carilina said:
What is the difference between a non-diabetic being able to eat porridge and a diabetic not being able to eat it?
That's really the same as asking why you are diabetic. All of this is very simple and not entirely accurate but hopefully will help you understand. What happens to most but not all T2's is as follows. For whatever reason we put on weight. That weight gain causes a thing called insulin resistance. Insulin is what we produce in our pancreas. One of insulins jobs is to remove glucose from the blood.
Putting that all together the insulin resistance stops the insulin our pancreas produces from working fast enough and therefore the glucose levels in our blood that rise naturally when we eat end up too high and over time start to cause real problems such as damaging our eyes or making it likely that parts of us go bad and need amputating. Also the too high sugar levels damage the pancreas itself so that it gradually produces less and less insulin which means our sugar levels get more and more uncontrolled.
So what's that got to do with porridge. Very simply and again not entirely accurate but here goes...
All foods get be thought of as being a mixture of carbohydrate, protein and fat. When we eat stuff no matter what it is the body converts it to glucose. Carbohydrates convert a lot quicker than protein (e.g. things like meat) or fat (e.g. things like cheese). The blood levels you measure on your meter are the amount of glucose in your blood at that time. They need to be under 8 to be at a safe level. When you eat carbohydrates they convert to glucose very quickly so they raise levels faster than protein or fat. Therefore you need your bodies supply of insulin to work effectively as insulin is the stuff that will takes the glucose out of your blood. In T2's like us that effectiveness has been damaged either through insulin resistance or by the fact that our pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin. Normally in a newly diagnosed its some of both.
Now carbohydrates include a number of things. Sugar is one type and is dangerous as it converts to glucose very quickly indeed. That's why we are told to avoid sugar. Carbohydrates also include what we know of as the starchy foods so rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, cereals and flour based things. While these take a bit longer to convert to glucose they still convert very quickly which is why if your body has trouble with its insulin you need to cut them down. Porridge is a cereal and has a high carbohydrate content.
carilina said:
What is the difference between being non-diabetic and being diabetic? What is it about carbs that makes the bg level rise? Maybe if I understood it all a bit better then it would make life a bit easier.
Hopefully answered that above. If you are still unclear ask again no one will mind.
carilina said:
What does the Glic do that makes me need to be wary of it?
Some people think that T2's don't produce insulin but in many newly diagnosed T2's its insulin resistance more than a lack of insulin production that is the problem. If you lose weight your insulin resistance will get better and you may find your tolerance to carby foods improves a bit. Anyway Glic makes your Pancreas produce more insulin. Trouble is it stimulates that production regardless of if you've eaten so if you take it when your levels are low you risk your levels going too low. That's why you are being advised to check you are above 5 before you drive as it gives a bit of leeway in case your glic is making your pancreas produce unnecessary insulin. Although your body has other ways of trying to keep your levels high enough if it exhausts these other ways then there is nothing to stop your levels falling to low and you do risk a hypo. You felt the first signs today and your brain said "Eat a Banana!" Great your brain and your body sorted you out just fine but its not worth the risk so if you're on glic its probably worth not cutting your carbs too low. Trust your meter to tell you what too low is.
Now the second reason some of us don't like glic is that it does stimulate or as I describe it "turbo charge" your pancreas. In many T2's your pancreas is having to work flat out anyway to produce as much insulin as it can because of insulin resistance. Taking a drug like glic makes it work even harder and some of us suspect that it shortens the life of your pancreas. If your pancreas gives out totally then you are in the same position as a T1 and the only thing that will stop you dying is going on insulin.
So many of us reduce our carbs to the point that we don't need to take glic. On a low carb diet then your already overworked pancreas can have a nice rest as if you remember carbs quickly change to glucose which means you need insulin to get rid of the glucose. If you eat less carbs you produce less glucose in your blood so your pancreas can have a much needed holiday.
carilina said:
What does the metformin do?
Right Metformin works in a nice safe way. You can think that it stops your blood actually taking up the glucose so your levels are lowered that way round. It does only lower levels by 1 or 2 points despite what many nurses will tell you. It is good because it also stabilises your levels so that you "spike" less after you eat. As it doesn't stimulate insulin you can never really go to low as if you go low your body does its funky stuff and will normally automatically correct. You can imagine that glic has the ability to knock out the auto correction mechanism which is why you can go to low on that. Metformin is also proven to be good for your heart. Most people find that if they do a low carb diet they get very few of the unpleasant well known Metformin side effects which is an added bonus.
So its all about the carbs you eat. How do you know how carby something is? The easiest way is to look at the backs of packets and tins. All but fresh stuff will list carbs on the label within the small writing on the label. Normally you will see a number that is called "Total Carbohydrates" with a value next to it. That value is normally how many grams of carbs are in 100 grams of the product. A good rule of thumb is to try and eat things where that number is less than around 10 (some may tell you lower and that's fine). Things above 10 become increasingly suspect. So something like rice will say 75ish meaning 75 grams of each 100 grams (three quarters) is carbs which makes it very bad. Something like chicken will say 0 so no carbs at all which is brilliant. What I did was get loads of packets and tins out and read the labels just to get an idea of whats what. On the label underneath the "Total Carbohydrate" number you will normally see an "of which sugars" number IGNORE THAT ENTIRELY its the total carbs that are important not just the sugar content,
Hope that all helps!
You may need to have a discussion with your doc anyhow about your meds. It's trial and error at times. I know my docs didn't always get it right either. Personally porridge works well for me usually... on the odd occasion I may get a higher reading... but I'm usually in the 5's after eating porridge. I prefer oats over other cereals too. Keeping your carbs low GI should help. I think we definitely all go through periods where we are not having a great time... but keeping a positive attitude helps. 
