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Hello from another newbie

J

Julz

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Hi, im Julz and im looking forward to reading and joining in with discussions here to share hints and tips on coping with Diabetes. I have been diagnosed with type 2 for approximately 18 months now, but was judged as 'boarderline' and 'glucose intolerant for the first year of that when my blood tests were around the 6.5 and 7.0 levels. My last test was 7.5, although i had misbehaved quite badly over Christmas foodwise, and eaten far to many sweet things such as trifle and chocolate :oops:

2 weeks ago i started taking Metformin, but found it made me very nauseus and i could not eat or drink much at all. I then awoke one morning feeling quite ill, and my chest was thumping with palpitations and my heart beat and pulse was very irregular when my daughter checked it. I made an appointment to see the emergancy duty doctor at our GPs surgery and he confirmed that indeed i had an irregular heartbeat but to stay on the Metformin. by the next morning i was feeling even worse, and having chest pains so was taken to the local A&E and put on an ECG machine, which confirmed Ectopic beats, and i was advised to stop taking Metformin and go home and rest, with an appointment for an ecocardiogram and 24hr Ecg monitoring for the next week, which i am due to have on Wednesday.

Slowly i started to feel a little better, and decided to do some googling to find out for myself the best way forward as previously apart from a leaflet from the doctors surgery i had not had much formal advice on what i should do other than avoid sugary food and drink and eat a well balanced diet.

I am now following the diet recomended by Diabetes Uk on their website, after entering in my details, and as far as i can work out its a low GI diet with plenty of slow release carbs via wholefoods, fruit, vegetables and lean meat and fish. I am also very overweight and have suffered from high blood pressure for the last 12 yrs which doesnt help. since this last bad episode began i have also bought myself a BS monitor from Boots on a half price offer, and im getting readings of between 6.5 and 10.9, the latter being taken an hour after dinner.

Has anyone else had problems like these after taking Metformin or am i rare lol?

Julz
 
Hi Julz and welcome to the forum.
Problems with Metformin are so common, I'm a rarity, because I never had them. Still most people adapt in a reasonable time.
I note you're following the DUK recommended diet.
You have a monitor
The usual way of testing the effects of the food you are eating, is to test before eating and 2 hours after the beginning of your meal
The current recommended numbers are:
Adult T1
4 - 7 before meals and
<9 after 2 hours
Adult T2
4-7 before meals,<8.5 after 2 hours
Many of us on this forum prefer to be nearer non-diabetic numbers I.e. around 5 at all times.( in my own case NEVER over 6 unless I'm ill)
You may find that if you follow the DUK diet, you don't get those numbers. A bit more carb control should help. That's because starch turns to glucose in the system.
You'll find loads of info on the forum
Hana
 
Welcome to the forum Julz. Metformin has been reported as causing palpitations but it also could be a side effect of any other drugs you are on, get your doctor to check out the side effects for you.

Below is the advice we often give to new type 2's. I hope there may be something there for you to use.

This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different .

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid or reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such a bread, potatoes, pasta and rice also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating then two hours after eating you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try !!

As a Type 2 the latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.
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Hi Julz and welcome to the forum. :D

Sorry to hear that you have been so poorly. :(

I too am fairly new to all this but have really delved into the forum and found out how to control my sugars. 8)

I have had to cut out all starchy carbohydrates like grains and potatoes and now get all my carbs from fruit and vegetables. I found this out by self testing before eating and 2 hours afterwards to see what my food was doing to my levels and adjusting my diet accordingly and now things are definitely looking up! 8) :D
 
Thanks for all your replies and friendly welcome, im off to see my Gp in the morning so hopefully she will start me off on an alternitive medication for diabetes, and write me a prescription for some test strips and lancets which would cost around £30 for a pack of 50 from Boots were i to have to buy them.

The only other medication i take is Lisinopril for the raised BP, and i have been on that for 12 years now, so i very much doubt that was the cause of the symptoms i suffered last week.

I will keep you all posted as to what happens next, but in the meantime i will continue to read all the helpful posts on here and add any hints and tips i pick up along the way.

Julz
 
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