A little confused

[SimonCrox]

I think that there are two points about the alcohol.
Firstly as others have said, there probably is not much worry mixing the metformin with a bit of alcohol; the SPC from the EMA states that alcohol intoxication can precipitate lactic acidosis; so avoid intoxication, as we all should.
Secondly, alcohol can drop the glucose a bit, even 8 hours after the last drink - this is not a problem on metformin, cos the glucose levels do not go too low, but is a problem if on insulin or sulphonylurea (when one would be advised to have a snack with a moderate amount of alcohol)
10 units alcohol twice per week is a moderate amount on these two nights, but I guess you take care afterwards.
Best wishes

 

[CherryAA]

Hi there , I am 46 years old and have recently been diagnosed as having diabetes ..Type 2 i believe .The doctor just said that it was confirmed as diabetes .I was prescribed because the level was so high Metformin 1 x 500mg ....On the friday i had my test , I did a test of my bg level and it was 24.5 ..Over the weekend it had levelled off at around 12/13/14 ...My background was drinking sugary drinks , Prob 2 litres of pop on any given day , plus around 3 or 4 Isotonic drinks , so i worked out i was probably putting around 500 to 600 grams of sugar in my body everyday .Whilst i was working which was active work , I suppose i was burning this off quite easy, But for the last couple of months i have been the primary carer for my mum who is bedbound with vascular dementia , She was insulin dependant , but because of the lack of movement and eating she had her medication stopped because shes now on end of life care.The last two months have consisted of the same sugary intake but without any excercise as ive been stuck in front of my computer basically in between caring ...I had all the symptoms , Thirsty , Urinating at night several times , Constant thrush and ive probably lost a stone in around a month and a half ...The confusing things were that my doctor didnt give me any figures , it was just take this tablet and come back on the 22nd of october to see the diabetic nurse ...Since i went for the test which was around a fortnight ago , I have cut out all the sugary drinks completely and have eaten healthy with low carbs and sugar , I only started the Metformin this past wednesday ..I have an active social life playing darts and playing guitar in a band , Both require some alcohol to play as i suffer from nerves anxiety and panic attacks for which i take citalopram ...Obviously i have changed my entire eating and drinking habits (sugary drinks) , It says not to drink alcohol with metformin as it can cause lactic acidosis , I drink Jack Daniels and diet coke and perhaps have 10 single measures twice week , Now obviously i know thats a high intake but have i got to sacrifice giving that up as well , I know i wont be able to play the things i love with th nerves, unfortunately its the way ive always been ...Id rather change my lifestyle and diet than take this metformin, Is it safe too stop ? , Ive only taken three so far ..As i said i would rather change everything else because i know i have the will power to eat a strict low carb diet and just drink water the rest of the time ..Any help would be greatly appreciated

The action of Metformin is to reduce insulin responses to glucose by ingesting excess carbohydrates.
The action of a low carb diet is to reduce insulin responses to glucose because you are not ingesting excess carbohydrates and thus not making glucose.

Thus its perfectly possible to cope without metformin with a low carb diet because they do the same thing. I've never taken it and I don't intend to.

The only other thing I would suggest, is that if you can stand it , if you want to drink whisky, you would be better off drinking it neat with a chaser of a lot of iced water, than mixing it with diet coke . Diet coke doesn't have carbs, but it does have a lot of other rubbish in it which causes wierd metabolic responses and will slow down your improvement.

 

[eiffy11]

Many thanks to everyone for the kind and very helpful advice , I know its a lifelong journey and ive just started it ....so im strapping myself in and gonna try and enjoy the ride as best i can ...Cheers everyone

 

[eiffy11]

More help lol .....Am i clutching at straws , Today is the first time in a fortnight i have managed to check my BG Level .... I have managed to get hold of a testing kit , For 40 years i have drunk pop in excess , and leading up to my diagnosis i was drinking 2 litres of pop and maybe 5 or 6 isotonics per day ...Since diagnosis i have been on a reasonably low..Low carb diet , and drunk water only apart from when ive gone out and then it was jd and diet coke ...I have done bg levels today it was 4.4 then after food 5.1 ....tonight i had food and it was5 before and 6.1 2 hours later , Now i have tested another hour and a half later and its 5.1, coming down nicely...Is there any chance that after all these years my sugar was so high and now that i have got rid of the pop its normal...Is there a chance of misdiagnosis or am i just not understanding diabetes properly ?

 

[Bluetit1802]

You certainly seem to be seeing normal levels at the moment, which is brilliant. Well done. Quitting the vast amounts of pop and energy drinks will certainly have helped.

Did you contact your surgery for a print out of your test results as you said you would?

I doubt you were misdiagnosed with those tests you mentioned earlier in this thread, but the print outs will tell you how near or how far you were away from a misdiagnosis. I was absolutely convinced I was misdiagnosed because my test was on 2nd January after a month of indulgence with a holiday, Christmas, my birthday and New Year. I was sure that's all it was ...... I was wrong!
Keep going as you are, you are doing something right!

 

[eiffy11]

You certainly seem to be seeing normal levels at the moment, which is brilliant. Well done. Quitting the vast amounts of pop and energy drinks will certainly have helped.

Did you contact your surgery for a print out of your test results as you said you would?

I doubt you were misdiagnosed with those tests you mentioned earlier in this thread, but the print outs will tell you how near or how far you were away from a misdiagnosis. I was absolutely convinced I was misdiagnosed because my test was on 2nd January after a month of indulgence with a holiday, Christmas, my birthday and New Year. I was sure that's all it was ...... I was wrong!
Keep going as you are, you are doing something right!

Tbh I couldnt get past the receptionist , so im waiting on a phone call from the doctor(never materialised today) ..ill try again tomorrow....My diet is staying and i wont be going back to the pop thats a cert

 

[Jo_the_boat]

More help lol .....Am i clutching at straws , Today is the first time in a fortnight i have managed to check my BG Level .... I have managed to get hold of a testing kit , For 40 years i have drunk pop in excess , and leading up to my diagnosis i was drinking 2 litres of pop and maybe 5 or 6 isotonics per day ...Since diagnosis i have been on a reasonably low..Low carb diet , and drunk water only apart from when ive gone out and then it was jd and diet coke ...I have done bg levels today it was 4.4 then after food 5.1 ....tonight i had food and it was5 before and 6.1 2 hours later , Now i have tested another hour and a half later and its 5.1, coming down nicely...Is there any chance that after all these years my sugar was so high and now that i have got rid of the pop its normal...Is there a chance of misdiagnosis or am i just not understanding diabetes properly ?

I'm pretty new but trying to learn. If I've got this wrong, someone else will no doubt put is right.
You were probably diagnosed through a Hb1Ac blood test (repeated a few weeks (?) later) and your glucose levels were found to be up. This test measures the average over 2 / 3 months so it's your following tests (every 3 months or so initially) that will determine your success in lowering your average glucose levels.
The meter you are using shows a short-term snapshot of how meals and drinks affect your glucose levels.
As far as I can see you've made a brilliant start - hats off.

 

[eiffy11]

I'm pretty new but trying to learn. If I've got this wrong, someone else will no doubt put is right.
You were probably diagnosed through a Hb1Ac blood test (repeated a few weeks (?) later) and your glucose levels were found to be up. This test measures the average over 2 / 3 months so it's your following tests (every 3 months or so initially) that will determine your success in lowering your average glucose levels.
The meter you are using shows a short-term snapshot of how meals and drinks affect your glucose levels.
As far as I can see you've made a brilliant start - hats off.

Ive had the first test , i have the nurse now on the 22nd of this month , would i have to do a fast again as they didnt mention anything at all ...Thank you for the kind words about my progress ...it is a minefield of info to process ... I was 4.2 upon waking today , ate 3 weetabix , small amount of milk and a teaspoon of colagran sweetener ....i was 8.1 upon testing hour and three quarters later .... which of those ingredients spikes the most ..as i said im still a little confused but im sure it will all become clear in time ...Best regards
Eifion

 

[Alison Campbell]

It would be the weetabix for me, why not try 3 again to check if you get the same spike then try 2?

 

[JTL]

Breakfast cereals are usually bad news.

 

[lowedb]

Yep. Breakfast cereals were scarily bad for me. I had a really small bowl (read 5) of mini wheats and shot up. Not touched breakfast cereals since and it has helped no end.

 

[Jo_the_boat]

Ive had the first test , i have the nurse now on the 22nd of this month , would i have to do a fast again as they didnt mention anything at all ...
Eifion

Fast? To be honest I'm not sure. I'd be interested to know the answer for sure too.
As the HbA1c is and average test I'm not sure whether a single on-day rise would affect the result much.
I used to like weetabix too! Try having bacon and egg (no bread) and see what that does to your levels - you might be as surprised as me. It seems to go against all logic based on 'standard' dietary guidelines.
I really hope your 22nd test is better news than the first.

 

[Jo_the_boat]

There's another thread running about bloods and fasting that may be more help than my 'guesswork'.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/hba1c-bloods-and-fasting.127650/

 

[Alison Campbell]

I have to go to hospital or other clinics to have my blood tests and my surgery does not have that service. If there is any chance that you will have bloods drawn at your appointment I would recommend you fast if you have a morning appointment.