Hi im 30yr old ive lost 3 stone in a year and now ive been recently diagnosed as type 2 diabetes about 3 month ago and just been given metformin to take 1 a day for now and ive taken my first dose this morning about 10.15am and i forgot to have food with it will it affect me in anyway and anymore helpfull advise welcome to help me come to terms with this
Hi Linda, welcome to the forum
🙂 Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but well done on your weight loss
🙂 If you've just started with the metformin I doubt it will make much difference. A lot of people experience side-effects with it, like nausea and wind, but it is a type of medication that 'builds up' rather than having an immediate effect, and usually after a week or two the side-effects subside
🙂
How did your diagnosis come about? Diabetes is a serious condition, but thankfully with the right knowledge and a bit of hard work it can be managed very successfully, and there is no reason why you shouldn't return to good health - many people find that the adjustments and efforts they make to manage their diabetes result in them feeling happier and healthier than they have done for some time, so there is a lot of hope and good news there
🙂
I would recommend reading
Jennifer's Advice and
Maggie Davey's letter, which are both excellent introductions to Type 2 diabetes, what you can expect and how to approach tings
🙂 Also, get yourself a copy of the excellent
Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker - full of positive advice and encouragement that will help to guide you through these early months
🙂
Did your nurse or GP give you a blood glucose monitor so you can test your blood glucose levels at home? If not, it's worth asking for one, and a prescription for test strips. Some GPs, but not all, are reluctant to issue them unless you are on certain medications as they think they are saving money. However, testing your reactions to different foods is the best method available so you can tailor your diet to your own particular tolerances
🙂 Have a look at
Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S to understand this process. If your surgery won't prescribe strips it's worth funding them yourself for a while as you learn how your food choices affect your blood glucose levels - once you are familiar with your frequent choices the need for testing will go down a lot, as you'll only need to do it for less familiar things
🙂 If you do have to get your own monitor and strips the cheapest option we have come across is the
SD Codefree Meter which has
test strips at around £8 for 50.
Diabetes is basically about carbohydrates (bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, fruit, sugary items etc.) and how quickly they impact your blood glucose levels. All carbohydrates will raise your levels, but some will do it faster than others. What you are looking for is selecting and combining foods so that they have a slow, steady impact on blood glucose levels. The GL (Glycaemic Load) diet is very good in this respect, I would recommend getting
The GL Diet for Dummies, which is a very good introduction
🙂
Please feel free to ask any and every question you may have - we're here to help, and happy to do it!
🙂
