1001 questions and absolutely no answers :(

UnderCeej

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hi all,

I was diagnosed as type 2 over 10 years ago. During that time, I have managed it through diet and exercise and done quite well with it all (some blood tests came back amazingly, some not so good) but I was always within the "sweet zone", as my nurse so lovingly puts it. We have a great relationship and is always on hand to give me a kick up the a## if she thinks my readings are worse than they should be.

Start of the year, I joined my local gym and tennis club and began playing tennis twice weekly and attending the gym twice a week also. I love it, and have been noticing clothing falling off me, and my body/face changing shape due to weight loss. Never felt better, until I went for my fasting bloods on the 20th of March. Due to the fact that Covid-19 was rearing it's head, my docs surgery was closed and I didn't get my "face-to-face catch up with my diabetic nurse" and get my weight measured/urine stick. Instead, my nurse had to call me to tell me the news that my hbA1c was 89 and she was starting me on Metformin. She enquired about my daily health and asked if I expected this. To say I didn't is an understatement. Because the call was only 5 mins long, I felt completely rushed off the phone and didn't even get a chance to ask her anything properly. Been taking the Met for 11 days now, and sometimes after taking it I feel so weird, I can't even put it into words. Spaced out, nauseous, sicky but not actually sick. I feel like in the short time I've been taking it I've put weight back on, and I feel so angry that I've felt amazing since January, have never been this active in 10 years and yet my bloods were still shockingly high.

I am dying to call her and speak to her to find out what the hell has happened and what I can do in the interrim between now and my hbA1c is done in 3 months time to get my levels back OK. But due to Covid I know she'll be absolutely run off her feet and I really don't want to put her out. I bought a blood glucose reader from Amazon, have used it 3 times and it keeps just saying 'LO'. I now don't know if the device is faulty or if I'M faulty!!

Has anyone been in this situation? What can I do? Should I continue being as active as I can be during lockdown, keep to my diet, still take the metformin and try to get readings of my blood? What even is a good reading? Can anyone recommend a meter I can get to try and figure out what's going on? What might I be feeling if my bloods ARE 'LO'? Should I just call her and ask her to make time for me?

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give me!!
 
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Diakat

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
5,591
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
The smell of cigars
Hmm, when have you used it to get the LO readings? It might be a faulty meter, are the strips in date? Did you get any test solution with it to check?
But also, just possibly, it could be RH, tagging @Brunneria to see what she might say.
 

UnderCeej

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hmm, when have you used it to get the LO readings? It might be a faulty meter, are the strips in date? Did you get any test solution with it to check?
But also, just possibly, it could be RH, tagging @Brunneria to see what she might say.

Once when I got it around 2pm (had pork stirfry with veg around midday), once at 4pm and once at 8pm after I had steak and salad for dinner at 6.30ish..
 

Brunneria

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
21,889
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi and welcome!

I think you need some home bg readings, so that you know what is what... :)

it could be a faulty reading, or it could be that you aren’t using a big enough blood drop?
Or it could be that you aren’t applying the blood drop to the test strip correctly?

Those are pure speculation, of course.

I should try googling your brand of meter to see if there are any tutorial, preferably video tutorials on using the meter.
Don’t worry if you can’t find your exact make of meter - they are all very similar.

As for what are good and bad readings, this page should help explain that.
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/features/pre-and-post-meal-testing.html

Hope that helps.
 

Tophat1900

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,407
Type of diabetes
Type 3c
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Uncooked bacon
It seems like you have been given little to no helpful advice over the last 10 yrs. You will need to use that meter more to see what your levels are doing and Brunerria has provide a link to help with that.

www.dietdoctor.com is also very helpful with lots of info in general and many recommend the book "Diabetes code" by Dr.Jason Fung.

Diet doctor is also a great resource for meals that are low carb/keto etc.

For nutritional advice, apart from what you will find at diet doctor there is a red link below that explains things really well... what to avoid and why etc Good info written by one of members here who will probably chip in. @JoKalsbeek
 

JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,937
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi all,

I was diagnosed as type 2 over 10 years ago. During that time, I have managed it through diet and exercise and done quite well with it all (some blood tests came back amazingly, some not so good) but I was always within the "sweet zone", as my nurse so lovingly puts it. We have a great relationship and is always on hand to give me a kick up the a## if she thinks my readings are worse than they should be.

Start of the year, I joined my local gym and tennis club and began playing tennis twice weekly and attending the gym twice a week also. I love it, and have been noticing clothing falling off me, and my body/face changing shape due to weight loss. Never felt better, until I went for my fasting bloods on the 20th of March. Due to the fact that Covid-19 was rearing it's head, my docs surgery was closed and I didn't get my "face-to-face catch up with my diabetic nurse" and get my weight measured/urine stick. Instead, my nurse had to call me to tell me the news that my hbA1c was 89 and she was starting me on Metformin. She enquired about my daily health and asked if I expected this. To say I didn't is an understatement. Because the call was only 5 mins long, I felt completely rushed off the phone and didn't even get a chance to ask her anything properly. Been taking the Met for 11 days now, and sometimes after taking it I feel so weird, I can't even put it into words. Spaced out, nauseous, sicky but not actually sick. I feel like in the short time I've been taking it I've put weight back on, and I feel so angry that I've felt amazing since January, have never been this active in 10 years and yet my bloods were still shockingly high.

I am dying to call her and speak to her to find out what the hell has happened and what I can do in the interrim between now and my hbA1c is done in 3 months time to get my levels back OK. But due to Covid I know she'll be absolutely run off her feet and I really don't want to put her out. I bought a blood glucose reader from Amazon, have used it 3 times and it keeps just saying 'LO'. I now don't know if the device is faulty or if I'M faulty!!

Has anyone been in this situation? What can I do? Should I continue being as active as I can be during lockdown, keep to my diet, still take the metformin and try to get readings of my blood? What even is a good reading? Can anyone recommend a meter I can get to try and figure out what's going on? What might I be feeling if my bloods ARE 'LO'? Should I just call her and ask her to make time for me?

Thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give me!!
Hi @UnderCeej , and welcome,

I can see why your HbA1c came as a shock... Things seemed to be going so well, after all! Can you give a little more specifics about how you've been managing with diet only up until now? Were you following a certain school of thought there (Keto, LCHF, IF?) ? The foods you mention could go either way, carb wise, so I figured I'd check. After ten years of this you probably already know that practically all carbs turn to glucose once ingested? If not, you'll want to re-examine your daily meals, snacks and drinks, and start checking with your meter. Just be sure to use a big enough drop of blood, with strips that aren't past their use before date, wish freshly washed hands, or you'll be getting false LO readings. (Metformin doesn't cause hypo's, so it's fairly safe to say they're faulty readings). Test before a meal and 2 hours after, what you're aiming for is a result of 2.0 mmol/l or less, of a rise between the two.
Metformin can certainly cause everything you mentioned and then some, so considering the issues you're having I think it would be useful to go over your usual daily meals and see what the pitfalls may be. If those can be fixed, metformin can be nixed. ;) What's an average day like, food wise? And has anything else changed in the past months? New medication, illnesses...?

Anyway, https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html is my own little quick-start guide when it comes to low carbing and such, so you might want to read that, and go from there. And if you still have questions, or if things don't make sense, keep asking; there's always someone here with an answer.
Good luck!
Jo
 

VashtiB

Moderator
Staff Member
Messages
2,283
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Hello and welcome,

I'm sorry you have felt a little abandoned due to these very strange times we are living in. It is a difficult time for everyone.

It is great that you've been able to keep your levels under control mostly for such a long time. I think you will find using a meter will really help identify what foods your body does and does not tolerate well.

Good luck with the meter. I found it difficult to work out everything at the beginning but now have it done to a well oiled technique pique so I second the suggestion to watch a couple of videos and don't give up. I'm a lot needle phobic so when I began I won't press the lancet firmly to my skin- O've got over that for the most part.

Welcome to this amazing site full of amazing people