hi - excessive thirst

Noodles and weetabix would explain some of that.. So might the prawn balls but let's not get into that just yet. Careful of the soup as well with store bought stuff, but it's early days .... homemade would work well but I appreciate that is overkill this early.

Don't expect that tablet to do much good with levels as high as you're having. It will have little effect at this point. Get moving, consume that water and great to hear of that veg omelette.

It'll be a long road, you'll hit the bumps, but we're here to guide where we can.

@thirsty_monsta - You need to cut out of your diet "White Carbohydrates" : such as Pasta, Potatoes, Rice, Flour, Bread, Pastry, Biscuits, Cakes and replace them with wholegrain varieties. Make sure you have enough of Proteins, Fats, Vegetables (ones grown above the ground) and non-tropical Fruit. And also exercise is good at helping to lower blood sugars. Drink plenty of sugar free fluids too.

Agree with much of that but the wholegrain (of anything) would bother me a lot.

People have very different tolerances to carb intakes .... but I aim for about 40 max. Some are OK with double that, some feel better with less. It inevitably must be a balanced diet and LCHF (low carb hi fat) is what many MANY people swear by. Look it up in the forum and you'll find out a LOT more.

Whatever feels good for you but as with another newbie, just tread carefully as sudden dramatic changes can mean your body will take longer to adjust. Rome wasn't built and all that ....

Step 1 is get rid of sugars (all of them) and wheat and carb laden store bought rubbish .... cereals is one of them .....

There is no rush with this .... work on it and watch the numbers drop away.

Personally I would start with around 100g carbs to see what effect this has. You want to see a steady drop in BGs not a sudden drop as there could be adverse effects if you drop too quickly from high to normal.

Re bacon and eggs for breakfast. You will be surprised. It's the carbs that make T2s fat, not fat and protein. Many find a fry up to be very good for the waistline. Try it and see! Enjoy

Oh and check your soya milk. Some are low carb others have carbs added.

There is a point when our blood glucose rises too high (approx 10-11mmol/l) when our kedneys say 'this blood glucose level is not good for me, let's siphon the sugar out of the blood and get rid of it in the pee'. In order to do this, the kidneys suck water out of the blood too, otherwise the pee would be just sugar syrup. So that is why we get so thirsty with high blood glucose.

Your metformin won't knock your blood glucose down by a dramatic amount, and it doesn't work on a single tablet basis. Instead, it builds up with about 3 weeks of regular use, and lowers your blood glucose a bit, all the time. Its main effect is to make your body less insulin resistant, and has other benefits. Lots of people think it is some kind of magic pill. It REALLY isn't. And it is only effective if you take it all the time.

By far the biggest impact on type 2 diabetic blood glucose levels is diet. So every time you need to pee so much, and get so thirsty, it means that your blood glucose has gone too high - because of the amount of carbs you ate in your last couple of meals.

If you get yourself a meter, you can see this in action with your numbers, and can start tailoring your meals to keep your blood glucose low. Many of us have dropped bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, sugar, sweet fruit and starchy veg completely (I find that the wholegrain stuff is just as bad for my bg as white stuff). It gives great control over blood glucose, and usually results in weight loss for people when they start eating this way. We just fill up on veg and salad, and add in a bit of extra protein and fat. A lot of us have also found that our cholesterol levels improve too.

Hi thirsty_monsta, I was diagnosed in Jan this year with a reading of 19.3. Doctor put me straight on metformin 500mg 1 daily for first week then increase to 2 daily. the best thing I did was join this website followed the LCHF diet and in the second week my readings came down to 14s. I cut out sugar potatoes rice and bread, no fruit juice just water and Herbal teas, everyone is different in what they can and can not eat, but if you stay with this site you will be fine. Go into the Forum "What have you eaten today " this is a brilliant forum as you will see, we tell everybody what we have eaten and we in return get some good ideas of what others have eaten so we can try new foods, so it doesn't get boring. Now 6 weeks on BG readings 6s and 7s.

thirsty_monsta said:

i like the idea of having fried eggs and bacon for breakfast..don't think it would do my waistline much good though, thanks for your advice

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Hey Thirsty...totally get your concern about waistline over the whole fried brekkie thing, but better to go up a size in trousers than to have diabetic complications you can avoid - no offence intended - and weetabix is a no-no. I was stunned when I first saw from my meter how much cereals caused my blood sugar to spike- should be a bleedin law against it, mate! I fail sometimes over the cereal thing, but my levels are not as high as yours...experiment. I don't think the 20 plus is emergency material, having had those kinds of readings when first diagnosed but they are still waaaaay to high. I am sure you will get that down to single figures but only if you are pretty strict and really cut out anything with a high carb content (ie, above 10g per 100g on the label). I struggled with breakfast more than any other meal. I would recommend M&S smoked cheese slices and dried bacon slices (both ) carbs...maybe an omelette...but abandon cereal and toast for sure - evil sugar demons dwell concealed in them in the guise of carbohydrates (but they will soon remove their friendly costumes inside the blood stream and give you grief). Experiment, test, record...and you'll soon have it under control.

Glad you're now keeping a check on your BG...over the first few months this will be invaluable...it'll give you a good insight into how things affect your BG and the things that you may need to rule out. As a rule of thumb...check before and two hours after eating to get a good idea of how different foods affect you...its different for everyone.

You said you'd been out and bought a meter. Many doctors seem to be of the opinion that Type 2's don't need to test...so don't prescribe test strips. Having been around here a while I know that many people recommend SD codefree as an affordable meter as in the link below...hoping this is an ok link and will save you some money if you're unable to get your current meter strips on prescription

http://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/

thirsty_monsta said:

already down to 20.3 today as ive watched my carb intake for 2 meals, i hope it keeps going down

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It will if you keep following the advice ... and cereal must be dumped ... hard, but you have to do it

Excellent .... no guarantees with all this, but if you keep going like that, reckon you'll be in single figures before you know it.

Remember, a 1 or 2 drop will be good even if it's over a few days. No rush

How do you feel Carl ?

You're doing well already thirsty and your levels are heading in the right direction. Exercise is good too...if I go for a brisk half hour/40 minute walk after eating I have less of a spike than I would do if I hadn't.

You're in the early stages, its all trial and error and your meter is a must.....when I was diagnosed almost sixteen years ago, they were prescribed as matter of course [sadly no longer]so I'm sure that's why I'm still only on Metformin as I could try and test foods to see how they affected me.

thirsty_monsta said:

im over the moon,i feel like i have accomplished something and i feel like i have a bit more energy...

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That's because you have accomplished something already, and this is just the start. I am so glad you found this site. Keep asking questions when you need to.

Well done

As you should be mate ..... when you get into single figures (maybe beforehand), then we can mix up this diet a bit with some low carb suggestions but first things first. You have made an amazing start. I am really pleased for you

thirsty_monsta said:

I just measured blood glucose this morning, already down to 16.1 mmol im happy about that as its dropped by 10 since i started testing.. will test again after 2hours after breakfast (bacon and eggs)

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Hi Well done you keep it up.