just been diagnosed just over three weeks ago

Hi @lee16 and welcome.

Yes, Metformin can play games with your tummy. Hopefully the new one will be better.

You are right about bread, rice, pasta and also potatoes and anything containing flour such as batter, pastry, sauces, soups and gravy. These are the worst foods for raising blood sugar levels. However, if you buy yourself a blood glucose meter and use it to test out your reaction to your chosen meals, you may find you can eat some of these in small portions. Only a meter can help you with this. They are a pretty essential tool in helping you lower your levels. If you want to buy one, just say so and we can tell you the cheapest ones.

I'll tag @daisy1 who has some excellent information for newcomers. Please read it carefully. You should find it useful. You may also like to look at this https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/60-seconds

Please have a good look round the forums, and ask any questions you like.

I sympathise as I had the same consequences from Metformin - I do hope that you can cope with the new tablets.
Many people have had lower levels and readings from eating low carb - the usual culprits are bread and other grains, potatoes and fruit juice, and high fructose fruits.. If you can get a blood glucose meter it is easier to spot when you are eating the wrong things, or too much of them.

lee16 said:

Thank you just confused a bit eh, I've got a meter the doctor told me I didn't need it but I got it just to test now and again.

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Testing now and again won't help. What can you learn from that? If the reading is high, you won't know why. Initially, while you are learning, you need to test as follows:

Immediately before each meal
2 hours after your first bite

If you keep a food diary including portion sizes and record your levels alongside, you will soon learn which foods are causing your levels to rise. You can then either reduce the portion size or eliminate the food completely. This is called eating to your meter, and is the best way to control this disease.

If you wish, you can also test first thing in the morning as soon as you get up (this is your fasting blood glucose)'
Before you go to bed.
If you feel ill at any time, dizzy or shakey.

Start testing like this, and if you don't understand the levels, all you have to do is post them on here and someone will help.

It's early daysfor you Lee and all very confusing. We've all been there but things do become easier and clearer pretty quickly so try to relax, there's no great rush to adapt to T2D, just read replies and if you can, start measuring your blood glucose to see how what you eat affects your blood glucose. We all react differently though in general the high carbohyrate foods tend to spike BG levels and very many contibutors here have adopted LCHF - low carb high fat diets with great results.
Daisy will probably pop up with some excellent info for you, but if you want a good and easily digested primer on diabetes then "Reverse Your Diabetes" by Dr David Cavan is a good read. It will help you understand the condition and give some good pointers about diet.
Don't be afraid to post queries on here, there's a wealth of practical experience and knowledge just for the asking.

Dave

When you start using the meter you need to use it regularly. I used mine on waking and then 2 hours after starting each meal. By keeping a food diary with notes on exercise and the readings from my meter I so.5on found out which foods I could no longer tolerate (they pushed the bg levels up by more than 2) and which were still OK. Gradually I brought the after meal level down to less than 1.5. It is a bind for the first few weeks but soon becomes a habit, my employer, colleagues and friends were all very understanding. Going low carb with additional exercise meant that I lost weight steadily and when I reached my desired weight I simply stepped up the amount of healthy fats I ate. You are right to cut down on the foods that are mostly carbs but there may be some surprises, wheat flour in anything tends to send my bg soaring.

@lee16

Hello Lee and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 245,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.

lee16 said:

So your recommending the that I check my bloods first thing in moring, then before lunch and dinner then two hours after every day?

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Yes, that's right. The before and after meals levels are more important than the morning fasting levels until you have learnt which foods and in what portion sizes your body can cope with. Food diaries, recording everything, and analysing your results are the best way to learn.

To start with those readings will give you the best overview of how you are doing.
I tried to lower my maximum reading - the ones after dinner, to 8 by reducing the carbs, particularly from dense starchy and sugary foods. After a while I stopped testing all but the evening meal, as my results were going down little by little.
After being very stable the readings started to fluctuate a lot - I think that there was a lot changing at that point.
I stuck to the same sort of foods and eventually did not get readings over 7.4, and then 7.2, whilst the lower readings were dropping down even more. This was without trying really. Now I only test very occasionally as my last Hba1c was in the normal range. I am lucky in that the experience with Metformin and Atorvastatin was so bad that I only have to remind myself that I need to avoid them at all costs and I find all temptations fade away very quickly.

lee16 said:

I would love my hba1c test to come right down I was sitting at 92 I think normal range is 54 am I right?

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The normal range is under 42.
42 to 47 is the pre-diabetic range
48 and above is diabetic.

lee16 said:

I would love my hba1c test to come right down I was sitting at 92 I think normal range is 54 am I right?

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I was hoping to get down to about 54 in a year - instead I hit 47 after 80 days and 41 at 6 months - I dug out my Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution 2003 edition and went back to eating low carb.

lee16 said:

Well we're do I start, just turn 40 last Dec, about month and half ago I thought I was starting the early memo, I so wish it was, so go bloods done and got told they were checking my sugar levels.

Well first fasten came back as 14.+ and the 2nd one to confirm came back 18.4 but the proper test came back as 92. So was put on metformin well had to get tablets changed they were making me sit on the loo for half an hour at a time, and couldn't take my daughter swimming.

Anyway starting New tablets tomorrow, what am wanting to no is do I cut out all bread, rice, pasta ? Am starting to go swimming again, and join a gym with me friend, and walking its just my diet am confused with.!!

Thanks in advance xx

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Welcome to the forum @lee16. Bread, rice and pasta will effect your bgl's so it is advisable to limit these items. Regular exercise and increased fluid intake are beneficial to glucose control.

lee16 said:

What should the fastening results be like what's good and what's bad?

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First don't worry to much about fasting to start with as it is usually the last to come down following diagnosis, medication and lifestyle changes. This is because our bodies release stored glucose to get us up and going for the day.

As Daisy's post suggests you want your readings with no food to be between 4-7 but this can take months to achieve depending on how high you start.

The most important area to work on first is the rise between pre and 2 hours post each meal.