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Newly diagnosed type 2 metformin ?

C

cjc

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Hi I have just been recently diagnosed type 2 and been prescribed metformin. I dont know how to explain this ... But I dont feel I am taking this serious enough I dont feel worried or anything (should I be ?)Is it because I have had no symtoms to suggest I am a diabetic. May be because no one has really explained things in too much detail you only have so much time at the docs appointment... I have an appointment with the nurse monday at what they said is a diabetic check.Is there anything you think I should ask.I have read alot about byett which sounds good but my doctor said that metformin aids in weight loss too but I have not read this any where while I have been researching. Can any one give me more info pleae :oops:
 
Hya,
you do need to take diabetes serious,if not controlled it can lead to many complications including blindness ,heart disease and amputation..when you have been to clinic u may have more questions to ask us, metformin can help weight loss,have a good look around the forum and keep asking the questions
one question to ask is what your blood glucose measurement is so we can help u get to an healthy reading :D
 
Hi
Byetta is a good medicine, but is VERY expensive, as far as I an find, Only consultants usually prescribe it. If your care is from your GP and a Diabetic Specialist Nurse, you are unlikely to be prescribed it. Metformin is a safe medicine and will help control T2 diabetes and it does tend to help weight loss too. the only thing is, it does tend to cause"tummy grumblies". Byetta can cause severe nausea too. Most other diabetic medicines make you put on weight.
what many of us who write on this forum have found is that cutting out sugar9 even natural sugarin fruits) and cutting hard back on starchy or floury foods can help a lot with weight and bood sugar control.
 
Thankyou for your quick replys I think this is what I need someone to tell me I do need to take it seriously I am not sure what you mean about cutting out sugar 9 what is this and you say suger in fruit does this mean I should not be eatin fruit ? thank you again
 
Hi cjc, welcome to the forum, I think it is a typing error, hanadr meant to type ( instead of the 9 -

It is best that you get hold of a tester and start testing your bg to see how your body reacts to all different foods you eat, this way you will learn which foods keep your bg nice and steady and others raise it sky high.
Also get hold of a carb counting book, they only cost a couple of £s, there you can see the carb content of foods, incl fruit and vegetables, some have a lot of starch in them, eg bananas, pineapple, carrots, parsnip, potatoes so tend to raise your bg.
And its the same with bread, pasta, rice, cereals, some of us cannot eat them at all, others can have a small amounts, it all depends on how YOUR body is coping with these foods and the type of medication that you are taking, however even if you are taking medication and find that you can eat all the carb rich foods you will find that over time your body becomes more and more insulin resistant and therefore medicatiion will need to be incresaed more and more and this is what most of us are trying to avoid therefore we either try the very low carb approach first and see how that goes.
You will need to look at your general lifestyle, diet, exercise, relaxation, etc as there are probably some adjustments there that you need to make.

I am pleased you say that you are not stressing over the diagnosis, stress does raise bg levels too, so best avoided, however it is very, very important that you do take the diagnosis serious, see totsy's post above and read my story in the thread called Success Stories, I hope you or anyone else for that matter will never be as exterme as this, but do bear in mind that I also started out with no real symptoms and I became all blase about it, thinking 'what the hell are they all talking about?!

All the best

Karen
 
Hi cjc,

First of all you need to cut down any sugar you may be taking with coffee, tea, on cereals. If you eat cream cakes, etc. cut them out. Then you need to lower your carb intake - potatoes, pasta, rice (foods that may have been part of your staple diet before diagnosis). As for fruits, I only eat apples and pears. Look around this forum for advice. Books to reccomend: Bernstein, Diabetes Solution, Becker, Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year, and Diabetes For Dummies.

It is somewhat surreal when someone tells you you have a disease, yet you feel well and don't exhibit any symptoms, but it should serve as a kick up the a##e to change your lifestyle. Get educated, lose weight, reform your diet and exercise. Walk more, eat less.
 
In what way does the metformin help with weight loss I cant seem to understand that part ..... Also there is plenty of books santa can send me now for xmas :oops: thank you
 
Gosh read your success storie and it has rerally opened my eyes thank you and I am so glad it has worked out for you julie
 
Dear Cjc
That odd 9 in my post was an accident. I didn't hold the shift key long enough when typing a ( and didn't proof read properly.
But yes if something is sweet and it doesn't have artificial calorie free sweetener, it contains sugar and you need to be careful with it. This does include fruits. You need, as someone said, a Blood glucose meter ( they come with a booklet explaining how to use them)
then you can investigat what effect various foods have on your own blood sugar. 2 hours after eating is the ususal time to test. Remember too that how much you eat matters. I cannot eat a whole large apple without sending my sugar up out of my preferred zone. I now buy the "Fun size" apples sold for children's lunch boxes and those are Ok.
Look on my Carbohydrate 101 post if you don't know what one is. Knowing a carb when you meet one is a key to coping with them.
During your initial learning period, your care team should provide you with blood testing equipment. they may try to tell you it isn't necessary. IT IS and you may need to insist.
Yes we do know more than they do. We live with it and the risks 24/7. Most of them don't
 
In what way does the metformin help with weight loss I cant seem to understand that part and thankyou all so much so glad I found this site :D
 
Metformin helps you use the insulin that you have, so that you don't need to make any more. Insulin is the weight gain hormone. (I don't know why they haven't tried it in cases of Anorexia nervosa.) Increasing insulin sensitivity will prevent any further weight gain. I have read that it suppresses appetite, so you just eat less. The full answer is likly to be more complicated, because Metformin has a lot of positive effects, some of which aren't well understood. Hope that helps.
Are you concerned with your weight? If so Byetta does also help weight loss, so much so that some people in the USA have got it for just that purpose. ( that's not allowed here) However as I wrote before, getting Byetta isn't easy, unless you can see a consultant as a private patient.
another good way of conrolling BG and dropping some weight is to reduce the carb intake.
 
handra

The reason that not injecting insulin Anorexia nervosa, is due to several reasons... Anorexia nervosa a reaction of a person who starves themselves due to there own preception, it is a mental health issue so to start injecting insulin into a Anorexic, would not only be a breach of there humin rights, but also because insulin works on blood sugar levels would be dam right dangerous, eithr making them extremely ill at least and a very high possibilty of killing them !!!! And the fact that most case of T1 diabetics putting on weight is more to do with the feeding of insulin i.e hypos and taking extra fast acting carbs to counter act etc... And not so much with the actual insulin even though insulin hormone is linked and plays a part in the growth hormones... It can only promote local fat buliding, hence the fatty lumps when injecting in the same area too much... Ive been injecting now for 20 years and at 5'4 and 8 stone 10 I don't think that its could be said that it has caused me weight problems


Byetta isnt depending on paying a consulatant, yes there will be consultants that not kean on prescribing it, same as my insulin pump...

There is a lot to concider when they do prescribe it as many other medical condition need to be tken into the eqaution because in main how Byetta works with in the body to determin the suitability of prescribinng it to a individual...
 
Metformin prevents the liver from producing too much glucose, though it's unclear why this happens. Metformin also has an effect on the appetite, perhaps something to do with the unpleasant nature of the side effects :)

Regards, Tubs.
 
Yes I am about 3 and a half stone overweight lost a fair bit then stayed the same for ages even with healthy eating I was prescribed the melformin last week but after reading other threads on here iam wondering if I might be better with the byetta if my doc would prescribe it to helpwith the weight loss . Still all mixed up with it all . :cry:
 
Regarding metformin - I haven't been diagnosed officially (GP's exact words "your blood sugar is a bit high and we might have to give you some medicine" :roll: would have been fine if I was - oh I dunno - THREE!) but just in case they do, and prescribe this - great in the weight loss dept, but I have read somewhere that it can/might cause kidney failure? Is this true?
 
VBee said:
but I have read somewhere that it can/might cause kidney failure? Is this true?
Click to expand...
You should not take Metformin if you have kidney problems, side effects of Metformin include diarrhoea, gas, and nausea. Another side effect is lactic acidosis which can be fatal, but fortunately occurrences of this are rare.

cjc said:
my blood sugar is 6.4 she said this is quite good
Click to expand...
Congratulations, something's obviously working for you.

Regards, Tubs.
 
Hi there, I have been dx for 3 months and told to take 2 mets a day. As other people have said I get tummy rumbles etc but it is bearable so far. But as others have wisely said, cut down completely on sugary foods and drinks, this would include some fruits - Orange Juice contains nearly same amount as Coca Cola ml for ml.

It is confusing and there is conflicting info about as I have found, but you have to listen to your body and see whats right for you.

I have not tried the carb counting, but def makes sense, sugar is a carb after all, and all carbs whether starch or sugar is converted to glucose, its just at different rates for diifferent foods and different people.

:)
 
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