Feeling rubbish when waking

garykary

Member
Messages
8
Hi,

First post on here and after a bit of advice.

For quite a while now i don't feel good when i wake up, basically tired, often feel sick/shakey and have a headache. I've been testing my fasting bloods and these seem to range from 4.1 to 6.5. When eating, they tend to be 5.0 to 6.5 pre food and 6.5 to 7.5 2hrs after, they never seem to rocket even if I've been a bit naughty and ate something i really shouldn't have. In general i eat quite healthy and exercise most days.

My first Hba1c was in March at 67, by May i had dropped this down to 48. My next review is at the end of next month but i'm still on 1000mg metformin a day. I was wondering if this level of metformin could be causing the morning symptoms based upon my results and should i contact my doctor to see about getting it reduced now rather than waiting 6 weeks for my next appointment?

A lot of this is still new to me so sorry if this seems a daft question! But any advice would be appreciated.
 
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Stephen Lewis

Well-Known Member
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207
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Hypocrites, liars, donald trump (no capitals for emphasis)
I am also on 2x500 mg of Metformin a day and take one tablet at breakfast and another later in the evening. The later one because I had a significant increase in my bg level from just before to a couple of hours after waking - the dawn phenomenon. You seem to have the opposite and I am now going through similar effects having improved my weight, A1cs and bg levels. Perhaps significantly, I have got rid of the fat storage around my waist so my liver no longer has a source for a glucose dump when I have not eaten for 12 hours. Certainly check with your doctor - mine said that my A1cs had to be lower on a continual basis for a couple of years and keep testing your bg so you can show a record of a continuing situation.
 

jjraak

Expert
Messages
7,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
@garykary
hi welcome to the club.

just caught up on a few posts you made.

just to be clear, type 2 right ?

and it says you use low carb..not sure if that is LCHF as well.

so..when i started i popped a toe in the water, went low carbs and some Hi fat
for a month or so i felt like death..
i know now it was the cutting down on sugars dramatically.
i basically went all out and suffered in those early days, but it's all come good now.

so i wonder if it MIGHT be that..?
or alternatively are you eating enough ?
have you upped the intake of fats

all top easy to cut down on foods, lose weight, get good scores, but be starving.
and with the up tick in exercise, aka walking, then that's also a possibility.

good luck finding a resolution.
 

ianf0ster

Moderator
Staff Member
Messages
2,400
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
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Diet only
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exercise, phone calls
@garykary ,
Hi, I too suspect that you have tried to do too much at once.

Upon diagnosis as Type 2, I was only 2lbs into the 'overweight BMI' category so fortunately that meant I was not tempted to go into low carb, Calorie restriction and increased exercise all at once!
Having not suffered from your symptoms I wonder if that is because initially I had no calorie reduction at all (due to eating more fat. Since fat is denser in calories than carbs, this meant I was eating a smaller quantity of food and my stomach started to get used to smaller amounts and so my appetite reduced and the calories I needed to avoid feeling hungry dropped.

I don't like exercise (for its own sake) since I don't get any pleasure out of it (no runner's high or endorphin rush. Thus I only do about 35 min brisk walk per day.

I was amazed how just going LCHF, yes high fat despite my triple bypass has meant that I have stabilised my Blood Glucose , put me back into the 'pre-diabetic' range and also lost more weight that I thought possible - so I am now 20lbs away from being overweight!
 
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garykary

Member
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8
Thanks, I did wonder if I've done too much too soon. Suppose it's just the fear factor when first being diagnosed and wanting to do everything possible to reduce things.
 

jjraak

Expert
Messages
7,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
you'll hear this a lot, it's a marathon, not a sprint

and i know i was like you..it wasn't something i wanted..and i wanted it GONE..NOW

Best idea is to get the diet on an even keel.

trust me everyone says they eat a healthy diet..i did for 10 years and that go me
a type 2 t-shirt and medal..:rolleyes:
'healthy' as others know it ...isn't healthy for us.

Diet doctor visuals worked best for me when i was trying to get my head around good food choices for a type 2
at first i was " what CAN i eat " :arghh:..
might be worth a recap just to be sure the foods you take can't be bettered in some way, while still giving you sufficient energy to get about your day

i worried at first, now i rarely go hungry..i rarely snack, 2 meals a day does me, and sometimes
one of those meals is just a ryvita, butter and cheese or deli meats.
if i'm honest occasionally i challenge myself to go 'one more hour' without eating, and that usually means i forget to eat so just have a small plate of meat or cheese and some olives or avocado.
if i've had a good meal in the late morning (i usually skip breakfast) i have on occasions settled for a some berries and double cream, just to tide me over until next days 1st meal time.

appetite is healthy but those hunger attacks have all but disappeared, i'm much more measured in my food consumption after nearly 11 months of LCHF (dx 13 months ago..first few weeks..don't ask
t2511.gif
)
and have plenty if not more energy then i had the years leading up to my DX

as for the metformin.

i was on 2 in am 2 in pm..still take as it has other potential properties, and i never found the issue some have, so not the best person to answer that one.

good luck finding a route back to good numbers and better health.

the road maybe long, but it IS SO worth it.
 
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