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NHS Direct doctor says... NO testing when taking Metformin
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<blockquote data-quote="Fizzylaa" data-source="post: 888341" data-attributes="member: 156164"><p>Hi everyone. This is the first post I've written even though I've been watching the forum for a couple of years. I'm t2 and was diagnosed nearly 7 years ago. I had previously had gestational diabetes when I was 37. I will be 50 at the end of the year. There is a strong family history of t2 diabetes and if I think back over my life I realise I have probably had some diabetic tendencies since my later teens. My diabetic diagnosis started with control through diet alone for two years. Then one 500 mg metformin tab followed by two 500mg tabs six months later. I got a meter issued by my DN at the same time. It broke about 2 years ago and I was issued a new one in January this year. My metformin was increased to 1000 mg twice a day. In June I was put onto glucophage instead because it is kinder on my intestines and also gliclazide (80mg) once a day at breakfast. I generally keep a record of all my food intake, exercise, illnesses, and any age related factors in a journal. I keep a note of all my Blood sugar readings, hba1c, cholesterol and blood pressure plus my weight readings when taken at the same time as hba1c. I could not possibly consider low carbing as I find a protein based diet tastes rancid very quickly. Hba1c days are great because after my blood is taken I give myself a diet holiday for the rest of the day. At diagnosis my hba1c was 7.9. The lowest it has ever been in the last 7 years is 6.2. Last reading in June was 8.0 and it is heading down from a high of 8.5 in January. My weight goes up and down in line with my blood sugars but overall I am nearly 2 stone lighter than at diagnosis and that's pretty much where it stays within a half stone range either way. I avoid slow release carbs like oats because the metformin is too fast acting to effect the rise in blood sugar oats give me. (Tho glucophage is a delayed release so perhaps I can revisit that idea) Actually I constructed a chart of GI verses GL and eat according to it. Therefore melon is very edible and potatoes are problematic. I am currently reviewing my food intake due to the gliclazide that gives me hypos at approx 11-30 am. My general attitude to the diabetes is that I can eat whatever I want to so long as I plan when I eat whatever it is I want to eat! I don't eat between meals as a rule. I don't eat after 6pm. I'm not much of a drinker alcohol wise. I don't have caffeine except what's in chocolate. I eat very little salt. Idon't smoke. I refuse statins that keep being offered even though my cholesterol is 5.4 with all my individual levels being better than required and my blood pressure is 116 over 70. No one in my family has had a heart attack not even those with diabetes. The only diabetic complications I experience is with my gums and teeth. Had a second tooth extracted today. 30 years of gum pain hopefully ended!! Sorry I have rather got carried away here. I'm guessing another reason the medical profession do not want us testing our own sugar levels is so that we develop a better sense of sugar levels through how we feel. Testing takes the intuition away and dulls our senses. We need to be tuned into how our bodies feel when we have high sugar readings or low sugar readings. I think it absolutely necessary to test our bloods to confirm our own instincts and to inform our eating habits and exercise but it is also important to note where the diabetes is affecting us as individuals. When my sugar is running high my gums bleed, my fingernails become brittle and my fingers are sore. When in a hyper I fall asleep. When my sugar is running low I get verbally aggressive and short tempered. When in a hypo I am shakey and I feel suddenly very sick. I react to how I'm feeling rather than take a sugar reading to see why I'm feeling that way. Only if the weigh scales show a changing trend do I go back to regular blood testing (unless I'm getting used to new medicines). I'm a lazy diabetic but not too careless. If I'm gonna live with this condition for the rest if my life then I will do it my way. I love this forum because I feel it puts me in control. My body, my life.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fizzylaa, post: 888341, member: 156164"] Hi everyone. This is the first post I've written even though I've been watching the forum for a couple of years. I'm t2 and was diagnosed nearly 7 years ago. I had previously had gestational diabetes when I was 37. I will be 50 at the end of the year. There is a strong family history of t2 diabetes and if I think back over my life I realise I have probably had some diabetic tendencies since my later teens. My diabetic diagnosis started with control through diet alone for two years. Then one 500 mg metformin tab followed by two 500mg tabs six months later. I got a meter issued by my DN at the same time. It broke about 2 years ago and I was issued a new one in January this year. My metformin was increased to 1000 mg twice a day. In June I was put onto glucophage instead because it is kinder on my intestines and also gliclazide (80mg) once a day at breakfast. I generally keep a record of all my food intake, exercise, illnesses, and any age related factors in a journal. I keep a note of all my Blood sugar readings, hba1c, cholesterol and blood pressure plus my weight readings when taken at the same time as hba1c. I could not possibly consider low carbing as I find a protein based diet tastes rancid very quickly. Hba1c days are great because after my blood is taken I give myself a diet holiday for the rest of the day. At diagnosis my hba1c was 7.9. The lowest it has ever been in the last 7 years is 6.2. Last reading in June was 8.0 and it is heading down from a high of 8.5 in January. My weight goes up and down in line with my blood sugars but overall I am nearly 2 stone lighter than at diagnosis and that's pretty much where it stays within a half stone range either way. I avoid slow release carbs like oats because the metformin is too fast acting to effect the rise in blood sugar oats give me. (Tho glucophage is a delayed release so perhaps I can revisit that idea) Actually I constructed a chart of GI verses GL and eat according to it. Therefore melon is very edible and potatoes are problematic. I am currently reviewing my food intake due to the gliclazide that gives me hypos at approx 11-30 am. My general attitude to the diabetes is that I can eat whatever I want to so long as I plan when I eat whatever it is I want to eat! I don't eat between meals as a rule. I don't eat after 6pm. I'm not much of a drinker alcohol wise. I don't have caffeine except what's in chocolate. I eat very little salt. Idon't smoke. I refuse statins that keep being offered even though my cholesterol is 5.4 with all my individual levels being better than required and my blood pressure is 116 over 70. No one in my family has had a heart attack not even those with diabetes. The only diabetic complications I experience is with my gums and teeth. Had a second tooth extracted today. 30 years of gum pain hopefully ended!! Sorry I have rather got carried away here. I'm guessing another reason the medical profession do not want us testing our own sugar levels is so that we develop a better sense of sugar levels through how we feel. Testing takes the intuition away and dulls our senses. We need to be tuned into how our bodies feel when we have high sugar readings or low sugar readings. I think it absolutely necessary to test our bloods to confirm our own instincts and to inform our eating habits and exercise but it is also important to note where the diabetes is affecting us as individuals. When my sugar is running high my gums bleed, my fingernails become brittle and my fingers are sore. When in a hyper I fall asleep. When my sugar is running low I get verbally aggressive and short tempered. When in a hypo I am shakey and I feel suddenly very sick. I react to how I'm feeling rather than take a sugar reading to see why I'm feeling that way. Only if the weigh scales show a changing trend do I go back to regular blood testing (unless I'm getting used to new medicines). I'm a lazy diabetic but not too careless. If I'm gonna live with this condition for the rest if my life then I will do it my way. I love this forum because I feel it puts me in control. My body, my life. [/QUOTE]
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