Need Reassurance

[mistyb33]

Hi Everyone,
This is my first post, but I have lurked for some time! I am T2 first diagnosed 6 yrs ago taking 2x 500mg Metformin and Losartin and Adizem for high blood pressure. Last visit to DN, bg readings for past 3 months up and threatening to increase Metformin. Decided to do something before my 60th birthday this year and am now on week 4 of Blood Sugar Diet and have lost 13lbs. I don't have readings from DN, but I do monitor BS & BP at home. BS started at 16.3 at + 2hrs and rapidly went down to an average of 8. BP came down too from 150/70 to, for me, a very low 125/59. I only realised how low the bottom reading was when I measured it after some frightening dizzy spells in the evenings. I decided 10 days ago to stop Metformin because I wanted to see my true reading without medication and it has now risen to 11 just yesterday. Also managed to speak to Dr on phone yesterday to ask which BP medication to come off as the dizzy spells were scaring me, so have stopped Adizem. I am determined to stay on this until I am fixed (!) Just looking for reassurance that I'm doing the right thing. I realised all readings will go up until innards sort themselves out and I'm prepared for finger wagging at next appointment.

 

[briped]

Just looking for reassurance that I'm doing the right thing.

Hi mistyb33, and a very warm welcome to you. Trying to control your T2 with a better diet is certainly the right way to go. Having said that I'll have to admit to knowing nothing about the Blood Sugar Diet, or BP for that matter, but it does look as if you're doing something right losing weight as well as blood sugar levels. Is the Blood Sugar diet Low Carb?
I will say that since your blood sugar has risen to 11 since stopping the metformin, maybe you should consider going back on the met ...? If it gives you nasty side effects I'm sure there are other solutions, but that's a matter for your GP. 11 is still too high, in my opinion.
The BP meds you came off was in agreement with your GP, right? I hope your dizzy spells get fewer and further between.
So, I wasn't able to say anything sensible about neither BP meds nor the Blood Sugar Diet, but I was able to bid you welcome
I'm sure someone much wiser than me will be along soon. Since you've been lurking for a while I won't tag the usual welcome committee. You've probably read their posts already.

 

[mistyb33]

Hi mistyb33, and a very warm welcome to you. Trying to control your T2 with a better diet is certainly the right way to go. Having said that I'll have to admit to knowing nothing about the Blood Sugar Diet, or BP for that matter, but it does look as if you're doing something right losing weight as well as blood sugar levels. Is the Blood Sugar diet Low Carb?
I will say that since your blood sugar has risen to 11 since stopping the metformin, maybe you should consider going back on the met ...? If it gives you nasty side effects I'm sure there are other solutions, but that's a matter for your GP. 11 is still too high, in my opinion.
The BP meds you came off was in agreement with your GP, right? I hope your dizzy spells get fewer and further between.
So, I wasn't able to say anything sensible about neither BP meds nor the Blood Sugar Diet, but I was able to bid you welcome
I'm sure someone much wiser than me will be along soon. Since you've been lurking for a while I won't tag the usual welcome committee. You've probably read their posts already.

Hi mistyb33, and a very warm welcome to you. Trying to control your T2 with a better diet is certainly the right way to go. Having said that I'll have to admit to knowing nothing about the Blood Sugar Diet, or BP for that matter, but it does look as if you're doing something right losing weight as well as blood sugar levels. Is the Blood Sugar diet Low Carb?
I will say that since your blood sugar has risen to 11 since stopping the metformin, maybe you should consider going back on the met ...? If it gives you nasty side effects I'm sure there are other solutions, but that's a matter for your GP. 11 is still too high, in my opinion.
The BP meds you came off was in agreement with your GP, right? I hope your dizzy spells get fewer and further between.
So, I wasn't able to say anything sensible about neither BP meds nor the Blood Sugar Diet, but I was able to bid you welcome
I'm sure someone much wiser than me will be along soon. Since you've been lurking for a while I won't tag the usual welcome committee. You've probably read their posts already.

 

[mistyb33]

Thank you! I agree 11 is too high, but I'm hoping to rapidly reduce this. Yes, Blood Sugar diet is low carb and at the moment I'm eating less than 20g per day and 800 calories. My twisted sort of logic is that I want to see my true levels without medication, but if I find that I can't bring them down I will go back on Metformin. I'm going to give myself 8 weeks to make a significant change and then review it. Thank you for listening

 

[briped]

Thank you! I agree 11 is too high, but I'm hoping to rapidly reduce this. Yes, Blood Sugar diet is low carb and at the moment I'm eating less than 20g per day and 800 calories. My twisted sort of logic is that I want to see my true levels without medication, but if I find that I can't bring them down I will go back on Metformin. I'm going to give myself 8 weeks to make a significant change and then review it. Thank you for listening

So it's keto with less than 20g per day. I do that too, but I do try to keep my cals a bit higher, up to about 1300 cals/day. It's great that you're checking your levels so you can keep an eye on progress, and I'm sure you'll see even better results. Have you considered adding Intermittent Fasting to the equation? It works wonders for many T2s, and you could still follow your diet, just with perhaps 2 meals a day.
I still eat 2 x 500 mg metformin in the morning, and inject 0.6 mg of Victoza, but that's a tiny amount of meds compared to what I guzzled up just a year ago. I've done away with a further 1.2mg of Victoza, 1 x 500mg of metformin and 10mg of Jardiance, so killing carbs is the way to go. My numbers are now in the 4s and 5s, mostly, but I'm very insulin resistant, so it doesn't take much to get me back in the 6s. Oh, I'm 58 and was diagnosed in 2005, so maybe we're quite comparable

 

[mistyb33]

You have certainly come a long way! I had been investigating Intermittent Fasting, but thought it might increase the dizziness. I only stopped one of the Blood Pressure meds yesterday so am waiting to see if that has helped. How do you know if you are insulin resistant please?

 

[Resurgam]

make two meals with exactly the same ingredients, eat one in the morning and one in the evening. If your BG levels rise more in the hours after the morning meal than in the evening that is a good indication that your resistance is higher am than pm.
Repeat the experiment once month - using something like tinned tuna and salad stuff which is pretty repeatable will show if you are making progress.

 

[briped]

How do you know if you are insulin resistant please?

I haven't had any tests, to the best of my knowledge, but most T2s are, meaning that we're not very good at using the insulin we do produce. It's part of 'metabolic syndrome' as far as I remember, but I hope other esteemed members will correct me if I'm wrong. High BP is another part, but one that I don't suffer from, curiously enough. My body is really not very good at dealing with carbs, but that's more or less the definition of T2. I think it's telling me that it's had enough carbs to last me more than a lifetime, and to back of.
You're right. Its probably a good idea to wait and see if your dizziness wears of before attempting a new food strategy. I only get really dizzy when standing up too quickly from a squatting position. Uh, hate that feeling.

 

[Tophat1900]

You have certainly come a long way! I had been investigating Intermittent Fasting, but thought it might increase the dizziness. I only stopped one of the Blood Pressure meds yesterday so am waiting to see if that has helped. How do you know if you are insulin resistant please?

You become insulin resistant before you become T2.... how insulin resistant you are varies from person to person.

 

[briped]

how insulin resistant you are varies from person to person.

Thanks. Does it have to do with for how long you've been diagnosed and how well you've been in control, or is it more a question of the individual's genes?

 

[Tophat1900]

@briped If you've recently been diagnosed recently then it will probably be high and it can be brought back down based on how well you can control your bg levels and demand for insulin. Obviously, low carbing has less demand for insulin.

There are other variables at play per individual, like permament damage to beta cell function. And some T2's can do it without metformin and some just can't, but you can download the oxford uni insulin resistance calculator and read about it here. HOMA2 is the one you want to download if it interests you.

https://www.dtu.ox.ac.uk/homacalculator/

 

[briped]

@briped If you've recently been diagnosed recently then it will probably be high and it can be brought back down based on how well you can control your bg levels and demand for insulin. Obviously, low carbing has less demand for insulin.

There are other variables at play per individual, like permament damage to beta cell function. And some T2's can do it without metformin and some just can't, but you can download the oxford uni insulin resistance calculator and read about it here. HOMA2 is the one you want to download if it interests you.

https://www.dtu.ox.ac.uk/homacalculator/

Thanks, Tophat, it does. My diagnosis would be of interest to archeologists, and hasn't always been well controlled. I've no idea how damaged my beta cells are, but it would seem that for now I'm doing fine on fairly low doses of meds and strict keto.
Anyway, what joy that I woke up at 2:30 AM and came downstairs to find that I'd forgotten all about the dough I'd left to rise. It threatened to blow up my kitchen, but now I got a chance to bung it in the oven for my OH's carb fest. I'm glad the smell of carbs doesn't seem to affect me.

 

[briped]

HOMA2 is the one you want to download if it interests you.

Argh! No support for Linux Never mind. What will be will be.

 

[Tophat1900]

Thanks, Tophat, it does. My diagnosis would be of interest to archeologists, and hasn't always been well controlled. I've no idea how damaged my beta cells are, but it would seem that for now I'm doing fine on fairly low doses of meds and strict keto.
Anyway, what joy that I woke up at 2:30 AM and came downstairs to find that I'd forgotten all about the dough I'd left to rise. It threatened to blow up my kitchen, but now I got a chance to bung it in the oven for my OH's carb fest. I'm glad the smell of carbs doesn't seem to affect me.

Carb fest.... sounds exciting....

If low doses work and diet keeps thing stable, then it sounds like things are good. It works for me also.

 

[Tophat1900]

Argh! No support for Linux Never mind. What will be will be.

Try googling homa2 calculator for Linux, you might find something.

 

[briped]

Carb fest.... sounds exciting....

I'm spoiling him rotten He looks so sad and forlorn when there isn't any homemade bread for his breakfast and he has to make do with cracker bread.
Alas, no homa2 calculator for Linux. Maybe try the regular one on a windows installation in a Virtual Box, but that's not a project for a sleepless me.