Rare test, shock result!

[Bluetit1802]

It also helps to smoothe out the bgl spikes you get after eating.

Does it? I was under the impression it is of no benefit to post meal spikes as it doesn't stimulate the pancreas to produce extra insulin. It helps with insulin resistance to a small extent, but so small as to have virtually no effect on post meal spikes? Its main job is as an appetite suppressant, and also helps a little by reducing the amount of glucose produced by the liver so may help a little with morning fasting levels.

 

[Oldvatr]

Does it? I was under the impression it is of no benefit to post meal spikes as it doesn't stimulate the pancreas to produce extra insulin. It helps with insulin resistance to a small extent, but so small as to have virtually no effect on post meal spikes? Its main job is as an appetite suppressant, and also helps a little by reducing the amount of glucose produced by the liver so may help a little with morning fasting levels.

http://www.rxlist.com/glucophage-drug/clinical-pharmacology.htm

Metformin is a slow acting medication that has a long term effect, so is not so obvious in its action. on bgl so it slows things down a bit, but does not produce a dramatic drop like other drugs.

One thing to be wary of with meds that stimulate the overproduction of insulin from the pancreas is that long term this can lead to burn out of the beta cells, and can lead to hypo's. The oversupply of insulin is believed to be responsible for Insulin Resistance in T2D, so they are not good news in the long term.

You are better off getting your diet sorted first. There are no magic bullets yet.

 

[berylc]

The Dr told me it wasn't good for my fingers to test myself! More like it costs the surgery to issue us with the equipment need

 

[cineman]

Well it must be a VERY slow acting medication then, as it can't have started yet! I was told it also helps with weight loss, but have yet to witness that. I think that I will get my BG under control now, as it's slowly going down, but I don't half miss bread, biscuits and any grain products, but that's maybe due to an eternity of addiction to them. I'm not hungry on my new diet, but the taste of these forbidden foods is missing from my mouth and I suppose I must be craving them. When I test even four hours after food, I still seem to be suffering from a 'spike', so I wish the Metformin would act just a little bit faster. In reply to walnut_face, I have always suffered from low blood pressure, so like when you suddenly stand up and feel a bit dizzy, I feel like that a bit more often than most and going without too many carbs seems to aggravate it, but that could just be all in my mind.

 

[Bluetit1802]

@cineman

Metformin is not a miracle drug. It is unlikely you will notice any difference to your BS levels, particularly so with lower doses. It is said to help with weight loss purely because it is an appetite suppressant, so you eat less. Don't rely on it for lowering your levels. Only diet and patience will do that. The less carbs the better.

 

[Chook]

Well it must be a VERY slow acting medication then, as it can't have started yet! I was told it also helps with weight loss, but have yet to witness that. I think that I will get my BG under control now, as it's slowly going down, but I don't half miss bread, biscuits and any grain products, but that's maybe due to an eternity of addiction to them. I'm not hungry on my new diet, but the taste of these forbidden foods is missing from my mouth and I suppose I must be craving them. When I test even four hours after food, I still seem to be suffering from a 'spike', so I wish the Metformin would act just a little bit faster. In reply to walnut_face, I have always suffered from low blood pressure, so like when you suddenly stand up and feel a bit dizzy, I feel like that a bit more often than most and going without too many carbs seems to aggravate it, but that could just be all in my mind.

If you've got a Lidl near you they do a high protein roll in the loose bread baskets bit. They are 29p each, dark brown and triangular and a lot of us find they don't spike our blood sugar. My non diabetic husband likes them so much he has one every work day for his packed lunch.

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

I have always suffered from low blood pressure

Are you still on BP meds? And the statin?

 

[Alison Campbell]

Do you know if there is a thread that discusses / deals exclusively with how to deal with your surgery, nurse, support people, getting copies of records, what your rights are, testing required (A1C)????

No not exclusively but the information is in many threads. Also at Daisy1's post has a link to questions to ask at appointments

 

[Bluetit1802]

Alison or anyone. Do you know if there is a thread that discusses / deals exclusively with how to deal with your surgery, nurse, support people, getting copies of records, what your rights are, testing required (A1C)???? There should be. There are a lot of experienced clever people here. Clever usually trumps a bureaucrat.
I'm in the US and many things are different so maybe not qualified to say much. Anybody have an interest?

PS: I have a cheap digital camera and found I can just take pictures of documents and download them to my computer as jpeg if I want copies.

I have no idea what you can expect in your country. In the UK the guidelines and recommendations for all surgeries are laid down by an organisation called NICE. (National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence).

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng28/chapter/1-Recommendations#blood-glucose-management-2

Everyone should be put on the Diabetes Care Pathway, and for T2s this involves
annual foot checks
annual retinal eye screening
dietary education
lifestyle education
regular HbA1c tests
regular cholesterol and lipid checks
regular general blood tests (liver, kidneys, FBC and so on)
regular BP checks
regular monitoring with a nurse (initially every 3 months, then 6 months, then annual) and medication reviews

Doctors tend to delegate all this to the nurse.

We are entitled to see print outs of all test results ordered by the doctor/nurse, and surgeries in England were told to have these on-line by April 2016. Some are behind with this. In Scotland they are all on-line. No idea about Wales or N. Ireland.

Does that help?

 

[cineman]

Must get some of those Lidl's rolls, thanks for that Chook. My fbg was down this morning to 6.8, so I took a large sigh of relief, though obviously won't give up on the diet. That's going well, although I do still get hungry occasionally, so now go raiding the fridge & cupboards for low-carb snacks instead of the bad stuff. It makes me laugh that this site says that it puts cookies on your computer. Surely they mean low-carb, wheat free snacks?!

 

[cineman]

Right OK, So now I'm on this LCHF diet, my partner (also a type 2), are feeling quite overloaded with fat! Plus we both had higher than average cholesterol at our last tests. I'm wondering if maybe we should cut back on the fat somewhat and maybe supplement that loss with something else? Her BG is better than mine and I'm down to 6.6-7.1, although I have had a couple of 9.3's this week for seemingly no reason whatsoever! I'm not cheating or anything though as, due to this new diet, my feelings of almost constant hunger have totally reversed and I nearly don't want food at all much! The diet doctor thing says to 'only eat when hungry', but if I did that, I probably wouldn't eat more than once a day if that!? Maybe it's just my system getting used to the new health kick? Now I'm also exercising a lot more, I find that it is having absolutely no effect on my BG at all, as one of my 9.3's came right after a 4-5 mile walk with only water being drunk during it. What AM I doing wrong? Breakfast was about three hours before I started that walk. Just to add that I have had a few stomach problems recently, including IBS and I'm seeing a doctor about all that on Monday. I don't suppose that could be related?

 

[Resurgam]

my cholesterol dropped despite all the fat I have been eating - I suspect that whatever it is which raises cholesterol, it isn't dietary fat.

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

I wouldn't worry about the cholesterol. The 9.3 reading is troublesome, though. However, that's no reason to go off the LCHF.

 

[cineman]

Yeah well thanks for that you two. I suspect my stomach problems may have more to do with the cholesterol. I think I will have slightly lower fats until I get used to the increased amount anyway, but seeing the doc on Monday will hopefully put my mind at ease. I worry too easily!

 

[Ultramum]

Right OK, So now I'm on this LCHF diet, my partner (also a type 2), are feeling quite overloaded with fat! Plus we both had higher than average cholesterol at our last tests. I'm wondering if maybe we should cut back on the fat somewhat and maybe supplement that loss with something else? Her BG is better than mine and I'm down to 6.6-7.1, although I have had a couple of 9.3's this week for seemingly no reason whatsoever! I'm not cheating or anything though as, due to this new diet, my feelings of almost constant hunger have totally reversed and I nearly don't want food at all much! The diet doctor thing says to 'only eat when hungry', but if I did that, I probably wouldn't eat more than once a day if that!? Maybe it's just my system getting used to the new health kick? Now I'm also exercising a lot more, I find that it is having absolutely no effect on my BG at all, as one of my 9.3's came right after a 4-5 mile walk with only water being drunk during it. What AM I doing wrong? Breakfast was about three hours before I started that walk. Just to add that I have had a few stomach problems recently, including IBS and I'm seeing a doctor about all that on Monday. I don't suppose that could be related?

My BG goes up if I walk too fast (>3.5 mph) but stays level if I keep just under 3 mph. I found out by trial and error and by testing my BG before, during and every half hour after different types of exercise. 1.5 km at fast pace shot it up but 4.5 miles at slower pace keeps it level.

Experiment and see what makes the difference for you.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Nobody has mentioned this so far, but some diabetics have their care through the clinic at the local hospital.

The surgery may not be keen on this because this diverts some of their revenue but if you are getting very poor care then this might be an option.

There is more chance of finding someone clued up in specialist secondary care, but no guarantee.

 

[Oldvatr]

Right OK, So now I'm on this LCHF diet, my partner (also a type 2), are feeling quite overloaded with fat! Plus we both had higher than average cholesterol at our last tests. I'm wondering if maybe we should cut back on the fat somewhat and maybe supplement that loss with something else? Her BG is better than mine and I'm down to 6.6-7.1, although I have had a couple of 9.3's this week for seemingly no reason whatsoever! I'm not cheating or anything though as, due to this new diet, my feelings of almost constant hunger have totally reversed and I nearly don't want food at all much! The diet doctor thing says to 'only eat when hungry', but if I did that, I probably wouldn't eat more than once a day if that!? Maybe it's just my system getting used to the new health kick? Now I'm also exercising a lot more, I find that it is having absolutely no effect on my BG at all, as one of my 9.3's came right after a 4-5 mile walk with only water being drunk during it. What AM I doing wrong? Breakfast was about three hours before I started that walk. Just to add that I have had a few stomach problems recently, including IBS and I'm seeing a doctor about all that on Monday. I don't suppose that could be related?

Our bodies manufacture cholesterol on an as required basis. It normally follows a supply and demand rule, . The cholesterol we eat is not compatible with our own internal messaging system, and gets ignored. So excess cholesterol is not caused by what we eat directly. Fat is necessary for making cholesterol, but excess fat is removed by the gall bladder and excreted via the bile duct. So excess fat is normally dealt with by normal processes.

Where the HF component of LCHF is needed is when you go into ketogenic mode, i,e, fat burning mode. This necessitates a Very low carb intake (e.g. <50g.day) and when burning fat, then if there is a shortage of fat in the bloodstream, then the body starts dissolving muscle tissue to provide necessary materials to burn (aka like burning the furniture to keep warm), This is why extra fat intake is needed because it provides the fat lipids that the body needs, instead of destroying muscle tissue, It is the alternative fuel supply to Carbs.

If your carb intake is not low enough to trigger keto mode,then you can cut back on fat.

 

[Bluetit1802]

My BG goes up if I walk too fast (>3.5 mph) but stays level if I keep just under 3 mph. I found out by trial and error and by testing my BG before, during and every half hour after different types of exercise. 1.5 km at fast pace shot it up but 4.5 miles at slower pace keeps it level.

Experiment and see what makes the difference for you.

Snap. Normal walking pace, no matter how near or far, keeps my levels either stable or better. The further, the better. Brisk or fast pace and they go up, also with more strenuous housework/gardening.

 

[daisyduck]

Snap. Normal walking pace, no matter how near or far, keeps my levels either stable or better. The further, the better. Brisk or fast pace and they go up, also with more strenuous housework/gardening.

Same here. Over exercise and my liver kindly gives me a glucose boost

 

[Paddyxx]

I gotta say....too many of you conspiracy theorists are so far out to lunch that this place is counter productive !! This will likely be my last post.