Should I start using my Metformin again?

[NotWorriedAtAll]

Purely due to dietary changes I'd been getting my levels down to a nice five-ish between meals and six and half to seven after meals for a good long while and then I decided to start exercising to try and slim down because although I'd sorted my blood pressure, blood sugars and liver out I am still a porker and I would like to feel more comfy in my skin.

I have found vigorous exercise I truly enjoy and it is no chore to do an hour a day - in fact the difficulty is restricting it to that amount.

I have also signed on to the Samaritans 100,000 steps a day challenge to raise some money for them and I'm doing 30 minutes a day exercise for 30 days instead because I don't leave the house and my house is too tiny to walk ten steps never mind thousands.

So it should all be good news. BUT...

since I started exercising my blood sugar levels are getting higher again. I am reading sevens after exercising and sometimes eights and I am still eating properly and this morning I wasn't hungry but I had a late-ish night last night so I slept in and when I checked my blood sugars after not eating anything between eight last night and twelve mid day today - it was 7.7!!!


So I'm wondering. I have a few packs of still in date Metformin. Do you think it would be helpful to go back onto one a day while my body gets used to this level of exercise?

I'm guessing at the moment my body is in a bit shock after I have been a sedentary person for decades and the blood sugars may be in response to cortisol.

I'm hoping that if I keep up exercising (which I really want to do for once in my life) my body will eventually get used to it but in the meantime I don't want these higher levels because I'm getting other symptoms I don't like that used to accompany my sugar levels before I got them in check.

Stuff like spots and skin rashes in awkward places 😱

Any ideas?

 

[Vonny]

Any chance you could have word with your GP or DN @NotWorriedAtAll? I find that exercise lowers my BS, but it's not vigorous exercise, just brisk walking so that might make a difference. If you've been declared fit to come off the metformin, not sure it's a good idea to start it again without medical agreement. Mind you, I'm a cautious soul, others may say go for it!

 

[AndBreathe]

Purely due to dietary changes I'd been getting my levels down to a nice five-ish between meals and six and half to seven after meals for a good long while and then I decided to start exercising to try and slim down because although I'd sorted my blood pressure, blood sugars and liver out I am still a porker and I would like to feel more comfy in my skin.

I have found vigorous exercise I truly enjoy and it is no chore to do an hour a day - in fact the difficulty is restricting it to that amount.

I have also signed on to the Samaritans 100,000 steps a day challenge to raise some money for them and I'm doing 30 minutes a day exercise for 30 days instead because I don't leave the house and my house is too tiny to walk ten steps never mind thousands.

So it should all be good news. BUT...

since I started exercising my blood sugar levels are getting higher again. I am reading sevens after exercising and sometimes eights and I am still eating properly and this morning I wasn't hungry but I had a late-ish night last night so I slept in and when I checked my blood sugars after not eating anything between eight last night and twelve mid day today - it was 7.7!!!


So I'm wondering. I have a few packs of still in date Metformin. Do you think it would be helpful to go back onto one a day while my body gets used to this level of exercise?

I'm guessing at the moment my body is in a bit shock after I have been a sedentary person for decades and the blood sugars may be in response to cortisol.

I'm hoping that if I keep up exercising (which I really want to do for once in my life) my body will eventually get used to it but in the meantime I don't want these higher levels because I'm getting other symptoms I don't like that used to accompany my sugar levels before I got them in check.

Stuff like spots and skin rashes in awkward places 😱

Any ideas?

Are you testing your bloods by finger prick tests, or do you use the Libre?

For me, gentle, consistent exercise lowers my bloods, but anything frantic, or hectic, my numbers go up - but then they drop and stay lower forsome hours, so I am unfussed by exercise of any sort. My body seems to work it out after a few goes.

If you are finger prick testing, have you checked that the number are actually elevated, and not a variance caused by strips from another batch, or maybe of date strips?

I guess that's maybe less likely, as you cite rashes and so on that you experienced when you weren't in such a good state. Could those rashes be perspiration related, rather then glucose stimulated?

Are you pretty sure you're not harbouring any sort of infection or the like?

Anyway, aside from that, I'd agree a word with whomever you see about your diabetes seems like a plan. If this has been going on for a while, it could be worthwhile asking for an A1c, just to see if the increases you are seeing are trickling through to that.

 

[Maca44]

If your exercise is vigorous and your on low card might it be your liver pumping out BG to keep you going ?. What about toning it down for a week and see what the readings are.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

One of the characteristics of a low carb diet is a reduced insulin response to anything that raises your BG.
Sedate exercise doesn't but more extreme exercise does, as your liver dumps to provide glucose for short term energy.
Try aerobic rather than anaerobic exercise.

 

[NotWorriedAtAll]

I didn't exercise today and I've stayed on low sixes all day even after eating so I think I am going to have to revise my exercise timetable and maybe stick to moderate short intensity in short bursts and see if I can sneak it past my body without it noticing and getting panicky.

 

[Lucyr]

100,000 steps a day is 45-50 miles walking/running per day. That’s a really impressive amount of exercise and really wouldn’t advise starting medication to lower your blood sugar whilst you’re doing such extreme levels of exercise.

 

[NotWorriedAtAll]

100,000 steps a day is 45-50 miles walking/running per day. That’s a really impressive amount of exercise and really wouldn’t advise starting medication to lower your blood sugar whilst you’re doing such extreme levels of exercise.

It isn't that a day - I made a mistake - it is that over the whole month. I'm not doing the steps anyway - I am doing only thirty minutes exercise at least 30 times over the time period starting from the day before yesterday until the middle of April - so it will be pretty doable.

 

[Maca44]

Problem will be is controlling your pace, as you know high intensity gives you a great buzz doesn't it. I am quiet obsessional so love the workout numbers so always wear a chest HR monitor, I know exactly what zone I'm in, it's the only way I can know where I am and how long I can go without pushing it too far.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I always aim to triple my resting heartbeat, so I run on the treadmill until I hit 180.
Definitely not recommended for anyone else without any exception.

 

[Maca44]

I always aim to triple my resting heartbeat, so I run on the treadmill until I hit 180.
Definitely not recommended for anyone else without any exception.

That number would put me in my grave, my max is 164 so 134 is a good number for me to keep going.