Hello, everyone

Hi. My name is James (in spite of the user name ) I'm in my fifties and was diagnosed as Type 2 about a fortnight ago and put on Metformin. I'm now on the prescribed dose, which is a couple of 500 mg tablets a day, having started out on one per day. I'm also trying to restrict my carb intake to about 70 - 80 g per day and take more exercise. If frequency of going to the loo is any indicator, then something is working although I suspect I have a way to go before I'm in control of my BG levels.

No doubt there will be many questions over the weeks and months to come, but here's a few to start with:

One of the reasons I was diagnosed is that recently I got quite a bad stomach bug, and was (sensitive souls avert your eyes now) chucking up for a couple of weeks. My doctor got suspicious, took some blood, and the rest is history. In consequence of this extended bout of regurgitation, I lost over a stone, which took me, incidentally, from a slightly overweight BMI to the upper quartile of the healthy weight range. All good stuff, and although I've put back 2 or 3 pounds, probably representing replacement of the fluid loss whilst I was ill, I'm still a "healthy" weight, if that means anything. However, even 3 weeks post-illness, I'm still feeling a bit wobbly, as you do after being ill, particularly if I take some exercise, and I suspect that this is partly because of my restricted carb intake. Normally I'd expect to shake off the after effects of a bug in 48 hours or so. Does anybody have any experience of this and have you any suggestions (such as vitamin supplements, low carb but filling foods etc) that might help restore me to feeling more normal?

I'm finding the whole process, in relation to care, a bit languid. I saw my GP, who is an excellent doctor, to get the results of my initial blood tests and as well as breaking the happy news that I was T2, he gave me a five minute talk, mostly about diet (restrict the carbs), exercise (do more) and medication (take it). He also said that I'd need more blood tests in about a month's time, to see how things were going, at which point I will presumably see him again. He also mentioned that I'd be put on a Diabetic Education Programme and see a diabetic nurse, but didn't really give much indication of when this might happen. I rang the Surgery a couple of weeks later, to see if there was any news about this, to be told that it might be some time before I heard. Is this typical? Our GP is a friend and I can ask him about all this, without causing tension, when I next see him but it would be useful to have some idea of what it is reasonable to expect. I love food - which is no doubt why I got into this mess to start with - but I'm feeling a bit uninformed at the moment, and feel the need to have a better picture of what I should be eating. I've looked at the low carb diet forum and there seem to be lots of good ideas there, but I feel the need for a bit of structure and knowledge to underpin what I'm doing.

Finally, after going on metformin, I noticed a sudden deterioration in my eyesight. I rang up my optometrist (I'm short sighted) in a bit of a panic but she told me that, although I should keep an eye on things, it was almost certainly caused by the shape of my eyes adjusting to a lower level of sugar in my blood, that things will even out in a few weeks' time and that it was good news because the medication was working. Anybody else experienced this? My optometrist did say that I should have a check-up in due course, as it's possible that my eyes will adjust to a new prescription, in which case I will need new glasses. Eek; ker-ching; why am I not surprised?

Sorry to blether on a bit; it's one of my many failings. Any advice on any of these subjects would be welcomed, thanks in anticipation.

Hi everyone, and thanks for the welcome. Just to answer a couple of your questions - I seem to be tolerating the metformin well, with no problems (as yet, anyway). I am weighing up the pros and cons of getting a BG meter; my main concern is that I may not be able to make sense of the data it provides and/or that I get panicked by rogue results. On balance it's probably worth getting one, because it will, at least, give me comparative data so that I can see if things are heading in the right direction or not, even if I'm not sure what a particular reading actually means. Is there a particular machine that gets regularly recommended on here? I'm told that, like razor blades and printers, buying the original equipment is cheap but the replaceable bits (test strips and so forth) are where the manufacturers make their money back.

So far as getting an appointment is concerned, I have spoken with the Receptionist at the Surgery and am waiting for her to get back to me: five days and counting. The Practice has four Practice nurses, all of whom are trained as diabetes nurses: it's a well resourced and well run centre in a prosperous city in the southern UK but, like everywhere else, I guess it's over stretched and that I must be patient, though I'll give a little nudge in a week or two if I haven't heard anything.

One further question: any suggestions as to what to have for a low carb breakfast? Cereals (previously my weapon of choice) are out, obviously, and I don't think I should be necking eggs and bacon every day - though I did explain to my wife, at the weekend, that eggs Florentine (poached egg, spinach, smoked salmon and a small spoonful of hollandaise sauce) were all good, and an essential part of my treatment routine for a Saturday . Someone has suggested porridge with maybe blueberries or cranberries added to add a bit of interest. Porridge strikes me as quite high carb but presumably the fact that it's slow release mitigates the impact a bit? Maybe another reason to get a BG meter, to see if Scot's oats create mayhem in my blood stream.

Hey ho; onwards and upwards....