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Another Newbie recently diagnosed

H

HappyBee

Member
Messages
15
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi Everyone

I was diagnosed as pre diabetes in November with a Hba1c of 61 and then in Feb I get the call saying I’m type 2 and need medication.
I have been prescribed Metformin which I was told to build up to 2 in the morning & 2 at night over a 3 week period. This made me constantly nauseous so my doc lowered my dose to one in the morning and one at night. Thankfully the Nausea has gone however my blood sugar levels (using the kinetic wellbeing kit) are never lower than 9.9 and this evening before food and 2.5hrs after have been 15.6. I know this is high but can I just take an extra metformin or is this nothing to be concerned about?
Physically I just feel extremely tired.
Im still learning myself so please forgive me if I sound like an idiot.

It’s a big old rabbit hole to me
 
Hello and welcome @HappyBee

There seems like a lot to learn the you are first diagnosed so I will keep it short .I encourage you to read around and ask questions as it took me quite a while to really get my head around it.

First- well done on having a meter- you can already see how useful it can be.

Second- metformin has a more long term background effect than immediately lowering you current blood sugar levels- it can definitely be useful but by itself it may not be sufficient.

Third- what most type 2s tend to find is that lowering your carb intake is what is needed to lower your blood sugar levels. I mean all carbs- even those carbs that are thought of as healthy- all carbs have an effect on your levels.

What is your diet looking like now?
 
Hi Thanks for the reply, My diet is pretty good, lots of fruit & vegetables and red meat & fish. I try to keep carbs out of my diet just because they’ve never digested well after a GB removal.

This is why my levels are baffling me. I don’t even like chocolate or sweets very much so can’t even use those as an excuse.
Exercise wise - I have 4 dogs so I’m never in the house
 
Welcome @HappyBee
What did you eat or drink this evening? The meal cause your levels to rise over 5mmol, so something you had is doing you no favours
 
Hi Thanks for your reply

I had some homemade veggie soup for lunch & for dinner I’ve had a tuna salad with some avocado. Snack wise I had some cheese & grapes & a protein bar.

I’ve just taken the dogs for brisk walk hoping they’ll come down a bit. At the very least I’m going to sleep well lol
 
I’d had my first high reading before I had them & in fairness, I only had about 6. I’ve had no other sugar apart from those all day so it’s a mystery! I’m tempted to retake them now but I don’t want to become a slave to a machine lol
 
Is the 61 your most recent hba1c? From November or more recently? An hba1c of 61 corresponds to an average bg of 9.9 over the last 3 months.
 
That is rather odd as a Hba1c of 61 is well into the diabetes range. Pre diabetes is under 48.
Metformin will not lower your BG level after a meal by taking an extra tablet, that is not the way it works. Usually high levels after eating are down to more carbs than you can cope with - that is both starch and sugar, both are carbohydrates.
Fruit has to be checked carefully as many are high in fructose, which is a sugar and has to be dealt with by the liver as a matter of urgency, so it is a double whammy to the metabolism.
 
Resurgam said:
Fruit has to be checked carefully as many are high in fructose, which is a sugar and has to be dealt with by the liver as a matter of urgency, so it is a double whammy to the metabolism.
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There are some studies that show that fructose increases the rate that other carbs, including sugars, are absorbed when eaten together as well. Maybe something worth keeping in mind for some people…
 
Some of us have to be really careful with fruit. A few berries maybe. Also grapes not good at all. Protein bars can be higher in carbs as one would wish. At the beginning excluding and then adding as you go along, depending on how insulin resistant you are and what your meter is showing. It can take time. Best of Luck.
 
...Two grapes will make me spike. They're really that sweet. So it's not entirely unplausible they caused those high readings. No need to ditch fruit entirely, berries in moderation are usually fine, so... There's still those!
 
EllieM said:
recently
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Hi
This was the result in November & my retest in February was the same. I’m due back for another in May.
My BG is 10.8 this morning so a protein shake for breakfast it is lol.
 
JoKalsbeek said:
...Two grapes will make me spike. They're really that sweet. So it's not entirely unplausible they caused those high readings. No need to ditch fruit entirely, berries in moderation are usually fine, so... There's still those!
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They will definitely Have done it then, I feel like diabetes is sucking the life out of me right now lol
 
Thank you for your advice, it seems I’m at the start of a long journey!
 
HappyBee said:
but I don’t want to become a slave to a machine lol
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. To be honest that can be a problem for some, they get very fixated on testing and anxious about the results.
But you need to just look on it as a tool, giving you information about what your food is doing to your levels
The results are open to interpretation and quite often require a little detective work.
Take your recent results for example,
Your meter has given you the info that something caused a 5mmol spike, was it the soup, the grapes or both of them.
So have some more grapes, test before and at 30min intervals, you will see exactly what six grapes do to your levels. How quickly they rise, how high they rise and how long they stay high.
Then no matter what you read or what anyone says about the suitability of grapes for you, you will have the information to make your own decision.
 
HappyBee said:
They will definitely Have done it then, I feel like diabetes is sucking the life out of me right now lol
Click to expand...
On the other hand, just to throw a spanner in the works, when they’re on sale I buy white/green grapes and eat 5 as a snack in the evening and my blood glucose as reported by CGM and finger pricks stays the same. I guess they effect different people differently either because of meds or metabolism???
 
HappyBee said:
protein shake for breakfast it is lol
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Shakes can be problematic, drinking carbs usually means they hit our blood faster and harder. Use your meter to see what effect your shake has.
 
Exactly, that's why testing works, if grapes are OK for you, what they do to others is unimportant.
 
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