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Want to give Fasting a try

Carina1962

Member
Messages
20
Location
East Midlands
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi everyone, I've re-joined after quite a long break. I am a Type 2 and take Metformin twice a day and Jardiance once a day. I have been diabetic since 2009, so 13 years. I asked my diabetic nurse the other day about Fasting and she told me not to do it. After watching some You Tube videos I would like to give the 16:8 a go so I Fasted for 16 hours today until lunch time but my Fasting BS level was 9.5. I am a bit confused as to why it is this high from not eating anything. I also didn't take my Metformin as I didn't eat breakfast - should I have taken it? What is the safest way to Fast when you are diabetic? Thanks
 
When did you take your fasting blood sugar level?

I'll hazard a guess that your glucose stores are overfilled so the body will dump sugar into the blood at any and every available opportunity.
 
It was 2 hours after I got up. I want to give it a go tomorrow morning too but I wanted to start off 2 days a week ie Tues & Thurs. Shall I carry on do you think?
 
Hi, I’m not very experienced as only been dipping toe into this but have found it takes me a few days to stop being hungry at breakfast or normal food times, so it strikes me that if we only did odd days, it might be tougher than a sustained length of time. Now I don’t even think about food until 2pm.
 
Hi, I don't want to give you advice because I'm certainly not qualified but I can tell you a bit about what I do and my version of things.
I think you should keep taking the metformin. Why? Because normally with it you are not at risk of getting a hypo or put otherwise get "to low".
We all want to see a small change in our lifestyle result in a instant and definite change. We don't work like that.
Fasting "might" get you a lower fasting BS level but it will not be on the very first day. If it will happen at all.
16:8 might sound and feel like a big deal, but if I'm correct you are just skipping breakfast. That sounds as if I'm saying "Is that all?" Which is not what I mean at all believe me! I started with skipping breakfast, then changed my lunch to a Atkins bar, then skipped it all together. And I remember how hard it was in the beginning. Now I get nausea thinking of breakfast
Personally have been on one meal a day for a little over a year now, taking my meds as if I where not, and due to dawn phenomenon my fasting BS is still ... emm not that good most of the time. But it generally is a lot better the rest of the day.
Hopefully you have a good diabetic nurse, but if you read more of the forum you will see that a lot of peoples experiences are not optimal to say the least. You can read/watch about what works for other people but in the end it's all about what works for you. Maybe a form of fasting, more likely or directly a form of low carb high fat diet if you are willing to try.
I take it you check your BS yourself? What kind of values are you seeing throughout the day? And what are you eating when you do eat? Even when you fast, if the one, or two, meals you do eat are somewhat carby you (I) will see that reflected in my fasting BS the next morning.
Also I agree with Fenn, might be easier, and better, to just change your habit then to do it a couple of days a week.
It' more then a bit soon to tell but look up dawn phenomenon. For type 2 it's rather common it appears and different things help for different people.
 
Did your DN say why not to fast - is it due to you taking Jardiance?

I regularly skip breakfast (and did so for most of my life prior to T2 as well) but my liver still often wants to top up my glucose in the morning anyway - so my fasting levels aren't always better/lower. However my overall glucose levels benefit from longer gaps between my (low carb) meals, and I tend to see a definite reduction over the course of the day.

I believe the advice to take metformin with meals is because doing so helps avoid any possible unpleasant gastric side effects. When I was taking it I was told to take my full dose with my evening meal, so never had any concerns over missing breakfasts.

Edited to correct spelling mistake...
 
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I am supposed to take Metformin with breakfast, one jardiance with lunch and one Metformin with my evening meal. This morning I decided to take my Metformin with some nuts so that I had something to eat with it but I really do want to try and Fast and skip at least one meal a day. My Diabetic Nurse did not say why I couldn't or shouldn't Fast but will ask her on the 23rd as I'm seeing her again. I am going to discuss the option of taking a once a week weight loss injection as I desperately need to do something about my weight. I am 60 now.
 
I don't take metformin when not eating - just too many 'gastro intestinal side effects' without food. I was relieved to see that Dr Fung advises his patients not to take it when not eating. (He was very careful to say he wasn't advising everyone not to, just that is what he says to his patients.) I've only been on metformin for a few months, but I test frequently, and I find very little or no difference in my fasting blood glucose levels the next day, when not eating dinner and I don't take a metformin.
 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6521152/

And this one says there is a small increase in risk of DKA with Jardiance (Empagliflozin)
https://sugarmds.com/intermittent-fasting-for-type-2-diabetes-sugarmds/
 
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I do the 16.8 fast. I find that is the easiest. Mind you I think the body gets used to it!
 
I’m on metformin and Forxiga (which is similar to Jardiance). I don’t have breakfast but still take both of those with half a glass of kefir and a large cup of coffee. I don’t eat until around 12.30 and my last meal is around 5:30 the night before. I haven’t felt any ill effects and in fact my BG has come down since taking the Forxiga from regularly being in the 13s to now being in the 6s. Occasionally I’ve felt a bit sickly as I’m taking tramadol for stenosis pain so in that case I have a slice of cheese, which doesn’t cause an insulin response. Keep experimenting. Maybe build up to 16:8? I intend to try a 24 hour fast in a couple of weeks time. I never tell the nurse as we always end up disagreeing as she’s still in the dark ages!
 
I tried semigluton and it effected my stomach..terrible heartburn and high blood pressure..also dio dia sry I can't spell it the ships..stank to the clouds.. can't live like that..rather be dead..gas burps it's not even funny
 
I do the 16/8 fast and find it great my bs are average fasting at 6.2 Keto and low carb with no sugar is the way
 
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