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Tiredness

V

Vickyc2804

Member
Messages
19
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi all, after building up the dose I have been taking 2000mg a day for the last 2 weeks. (6 weeks of meds in total) I had felt pretty awful by the time I was diagnosed, literally couldn’t get to the end of the road I was so exhausted. I was told that I would feel better straight away, but I am still feeling very tired. Is this normal ?
 
Vickyc2804 said:
Hi all, after building up the dose I have been taking 2000mg a day for the last 2 weeks. (6 weeks of meds in total) I had felt pretty awful by the time I was diagnosed, literally couldn’t get to the end of the road I was so exhausted. I was told that I would feel better straight away, but I am still feeling very tired. Is this normal ?
Click to expand...
2000 mg of metformin or of some other medication?

Do you still test your blood glucose at home? What are your numbers like?
 
Vickyc2804 said:
Hi all, after building up the dose I have been taking 2000mg a day for the last 2 weeks. (6 weeks of meds in total) I had felt pretty awful by the time I was diagnosed, literally couldn’t get to the end of the road I was so exhausted. I was told that I would feel better straight away, but I am still feeling very tired. Is this normal ?
Click to expand...
The last time you posted you were still having a carb-heavy diet, has that changed? Have you gone low carb drastically? Because that can cause carb- or keto-flu, which makes one fatigued for a while, headachy and such too... It's one of those things you have to get to the other side of after a week or two, but usually, having some additional electrolytes'll help. Supplements, bone broth, coconut nilk might perk you up if keto-flu is the case. If you haven't changed your diet and are still eating cereal bars and the like, do check your blood sugars and see whether they're still high and your diet needs adjusting. You're on a high dose of metformin now, but that doesn't do much of anything about what you're ingesting. It might make you a smidge more insulin sensitive, and it'll make your liver dump less glucose, but that's it.

The fatigue can be absolutely crushing, so I do hope it'll resolve soon, one way or another!
Jo
 
JoKalsbeek said:
The last time you posted you were still having a carb-heavy diet, has that changed? Have you gone low carb drastically? Because that can cause carb- or keto-flu, which makes one fatigued for a while, headachy and such too... It's one of those things you have to get to the other side of after a week or two, but usually, having some additional electrolytes'll help. Supplements, bone broth, coconut nilk might perk you up if keto-flu is the case. If you haven't changed your diet and are still eating cereal bars and the like, do check your blood sugars and see whether they're still high and your diet needs adjusting. You're on a high dose of metformin now, but that doesn't do much of anything about what you're ingesting. It might make you a smidge more insulin sensitive, and it'll make your liver dump less glucose, but that's it.

The fatigue can be absolutely crushing, so I do hope it'll resolve soon, one way or another!
Jo
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Yes I’ve completely changed my diet, I restrict carbs but usually still 100g a day so not too low. But I did used to eat a lot of carbs. Completely cut sugar out. Just a small drizzle of honey and off chunk of 90% dark chocolate.
Thank you for your advice Jo
 
If you're still feeling tired, i suspect 100g carbs a day is still too much. i would suggest dropping carbs much lower, until you get into Ketosis. You will know when you get there because your energy levels will greatly improve. Once there, then you can increase slowly to reach the comfortable point where, you're still fat burning, but comfortable with the level of carbs you're eating.
 
ajbod said:
If you're still feeling tired, i suspect 100g carbs a day is still too much. i would suggest dropping carbs much lower, until you get into Ketosis. You will know when you get there because your energy levels will greatly improve. Once there, then you can increase slowly to reach the comfortable point where, you're still fat burning, but comfortable with the level of carbs you're eating.
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Thanks, but I tried 50g and just can’t manage on it, there’s hardly anything you can eat. I don’t want to eat a whole protein diet, i need a balanced diet to support having an under active thyroid also.
 
Vickyc2804 said:
Yes I’ve completely changed my diet, I restrict carbs but usually still 100g a day so not too low. But I did used to eat a lot of carbs. Completely cut sugar out. Just a small drizzle of honey and off chunk of 90% dark chocolate.
Thank you for your advice Jo
Click to expand...
You do know honey is used as a hypo-treatment to get blood sugars back up quicky, right? It hits the system hard and fast, so might require a re-think. The change in diet, especially if you're coming from very high carb, can make you feel tired for a while. Your blood sugars look a lot better than they did, so give yourself a little time to let your body adjust.

It will get better, you're moving mountains already. (And by the way... My thyroid quit doing anything years ago, and I did follow a zero carb diet for a whilea year or so ago... It can be done. Just find what works for you.)
 
@Vickyc2804 I wonder how much fat you are eating. Generally the transition to a Low Carb way of eating is easier if the calories lost by not eating carbs are at least partially replaced by eating more traditional fat. You don't say much about what you can stand to eat, but fatty fish, fatty meat and eggs are good, as are full fat dairy (butter, G yogurt, cheese). Or low carb nuts ( brazil, pecan, walnut, hazel, almond), seeds like chia, pumpkin, sunflower. Also Avocado which is a very fatty low carb fruit.

Dietary Fat in a low carb diet helps the body out with energy (ketones) until it adapts fully to using it's own body fat (= Fat adapted), at which time energy available is almost unlimited so you don't notice a dip if you skip a meal. It took me around 4 months to know that I had got to that staqe.
 
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