New and confused

Dear Paolo,
Firstly welcome to the diabetes forum. Having diabetes can come as a shock, but if you care to search through this site it will help you with a wealth of good information which will help you in becoming the master of your diabetes.
You already seem to be putting the right things into action with your change in diet and regular daily exercise. The metformin tablets that you are now taking will help control your Blood Glucose levels and yes, you are quite right, by reducing you weight together with the regular exercise it might mean that you may eventually be able to either reduce the Metformin dosage, of in a few instances be taken off medication all together.
Diabetes is the one medical condition in which the individual can take ultimate control of their diabetes and hence avoid many of the associated long term side effects that go along with having diabetes.
As you get to know more about your diabetes, you will learn to adapt your diet (many Type 2 diabetics choose to regulate their diet by Carbohydrate Counting) together with exercise and many also choose to test their own Blood Glucose levels with a home test meter.
There is so much to take in at these early stages so if there is anything further that you need to know then please ask, no matter how basic the question might seem.

Hi Paolo and welcome to the forum

It is possible to come off Metformin as many members have done it and will come along and tell you their experiences. I also came off it but this was because of side effects. This information which we give to new members may be helpful to you.


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 70,000 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

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

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

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.

Hi Paolo and welcome to the forum.

Sorry about your diagnosis.

It is only natural to feel in shock, confused and in a bid of a panic when first diagnosed. We have all been through it.

At least it sounds that you have made a good start towards controlling your diabetes by improving your diet and increasing your physical activity.

If you are asking if your diabetes is reversible, I am afraid it is not. It is possible for diabetics to control their condition with diet and exercise alone, without any medication. This is something you need to discuss with your health care providers.

Most of us have found that we can control our sugar levels if we test our own bloods so this is something else you will need to discuss with your doctor.

You will probably also find that your are better able to keep glucose levels down by restricting carbohydrate intake ( bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar). If overweight losing weight also helps.

Any questions, just ask,

Best of luck

Pavlos


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

Hi. I agree with the other posters. If you are overweight then the Metformin and low-carb, lower-portion diet will help remove any insulin resistance and this will help bring your blood sugar into a good region. You will always be 'diabetic' but may get to the point where you only need to manage your diet and have no meds. Let us know if you are normal weight or have lost a lot of weight recently without trying.

Metformin can take a few weeks for the beneficial effects to kick-in (IIRC, it's something like 3 weeks in most people) and doctors generally wean people onto it (e.g. 1 tablet/day for 1st week, 2/ day for 2nd week) to reduce the side effects.

As previously said on this thread, there's a lot of information in the archived threads on this site and it's well worth searching out answers to questions you might have.

2131tom said:

Metformin can take a few weeks for the beneficial effects to kick-in (IIRC, it's something like 3 weeks in most people) and doctors generally wean people onto it (e.g. 1 tablet/day for 1st week, 2/ day for 2nd week) to reduce the side effects..

Click to expand...

This has been my experience as well when first put on metformin. In fact my doctor had warned me not to testy sugars at all during the first fortnight ( so as not to be disappointed).

Stay away from crash diets. Crash diets are short term temporary measures. What you need is a healthy diet and exercise regime that you will be happy to stick with for the long run.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

Well done on improvements on your glucose. I am sure that they are partly due to the metformin but mostly due to lifestyle changes. If you keep your fasting glucose levels in the healthy range then your HbA1c, which is a measure of your average glucose levels over the last three months, will also automatically reduce as well.

A bid concerned that you are losing weight a bid too fast. I always thought that one should aim to lose about a kg per week not 15 in two weeks!

Pavlos


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

Hello,

If you have diabetes you can be fit as earlier only you need to stop having calories in the face of sugar and diff kids of sweets...