Metformin and fasting

specialk

Active Member
Messages
30
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I am prescribed 2 metformin a day. If I fast BT not eating after supper till lunch time next day when should I take metformin?
 

Finsky

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437
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
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Other
I am prescribed 2 metformin a day. If I fast BT not eating after supper till lunch time next day when should I take metformin?
I would take it first time I eat something and take evening doze when ever is latest time you are eating something. Metformin don't do any good for empty tummy and it is recommended to be taken with food.
 
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Annina

Active Member
Messages
27
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I am taking slow release Metformin and skip breakfast and lunch as often as I can. I am also on a nil carb diet. I find that my throat becomes very, very dry as soon as I take the Metformin, do you get this ?
 

specialk

Active Member
Messages
30
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I am taking slow release Metformin and skip breakfast and lunch as often as I can. I am also on a nil carb diet. I find that my throat becomes very, very dry as soon as I take the Metformin, do you get this ?
No dry throat. I am trying to drink more water. I bought the Obesity guide by Jung. Really informative. Upping fat intake I find hard after years of being brainwashed into having low fat foods. I am making slow but steady progress. Looking forward to my next hb1ac test. Let me know how you are getting on perhaps we can help each other
 

specialk

Active Member
Messages
30
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Don't want to appear rude, but is there a reason to be fasting, medical or religious?
I have been told that fasting is not necessary for Diabetics having blood tests.
I also have a friend who is of the Islamic faith and he has special dispensation from her Iman during Ramadan due to his diabetes.
I am trying hard to lose weight and get off meds by no longer being diabetic so I am following a LowcarbHighfat diet a with added fasting from after supper to after midday. Look at dietdoctor. com
Thank you for your replay
 

brenda walker

Well-Known Member
Messages
78
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I would take it first time I eat something and take evening doze when ever is latest time you are eating something. Metformin don't do any good for empty tummy and it is recommended to be taken with food.
DON'T SKIPS MEALS. Plan what you are going to eat in a day and break it down. smaller meals more often is better than 1 big meal. Metformin is a SLOW release drug unlike insulin which acts very fast. By eating at the time of taking metformin you are reducing the effect on your stomach.
 
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mfactor

Well-Known Member
Messages
389
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I would take it first time I eat something and take evening doze when ever is latest time you are eating something. Metformin don't do any good for empty tummy and it is recommended to be taken with food.

Yep thats what I do, lunch is often my first meal and I eat my last meal late (8/9 oclock)
 
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Finsky

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437
Type of diabetes
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Other
Don't want to appear rude, but is there a reason to be fasting, medical or religious?
I have been told that fasting is not necessary for Diabetics having blood tests.
I also have a friend who is of the Islamic faith and he has special dispensation from her Iman during Ramadan due to his diabetes.
There can be many reasons..including medical and religious. I fast because I have spare 'energy' stored around my waste line that doesn't get used =loosing it is VERY hard when you are diabetic AND have PCOS. Low carb diet on its own doesn't achieve quite as much results that I would like...or it is VERY slow progress. Add fasting to the diet and hey presto, things start moving.
Saying that, weight loss is added bonus..I have made all the changes to get my blood sugar levels under control.
When you fast..you body will need 'food'...when I doesn't come from your diet, it has to come from somewhere...it start drawing out from its own fat reserves. That is what nature has intended it to be..fat reserves are there when times are hard and food not readily available. But in modern times...food is everywhere and easily available...we eat all the time > weight gain and other health issues....or I should say..CARBOHYDRATES are everywhere, particularly very processed form carbs. All carbs raise our blood sugars causing body to release insulin to deal with those sugars. Insulin also is turning all/unused carb energy into fat stores in our bodies >weight gain. If you have lots of insulin in your system...more eaten energy is stored..when your body is in 'storage mode'..it sends signals that you are hungry, even if you have only recently eaten. So you eat because you truly feel hungry> more insulin produced..and so it goes on in circles.
During fasting your insulin production is minimal..once you body gets used to fasting , one doesn't get those hungry messages same way because insulin is not there playing the game in such a quantity nor is the 'storage' issue present as one will use up what is available.
That is very simplified way of putting some medical reasons for fasting...particularly with type 2 diabetics. But there are many more ways fasting will affect medically for other illnesses and conditions. Religiously it is seen body's way of 'cleansing' itself..and it is very similar way seeing it medically too. I see it way of giving one's body a break to get over come some 'hard days of work' and re-setting the system...or at least make some issues ease off a little.
 
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specialk

Active Member
Messages
30
Type of diabetes
Type 2
There can be many reasons..including medical and religious. I fast because I have spare 'energy' stored around my waste line that doesn't get used =loosing it is VERY hard when you are diabetic AND have PCOS. Low carb diet on its own doesn't achieve quite as much results that I would like...or it is VERY slow progress. Add fasting to the diet and hey presto, things start moving.
Saying that, weight loss is added bonus..I have made all the changes to get my blood sugar levels under control.
When you fast..you body will need 'food'...when I doesn't come from your diet, it has to come from somewhere...it start drawing out from its own fat reserves. That is what nature has intended it to be..fat reserves are there when times are hard and food not readily available. But in modern times...food is everywhere and easily available...we eat all the time > weight gain and other health issues....or I should say..CARBOHYDRATES are everywhere, particularly very processed form carbs. All carbs raise our blood sugars causing body to release insulin to deal with those sugars. Insulin also is turning all/unused carb energy into fat stores in our bodies >weight gain. If you have lots of insulin in your system...more eaten energy is stored..when your body is in 'storage mode'..it sends signals that you are hungry, even if you have only recently eaten. So you eat because you truly feel hungry> more insulin produced..and so it goes in circles.
During fasting your insulin production is minimal..once you body gets used to fasting , one doesn't get those hungry messages same way because insulin is not there playing the game sending those messages nor there is huge amounts of the hormone in circulation putting energy into 'storage' causing weigh gain.
That is very simplified way of putting some medical reasons for fasting...particularly with type 2 diabetics.
But same will/can apply even if is not diabetic.
Thank you for your comprehensive helpful answer. How do you fast?
 

Finsky

Well-Known Member
Messages
437
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
Treatment type
Other
Thank you for your comprehensive helpful answer. How do you fast?
My main way of doing has been 'daily' fasting..extended night time not eating time so I get 14-16 hrs total fasting time..it is the easiest most 'natural' way for me. Just recently I've experienced longer term fasting. First attempt since I've been diabetic was 3 1/2 days and I'm just doing it again and on day 6 of fasting..another day to go. Once I stop this fasting session, I shall go back into sorter sessions. I'm yet to trial 24 hr session 2-3 times a week and see how I get on with that and reminding days carry on with just LCHF diet. One just doesn't know which have best long them effect if one doesn't try....;)
 
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specialk

Active Member
Messages
30
Type of diabetes
Type 2
My main way of doing has been 'daily' fasting..extended night time not eating time so I get 14-16 hrs total fasting time..it is the easiest most 'natural' way for me. Just recently I've experienced longer term fasting. First attempt since I've been diabetic was 3 1/2 days and I'm just doing it again and on day 6 of fasting..another day to go. Once I stop this fasting session, I shall go back into sorter sessions. I'm yet to trial 24 hr session 2-3 times a week and see how I get on with that and reminding days carry on with just LCHF diet. One just doesn't know which have best long them effect if one doesn't try....;)
Thank you
 

Romeran

Member
Messages
23
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I am elderly and have had T2 for 18 years. I have followed the accepted advice of the era, eating every 4 hours during the day. If I don't do this my sugar levels go unpleasantly low and I feel awful until I eat something. Fortunately I have been retired for all of this time so have done lots of enjoyable exercise.
How can some of you fast then assuming you are subject to low and high blood sugars? Do you go to work still? Don't you feel you need refuelling? I occasionally fast, continuing with Gliclazide and Metformin tablets but ensure I don't do much all day. I drink weak fruit juice or water and I wouldn't like to do this if I had to travel and work! Also, how does anyone get through English winters without potatoes, pasta, bread, etc? I have never had a chronic weight problem. Perhaps some have to concentrate on that before anything else but I wouldn't have thought very low carb and lots of fat could be good for the body long term. Just wondering......! Incidentally I have not developed any complications but my Metformin dose is increased about every 4 years and diabetic nurses always say that the disease is progressive, all you can do is slow down the progress with sensible living. Some of you are apparently being told otherwise.
 

brenda walker

Well-Known Member
Messages
78
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Yep thats what I do, lunch is often my first meal and I eat my last meal late (8/9 oclock)
I am elderly and have had T2 for 18 years. I have followed the accepted advice of the era, eating every 4 hours during the day. If I don't do this my sugar levels go unpleasantly low and I feel awful until I eat something. Fortunately I have been retired for all of this time so have done lots of enjoyable exercise.
How can some of you fast then assuming you are subject to low and high blood sugars? Do you go to work still? Don't you feel you need refuelling? I occasionally fast, continuing with Gliclazide and Metformin tablets but ensure I don't do much all day. I drink weak fruit juice or water and I wouldn't like to do this if I had to travel and work! Also, how does anyone get through English winters without potatoes, pasta, bread, etc? I have never had a chronic weight problem. Perhaps some have to concentrate on that before anything else but I wouldn't have thought very low carb and lots of fat could be good for the body long term. Just wondering......! Incidentally I have not developed any complications but my Metformin dose is increased about every 4 years and diabetic nurses always say that the disease is progressive, all you can do is slow down the progress with sensible living. Some of you are apparently being told otherwise.
very wise words
 

Finsky

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Messages
437
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
Treatment type
Other
I am elderly and have had T2 for 18 years. I have followed the accepted advice of the era, eating every 4 hours during the day. If I don't do this my sugar levels go unpleasantly low and I feel awful until I eat something. Fortunately I have been retired for all of this time so have done lots of enjoyable exercise.
How can some of you fast then assuming you are subject to low and high blood sugars? Do you go to work still? Don't you feel you need refuelling? I occasionally fast, continuing with Gliclazide and Metformin tablets but ensure I don't do much all day. I drink weak fruit juice or water and I wouldn't like to do this if I had to travel and work! Also, how does anyone get through English winters without potatoes, pasta, bread, etc? I have never had a chronic weight problem. Perhaps some have to concentrate on that before anything else but I wouldn't have thought very low carb and lots of fat could be good for the body long term. Just wondering......! Incidentally I have not developed any complications but my Metformin dose is increased about every 4 years and diabetic nurses always say that the disease is progressive, all you can do is slow down the progress with sensible living. Some of you are apparently being told otherwise.
Since I started to educate myself with help from my fellow diabetics here and been reading and learning about nutritional facts from physiological point of view, believe it or not...but lot of the stuff that is commonly told by doctors and nurses about correct diets for us diabetics are not quite right. We do very well with very little carbohydrates (all that pasta, potatoes, bread...etc, as nice as they are to eat). I do outdoor work, I don't have any issues with it diet wise..some good quality meat and plenty of fat containing foods will keep anybody going on for hours...and keep warm too ;) We don't actually chomp tons of lard..it is not like that at all, but making sure that food is not low fat. Btw..my granddad was lumberjack in VERY snowy parts of Finland and ran small holding too...his favourite meal was fried pig fat..:rolleyes:(not something I would relish)and chunk of rye bread, that kept him going in snowy forests in winter, pulling horses through deep snow with load of logs, and he lived into his late 80's ;)
"Sensible living"..yes ,that is what many of us try to do...but what is sensible for me, might not be for somebody else. We just have to find the way of eating that works for us..and to me my low carb and high(er) fat diet does it, it has helped me to reduce my medication drastically. If it is certain foods that make you 'ill'..then there is no point eating them. I've been diagnosed diabetic over 20 years and all that time following NHS dietary advise, my diabetes didn't improve, quite opposite..their sensible eating plan did not work so I had to take matters into my own hands. I have been little while ago prescribed yet another lot of new medication, to me that was getting ridiculous...I was already taking two different lots of tablets and on insulin too. I rather take less medication, feel better and loose few tempting foods from my diet..and I am experiencing all that and more! I had other week meeting with diabetic nurse about the 'new medication' and as she saw my improvements...she agreed I won't need them and those other pills and 'potions' neither...and I left with encouragement from her.."what a improvement, carry on as you do";)

Edit to add...when you've been told diabetes is progressive..well it can be and will be for many who follow traditional dietary recommendations..but if you follow this forum, we have many who have proven it not be so. I really doesn't have to be...and that's where this 'different' way of eating comes to play. And to add to that..way we eat is nothing new or just discovered. It was researched way of eating for diabetics before all these moderns medicines were created...only way back then to keep diabetes in check and people alive..and they did with diet only. But it is so easy to rely to medicines and allow people to eat freely what they want..but obviously it doesn't work for long term..hence being 'progressive'.
 
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KevinPotts

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Messages
2,606
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
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Unkind people, failure to take personal responsibility.
Her's a link to a very comprehensive q&a with the fasting master, Dr Jason Fung
 

bulkbiker

BANNED
Messages
19,576
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I am elderly and have had T2 for 18 years. I have followed the accepted advice of the era, eating every 4 hours during the day. If I don't do this my sugar levels go unpleasantly low and I feel awful until I eat something.
Hi Romeran
It sounds like you are eating to your medication i.e. the meds you are taking cause your blood sugars to drop thus causing the bad feelings you are having. If you wanted to fast I would suggest that you speak to your doctor about reducing your dose of medication. I don't take any meds and have just come off an almost 4 day fast - just eaten a bag of pork scratchings after nothing since monday evening. My lowest blood sugar reading ever about an hour ago was 4.1 and that was after my best ever fasting blood glucose this morning of 4.5. Fasting can help to bring your levels own but if you are already taking medication to bring them down "artificially" then you should check with your doc first.
Hope that helps.
Regards
Mark
 

KevinPotts

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,606
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Unkind people, failure to take personal responsibility.
I do a 36 hour once a week and I'm not medicated and has had a positive contribution to reducing my BG levels. But, as a medicated T2, I'd get GP support, to gradually taper or at least monitor your meds.
 

Romeran

Member
Messages
23
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thank you Mark and Finsky for your opinions. Yes, I have wondered for a while if I "eat to my medications" as you put it. I do enjoy eating more when my medication is increased, it's as though I have been given permission to indulge a little. Until I started reading this forum I didn't realise different approaches to diabetes are being investigated.
I have no gallbladder now and I lose my appetite completely if I overdo butter and fried food but will consider reducing carbs a little more, summer being a good time to experiment. I am due for my annual chat with a diabetic nurse (have been in a new area for 18 months) and will see what she thinks too.
I am not interested in fasting with regard to diabetes, I just do a 24 hour one to rest my stomach occasionally.
 
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