Deflated/demoralised

[broads]

I was diagnosed type 2 in September 2008. I have managed to avoid medication, with diet and exercise, till December 2014 when I was put on Metformin 3 x 500 a day because of an increase in sugar levels. I was so disappointed as not being on medication gave me a real incentive to keep working hard diet and exercise wise to avoid medication
Metformin didn't agree with me. I was frightened to go out the house if there wasn't a loo close by. After a blood test in April I went to see the diabetic nurse who told me that my levels had gone up yet again but she did appreciate my loo problem and put me on slow release Metformin. I feel a different person. I have a blood test next week with a follow up appointment with the nurse a week later.
I have tried so hard but sugars go up. I don't feel Metformin does anything for me. I need to get my head round Metformin but can't.
Any comments please would be great. I feel so deflated and worried.
xx

 

[broads]

I was diagnosed type 2 in September 2008. I have managed to avoid medication, with diet and exercise, till December 2014 when I was put on Metformin 3 x 500 a day because of an increase in sugar levels. I was so disappointed as not being on medication gave me a real incentive to keep working hard diet and exercise wise to avoid medication
Metformin didn't agree with me. I was frightened to go out the house if there wasn't a loo close by. After a blood test in April I went to see the diabetic nurse who told me that my levels had gone up yet again but she did appreciate my loo problem and put me on slow release Metformin. I feel a different person. I have a blood test next week with a follow up appointment with the nurse a week later.
I have tried so hard but sugars go up. I don't feel Metformin does anything for me. I need to get my head round Metformin but can't.
Any comments please would be great. I feel so deflated and worried.
xx

Must add that I seldom eat things like potatoes , bread, pasta etc. I am very conscious of high carbs and usually avoid them but eat lots of protein and the right sort of fats.

 

[DeejayR]

Hiya, sorry you feel you're not getting anywhere. First off, tell us more precisely what you eat for breakfast, lunch & dinner, and what you snack on. How seldom is seldom?
Also, tell us if you need to lose weight.

 

[broads]

'Precisely' I cannot do.BREAKFAST is either Oats so simple or a couple of scrambled eggs, sometimes three. LUNCH a sandwich. I use either Burgen or Vogel soya and linseed bread and filling is usually salad based but maybe cheese or meat. DINNER , I substitute Dreamfields pasta for normal pasta and quinoa for rice. I eat meat as and when I want. I also eat fish but it tends to be salmon as I am not a great lover of fish. I love prawns and can eat lots of them. I have a hard working husband who needs feeding so I am normally cooking two meals a night but sometimes I adapt his meal to suit me.
I would appreciate your comments on suitable bread for a sandwich. I must add that I make my own bread as my other half loves bread but I don't touch it even smelling the aromas that fill the house.

 

[broads]

Sorry missed out snacking. If I fee like snacking i usually try and avoid it by getting my mind off it. But if need be I settle for some Macadamia or wall nuts but is only temporary need some other options. Please don't mention things like raw carrot etc. It's ok in a salad but is enough to put you off snacking.!!!

 

[Rog]

broads can I ask you what weight you were when you were diagnosed and what you are now? Your diet sounds ok to me.

 

[DeejayR]

I've scanned through your posts going back a few years and can't see what's holding you up. Your questions have usually been relevant and showed you were understanding your diabetes. You did get a meter but are you still testing yourself regularly or just relying on HbA1c tests?
I don't take any meds but people on here say metformin doesn't lower BS levels by much and it's the diet that does the work.
Do you include exercise in your routine?
EDIT 1 What exactly are your BS readings?
EDIT 2 Oats, bread of any kind and pasta of whatever make are sailing close to the wind. You might be unlucky and unable to eat them safely. Have you tried testing without them?

 

[Gill120560]

Some people just cannot tolerate Metformin, I know I couldn't. I had terrific tummy pains. So they put me on Gliclazide instead which works much better for me.
I think there are always certain foods that really effect a persons BG levels. For me, bread and ice cream are definitely off my food list. BG levels really spike after I've eaten either, so I try to keep away from them. I have porridge for my lunch which is filling and also a slow release carb that keeps my going until tea time.

Gill xx

 

[kesun]

'Precisely' I cannot do.BREAKFAST is either Oats so simple or a couple of scrambled eggs, sometimes three. LUNCH a sandwich. I use either Burgen or Vogel soya and linseed bread and filling is usually salad based but maybe cheese or meat. DINNER , I substitute Dreamfields pasta for normal pasta and quinoa for rice. I eat meat as and when I want. I also eat fish but it tends to be salmon as I am not a great lover of fish. I love prawns and can eat lots of them. I have a hard working husband who needs feeding so I am normally cooking two meals a night but sometimes I adapt his meal to suit me.
I would appreciate your comments on suitable bread for a sandwich. I must add that I make my own bread as my other half loves bread but I don't touch it even smelling the aromas that fill the house.

Your diet would make my bloods high. Oats raise my BG for hours, not just a spike. And although all those low-carb bread and pasta substitutes are lower carb than the real thing, I think they must still have some carbs, as I can manage a portion a few times a week, but if I have more my BG get stuck at high. The bread that works best for me is the Lidl triangular high-protein roll.

I also need to eat more fat than you seem to eat, otherwise I get hungry. I have lots of double cream and butter, and I make yoghurt out of double cream instead of milk. I usually snack on nuts, too, but if I'm at home I add nuts and broken-up 81% chocolate into a bowl of double cream. That's also a good breakfast.

Having said all this, my problem is that I don't produce enough insulin, not that I'm insulin-resistant, so not sure it's relevant to your condition. But maybe worth a try, as metformin sounds fairly horrid, and even if you can tolerate it it's much more comfortable not to be dependent on medicine, isn't it.

Kate

 

[4ratbags]

Hi you say you eat lots of protein and that could be a bit of a problem. If I eat too much protein I find at the 2 hr mark my BS will be quite high. Perhaps it would be a good idea to start a food diary and start testing before and after meals to see exactly what your BS's are up to. I'm pretty well controlled and I don't test all the time but every now and then I will test properly every day for about a month to keep a check on my levels and to make sure LCHF still suits me. I made a mistake just last night. We had bacon and eggs which is fine but then I decided to have broccoli as well and after 2 hours my reading was 6.2 (ouch) won't do that again. With diabetes you never stop learning and be rest assured at least you are in the right place.

 

[Rog]

Hi you say you eat lots of protein and that could be a bit of a problem. If I eat too much protein I find at the 2 hr mark my BS will be quite high. Perhaps it would be a good idea to start a food diary and start testing before and after meals to see exactly what your BS's are up to. I'm pretty well controlled and I don't test all the time but every now and then I will test properly every day for about a month to keep a check on my levels and to make sure LCHF still suits me. I made a mistake just last night. We had bacon and eggs which is fine but then I decided to have broccoli as well and after 2 hours my reading was 6.2 (ouch) won't do that again. With diabetes you never stop learning and be rest assured at least you are in the right place.

That's interesting I have just learned of you, I wouldn't have thought 6.2 would be considered high after 2hrs after what you eat their.

 

[4ratbags]

When I eat broccoli it is usually 2 cups at a time and I would usually either eat the eggs or the broccoli, not both and for me 6.2 is a high reading. Usually at the 2 hr mark I am in the low 5's even after eating a small chocolate bar. One thing with diabetes is that we are all different which is why thankfully I have my meter as what doesn't spike me may spike someone else.

 

[graj0]

'Precisely' I cannot do.BREAKFAST is either Oats so simple or a couple of scrambled eggs, sometimes three. LUNCH a sandwich. I use either Burgen or Vogel soya and linseed bread and filling is usually salad based but maybe cheese or meat. DINNER , I substitute Dreamfields pasta for normal pasta and quinoa for rice. I eat meat as and when I want. I also eat fish but it tends to be salmon as I am not a great lover of fish. I love prawns and can eat lots of them. I have a hard working husband who needs feeding so I am normally cooking two meals a night but sometimes I adapt his meal to suit me.
I would appreciate your comments on suitable bread for a sandwich. I must add that I make my own bread as my other half loves bread but I don't touch it even smelling the aromas that fill the house.

Possibly too much carb, and I suppose there are two approaches. The first is to weigh the Oats, bread and pasta that you are eating and see exactly what carbs are contained in what you're eating. Secondly use the meter to see the effect of what you're eating is having on your BG. You could also ask for a c-peptide test to see exactly how much insulin your pancreas is producing, at least that way you will know for sure whether not enough insulin is the problem or resistance to insulin or both. If the GP won't agree to a c-pep you can get them done privately. I did and I was then able to say my pancreas was doing it's job OK and it was just insulin resistance causing my problems. I'm down to about 80gms of carb a day rather than the 250+gms that most people eat. How much cutting down is required will vary from person to person.
Burgen soya and linseed bread is 11 gms carb per slice. There seems to be some controversy over dreamfields pasta in that independent sources have found the pasta to contain 41 gms carb per serving. Quinoa is 64 gms per 100 gms. Almond flour and coconut flour go to make some interesting low carb bread. There's several interesting recipes if you Google.
Try not to feel too despondent, the carb thing may need a bit of further tuning. Exercise is obviously important and walking is probably one of the easiest to do, swimming needs just a little more organising especially if you are some distance from a pool.

 

[graj0]

Possibly too much carb,

Sorry, brain not in gear. typed reply this a.m. just pressed post reply.

 

[Rog]

NICE recommended target blood glucose level ranges
Target Levels
by Type Before meals
(pre prandial) 2 hours after meals
(post prandial)
Non-diabetic 4.0 to 5.9 mmol/L under 7.8 mmol/L
Type 2 diabetes 4 to 7 mmol/L under 8.5 mmol/L
Type 1 diabetes 4 to 7 mmol/L under 9 mmol/L
Children w/ type 1 diabetes 4 to 8 mmol/L under 10 mmol/L

 

[uart]

' I substitute Dreamfields pasta for normal pasta and quinoa for rice.

Hi Broads, that pasta has been shown to not live up to the claims they make about it. Please take a good look at this: http://livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog/...t-settlement-over-low-carb-pasta-claims/22545

 

[Rog]

I think someone's post was deleted here, do admin do that's?

 

[Gezzabelle]

QUOTE="4ratbags, post: 885713, member: 102832"]Hi you say you eat lots of protein and that could be a bit of a problem. If I eat too much protein I find at the 2 hr mark my BS will be quite high. Perhaps it would be a good idea to start a food diary and start testing before and after meals to see exactly what your BS's are up to. I'm pretty well controlled and I don't test all the time but every now and then I will test properly every day for about a month to keep a check on my levels and to make sure LCHF still suits me. I made a mistake just last night. We had bacon and eggs which is fine but then I decided to have broccoli as well and after 2 hours my reading was 6.2 (ouch) won't do that again. With diabetes you never stop learning and be rest assured at least you are in the right place.[/QUOTE]
@4ratbags Interesting that protein with broccoli sends your bg up...that happens to me too if I have meat with veg...any idea why that happens as I just don't get it?

 

[Brunneria]

Hi @broads

You've had some good advice above, but I think for me, the key message would be eat to your meter.

Test before food, then test 2 hrs after. If your reading has risen by more than 2 mmol/l, or you are out of your target range (as posted above), then think about what you ate.

You get to decide - either reduce the carb portion next time, or cut that food out completely.

The diet you described would be far too high in carbs for me. The porridge, pasta, etc send my blood glucose very high - even in tiny portions like a single table spoon. I tried the Burgen bread and hit 11mmol/l after a single slice.
Very disheartening.

@Gezzabelle recently discovered that Lidl do a High Protein roll (in their fresh baked daily baskets) which seem to not spike me (so far), but I had to give up all grains - including rice.

Luckily, I bake low carb occasionally, and actually love my diet.
Have a look at this thread, and you will see what I mean!
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/vegetarian-vegan-low-carb-recipe-index.61859/

 

[Gezzabelle]

Hi @broads

You've had some good advice above, but I think for me, the key message would be eat to your meter.

Test before food, then test 2 hrs after. If your reading has risen by more than 2 mmol/l, or you are out of your target range (as posted above), then think about what you ate.

You get to decide - either reduce the carb portion next time, or cut that food out completely.

The diet you described would be far too high in carbs for me. The porridge, pasta, etc send my blood glucose very high - even in tiny portions like a single table spoon. I tried the Burgen bread and hit 11mmol/l after a single slice.
Very disheartening.

@Gezzabelle recently discovered that Lidl do a High Protein roll (in their fresh baked daily baskets) which seem to not spike me (so far), but I had to give up all grains - including rice.

Luckily, I bake low carb occasionally, and actually love my diet.
Have a look at this thread, and you will see what I mean!
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/vegetarian-vegan-low-carb-recipe-index.61859/

@Brunneria thank you for that link....looks to be some very tasty and interesting food to try on it I will be having a good look at it as I am seriously bored with what I eat. I am already a huge fan and user of the Lidl High Protein rolls. They don't spike me either whereas bread does. I have one every day in one form or another...firstly because they are tasty and filling and secondly because they help with constipation issues I have had since changing my diet. Without them I would only 'go' once a week which isn't good