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Newly diagnosed but honestly not surprised

Eating healthy and exercising is not difficult to incorporate into your busy lifestyle but it does take effort. Try simple solutions for the first 30 days like walking for 10 minutes and swapping a cupcake with an apple. If you think about what you eat and what you do everyday you can easily swap out unhealthy things for healthier alternatives. Diabetes can be reversed with a healthy lifestyle change. You may think that it's hard to give up the junk food, but it's easier than you think. You can do it.
 
Thanks for all the advice and support (again)! You're right, it's not that hard to give up junk food - I've done it before, actually many times. It's much less about being attracted to bad food, although certainly I have my occasional cravings for sugar or chocolate or fried chicken, and much more about settling for bad food because I can't / don't want to do better.

So it's nearly 6pm, I'm in the office - I don't usually leave until 6.30 - and then I have to go and get on a train home. By the time I get there it'll be probably 7.30. So the challenge for me, if I'm ready to accept it, is to divert into the supermarket and buy ingredients and make myself some dinner, rather than dialling up Just Eat (which I have now removed from my phone) or eating unwisely out in town, and telling myself 'tomorrow I'll be good...'. Wish me luck
 
Would a slow cooker help? Or a big weekend cook up and freeze meals to be got out the freezer in the mornings? Or planning ahead and prep at least ? its hard when you get in that late knackered. Frozen or prepackaged veg can help. Ready done sauces to just pour over, as you say well chosen ready meals. Eggs are a quick lifesaver.
 
Really good suggestions. Yes, I've got a proper freezer, I should take advantage of it!

For the record, last night I did a pork loin steak with some broccoli and I did have a couple of tiny new potatoes, but that's just because I'm still addicted to starches. M&S do nice little packets of veg you can just microwave, which is handy, but I've also got big bags of frozen broccoli and green beans and cabbage in the freezer. I'm not unprepared so much as lazy and stressed.

Metformin is still making me dizzy - or at least, the body changes it's causing are making me dizzy. The headaches are less severe. But I'm also getting palpitations - which is a long-running problem I've had for 20+ years, but which I'd largely supressed with Mg supplementation - and those concern me, because that's the sort of thing that's likely to send me off the meds. In fact, it was them getting worse - probably due to work stress - that precipitated my exit from the diet last time around, because it was making me so stressed and depressed. Don't know if any of you have ever suffered from them, but if you do you'll know what I mean.

One small step...
 
NeilHewitt said:
Don't know if any of you have ever suffered from them, but if you do you'll know what I mean.
Click to expand...

Yes, I get them intermittently. Mine are caused by a ventricular ectopic heart beat and are diagnosed by a cardiologist. Totally benign and no treatment needed. I can stop them with some deep breathing.
 
Heart murmur, palpatations, and irregular heartbeat here, from time to time. Usually it's either to do with my low blood pressure, bloodsugars (too high or too low) or I forgot my thyroid meds, and my body is making me pay for being a forgetful nitwit. The murmur, well... I'm assuming it's a leaky valve, which in all likelihood I've always had. But not so bad as to see a cardiologist for it.

If you're cutting back on carbs, your headaches could be coming from a little bit of carb-detox, called keto- or carb-flu... Though if you're having spuds, even little ones, I doubt that's it. The headaches and the palpitations could be caused by the metformin, (metformin is also associated with hypomagnesemia) but then, again, it could be solved by ditching the carbs and getting such good control you can get rid of the metformin, or, of course, you can ask for different meds, if the heartissues persist. There's loads out there. So don't give up just yet. There are options.
 
@NeilHewitt a few thoughts have come to mind....

As your take BP meds, are you testing your BP yourself at home? (It's possible that it is now a bit low.)

Have you just started on satins as well as metformin?

How much salt are you getting in your diet?

Are you drinking enough water?
 
My palpitations are atrial ectopics (and possibly ventricular too, but those have never been caught on an ECG). I've seen a cardiologist multiple times. Prognosis is benign and it runs in the family. My dad had AF later in life, I'm hoping I don't go that far. Had them since I was at least 26, probably longer unnoticed. I don't worry about them in terms of thinking 'am I having a heart attack' any more, because I know I'm not, but they do really disturb me when they're noticeable and more than anything else they make me kind of annoyed. Odd, really. What I really hate is having them and constantly wondering 'when's the next one going to happen'.

I do test my BP at home. It's been a bit high lately - diastolics in the low 90s on occasion - and the diabetic nurse said I should double my ACE inhibitor dose. OTOH, I often have a bit of orthostatic hypotension on standing and sometimes I feel a bit light-headed, so I'm going to monitor my BP over this coming weekend at regular intervals and chart it. If it's consistently high then I'll double the dose as instructed. If it's variable, I'll go back to the GP to discuss.

I definitely don't have hypomagnesaemia, I'm taking 400-600mg elemental Mg equivalent a day and have been for months. It's what I credit with calming my palpitations down, actually. There is a study to support the use of chelated Mg for exactly this purpose - I picked this up from the York Cardiology channel on YouTube, Dr Gupta is a consultant cardiologist specialising in palpitations. Great videos if you have heart issues or are just nervous about skipped beats etc!

I've gone low-carb before and had the headache - it doesn't feel like this one. This is more of an insistent pressure behind my forehead that's actually closely related to the dizzy sensation. And that is not like syncope dizziness (feeling faint) nor vertigo (no rotational component). The closest expression is disequilibrium. My balance feels sluggish when I turn my head. I've had this for many years so it could just be a relapse after a good period of maybe 5-6 years. But equally, perhaps it's always been about some homeostatic issue with my body that the Type 2 and the meds are showing up. Whenever your blood and lymph get out of synch, balance issues ensue - this is why you have vertigo as part of a bad hangover! One to discuss with my GP, although TBH on balance GPs are generally worse than useless. ENTs are often worse than useless also. Balance and dizziness are just very poorly understood.

Definitely not drinking enough, I think. Perhaps 1-1.5L a day. Often in the form of sugar-free fizzy drinks or (unsweetened) tea. But that's a long-standing problem. I hate drinking water, although I am starting to get used to it. Gradually.

Salt: not a huge amount. I stopped salting my food when I first diagnosed with hypertension, before meds. I will occasionally use salt if I really want it, but I don't tend to eat a lot of salty food, and I tend to avoid added-salt products. Although junk food definitely will have plenty.

Statins: no. My cholesterol is normal range. Oddly enough for someone eating a high-fat diet.

What's the general opinion on stir-fries? Omitting noodles and carb-laden sauces. Just some protein and mostly green veg (peppers, broccoli, onion)? I thought I might whip the wok out tonight. Trying to get away from potatoes!
 
Stir fries are brilliant and quick. Protein and veggies, just omit the noodles as you say. I add extra bean sprouts to kid the eye!
 
Throughout the summer I am careful to add a tiny pinch of salt to my coffee each day so as to avoid cramps. I don't add salt to food so it is the only extra source of salt if I don't eat ham or sausages or corned beef - and the cramps I get are so bad that I can't walk. If I try the press your foot to the floor advice, my muscle can tear, and then I have pains for a month or more. Even in the cooler months I still keep the salt next to the percolator to remind me to have some once in a while.
 

On a low carb diet you need salt. It is essential. Your insulin levels go down and your body starts shedding excess sodium and water along with it. It will help you to avoid weakness, headaches, muscle cramps and wooseyness. (Is wooseyness a word??)
Not everyone is salt sensitive - in other words not everyone experiences high blood pressure from eating it. I certainly don't.

NeilHewitt said:
The closest expression is disequilibrium. My balance feels sluggish when I turn my head.
Click to expand...

Sounds very like an inner ear problem to me, or something to do with the nerves in the neck.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Sounds very like an inner ear problem to me, or something to do with the nerves in the neck.
Click to expand...

I get that feeling when my sternocleidomastoid is tight - most discombobulating!
 
If you have reduced process food it is licky your salt intake is lower then it was.

It is possible your body does not like the artificial sweeteners your are drinking.

Unless the headache etc improve over the weekend I think you should see your GP about them, as they may have an unrelated course.
 
The problems with balance go back to my childhood. I've always had slightly dodgy ears, and yes, it is vestibular - or at least it's always been diagnosed as such, but now there's a lot of talk about poor neck posture being a causative factor. And as you get older you tend to start experiencing positional vertigo due to floating crystals in the lymph in your inner ear. I certainly do get some of that - roll over in bed, the world spins for a few minutes. This is different, it's more insidious.

Actually, I suspect I might be suffering from vestibular migraine. Sounds peculiar, I know, but for some people their primary migraine symptom is balance problems rather than head pain or aura. My mum was a migraineur although it used to disappear for years at a time. Never went any further down that route because as I mentioned, I've gone 5+ years with no significant balance symptoms so I was hoping things were in remission there.

I think it's worth a GP visit to discuss. Trouble is, I now have so many separate conditions and my GP will only make 10 minute appointments and will only discuss one condition per visit. I'd be back and forth to the surgery all week! What I really need is a doctor who will look at everything in the round. Perhaps private is the only way there. Luckily if it's needed I can afford it (or at least the insurance premiums to get it).

But the headaches and dizziness started on exactly the same day I started Metformin, so frankly I see a correlation there. It might not be a direct side-effect of the medication, but of how my body is responding to it.

I shall up my salt intake to a reasonable level, and I need to start drinking more water too.

On the plus side, I had a good stir-fry last night. Chicken, peppers, broccoli, mangetout, spring onions. Supermarket didn't have any beansprouts, unfortunately. I have to say, if you told me I could only ever eat that meal for dinner for the rest of my life, I wouldn't have a major problem with it
 
NeilHewitt said:
Salt: not a huge amount
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That stands out for me as a possible cause of your headaches..
If you have cut down on preprepared processed food then your salt levels could be quite low..
I know that salt has a bad rap for hypertension (although these days that seems to be doubted by quite a few) but if you have cut down on you intake dramatically then it may be worth adding a bit back in. I put a pinch of salt in my coffee for example.
 

If you register with a new GP practice you are likely to get at at least a 20 minutes appointment to review current drugs etc..
 
NeilHewitt said:
Trouble is, I now have so many separate conditions and my GP will only make 10 minute appointments and will only discuss one condition per visit. I'd be back and forth to the surgery all week!
Click to expand...

At my surgery we can book double appointments so we can have 20 minutes. Maybe ask about this?
 
Got my monitor today. I couldn't take a fasting reading because I'd already had lunch when I picked it up from an Amazon locker, but about 2 hours after lunch it was 9.3 - which is high but not as high as my GTT readings. It wasn't a particularly low-carb lunch either. So I guess the Metformin are having an effect. I'll check my fasting reading in the morning.

Dizziness and headache were really bad on Friday, but today (Saturday) they've been better, especially dizziness. Unfortunately I have just had a run of palpitations tonight, but those do happen occasionally anyway. I'm probably stressing too much over what the drugs may be doing to my body. Relaxing and not caring are the way to get rid of ectopics, at least for me. Plus Magnesium.

I've noticed an effect on my ability to taste things - it's subtle, but stuff doesn't quite taste right. Blander, and there's a slightly sour note to everything. I see from other threads that this is not necessarily uncommon.

With meter in hand, now I can start to see how different foods affect my blood glucose levels.
 
Dizziness is back with a vengeance today, along with the headache - they go together, one is clearly related to the other. Now I feel like I want to throw up and it's still getting worse. TBH, if this doesn't subside very quickly, I will stop the metformin even without GP say-so (but obviously I'll make an appointment to go back ASAP to discuss). I can't put up with this. Of course, if I stop the metformin and it doesn't go away, then I have a different problem...
 
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