Just after some Advice really.

I'll try and answer as best I can @Flic2019:

1 and 2: Yes to both with Metformin when you're first increasing the dose, on the normal stuff I used to have some massive gastro issues that I had to go onto extended release. If they don't go away over time then ask about getting the extended release stuff (perks too at the fact they usually only are taken once a day). Make sure to take met with meals too so you don't get as bad a hit. Metformin is a gentle kind of drug on blood levels so it doesn't do all that much to most readings.

3: I really do empathise there with you, when I got the hit of my HBA1C being what it was I was in a complete downward spiral, didn't help I had bipolar disorder either. It will pass as you get things under control because you know what can cause mental issues? High blood sugars. Yep. When you start getting it under control you will start to feel better especially once you have a routine locked in.

Never think you are overloading info, the more you can get out the better you know? It's always best to talk about it and this is the best bunch of people I have ever met to listen to me about diabetes as we are all in this together. As for carbs per serving? I usually try to stick to things that are 1g of carbs per 100g but it depends on your individual tolerances. I do keto myself so I have to keep it at least under 30g's of carbs per day but if you're just down low carb it can be as high as 100g's per day. Do you have a specific target in mind at all?

As for the high sugars, they will go down over time as you start to cut down the assaults of the carb militia against you. Took me a long while to come down from 19's but I did eventually so I have the absolute faith that yours will too. Keep on asking questions, cutting down the carbs and make sure those tests get done! All the while we'll be here to cheer you on!

Yes you will get information overload. Yes you will struggle to go low carb. It happened to all of us.

My levels at DX were so high, I decided to go keto and restrict carbs to 20g per day.

Yes it was hard at first. It took me a good 4 weeks to break the carb addiction. I made loads of mistakes and you will too. Treat everything as part of your education.

The main thing is to get your diagnosis. Make sure you get a printout of your blood test results for your own records.

They may answer questions you haven't thought of yet.

If you are T2, they may recommend that you do not self test. This is twaddle and essential. If they recommend you eat brown bread and pasta, smile sweetly and come straight back here.

Your tolerance for any sugars is now close to non existent, so you need to understand that at the outset

Believe me ... you won't miss it after a week. I thought it was the end of the world. It wasn't and the mere smell of it even now makes me ill

Flic2019 said:

.1 my levels have been between 10.6 and 12.5

I have no idea if this is good or bad. Or how good or bad this is?

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This is from diabetes.co.uk, from the page at https://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html:

Normal and diabetic blood sugar ranges
For the majority of healthy individuals, normal blood sugar levels are as follows:

• Between 4.0 to 5.4 mmol/L (72 to 99 mg/dL) when fasting [361]
• Up to 7.8 mmol/L (140 mg/dL) 2 hours after eating

For people with diabetes, blood sugar level targets are as follows:

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/L for people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes
• After meals: under 9 mmol/L for people with type 1 diabetes and under 8.5mmol/L for people with type 2 diabetes

In answer to your questions:
1. Sickness - personally, something I don't experience, so I don't know if normal is the right word.
2. Diarrhea - It gave me loads of problems, eased since I started low carb. It's quite common though.
3. That could be anything, including just being diagnosed with a disease that you will have to take very seriously if you want to avoid the horrible things that can happen to people with poorly controlled BG.

There's a lot to take on board, including dietary advice from some medical staff which is OK for people with a fully operational pancreas and no resistance to insulin, but not the best f0r people with diabetes.

Flic2019 said:

1. Is it normal to feel sick while on Metformin (mainly in evenings)
2. is Diorrhea normal? (evenings and during the night)
3. My mental health has taken a dive since the diagnosis. Im assuming this is just overloading of info but i wanted to mention it.


Thanks to anyone who got this far. And if anything doesnt make sense please let me know

Thanks for reading guys <3

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Good morning Flic,

I couldn't tolerate metformin myself, (Lived in the loo, and things got bloody after 2 or 3 weeks), was switched to gliclazide, and after three months of low carb and speaking to my GP about it, was taken off all meds. I've had normal, non diabetic levels since. So I had a couple of hurdles: I couldn't stand tea or coffee without at least 5 spoons of sugar. Dropping sugar was going to be a problem. But hey presto, your tastebuds change when you haven't had sugar for a bit. Yesterday I shared some extra dark chocolate with my husband, and I thought it was still pretty sweet, while he was pulling faces. So that truly is something you'll get used to. Second hurdle: I can't count to 10. Well, I can, but when I had to learn how to eat all over again, my head was spinning with all those numbers I couldn't make sense of. I made mistake after mistake, but there's no time-limit here... You've no deadline to meet. Figure it out at your own pace. What relly helped was using a meter. If I checked before a meal and 2 hours after, I didn't want to see a rise of more than 2 mmol/l. Since I still botched it here and there, I ended up switching from Low Carb/High Fat to keto, as there was less counting involved: I just had to go for as little carbs as possible every time. That means proper meat, fish, eggs, full fat cream and ditto greek yoghurt, above-ground veggies/leafy greens (no legumes), and ditching all fruit save for a couple of berries every now and again. No counting, but normal bloodsugarlevels between about 4.1 and 5.9, which I'm still quite happy with. (Fasting bloods are a little higher because my liver's such a helpful one, dumping glucose in the morning. But that's still in good numbers too, really.). Another hurdle: I'm an introverted borderliner with (sometimes suicidal-making) depression. Just when I was feeling a little better about my life, and living in general, I got diagnosed with what I thought was a death-sentence. Not only that, I thought my husband, whio is my carer as it is, was going to have to deal with a legless woman on kidney-dialasys before becoming a young widower. You see, a life-changing diagnosis is something that hits is all un, most of the time, the same way as a death would. The stages of grief apply. I would wake up in the morning finding that I'd been crying even in my sleep! It was tough, and everything looked bleak. But... For me, well, I wanted to control this, so I read everything I could get my hands on. Some of it was stupid, some of it made sense, some of it was brilliant. And as I applied it to my own life and tested to see the results, that made me feel a whole lot better. I had non-diabetic levels after 3 months, I've been in the non-diabetic range for almost 3 years now. No complications. Better yet, my fatty liver's solved, my cholesterol's down with perfect ratio's. I still have a bunch of other issues, but they were pre-existing and niet T2 related. I never thought it possible, but T2 is the one condition i can easily manage. So will you. It seems an insurmountable task right now, but you'll get there.

So to answer your questions:
1&2: yes, it is normal, and it can pass. It it doesn't, request slow release, or ask whether you can try diet-only.
3: Yes, getting a mental blow is part of this. It'll get better as you learn how to control this, and find out that you actually have the power to change things. You're not a helpless victim, you can kick T2's ***.

As for what your levels should be, roughly between 4.5 and 8.5. That's kindof what to aim for. Like I said, test before a meal, and two hours after the first bite, and you shouldn't see a rise of more than 2 mmol/l. If it's higher you had too carby a meal. How many carbs are right for you depends wholly on you. So get a meter and check. Some people are fine with 120 grams of carbs a day, some do better on 75, and me, well, I like to stay under 20. That's what I feel best at and doesn't make me stress overmuch about the whole counting thing.

...And the workmen who are fixing my aircirculation system have to shut the power off, so I have to leave it at this for now. But hope it helps a little.

You'll be okay. I didn't believe it either, but... Here I am.
Hugs,
Jo

I had all three problems - taking Metformin and Atorvastatin - things got so bad I just ditched the tablets. It was all the more galling to discover that I did not need them.
I eat low carb, from low carb foods rather than small amounts of high carb ones. I am definitely a type two in that my response to low carb is to return to normal numbers, so I hope that you can soon get a definite diagnosis and begin to do the same.

Google chocolate keto mug cake. It's a quick fix for sugar deprivation. Yummy.

Google fat bombs. Google anything you fancy just put keto in front. Just be careful with sweetners. I won't have xylitol in the house as it can be fatal to dogs.