Type 2 Confused

[Footygirl]

Hi all
Was supposed to be type 2 about 7 years ago Metformin yuck taken off it
Moved house therefore Doctor. “You dont have diabetes”. Hey ho. overweight but not hugely so.
Recently, check up bloods. 48! Alarm by medics. Put me on Metformin 8wks ago. Then One week before holidays, not far away, packing dresses, all snug! Put myself on one healthy smoothie for breakfast then something like egg on toast Lunch , and salmon pots n fresh veg for tea. (VEGGIE BUT EAT SALMON). Pretty standard fair. Dont eat sweets, cake, biscuits. Love fruit.
Suspect Metformin which is also messing with my, erm rhythm toiletry speaking. Stopped it, squeezed into dresses had ok hol.
Suspicious, felt some weight loss but still feel big. ? fluid? Never had big ankles etc etc before.had on hols, really big ankles. Cured at home.
Ok so doc changes me to SUKKARTO as time release. Three weeks on, still back end probs, weeing for England incl night, but NOW suddenly STARVING HUNGRY. 4am? Had some carbs. This am FBS 8.7. Humous n toast for lunch, 2hours on HUNGRY BG 7.1
HELP.
I have never had hungry before. In fact more no Appetite with capital A but ate sensible at appropriate times. What has changed? I dont like this hunger, driving me to snacks. More to biscuits, which is not me, dont want to do it.
Rang for telephone appointment... 12th October 4.30! Bit all at sea.
I want to stop drug and put myself back on one healthy smoothie ( list of components below, randomly combined). Did not feel hungry when I did this pre holiday.
Does anyone see a recognisable pattern here? A well known syndrome/ problem I can fix with diet?
ALSO
Had a, what I think are hypos, for years before diagnosis. Told numerous docs, only ONE said “eat every three hours”
Would have breakfast. Knitting, light housework, 1pm, sweaty, shake, feel like stomach dropped down lift shaft, got to sit down. (Once this happened BG 4.2 rang 111 got a gp. Eat sandwich, drink milk. BG recovered. Now scary stuff but no matter WHO I told... nada, nowt, nothing! One doc said cant be hypos! But no help anywhere. Been doing this years. Stopped as H1ac rose. Still no insight. So now I have HUNGER with fear of real hypo.
Sorry, its a lot but Im not a happy bunny. should I have a sandwich NOW? Cos hungry, or what will happen in 2 hours when we normally eat tea? 5-5.30.
Id be so grateful for any advice/ insight.
I have autoimmune problems but meds etc for years stable, nothing changed as far as that concerned.

thanks guys
Footygirl

ingredients, Avacado, kale/spinach, banana, coconut water, orange, peanut butter, cocoa powder, vegan protein powder, a bit, liquid iron, any other berries etc to hand. Take random mix each time, not all in one smoothie!

 

[Andydragon]

That’s a lot of carbs in the smoothie. Also not sure any smoothie is actually classed as totally healthy. I thought they were but have heard due to how they are created and absorbed they aren’t as liquids aren’t as well processed as the actual ingredients

 

[ziggy_w]

Hi @Footygirl,

Welcome to the forum.

I agree with @Andydragon, smoothies (no matter what they contain) are probably not the best idea. Blending the ingredients usually increases the glycemic index and therefore glucose and insulin levels in the blood rise very quickly. It would be much better to have the ingredients in their natural form (although personally I would skip the banana and the orange). The other ingredients are fine.

As to feeling hungry -- there is a theory saying that as we become more insulin resistant (due to high circulating insulin levels), the body can no longer use the glucose in the blood (as insulin is no longer sufficient to push it into the cells) and it is then stored as fat. At the same time, the body can no longer access access body fat for energy (because high circulating insulin prevents this), so our body is actually starving in the presence of plenty (you might have a look at Jason Fung for this theory. Plenty of videos on youtube).

Another theory says that concomitantly with insulin resistance, lepin resistance increases too. Leptin is the hormone, which causes us to feel full. This is why many would argue that weight gain is a symptom of insulin resistance.

Many of us T2s try to address this problem by lowering insulin and thus lowering insulin resistance. This means choosing lower carb foods.

Salmon, which you like, is an excellent choice for this, but so are kale, spinach and avocado. (There are also loads of other low-carb veggies such as asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, leafy greens.) Also, berries are generally okay as is unsweetened natural peanut butter and coconut (but are also other lower carb nuts such as hazelnuts, brazils, pecans, walnuts and almonds). Legumes can be a good choice (in reasonable quantities) and some seeds (such as sesame, chia, flaxseed, pumpkin and sun flower seed).

As a veggie, do you also have dairy and egg also? Or are you purely plant-based apart from the salmon?

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi all
Was supposed to be type 2 about 7 years ago Metformin yuck taken off it
Moved house therefore Doctor. “You dont have diabetes”. Hey ho. overweight but not hugely so.
Recently, check up bloods. 48! Alarm by medics. Put me on Metformin 8wks ago. Then One week before holidays, not far away, packing dresses, all snug! Put myself on one healthy smoothie for breakfast then something like egg on toast Lunch , and salmon pots n fresh veg for tea. (VEGGIE BUT EAT SALMON). Pretty standard fair. Dont eat sweets, cake, biscuits. Love fruit.
Suspect Metformin which is also messing with my, erm rhythm toiletry speaking. Stopped it, squeezed into dresses had ok hol.
Suspicious, felt some weight loss but still feel big. ? fluid? Never had big ankles etc etc before.had on hols, really big ankles. Cured at home.
Ok so doc changes me to SUKKARTO as time release. Three weeks on, still back end probs, weeing for England incl night, but NOW suddenly STARVING HUNGRY. 4am? Had some carbs. This am FBS 8.7. Humous n toast for lunch, 2hours on HUNGRY BG 7.1
HELP.
I have never had hungry before. In fact more no Appetite with capital A but ate sensible at appropriate times. What has changed? I dont like this hunger, driving me to snacks. More to biscuits, which is not me, dont want to do it.
Rang for telephone appointment... 12th October 4.30! Bit all at sea.
I want to stop drug and put myself back on one healthy smoothie ( list of components below, randomly combined). Did not feel hungry when I did this pre holiday.
Does anyone see a recognisable pattern here? A well known syndrome/ problem I can fix with diet?
ALSO
Had a, what I think are hypos, for years before diagnosis. Told numerous docs, only ONE said “eat every three hours”
Would have breakfast. Knitting, light housework, 1pm, sweaty, shake, feel like stomach dropped down lift shaft, got to sit down. (Once this happened BG 4.2 rang 111 got a gp. Eat sandwich, drink milk. BG recovered. Now scary stuff but no matter WHO I told... nada, nowt, nothing! One doc said cant be hypos! But no help anywhere. Been doing this years. Stopped as H1ac rose. Still no insight. So now I have HUNGER with fear of real hypo.
Sorry, its a lot but Im not a happy bunny. should I have a sandwich NOW? Cos hungry, or what will happen in 2 hours when we normally eat tea? 5-5.30.
Id be so grateful for any advice/ insight.
I have autoimmune problems but meds etc for years stable, nothing changed as far as that concerned.

thanks guys
Footygirl

ingredients, Avacado, kale/spinach, banana, coconut water, orange, peanut butter, cocoa powder, vegan protein powder, a bit, liquid iron, any other berries etc to hand. Take random mix each time, not all in one smoothie!

On top of everything you've already been told: have you ever heard of Reactive Hypoglycemia? I didn't know I had had it until I was already a T2 and that issue was well in my past. But it could be possible that when you ate something carby, your pancreas wildly overreacted and put out more insulin than you needed, resulting in a very real hypo. (Just to contradict all the naysayers in the medical field. RH isn't a very well-known condition.) Then, if you eat carbs every three hours, you keep that cycle going. Only real solution to RH is low carbing. No carb input, no blood sugar spike, no overreacting pancreas. Thing is, if your insulin output is (too) high all the time, you can become insensitive to it... And that, in turn, becomes T2. I'm not saying that that's what happened, as there's no way to tell without you having done an extended oral glucose tolerance test way back when it happened regularly, but the worst advice you could've gotten was "eat more often". You should've been cutting carbs and seeing whether that made a difference. Water under the bridge though.

So... Usually when you're hungry it's not so much actual hunger, though it certainly feels like it, it's more likely your body craving carbs, as they're addictive. (So the last thing you should have is a sandwich of a smoothy with a carb-bomb in it like a banana or orange). Either that or the sukkarto is messing with you, but as I have a feeling you'd rather ditch ANY form of metformin... A change in diet'd do it for you. And would take away the risk of further hypo's in the future. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ have a read, see whether it's something you can fit into your lifestyle. Sorry about all the foods with faces, I wrote it with omnivores in mind.

Hope this helps!
Jo

 

[Footygirl]

Morning. Apologies. Our wifi on fritz so will be quick. Thanks to all. I did try to thank you, no joy. Already seeing difference in lack of bloating after years. Can someone please give me desired BG for pre breakfast post 2hrs pre lunch 2 hrs etc as a guide line. I know no ideal but just to support my efforts til I can communicate better. Wifi lasting a minute at a time grrr.
Im doing low carb. Waking in 7 range. Is that too high? What is ideal to aim for?
Your help has impacted my life already. So sorry wifi daft. After man from sky next week hope will be better
You are amazing
Footy

 

[Grannypat]

Hi @Footygirl,

Welcome to the forum.

I agree with @Andydragon, smoothies (no matter what they contain) are probably not the best idea. Blending the ingredients usually increases the glycemic index and therefore glucose and insulin levels in the blood rise very quickly. It would be much better to have the ingredients in their natural form (although personally I would skip the banana and the orange). The other ingredients are fine.

As to feeling hungry -- there is a theory saying that as we become more insulin resistant (due to high circulating insulin levels), the body can no longer use the glucose in the blood (as insulin is no longer sufficient to push it into the cells) and it is then stored as fat. At the same time, the body can no longer access access body fat for energy (because high circulating insulin prevents this), so our body is actually starving in the presence of plenty (you might have a look at Jason Fung for this theory. Plenty of videos on youtube).

Another theory says that concomitantly with insulin resistance, lepin resistance increases too. Leptin is the hormone, which causes us to feel full. This is why many would argue that weight gain is a symptom of insulin resistance.

Many of us T2s try to address this problem by lowering insulin and thus lowering insulin resistance. This means choosing lower carb foods.

Salmon, which you like, is an excellent choice for this, but so are kale, spinach and avocado. (There are also loads of other low-carb veggies such as asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, leafy greens.) Also, berries are generally okay as is unsweetened natural peanut butter and coconut (but are also other lower carb nuts such as hazelnuts, brazils, pecans, walnuts and almonds). Legumes can be a good choice (in reasonable quantities) and some seeds (such as sesame, chia, flaxseed, pumpkin and sun flower seed).

As a veggie, do you also have dairy and egg also? Or are you purely plant-based apart from the salmon?