• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Hi all

Albie11

Member
Messages
10
Location
Hertfordhshire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi everyone
New to the site. Am a pretty fit 64 year old, still working P/T .Diagnosed with Diabetes first during pregnancy (1991) and this went away. But did return 2007. Was not medicated for many years then put on Metformin in recent years. My HbA1c has been pretty static around 51/52 for quite a few years. Had a letter from GP during pandemic that as my Diabetes was stable they would not be seeing me 6/12. Had my Diabetes bloods for the first time in 2 years in fact last month! I was at the end of a long list apparently!
Anyway, Nurse phoned today( over a month since the bloods so didn't rush) to say HbA1c was 54 and this is not good and GP wants me to go on Dapagliflozin. I said I needed to discuss this further as I am aware of this drug and it's potential side effects. She said I need to make a phone appointment with the GP in that case.
It never cease to amaze me how they can forget me for 2 years.......no blood tests, nothing and then get a nurse to phone to put me on another medication without any discussion. But what I am asking you guys is.............should I try and get the reading down by my normal diet and meds ( I probably have lapsed big time during the 18 month lockdown) before trying this drug? I am 5ft 3 and 10 stone 8 so not obese but a little overweight. You might be able to give me alot more help and advice than the nurse I spoke to!
Thanks everyone
 
Hi @Albie11 , welcome to the forum!
Albie11 said:
But what I am asking you guys is.............should I try and get the reading down by my normal diet and meds ( I probably have lapsed big time during the 18 month lockdown) before trying this drug?
Click to expand...
What kind of foods are you eating currently?
Would you be willing to change your diet to cut some of the carbs?
You're only just over the diabetic threshold, so a couple of small changes could make all the difference!
 
 
Hi...thanks for your reply! I eat a fairly varied diet, very careful with the obvious but I think it has been carb heavy this last year or so..............not helped by the weird time it has been and being home so much etc. So fair to say I have not been careful enough. So the reading wasn't a complete surprise. I think I am willing to cut out alot of carbs if it means avoiding this new drug! I dug out a book I bought some time ago about reversing Diabetes with diet control and think I have only flicked through it previously so will take that to bed tonight to study! Any tips or advice gratefully received!
 
Hi. I’m 5 foot 3 and currently 12 2. My A1c was 50 last July and like you nobody rushed in telling me. I phoned about 2 weeks ago and bang doc wants to speak to me and I’m on metformin before you can say - may cause sickness. I’m trying to eat carefully in fact at the moment nothing at all (feel so sick). I did it for 2 years by diet and got down to your weight; then lockdown hit me too. I want to stop the metformin but it scares me when I do eat and test my bloods are v high. A small jacket potato (the nurse said smaller than my fist) with butter and I was 8.4 2 hrs after (after 15 mins of step aerobics). I hope we both manage this. X.
 
Welcome @Albie11
Yes definitely doable by diet alone. But do get your head around that it must be a way of eating for life (woe) rather than just something short term you can then revert back to old ways after or those numbers will just start rising again.
What are the types of things you are currently eating?
 
Hi, welcome

The correct diet is very powerful, definitely try low carb eating first, but try to act like it’s a negotiation with your doc, can be useful having them onside, best of luck.
 
Albie11 said:
Any tips or advice gratefully received!
Click to expand...
The short version is easy: Don't eat (or reduce) the bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, fruit (and of course the sugary stuff).
Instead eat more of the vegetables, meats, eggs, cheese and butter.

You don't want to go hungry, there's no need to. If you're hungry you haven't eaten enough.

Eggs and bacon for breakfast? Fine!
Full fat greek yoghurt? Fine! (Just don't add bran flakes or such)
Cheesy omelette fried in butter? Fine!
Cream in your coffee? Fine!

Those are all calories which make you feel satiated. If you skimp on the calories you'll be hungry and it's easier to grab something quick and carby.

almost any vegetable tastes great with some butter and salt, and drumsticks taste better than chicken breasts.

You might like to have a read around and chip in on this thread, where we share what we've eaten, along with some chat: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/page-2293#post-2431742
 
Yes, of course you are spot on there. I always have eggs for breakfast,no cereal for years now and usually a small evening meal but it's the daytime that I have started having sandwiches, crisps( alot of those during lockdown!) so I know I have to turn it around and obviously stick to it. Not having a Diabetes check for so long didn't help...................I sort of put it to the back of my mind! Basically, my diet this last year and a half has been carb heavy and that has to stop. Thankyou and everyone else who has posted as it has motivated me to get a grip of the situation. Feeling much happier now than I did after speaking to the Nurse!
 
Albie11 said:
crisps( alot of those during lockdown!)
Click to expand...
Do you like pork scratchings? They likely won't affect your blood glucose at all. I love to have them with aioli.
Have you ever made cheese crisps? You can do so in the microwave or the oven. Just grate cheese (I use Gouda because I live in the Netherlands, mature cheddar will do just as well), spread thinly over a sheet of baking parchment paper or whats it called, and put in the microwave or oven. Couple of minutes for the microwave, longer for the oven.
They should go all bubbly, but you have to take them out before they go brown. Once they're cooled, they should be as crispy as crisps, if not, put them back in for a little longer.
 
Don't eat pork so will have to give the scratchings a miss but home made cheese crisps sound interesting! And yummy! Will give those a try! thanks
 
I am over 4 years into low carb eating, and I bought strawberries - I thought I must have overdone the carbs today.
Just checked the weight eaten and added in the 10 gm of carbs for breakfast - 26gm.
I could finish off the strawberries - I can resist anything but temptation.
 
Hi. Yes, the right diet should avoid you needing the meds as your HBa1C is quite good. The important thing about 'annual' diabetes tests is not wait to be called but to ask the surgery for blood test forms at least every 12
months. Get the bloods taken at the surgery or hospital and arrange with the surgery for a nurse review by phone minimum. NICE Guidelines are that you should have a 12 month review so insist on it; don't let the surgery be in control on that. Make sure you have access to your blood test results online so when you do talk to the nurse you know all your results beforehand.
 
Why are you eating potatoes, if you want to control your diabetes by diet? They appear to elevate your blood glucose unacceptably - it would be unacceptable if it was me.
 
Albie11 said:
Don't eat pork so will have to give the scratchings a miss but home made cheese crisps sound interesting! And yummy! Will give those a try! thanks
Click to expand...
Antje's cheese crisps aren't interesting... They're fabulous! I'm sure you'll love them as much as I do. But jumping on the bandwagon: your HbA1c isn't THAT bad, so leaving the sandwiches and crisps alone again should help get you back to good. And you know what? If the surgery forgets you for 2 years, it's time to get your own meter and keep an eye on things yourself, as they're obviously not going to. You'll also see improvements as you go, so that'd be a great motivator.

Good luck eh!
Jo
 
KennyA said:
Why are you eating potatoes, if you want to control your diabetes by diet? They appear to elevate your blood glucose unacceptably - it would be unacceptable if it was me.
Click to expand...
I understand your comment but I feel so sick at the moment all I fancied was a small jacket potato. I’m not eating hardly anything at the moment yet when I do my blood sugar still jumps. It’s not the diabetes making me feel sick it’s the metformin. I thought one small jacket potato considering I’d had nothing else to eat yesterday would b ok and clearly it was not.
 
This comes from my low-carb/keto viewpoint.

It's not the quantity, so much, but it's the type of food that's important. Carbs of any kind will boost your BG. As we're diabetic, we can't handle carbs the way that non-diabetic people can and our BG rises and stays high. The more carbs, the bigger BG boost, probably. Some carbs will probably have a greater or lesser impact. I say probably as these are typical features but we all have individual reactions - I can tolerate legumes but pastry is right out, for example. So - if you want lower BG figures, you have to exclude carbs to a great extent. If you eat a potato don't fret that your BG is rising - it will, because you ate the potato. It's your choice.

I have zero personal experience of metformin but I understand there's a slow release version that seems to agree with some people better. Or you could stop taking it altogether. Your A1c (if it's 50) is not so high and could be brought down quite quickly via low-carbing. I started from roughly the same place and was in normal range in four months - others have reduced from much higher levels even more rapidly.

This is the right place to ask questions and find out what will work for you.The way that works for you is the right way.
 
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…