress, even mood, which can but needn't be stress related, all can have an effect. So while checking with the meter while looking for different foods bear all this in mind. Have you read about Glycemic load and resistance, heavy reading but here's a sitehttp://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/87/3/655.long Also a data base of the glycemic index of many foods here, just read the few lines and click where it says 'here' at he end, http://www.mrc-ewl.cam.ac.uk/research/research-sections/gi-database/ And another site which you might find a lot lighter to read and use is this one, the third picture is titled " Not all carbohydrates are equal" this might interest you and of course the calculator you'll see, http://www.glycemicindex.com/

I buy cinnamon in sticks from Sri Lanka, keep it in the fridge and grind it in a small cheap blender as I need it, there's no proof but it's use it is said may drop blood sugar by as much as 0.5%, I have a teaspoon in coffee, need to keep stirring to get it all or it ends up in the bottom of the mug. Also add it to as many foods, including baking, that it tastes ok in. So some things to look at here, hope you find something useful, I know I did. 🙂

 

[HOBIE]

Hi all diagnosed last week and put on metformin once a day straight away. There is no telling when I will get an appointment with the diabetes nurse (from these forums the nurse is not particularly helpful anyway) so I have been trying to gather management information from everywhere. I have bought myself a meter and am experimenting with foods. Its not easy cos every website talks about losing weight. I know my body reacts to lower carb diet because thats how I lost weight years ago. The trouble is I don't need or want to lose any more weight. Does anyone know of any where I can get info for diabetics who are not over weight.
Since taking the metformin I have felt more tired and headachey, is that normal!!!
Any thoughts, feeling very alone and uninformed

Welcome 🙂. As others have said carbs put your bg up & keep hydrated with water. Good luck 🙂

 

[PURPLESALLY]

Hi @PURPLESALLY
I am glad you have got a meter , this will help you find out what carbohydrates you can and can't tolerate as we are all very different in this, before I needed to go on insulin I could eat porridge without spiking too high , others here can't touch it.
As the last thing you need to do is lose weight, you need to replace the carbohydrates, good fats (I don't mean oil) and protein
Ie, cheese, butter, eggs, meat , some nuts are not too high in carbs.
Personally I don't eat anything that is made to be low fat , ie diet or low fat yogurts.

What meter have you bought, as the cost of the testing strips can be very high and we may know a cheaper one to self fund while you're doing battle to persuade gp/ nurse to provide one.

Thanks for your reply. Shortly after joining I ended up in hospital for a week. It turns out that I am actually type 1 and now on insulin. They have looked at my diet and decided its good, like you I don't do diet foods just honest healthy non processed. I rarely ate bread but sods law I am craving it now! They have told me that it will take a couple of weeks for me to work out how much insulin to take. I am looking to go on a carb counting course so that I can manage my meds. Any tips from all you experienced managers greatfully received even though I know we are all different