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Greetings all from a much happier T2

J

JeremySE18

Well-Known Member
Messages
85
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hello fellow T2's.

Some quick background: I was diagnosed about 3-4 months ago and have been on Metformin since then, That was until yesterday. I have been suffering somewhat from what I now know are a couple of known side effects of the medication, namely A bad taste in my mouth and reduced appetite. Recently I have been struggling to finish even a couple of slices of buttered toast for dinner, and I dropped 15Kg! I had a wake up BG of over 7.0 every morning and it was downhill from thereon throughout the day, and modifying my diet didn't change that.

That all changed yesterday when I discussed my situation with my GP and he switched me to Gliclazide.. WOW what a difference! I woke this morning with a BG of 4.5, no bad taste and actually finished a bowl of porridge and chopped banana with gusto I just hope that it continues. I am aware I now need to keep a lookout for low BG and I am testing 4-5 times a day.

Anyway that's me, I look forward to gleaning as much information from these forums as I can. Wishing health and happiness to you all.

Jeremy
 
Hi @JeremySE18 and welcome to the forum. Good to hear your meds change is working better for you. It's great you have a glucose monitor and are testing.
Porridge and banana would spike a lot of people, it might be useful to test 1 hour after eating, then again at 2 hours to see how it affects you.
 
Thank you for the welcome,

I just checked, 8.1 about an hour after eating, not so good

Is it carbs or sugar content I should be looking at? ****, so confusing.
 
Carbs of which Sugar is one. The theory is though that these things all impact people in different ways so the testing at 1 hour and 2 hour after your first bite tells you what it does to you. That is the really important thing.

I myself could not tolerate any bananas or porridge and the two combined would send me through the roof.

I avoid all of the carbs which are in any way shape or form processed. So I will eat carbs in berries and vegetables and at least for the moment no bread, pasta, grains and certainly not sugar. Many people are even stricter avoiding artificial sweeteners. You have to be careful of these because some are not much better than sugar.

In general I try and keep my total carbs for a day below 20 and sometimes below 10 but I am trying to have a sledge hammer impact on what was a very high diagnosis and will review everything again in about 4 weeks time.

Hope that helps.
 
Welcome to the forum jeremySE18
All carbs turn to sugar when digested so they are the main culprits in raising glucose levels.
As prem51 has said, you can use your meter to modify your diet by testing each meal. You have already discovered that porridge and banana is not a good breakfast choice for you. Try bacon & eggs instead
 
JeremySE18 said:
Thank you for the welcome,

I just checked, 8.1 about an hour after eating, not so good

Is it carbs or sugar content I should be looking at? ****, so confusing.
Click to expand...
Hi @JeremySE18 ..
It's both .. carbs turn into sugar in your body after you have eaten. As others have said. your breakfast would cause many people to spike and your reading of 8.1 after your FBG of 4.5 suggests you might be one of them

I suggest you have a look at the following Diet Doctor websites .. That will give you ll the info that you need on what (and what not) to eat on Low Carb ..
Low Carb Intro and Information
Low Carbs in 60 Seconds
 
Hi @JeremySE18 ,

Welcome to the forum. It's great you have a meter & you've already met some of the guys!
They'll see you all right...
Yep, the carbohydrate content on the panel at the back of packaging. Don't wory about the "traffic light" info on the front.
 
Hi and welcome,

Yes, look at the nutrition label for "total carbohydrate". Ignore the "of which sugars". Sugar is a carb so is included in the total.

Try to use your meter to guide you on which foods your body can cope with. Test immediately before you eat and again 2 hours after first bite, then look at the rise from before to after. If it is more than 2 mmol/l there were too many carbs on your plate. Ideally, any rise should be under 1.5mmol/l. If you keep a food diary including portion sizes and record your levels alongside you will see trends and patterns emerging and be able to either reduce the portion size of the carbs or eliminate some completely.

Gliclazide works by stimulating your pancreas to produce extra insulin. Insulin is produced after eating carbs. The less carbs you eat the less insulin is needed. Too much insulin and you drop too low.

The worst of the carbs are bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, breakfast cereals and things made with flour. (including wholemeal varieties) Fruit is also difficult (as you have discovered with your banana). Berries are the best.

Have a good read round and ask as many questions as you like.
 
Hi and welcome @JeremySE18 There is a forum here which is dedicated to Low Carb in there you will find hints and tips and recipes for a low carb diet. Enjoy!
 
Thank you all for the welcome and advice.

having now tested again after 2 hours my BG is back down to 6.0 which is pleasing. I will continue to monitor regularly. I am learning more and more as I go along.
 
4.5 fasting rising to 6.0 two hours after a meal isn't too shabby at all. They say that the 2 hours after a meal reading ("Post Prandial", to give its posh term) should be less than 8 for T2s like us. So your new meds appear to have really kicked in for you.

As I said in the "What was your reading this morning" thread, I certainly couldn't tolerate all those carbs for breakfast. Many of us here restrict our carb intake severely and control our blood sugars that way plus minimal/no meds. Personally I don't eat more than 30-40g most days.

But, as long as this works for you, knock yourself out. I do miss a good pasta dish and if I could indulge without spiking then I most certainly would!!
 

As I understand it Gliclizide (which I am on too) works by stimulating the Pancreas to produce more insulin thereby dropping your BS level because of it. The dreaded Metformin was developed first as a diet drug because it suppresses the appetite (not surprising you dropped the weight!). Just be careful with your carbs - porridge is an odd one, some people can eat it, some can't. Well done either way on being able to enjoy your food again.
 
JeremySE18 said:
I just checked, 8.1 about an hour after eating, not so good

Is it carbs or sugar content I should be looking at? ****, so confusing.
Click to expand...
It's total carbs you should look out for on the nutritional information on processed foods. The total carb figure is more relevant as carbs turn to sugar in our bodies. So 10 gms of carbs is actually 10 gms of sugar. In the UK the total carbs figure includes the sugar.
You should try to eat foods that are less than 10 gms of carbohydrates per 100 gms, ie 10%.
Lower than 5gms per 100 gms (5%) is best.

Your spike to 8.1 one hour after eating is a bit high, but falling to 6.0 is within range.
You should avoid foods which raise your bs by more than 2.0 mmol/L as frequent spikes will cause damage to your body.

It is all a bit confusing at first, and takes a bit of time to get your head around it all. But if you have a read round the threads you will get to learn more. Ask anything you want to, the people on here are friendly and supportive, and you will get a lot of good advice.
 
Gliclazide tend to lead to people putting on wight, having more stroke and heart issues etc......

But it does control BG so reduces eye and foot problems etc.

Try to learn how to control your carbs so that you are able to get off the Gliclazide as soon as possible. Gliclazide is OK as a short term fix, but just like putting a broken leg in plaster, should not be used long term.
 
Copied from another section to this more appropriate one....
Looks like this Gliclazide is going to be a little difficult to control. Tested last night before bed and 4.6 so decided, maybe unwisely to pop a glucose tablet, and woke this morning with a 3.7. This morning I have noticed vision problems like looking at a very badly pixelated screen or an 8 bit game It clears up mostly in 5 minutes)

I am not sure whether or not to take my morning 80g Glic or not. I am going to make some porridge and banana with a coffee and see how I go. I may look at halving my evening dose. I am I little lost now and maybe double guessing myself. Any advice gratefully received.
 
Maybe you should ring your GP and discuss this with him. We can't advise you to change your meds.
 
I'm thinking that your doctor is happier prescribing tablets than giving advice on your problem.
You are eating carbohydrates, heavily starchy sugary foods and then taking a tablet to try to negate the effect, and then eating more to reverse the tablets. You end up in a ping pong situation rather than getting things balanced again.
Many people on the forum have little need to medicate as they eat low carb foods, so their blood glucose isn't pushed higher than they can cope with. Over time there is recovery of normal readings and although we might never be able to cope with continuous heavy carb foods again we do not run the risks of a roller-coaster of high and low readings.
If you do decide to alter your diet you will need to be very very careful, as you are medicated to cope with a shedload of carbs and could have very low, dangerously low blood glucose as a result. You really need to have contact with your doctor or a nurse if they have authority to change your medication, and just hope that they are in favour of low carb eating.
 

You need to see your doctor today, as Gliclazide should not be used if it is making your BG go below 5 often. If you doctor tells you to eat more curbs at all your meals, ask to see a different doctors.

(For drugs like Gliclazide to be controllable, you need to eat about the same number of curbs each day, you can't keep charging between normal curbs and low curbs.)
 
@JeremySE18
Sorry that you are having problems with your vision and glucose control / medication.
As others have mentioned here, members are not allowed to advise regarding medication. You need to seek medical advice from your GP.
Please let us know how you get on.
 
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