Type 2 and Metformin side affects.

Jay-Marc

Well-Known Member
Messages
218
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Not had side effects from taking Metformin and been on it for long time how ever looking at your side effects I have had Nausea over last few days and thought it was a bug going around it could be from taking metformin will se ehow ti goes
It certainly is possible to develop an intolerance to Metformin at any time with no previous issues, so it could be down to this, but as you say see how it goes in the short term.
 

Phoenix55

Well-Known Member
Messages
577
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Do you have a meter? It is well worth the investment, it lets you know what is going on with your bg levels with different meals then you can narrow it down to specific foods. For 3 months I followed the advice given by the DN - porridge for breakfast, wholewheat bread, lots of veg, wholewheat pasta, no sugar in drinks, no biscuits or cakes. My HbA1c stayed roughly the same. Independently I decided that it was ridiculous to wait for a further 3 months to see what was going on so I bought a meter in a local High Street pharmacy and taught myself how to use it. I was surprised to find that grain products raised my bg level. Then I stumbled on this site and found I was not the only T2 who had found this. I also found out how to use the meter most effectively. 3 months later and my HbA1c was down so that the Dr agreed that I did not need Metformin. By eating to my meter I have kept control, mostly non diabetic levels, while still allowing myself an occasional treat. I have found a diet which is healthy for my body which is not necessarily the one recommended for non diabetics but which still covers essential vitamins and minerals and I have relearnt to listen to my body. If there is something I really fancy the chances are that it contains something that my body needs (at least that is what I tell myself as I enjoy a piece of 85% chocolate!):)
 
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Resurgam

Expert
Messages
9,850
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Well done for getting your bloods back to normal. 50 gm of carbs is too low for long periods or life style changes. Need to be around 150 gms of carbs. normal person without diabetes is said to be 250gms would be the norm of healthy adult.
its very confusing what to do. But if works for you...why not :)
Oh I've been doing low carbs since the 1970s - and I assure you that 50 gm of carbs is perfectly fine for long periods - If I ate like a normal person I would be spherical, and very ill. If I ate 150gm I would still be fully diabetic and putting on weight - it isn't going happen. I'm doing 40 gm of carbs now, until I can start to lose weight again
 

chocks63

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Oh I've been doing low carbs since the 1970s - and I assure you that 50 gm of carbs is perfectly fine for long periods - If I ate like a normal person I would be spherical, and very ill. If I ate 150gm I would still be fully diabetic and putting on weight - it isn't going happen. I'm doing 40 gm of carbs now, until I can start to lose weight again
I wish i had idea what to cook, Unfortuately been living off fast food and beer all my life. I am a single bloke that hates cooking.
what alcohol do you treat yourself too ?
 

Resurgam

Expert
Messages
9,850
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
I wish i had idea what to cook, Unfortuately been living off fast food and beer all my life. I am a single bloke that hates cooking.
what alcohol do you treat yourself too ?

I don't regard food and drink as treats I'm afraid.
I drink vodka and bitter lemon and rum and coke - diet style mixers - I also drink beer once in a while - half and half with fizzy water, just not a lot and not often.
As for cooking - my next meal will be green beans, cauliflower and beef casserole - couldn't be simpler really.
There are some useful kitchen gadgets you can get, depending on what suits your liefestyle. A lot of things have timers and temperature controls so you can put the food in and leave it to cook and switch off on its own. There are induction hobs and grills you can put on the table and watch telly until the alerter sounds to let you know it is done.
 
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bulkbiker

BANNED
Messages
19,576
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I did the blood sugar diet last year. (DR Moseley). Got my sugar levels normal. 12 months later back to square one. I find it hard to do the maintainance level for life.
Maybe have a think about changing what you eat completely.. I've never looked into the Moseley diet in depth as it always seemed higher carb than I wanted to be. Your "cure" has to become a way of eating though and not a "diet" (i.e. a short term fix) that's why I find a ketogenic way of eating a lot easier to maintain. Just a thought.
 

Resurgam

Expert
Messages
9,850
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Could not resist the smell of the food - as I had missed breakfast today - beef simmered in a big pan with some frozen mixed veges, cauliflower and green beans - just the job on a dull wet day. It will be even better later when the casserole is fully matured - I might chop up some sweet pepper to have raw as a side dish - maybe radishes and celery too.
Its a hard life this diabetes lark - but someone needs to do it...
 

AtkinsMo

Well-Known Member
Messages
591
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
I wish i had idea what to cook, Unfortuately been living off fast food and beer all my life. I am a single bloke that hates cooking.
what alcohol do you treat yourself too ?
The biggest favour you could do yourself is learning how to cook! It doesn’t have to be anything fancy to start with, a good old fry up is fine low carb food, I’m sure you can manage that! Bacon, sausage, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms. Get yourself a great plateful. Just check the carb contents of the sausages, you are looking for sausages with less than 5g carbs per 100g, you will soon learn the brands that you can buy.

If you’re stuck for what to have to eat for the next meal, have the same again! After a few weeks of getting used to cooking for yourself, introduce some variety, different meats, what veggies do you like?

Beer?? Well, you will have to resist it! You can have, in moderation, Marston’s Resolution, which is only 3g per bottle. My hubby (who likes a hoppy real ale) mixes it half and half with Brew Dog Nanny State, which is a bit higher carb but more to his palate. Our local pub even stocks it for him now. But you’ll have to limit yourself to 2 a day to keep your BG down. After that develop a taste for dry wine or a spirit with a low carb mixer.

As to the reason why you should do this? I couldn’t put it better than the opening post in the thread ‘Feeling really angry’ by @AllieRainbow at the moment!

If you continue to eat high carb fast food and drink loads of beer, and try to cover it with ever spiralling medication you have a grim future ahead of you! Your future is in your hands!
 
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chocks63

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
The biggest favour you could do yourself is learning how to cook! It doesn’t have to be anything fancy to start with, a good old fry up is fine low carb food, I’m sure you can manage that! Bacon, sausage, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms. Get yourself a great plateful. Just check the carb contents of the sausages, you are looking for sausages with less than 5g carbs per 100g, you will soon learn the brands that you can buy.

If you’re stuck for what to have to eat for the next meal, have the same again! After a few weeks of getting used to cooking for yourself, introduce some variety, different meats, what veggies do you like?

Beer?? Well, you will have to resist it! You can have, in moderation, Marston’s Resolution, which is only 3g per bottle. My hubby (who likes a hoppy real ale) mixes it half and half with Brew Dog Nanny State, which is a bit higher carb but more to his palate. Our local pub even stocks it for him now. But you’ll have to limit yourself to 2 a day to keep your BG down. After that develop a taste for dry wine or a spirit with a low carb mixer.

As to the reason why you should do this? I couldn’t put it better than the opening post in the thread ‘Feeling really angry’ by @AllieRainbow at the moment!

If you continue to eat high carb fast food and drink loads of beer, and try to cover it with ever spiralling medication you have a grim future ahead of you! Your future is in your hands!
Thank you for the suggestions. I look into this. Most appreciated :)
 

chocks63

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I don't regard food and drink as treats I'm afraid.
I drink vodka and bitter lemon and rum and coke - diet style mixers - I also drink beer once in a while - half and half with fizzy water, just not a lot and not often.
As for cooking - my next meal will be green beans, cauliflower and beef casserole - couldn't be simpler really.
There are some useful kitchen gadgets you can get, depending on what suits your liefestyle. A lot of things have timers and temperature controls so you can put the food in and leave it to cook and switch off on its own. There are induction hobs and grills you can put on the table and watch telly until the alerter sounds to let you know it is done.
Yes My mate suggests buying a slow cooker ?
 
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JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,938
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I wish i had idea what to cook, Unfortuately been living off fast food and beer all my life. I am a single bloke that hates cooking.
what alcohol do you treat yourself too ?
If you can't bring yourself to cook, and you still find yourself in fast food places in spite of good intentions, go low carb there; if you order burgers or shoarma or whatever , tell them to hold the bun, add extra lettuce, tomato, cheese, bacon etc. (Or just order double) You know, the low carb stuff is fine. A burger with a bun is up to 40 grams of carbs. One without is about 5. Don't have anything that's coated in batter, or simply peel it off.

It's not for every day, home cooked is *always* better, but sometimes you just have to work with what you can eh.

As for cooking; eggs with bacon, cheese mushrooms and cherry tomatoes take less than 5 minutes to whip together. Salad with a can of tuna, olives, capers, mayo and avocado take 3 minutes. (I cheat, I buy my abocado frozen & cubed) Dinner is usually meat or fish, and I fry up cauliflower rice or broccoli with bacon and cheese to go with it. Snacks are cheese (love the aged stuff), nuts, extra dark chocolate, olives, celery with some hummus... I'm no cook, so I keep it simple. Maybe an option for you too.
 

DCUKMod

Master
Staff Member
Messages
14,298
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Probably be better off with an instant pot which is a slow cooker/pressure cooker all round good bit of kit for the culinary challenged.. I think @DCUKMod is the kitchen gadget expert.. what would she recommend for a non cooking single male?

If I'm not careful, I'll have to ban myself for spamming!
 

DCUKMod

Master
Staff Member
Messages
14,298
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Yes My mate suggests buying a slow cooker ?

Chocks - The prospect of cooking when it's not "your thing" can be a bit of a hill to climb, but as your mate suggests there are ways to get around this that needn't mean getting in touch with your inner Heston Blumenthal.

Probably rather than being a hugely enthusiastic cook, I'd be more likely to say I'm an enthusiastic eater! I might be a skinny old wench, but I enjoy my food. :)

As I have also been known to be a bit impatient, a slow cooker, whilst fantastic, does mean being prepared well in advance, and making sure the thing is loaded to cook over the longer cooking time.

My OH, who is the main cook in the house has always used a pressure cooker, but I was always somewhat terrified of the thing; with tales of them blowing up and all sorts. For me, that was his baby and he could look after it.

When our slow cooker went to slow cooker heaven (cracked inner cooking pot), I declared that what came into the kitchen next had to do more than just sit bubbling on a worktop for hours on end.

Sooooooooooo, cutting to the chase, I ended up buying us a new electric pressure cooker, which can also slow cook, make soup, rice and various other things. In essence, it's a fast slow cooker! I can do the same things as a slow cooker would make in 6 or 8 hours in well under an hour - sometimes - soup for instance - in under half an hour.

I bought the brand @bulkbiker mentioned, but there are loads and loads of them around - and some quite a bit cheaper than the brand I bought. I went for that brand as I specifically wanted a stainless steel inner cooking pot, rather than a non-stick variant, but that was a personal choice.

There are loads of gadgets to me cooking easier and quicker.
 
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AtkinsMo

Well-Known Member
Messages
591
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
The biggest favour you could do yourself is learning how to cook! It doesn’t have to be anything fancy to start with, a good old fry up is fine low carb food, I’m sure you can manage that! Bacon, sausage, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms. Get yourself a great plateful. Just check the carb contents of the sausages, you are looking for sausages with less than 5g carbs per 100g, you will soon learn the brands that you can buy.

If you’re stuck for what to have to eat for the next meal, have the same again! After a few weeks of getting used to cooking for yourself, introduce some variety, different meats, what veggies do you like?

Beer?? Well, you will have to resist it! You can have, in moderation, Marston’s Resolution, which is only 3g per bottle. My hubby (who likes a hoppy real ale) mixes it half and half with Brew Dog Nanny State, which is a bit higher carb but more to his palate. Our local pub even stocks it for him now. But you’ll have to limit yourself to 2 a day to keep your BG down. After that develop a taste for dry wine or a spirit with a low carb mixer.

As to the reason why you should do this? I couldn’t put it better than the opening post in the thread ‘Feeling really angry’ by @AllieRainbow at the moment!

If you continue to eat high carb fast food and drink loads of beer, and try to cover it with ever spiralling medication you have a grim future ahead of you! Your future is in your hands!
Marstons is a bit difficult to find, order it direct from the brewery, I think above 3 cases it’s free delivery. Brew dog Nanny Dog Nanny state is stocked by most supermarkets, but it’s on the Alcohol Free Section, but as Marstons is 4.7 ABV (quite high) mixed together they make a not too high carb, not too high alcohol beer.
 

chocks63

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
If you can't bring yourself to cook, and you still find yourself in fast food places in spite of good intentions, go low carb there; if you order burgers or shoarma or whatever , tell them to hold the bun, add extra lettuce, tomato, cheese, bacon etc. (Or just order double) You know, the low carb stuff is fine. A burger with a bun is up to 40 grams of carbs. One without is about 5. Don't have anything that's coated in batter, or simply peel it off.

It's not for every day, home cooked is *always* better, but sometimes you just have to work with what you can eh.

As for cooking; eggs with bacon, cheese mushrooms and cherry tomatoes take less than 5 minutes to whip together. Salad with a can of tuna, olives, capers, mayo and avocado take 3 minutes. (I cheat, I buy my abocado frozen & cubed) Dinner is usually meat or fish, and I fry up cauliflower rice or broccoli with bacon and cheese to go with it. Snacks are cheese (love the aged stuff), nuts, extra dark chocolate, olives, celery with some hummus... I'm no cook, so I keep it simple. Maybe an option for you too.
Thanks for the tips:)
 
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chocks63

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Chocks - The prospect of cooking when it's not "your thing" can be a bit of a hill to climb, but as your mate suggests there are ways to get around this that needn't mean getting in touch with your inner Heston Blumenthal.

Probably rather than being a hugely enthusiastic cook, I'd be more likely to say I'm an enthusiastic eater! I might be a skinny old wench, but I enjoy my food. :)

As I have also been known to be a bit impatient, a slow cooker, whilst fantastic, does mean being prepared well in advance, and making sure the thing is loaded to cook over the longer cooking time.

My OH, who is the main cook in the house has always used a pressure cooker, but I was always somewhat terrified of the thing; with tales of them blowing up and all sorts. For me, that was his baby and he could look after it.

When our slow cooker went to slow cooker heaven (cracked inner cooking pot), I declared that what came into the kitchen next had to do more than just sit bubbling on a worktop for hours on end.

Sooooooooooo, cutting to the chase, I ended up buying us a new electric pressure cooker, which can also slow cook, make soup, rice and various other things. In essence, it's a fast slow cooker! I can do the same things as a slow cooker would make in 6 or 8 hours in well under an hour - sometimes - soup for instance - in under half an hour.

I bought the brand @bulkbiker mentioned, but there are loads and loads of them around - and some quite a bit cheaper than the brand I bought. I went for that brand as I specifically wanted a stainless steel inner cooking pot, rather than a non-stick variant, but that was a personal choice.

There are loads of gadgets to me cooking easier and quicker.
Thanks for the tips. Might invest in one :)
 

chocks63

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Do you have a meter? It is well worth the investment, it lets you know what is going on with your bg levels with different meals then you can narrow it down to specific foods. For 3 months I followed the advice given by the DN - porridge for breakfast, wholewheat bread, lots of veg, wholewheat pasta, no sugar in drinks, no biscuits or cakes. My HbA1c stayed roughly the same. Independently I decided that it was ridiculous to wait for a further 3 months to see what was going on so I bought a meter in a local High Street pharmacy and taught myself how to use it. I was surprised to find that grain products raised my bg level. Then I stumbled on this site and found I was not the only T2 who had found this. I also found out how to use the meter most effectively. 3 months later and my HbA1c was down so that the Dr agreed that I did not need Metformin. By eating to my meter I have kept control, mostly non diabetic levels, while still allowing myself an occasional treat. I have found a diet which is healthy for my body which is not necessarily the one recommended for non diabetics but which still covers essential vitamins and minerals and I have relearnt to listen to my body. If there is something I really fancy the chances are that it contains something that my body needs (at least that is what I tell myself as I enjoy a piece of 85% chocolate!):)
I've just bought a meter :)
 
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DCUKMod

Master
Staff Member
Messages
14,298
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Thanks for the tips. Might invest in one :)

Chocks, a fair few T2s post on the "What have you eaten today" thread, here: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/page-958#post-1900125

You might see some people on there refer, from time to time to their gadgets and gizmos, including the Instant Pot, as a handful have them.

The Instant Pot is just a brand I chose, and like, but the electric pressure made a lot of things quick and easy - casseroles, soups, curries, ribs and LOADs more. But, @bulkbiker is correct, I like my kitchen gadgets.
 

chocks63

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Sounds like you have given the metformin a fair trial (small dose, modified release) and it is upsetting you. I would go with either something from the SGLT-2 class like dapagliflozin, canagliflozin or empagliflozin or something from the gliptin class linagliptin sitagliptin etc.
With the SGLT-2s, there is probably not a lot of difference between them cos the trials are all slightly different, but empagliflozin has an effect to protect against heart attack and stroke; you need normal renal function for these to work, but they will help weight, blood pressure and glucose levels, and not make hypo
The gliptins are older and will also help glucose levels and probably weight and not make hypo; they probably do not avoid heart attacks etc . Linagliptin can be taken whatever renal function and we have a lot of experience with sitagliptin which also looks safe and may go generic soon
These would be preferable to a sulphonylurea which does not protect against heart attack or stroke, causes weight gain and causes hypos, but cos they are old drugs, they are cheap.
One could consider pioglitazone which does not cause hypos, and avoids heart attack and stroke if one has had these before, but the weight gain is bothersome and there are other questions about this drug, but it is cheap now.
As Bulkbiker above said, we are assuming that you have tried diet and exercise and not getting where you want to be.
Best wishes
Doctor has put me on Gliclazide 30mg MR once daily. See how that goes ?