Pls help

deepakm said:

Hi everyone ,

I am taking Glucophage 1000 for diabete but although I am taking it regularly and taking care what I am eating but it's not going below 9.4 (checking in the morning).Can somebody tell why ? Is it due to stress ? What should I do to get it lower ?

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Glucophage alone will not do much for your blood sugar levels. As a type 2 the only way to get your levels down is by eating the right things. I hesitate to use the word diet because some people think it means a slimming diet and that is not what is meant here. You say you are taking care of what you are eating but the standard NHS advice about healthy eating is not much help where diabetes is concerned.

Try cutting down on sugar, things made with flour, rice and potatoes. The reading you take should be two hours after eating. This is the standard according to NICE. The result should be below 8.5.

If you have done all that and you still get high readings then your doctor may wish to change your medication

There are certainly other drugs which are more effective than Glucophage at lowering blood glucose levels. That's what I meant when I said your doctor might wish to change your medication. The truth is that even if you are given such a drug you will still be asked to carry on with the Glucophage.

I don't know what the problem is with the taste but I do know that one of the declared side effects of Glucophage is "Taste Disturbance". This usually means that some foods taste odd. In my case vegetables tasted like burnt plastic and this did not stop until the dosage was reduced. Someone else I know kept buying different brands of tea since she said that there was something wrong with tea these days. I got a surprise when I asked if she was taking Glucophage and she said yes.

You could ask for a dosage reduction to find out if that is the problem.

deepakm said:

Hi everyone ,

I am taking Glucophage 1000 for diabete but although I am taking it regularly and taking care what I am eating but it's not going below 9.4 (checking in the morning).Can somebody tell why ? Is it due to stress ? What should I do to get it lower ?

Click to expand...

If you are fairly newly diagnosed you may well be getting something called the "Dawn Phenomenon". Basically, all humans get a glucose boost from their liver first thing in the morning, to get us going for the day. Non-diabetics cope with this with the usual insulin response, and the level quickly goes down.

With diabetics, we have an impaired insulin response; either our pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin, or we have insulin resistance (or both!), so the glucose stays in our blood, giving us a higher than normal fasting blood glucose. As you get control, so your fasting level will improve.

It's often better to test your blood glucose levels around your evening meal. Test immediately before you eat, and then 2 hours after eating. Then you'll see how your insulin response is doing.

Recommended blood glucose levels for Type 2s are:

4 - 7 fasting/before meals;
less than 8.5, 2 hours after eating.

All the carbohydrate that we eat turns into glucose, so the best way to control our blood glucose levels is to control our carbohydrate intake. When you take your "after meal" reading, make a note of what you've eaten. If you've had mashed potatoes, it will be high :shock: . If you just have a salad, it will be lower.

As Squire Fulwood said, you are not just looking at sugars - it's all carbohydrates that we have to be careful with. Usually eating "brown" instead of white, looking for Low GI foods, and eating small portions of carbohydrate foods, will make a difference.

Hope this helps.

Viv 8)

deepakm
Try keeping a food diary for a few days and make sure you put even the smallest snacks down. Then run that information through a carb counting programme online. That will tell you exactly what you are eating. Sometimes it's the little snacks that are high in carbs that cause big problems. Do make a note of your portion sizes too. 1 square of chocolate may not raise your blood glucose; a whole block will!
Hana

deepakm said:

Thanks a lots S.F !
Is there any better substitute to Glucophage ? Also particularly in the afternoon , I have a very bitter /sour taste in my mouth .Any idea why ?

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Oh when I tried this - it gave me a very metallic taste in my mouth .
Try reading the drugs leaflet in the packaging to refer to this ...
It may be listed down? possible side effect?

Hope this helps deepakm.

Anna.

What fruits are you eating? I can cope with berry fruits, apricots, some plums and maybe a small apple, but certainly not every day. Things like grapes, pineapple and banana are a complete no-no for me - send my levels skywards :shock: .

Try doing a few full days of testing - fasting, before and 2 hours after every meal, and at bed-time, and keep a record of your readings. Testing first thing only won't tell you very much. Your levels might be lower during the day.

As Hanadr says, it's worth doing a complete food diary and doing a really strict carbohydrate count - including weighing your food if necessary. Everyone responds differently to carbohydrates, and some people can't cope with them very well. I've just had a few weeks of the munchies, and added 2 or even 4 :shock: small slices of wholemeal seeded bread to my diet every day. Probably less carbs than recommended by the NHS diet, but more than I normally eat.

Result? blood glucose readings sometimes over 6, and I've put a few pounds on as well. I need to be below 70g carb per day, and preferably around 30g, to keep my levels within the non-diabetic range. We are all different!

If you test as above at the same time as keeping a food diary, you'll soon see which foods send your blood glucose too high and which you can cope with. Then you can eliminate those foods, or eat smaller portions, and see if that makes a difference.

If tweaking your diet a bit doesn't help lower your levels, in your place I would go back to the GP and try to discuss it further. I gave you the recommended readings for Type 2s in my earlier post; if you are regularly outside those, you could be doing damage. You don't want to get diabetic complications, and it's up to your medical team to make sure you don't.

What were your last few HbA1c's like? You should be in the 6's at worst, and preferably in the 5s. Sorry, can't remember what that is in "new" money .

Viv 8)