Type 2 too high without medicaton but going into hypos at 5.9 with

Hi Dave, when you say you are going hypo at 5.9 do you mean you are suffering symptoms at that level. The reason I ask is that 5.9 is not officially in hypo territory. If you have been running higher levels and have recently brought them down with diet and/or medication it’s just your body protesting against the newer lower levels. Whilst it’s tempting to ‘treat’ these false hypos with sugar or carbs, it’ll just perpetuate the problem by not allowing your body to get used to normal levels.

davethediscoman said:

yes im going into shakes ect but when on metformin i was fainting/

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Wow! That’s really unusual to have hypo symptoms on Metformin. So I assume you’re having to use diet to try to lower your blood sugars instead. Do you need some suggestions for a suitable diet?

davethediscoman said:

i was stable on metformin for 3 months and was tested again after the fainting episodes my hba1c was 48 .but because they thought i might have had a mini stroke it was stopped . later i was given the glimepiride and had problems strait away.
any tips im always open to.

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What do you eat in a typical day, if you can let us know we could maybe help you tweak things a bit?

davethediscoman said:

to be honest im not a big eater .breakfast poached eggs on wholemeal bread tomatoes and a bit bacon /or fruit fibre /or porridge .lunch time normally a sandwich wholemeal ham cheese salad .evening meal something like spag bol recipe of the diabetes uk site .usually fruit mid morning .
at the moment doctor is investigating but said they have seen before when people are sensitive to the medication . so they have to find a happy medium .

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I used a low carb diet along with Metformin to normalise my blood sugars but many members have managed to do it on low carb diet alone. Within the meals you’ve quoted above you are eating some high carb foods which won’t be doing you any favours. Carbs turn to sugar once eaten, so you could try reducing or eliminating the following from your diet:
Bread, cereals, porridge, pasta and keep the fruits to berries which are the lowest sugar fruits.

davethediscoman said:

i was stable on metformin for 3 months and was tested again after the fainting episodes my hba1c was 48 .but because they thought i might have had a mini stroke it was stopped . later i was given the glimepiride and had problems strait away.
any tips im always open to.

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Glimepiride is a medicine which stimulates insulin so as you say should be used for people who are making less insulin than they need not somebody who seems to be in the earlier stages of diabetes. If you had continued to take it you may have become even more insulin resistant than you already are!
There are other meds if you are intoleratnt of metformin which encourage the body to get rid of glucose via the kidneys or encourage greater insulin sensitivity via the gut hormones but lots of people here have had great success solving the problem of glucose intolerance (type 2 diabetes) by eating more fat and protein and much less carbohydrate so its worth taking a look at Rachox’s story which is featured on the home page of this site! And many more on the forum too Drugs always have undesirable side effects as well as the ones you want as you've discovered and there are good non drug options to be had.

Edited by mod to correct the spelling of my screen name to avoid any confusion - Rachox

It seems that you need to avoid being medicated for the carbs you are eating - you do understand that as a type two diabetic you can't deal with starch and sugar - carbohydrates, so fruit bread cereals pasta potatoes etc should be avoided. Eating fats and protein is fine, they are the essential food groups, and then tweaking intake of carbs, sticking to low carb foods can sort out a lot of problems.
I suspect that type two diabetes only progresses when left untreated or poorly controlled.

Hi and welcome @davethediscoman

Looks like the medication you are on is causing half of your problems if you are that sensitive to it.
Fortunately, it ALSO looks like the amount of carbs you are currently eating is causing the other half of the problem.
So if you cut the carbs, you wouldn't need the meds, and both halves of your problem might disappear overnight!
That would be a great result, wouldn't it?

I'm afraid I don't fall for the official hype that T2 MUST be progressive, and that all T2s will eventually deteriorate.

In fact, for many of us here on the forum, the only reason we deteriorated, and experienced progressive T2 is because we used to overload our bodies with the carbs that 'they' tell us to eat. Bread (toast and sandwiches), pasta (bolognese, etc.) are doing you no favours at all.

There are plenty here on this forum who have moved away from the belief that 'its progessive' and managed to reverse our 'progressive' blood glucose rises, and come off the medications.

Obviously, you would need to transition carefully onto a new lower carb way of eating and medication reduction, with careful testing, but what a triumph if you manage it! No meds. No progression. No wobbly false hypos.

Did they also tell you that T2s 'don't need to test'? Because that is another myth I think is unhelpful to our health.

davethediscoman said:

Yes it breaks down to sugar but a lot slower. As they say all about ballance.

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Not really.. if you eat carbs they turn to sugar whether fast or slow its kind of irrelevant as with T2 your body just doesn't handle them well. Far better to restrict their consumption which is how a whole lot of us have got into remission...

davethediscoman said:

As I said I kept it away for five years and that was without cutting carbs entirely out. And thats how I did it. Cutting back slowing the sugar spikes and hunger feeling. Combined with a great pt instructor. For me something changed overnight,and they still I don't think really know what. I will of cause look at what a low carb diet can do and maybe it may help going forward.

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What was your last HbA1c?

davethediscoman said:

i will take a look ,i certainly need some pointers . swop for swop i find most helpful my hba1c when this first showed in feb was 48 stable on metformin .and after being taken off all meds was59. then put on glimepiride .now taken off them and will have hba1c retested in two weeks.

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By the looks of it cutting carbs further would be a benefit www.dietdoctor.com is a great resource for foods and recipes.
In your shoes I'd be aiming for a ketogenic diet to knock my blood sugars down into non diabetic levels without any meds.