A newbie with a query!

Frogs · Jun 28, 2010

Hi.......I wonder if anyone can help set me straight about this illness.
I was diagnosed as diabetic about 3 weeks ago,( type 2), and put onto Metformin 500mg, starting with one a day for a week, then rising to 2 a day. Apart from horrible stomach upsets when I first started,( and increased), the tablets, I seem to tolerate them fairly well. I've been taking one of my tabs with my breakfast and another with my evening meal.
I have another blood test booked and the doc will decide then whether to increase my dosage to 3 a day.
I was also told to make an appointment with the diabetic nurse, which I have done. I was overweight at 16 stone but have managed to drop down to 15st 1lb on the Rosemary Conley diet, which the diabetic nurse said was a good one to follow to get my weight down. Apart from telling me to have honey instead of my ½tsp demerara sugar on porridge in the morning, and saying she would get me an eye test, I wasn't given any sort of advice really, at all.
The last couple of days I've had some really weird symptoms in the mornings. Yesterday, I woke up with what I believe may have been a hypo. I was shaking, couldn't seem to think straight and sweating so much i had to keep wiping my face. I had something to eat and a drink (tea and a banana) and it seemed to ease down. This morning, I woke up as dry as a bone with a raging thirst. I had a glass of water, took the dog for a short walk around the block, had a cup of tea when i got back and felt much better by lunchtime ( when I took the Metformin).
Am I right in thinking that these symptoms are the two extremes of glucose problems? The thing is, my Docs don't appear to be offering blood meters to type 2, and in desperation I have ordered myself the lancet, a meter and testing strips off the internet.
Do I have to ASK to be referred to a dietition?
How often would you recommend I test by blood each day ? I seem to be managing ok during the rest of the day (as far as I can tell).
The measured quantity meals and "power snacks" on the diet keep me feeling ok, but these two overnight weird episodes are a little worrying.
I want to get everything under control as soon as possible as I also have a raised BP, heart rate, & underactive thyroid. Both my parents had/have heart problems so I know I'm at risk, and I need to get some serious helpful advice...............quickly.

Is there anything else I should or can be doing for now?

catherinecherub · Jun 28, 2010

Hi Frogs,

A meter and test strips are your best friend when managing diabetes. You do not know what your blood sugar readings are at the moment, regardless of the time of day.
Test on waking, before food, two hours after food and before bed. Keep a food diary and you will begin to see which foods are affecting your blood sugars. Keep away from simple carbohydrates, and test when you use complex carbs, you may have to reduce your portion size or not eat some of them. (Potatoes, rice, pasta, cereals, bread and fruits). Many of us cannot eat porridge but some find if they reduce the portion size and add seeds, nuts and berries to it then the readings are lower. Bananas also are taboo for some.
Honey or demerara sugar are both sugar so I would leave both alone.
Your eye screening should take place once per year but you may have to ask to see a dietitian. If you need to see a chiropodist then your Dr. can arrange this for you.
It all sounds very complicated but you need that tester a.s.ap.
Hope this helps,
Catherine.

Frogs · Jun 28, 2010

Thank you it did!!
That was sort of what I suspected, butI didn't know enough to be sure. I have only just moved & changed doctors, and I haven't got any sort of rapport with my new one yet. I find her quite hard to talk to, whereas my old doctor knew me so well, it was like talking to a friend. This makes it quite difficult to press for answers as she always seems so busy I don't want to waste her time. Thanks again, Lynne

Synonym · Jun 28, 2010

Hi Frogs and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis and the lack of good solid help so far! :roll:

You sound as if you are cutting down on your carbs which help to reduce your BG levels and feeling rough because your body is not used to it yet and then you are topping back up with carbs in order to feel better. Your poor body is on a permanent merry go round!

Many of us on here are unable to eat such things as porridge and bananas as they send our BG levels sky high and as for honey instead of demerara the only difference between them as far as your BG levels go (up!) is that one is liquid and the other is not!

I will post the 'Advice to newly diagnosed T2s' which is normally posted on here by Sue and/or Ken, our Forum Monitors, and following this carefully will help you to get to grips with your condition and may even help you to reduce your medication rather than increase it. Do read around the forum at the different diet threads and the Food forum and if there are any other questions ask away!

Welcome to the forum. here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different .

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid or reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such a bread, potatoes, pasta and rice also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating then two hours after eating you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try !!

As a Type 2 the latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

Frogs · Jun 28, 2010

Thanks again for the extra new advice...............the bit that resonated with me was the "merry go round"..............except I would have said a roller coaster!
I didn't realise

cutting down on your carbs which help to reduce your BG levels and feeling rough because your body is not used to it yet

that that effect would happen! :shock: So feeling a bit wobbly is normal when I first cut back? I really hope that meter turns up soon!!

Thanks again

Lynne

HLW · Jul 1, 2010

You weren't having a hypo if you are on metformin. I think if you massively overdose on metformin it is possible but not likely. It is like the previous poster says (sorry can't see who it was) , you blood sugar is lower than it has been so you get 'false hypos'. When you get a meter you'll be able to see wwhat you levels are which shold help. If you are getting side effects from metformin try the slow release versio .

A newbie with a query!

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A newbie with a query!

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