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Old 03-01-2011, 06:21 AM   #1  
Come on Spring!
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Happy March! This is the month when winter really puts up a fight in my part of the world but I know we'll win.

BGL has been pretty steady since I smartened up on eating. Weight is a bit up still - my pea soup has ham in it. I have stopped fretting about it though - water weight does go.

Since the power was out yesterday, I did not get to the gym and could not use my treadmill either. Today I will do some "treading" and plan to gym it tomorrow. I am so craving being able to walk down for the mail but the roads are still way too icy.
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Old 03-01-2011, 07:03 AM   #2  
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Hello everyone!
I've been MIA for a week or so. I visited with my CDE last week and have been taking my blood glucose in the morning and before dinner. What a new experience for me. I start diabetes education classes on the 17th and hubby is coming along with me.

I really STILL don't know how to eat properly to keep this blood sugar from going out of control. I am on Metformin for about two weeks now. I wish the classes were sooner.

What type of diet are you on? Are you able to lose weight, too??
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Old 03-01-2011, 12:53 PM   #3  
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I've been having problems all of a sudden with my FBG and later readings going too high. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what I was doing wrong. I just went to another site and was reading things they were saying on their diabetic thread. Amazing how 1 little thing you do that you think is healthy and okay, but can throw off the whole works.

I take Metformin. What I didn't know is that you CANNOT HAVE GRAPEFRUIT or GRAPEFRUIT juice with Metformin. It keeps the Metformin from working properly. I've been making myself lemon water with liquid Stevia that has grapefruit base. I also had eaten 1/2 a grapefruit when this started. Since it has something to do with the acid from what I read on line, I'm even wondering about the lemon water.

Needless to say, I've been totally frustrated. I couldn't figure out what in the world I had done wrong as I was doing everything right and things were going so good and the wham things started going wrong.

They really need to put a warning on the meds concerning this.
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Old 03-01-2011, 01:13 PM   #4  
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Thanks for the info Trish.

I haven't had anything grapefruit for years as I was taking Lipitor.

The doctor took me off it last time I was in to see him - says it does not help with cholesterol lowering in women past menopause. I had been thinking I would try some grapefruit juice but now I won't as I take Metformin too.

Freezing cold here -36 with the wind chill - I'm ready for spring.

Have a great day.

Last edited by Lindyloo; 03-01-2011 at 01:17 PM.
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Old 03-01-2011, 02:06 PM   #5  
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Lindyloo It would be good to look up Metformin for weight loss online. I've learned that low carb works better for weight loss with Metformin. There are certain foods we should not use and I was surprised by some of the foods I thought we could and couldn't eat were not as I thought. I hope I can find the info so I can make copies of them.

Have a good day.
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Old 03-01-2011, 06:21 PM   #6  
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Hi everyone. I went to doctor yesterday. It was not a good experience. My A1c 11, blood pressure 160/100. I was giving a choice I could either do byetta or I had no choice but to do insulin. So I tearfully choose the pen. I'm not mad at anyone but myself and this diabetes. I already knew it was high but I also have not been doing what I needed to do. I though I could just ignore it but it just want ignore me. So today I have official gotten back on track and will have to stay one track. I can't want until the day I can buy an outfit that doesn't have the number 2 in it and I don't have to take a bunch of pills. One think I am glad of is that I'm still alive, so I quess I can't complain.
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Old 03-01-2011, 10:34 PM   #7  
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MRSBUNNIE ~ glad you joined us over here; just take one day at a time. It can be scary, but you can make progress; many of us have done well. Even with the odd mistake; just keep going and your health will improve in time.

TRISH ~ didn't know that about the acidy foods causing problems with Metformin; but I do remember that whenever I tried a lemon or lime homemade drink like yours, I felt odd, so I didn't have it again. Maybe it's just a coincidence about that though; but then again, maybe not.

MAMADUCK ~ I'm on the simple Portion Plan (called THE NO-DIET DIET). Here's a link to a post that outlines the basics ...

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/fait...diet-diet.html


I had an off day yesterday; so I just had a very, very light dinner and that sorted things out for me. Trying to nix those crunchy, salty, carby snacks; it was small & lighter, but still ... lesson learned. Am back on track today; and following my meal plan well.

You know, I have my meal plan set out for about a week ahead; so I just have to resist the temptations at the store (even the baked ones). I can do it; done it before; can do it again; so I'm glad at least, that I am getting better & better as time goes on -- the mistakes are getting fewer and farther in between ... yeah!

We have had a kind of blizzard going on here since dinnertime; lots of ***** and strong winds with it. Can hear it down the furnace vent pipes even. Everyone is staying indoors tonight to keep safe & warm ...

Have a wonderful Wednesday tomorrow ... Rosebud

Last edited by Justwant2Bhealthy; 03-01-2011 at 10:40 PM.
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Old 03-01-2011, 10:51 PM   #8  
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MrsMBunnieXI to this thread. There those here who can really help you. I know this is scary and it is nerve racking. Don't beat yourself up for feeling like it would go away if you ignored it. I understand that everybody goes through that. I know I did. If I hadn't gotten sick with the shingles and my DH got ill with clots, I probably would never have gone to the doctor to see what all was going on with me back in May or June and found out that the diabetes had returned. I had had it about 15 yrs ago and lost weight and no longer had the problem. Then I gained the weight and the diabetes came back. I got it under control and was losing weight within a few months doing Atkins. When the holidays came up, I knew I wouldn't make it and went off Atkins onto Weight Watchers. If you have read my recent posts, my BS started going up again and I couldn't get back down. Thank God, I found out today that everything I was eating was keeping my medicine, Metformin, from working.

So I would tell you to research any meds you are taking. I always read the paperwork that comes with a new medicine, but they didn't tell me not to eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice. So now I am really doing a lot of research so maybe I can prevent these things from happening that I'm experiencing right now. I read somewhere in all my search that you work with your doctor and whoever else is involved... nutritionist etc, but you manage your diabetic treatment yourself.

Come here and ask questions. Write down any questions you have for your doctor and ask him/her when you go in to see him/her. I've got to where I do that. Tell them how you feel. Sometimes they have answers and sometimes they don't, but my doctor is very good about saying that he doesn't know. I don't know anything about taking insulin, but there are those who do. I wish you good success on your journey.

There is one book that I would recommend getting written by Gretchen Becker titled The First Year Type 2 Diabetes. It is a guide for the newly diagnosed diabetic. She tells how she became a T2 diabetic and shares what you feel and go through. She also helps do away with some of our feelings of guilt for being diabetic. I don't know if you're into reading, but I think you would find it helpful.

Just don't beat yourself up for the past mistakes. Just pick yourself up and move forward and do what you can to get healthy. That is what I'm doing. We will do it together.
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Old 03-02-2011, 06:53 AM   #9  
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HI everyone. Welcome to the newbies, we are glad to have you on board.
I am fascinated to hear about the grapefruit and metformin. You may remember that I have a citrus allergy, (not sure if its lemons or all citrus, but citric acid causes problems, so I avoid it all) so I have not had grapefruit, which is a favourite of mine, for years. BUT, grapefruit is something that reacts with a lot of drugs. Blood pressure meds for sure. More than other citrus, there is something in grapefruit that causes the drugs to absord differently, usually too fast, and the drug can't reach full effect as a result. Worth checking out, especially with your pharmacist. It could be you can't have it for breakfast, but as a morning snack away from certain meds.
Had another busy run, and didn't get any sleep on Monday night, so wound up sleeping during the afternoon yesterday, got up for supper, and back to bed until 6 am today!.
However, one reason I didn't sleep before being called to work in the night was that DD and I had another big argument, and I was crying in bed with DH. We are all gonna talk tonight, we didn't talk about it last night, as we were all sleep deprived.
Oh, the emotional rollercoaster of teenaged girls, she is gonna be 19 in less than 3 weeks, and is acting like 9 about half the time, then is really grown up and lovely the other half. I am SOOOO ready for her to leave home, September can't come fast enough.
Have not been sticking to atkins plan, but have been doing a suzanne somers variation, higher carb (and high fibre) with no fat, or a meal with few carbs and lots of fat. But have gained a bit this way, so hope to be able to return to atkins today.
bs have been stable, in spite of the stress.
hoping for a good day today.
ttfn
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Old 03-02-2011, 10:32 AM   #10  
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fatmad Interesting about the citrus. You know I probably should never have eat grapefruit any way. I'm on BP meds, but there was no warning about it either. People in my Daddy's family never could eat citrus fruit as they would breakout with rashes. And for many years I couldn't either, but until this happened with my FBS I hadn't had any problems. When I started WW, I ate lots of citrus fruit. I remember last time DH went to the doctor that the nurse asked me how the diet was going as she knew I had switched to WW. I told her I wasn't sure as my BS was suddenly all over the place.

Here are some other interesting things I read last night while researching and reading what other diabetics experiences are that take Metformin. I think y'all might find interesting too if you haven't heard it.

Remember what I experienced with the lightheadedness and dizziness almost like a hypoglycemic situation? Well, I read that when diabetics are in the process of getting their BS to come back down to normal that this can happen. It's like what happened to me yesterday. My FBS had been around 147 for a few days and as I was transfering Feb numbers to a sheet to turn in to the doctor in April, I even had a few 152 readings. Now I don't know what was happening with the 152 reading could have been citrus fruit or even white flour or potatoes not sure. Any way using yesterday as an example. I started back on Atkins Induction yesterday because my FBS was 147 which is higher than it was when I was diagnose last summer. By last evening my BS had dropped to 110 and at BT it was 109. I am so thankful my FBS was 109 this morning. However, they say such a fast drop from a high reading to a lower reading can cause those reactions. They say it can happen again when you get it below 100. So that explains all these wierd feelings I've been having because on WW I was having such wide spread readings. Another thing I read was that one woman said that she could not lose weight until she got on low carb and got her FBS consistently below 100. Which brings me to the interesting thing I learned about Metformin online. I don't remember her saying she was on Atkins, but I suspect she is because she said she cannot eat more than 20 carbs or she doesn't lose weight. She just called her diet VLC.

Metformin is a drug used for some people to lose weight not just for diabetes. It is often used for people who are prediabetic to lose weight so they never have diabetes. But the interesting thing is that low carb dieting works better with Metformin. It seems that if you eat white stuff even white potatoes and rice it can keep Metformin from working like it should for weight loss. I do remember my doctor telling me that Metformin would help me lose weight, but I didn't find it helping me very much. Now I know why. Also I have difficulty doing vigorous exercise right now. The article I read also said that light to moderate exercise works well with Metformin. I can do it. Also read another article and not sure of this one because there was some discussions on it, but it said that they think that Metformin and the sulf??? drugs and insulin may prevent many cancers. I thought that was interesting to know. I read that Metformin is good for a lot of other health problems which they said was good to know. However, I'm thinking that could be because diabetes causes so many problems and correcting the diabetes could be the reason for that.

So needless to say with all the good things I learned about low carb and Metformin this girl will be doing low carb. I will do more like or similar to Atkins because I want to learn what my limit is of carbs so I can get my numbers back down so that I can lose weight.

I had not told anyone, but last week I had gained back up to 218 lbs, yesterday I was very low carb as I didn't even hit 15 carbs, but I did eat plenty of protein and fat so I'm sure I got plenty of calories, but didn't overdo anything. Since I lean more to Intuitive Eating, I only ate when I thought I was really hungry and I ate only as much as I needed to feel satisfied. I've eaten by the clock and by diets that say you need to so much of this and this that I have a really hard time sometimes knowing if I'm hungry and when I'm satisfied or what I really want. I'm trying to learn what low carb foods I really love and enjoy and will learn to eat around those foods. Once last night I really wanted an ice cream (only eat diet), but it was 15 carbs and I'm on Atkins Induction. I didn't eat it. I think I finally had a cheese stick.

Didn't make BSF this morning as I seem to get off balance right now and have almost fell a few times. I think when things get back to normal and stay there that I'll be okay. Have had a headache and sight is a little off. At least I don't have Atkins flu so far. So I'm staying in until things get better.

Y'all have a great Wednesday.
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Old 03-02-2011, 04:30 PM   #11  
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Thanks to all of you for all the lively discussion and information about Metformin and how you are reacting to it and the carbs. It's given me lots of questions to mull over and take back to my doctor in May. I know my weight drops nicely when I have a low carb dinner. Damn the temptations along the way!
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Old 03-02-2011, 05:07 PM   #12  
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YES, TRISH ~ that information is very interesting, esp about the Metformin and certain types of foods; also about the simple carbs (potatoes & rice) blocking the WL effects of MET. Nobody told us about all that; here, I was eating them with the MET all along. Once I was eating really well on the Portion Plan, I found that the MET just made me feel like I was starving and sometimes dizzy, light-headed, and nauseated.

That happened to me when they dipped down to the 4.5 (or 70's) levels. I'm off the MET right now, but on occasion, I still get those whoozy sensations in the middle of the night; I had one last week when I couldn't sleep (the dawn effect syndrome). At least, that is what I think caused it; and not all doctors seem to know much about these things either.

Gee, you must watch those spells you are having; check to make sure your BSL' s are not dropping too fast and/or too low (maybe those are Atkins flu symptoms). Maybe MADELEINE would know more about that than me.

Do any of you find that you get REALLY HUNGRY about an hour before you usually have meals, esp lunch or dinner. This happens a lot to me at 11 AM and 5 PM (we usually eat around 12-12:30; and 6 PM). I often feel so hungry that it makes me feel nauseated. Yesterday, I had a half an orange at 11 AM and that seemed to help; I also had a small snack at 5 PM to offset the same thing, ie a 1/2 cup applesauce.

HI ~ PAMPGAL ~

Well, that storm passed through and we have had lovely all day; time to check on my chicken stew dinner (I put the leftover chicken and some veggies in my crockpot) and it smells very ready.

Have a great day tomorrow ... Rosebud

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Old 03-02-2011, 07:32 PM   #13  
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PampGal I know those temptations are what got me to go off the low carb and try to count calories and then WW. I knew I would never make it through the holidays otherwise. What I didn't know was that I was doing a bad thing for me as my system loves low carb. So now I'm learning to love it too.

Rosebud I have noticed lately that I do get hungry for just a little something to hold me over until lunch and dinner. I do great in the morning. I'm getting back to the way I was when I was a kid. I don't really get that hungry for breakfast, but do eat just a little more like a small brunch. I hadn't thought about having Atkin's flu because while it is uncomfortable it isn't anything like I used to experience. I mean I never got through the more than 10 days, but now I think I could do this for the 2 weeks or more.

I don't think the doctors know a whole lot. I just read an article I got from Diabetic Living or something like that and the ADA says they haven't had an official diet for diabetics for 15 yrs. They are now saying everyone should tweak their own diet low to moderate carbs, high carb vegan and the plate visual thing. So no wonder the doctor's don't know what to tell us. There are just so much to learn. It will be interesting to see if my doctor knew about the Met and grapefruit and I really want to know if he knew about the low carb and Met. My next appt. is the first week in April I think. You even have dieticians who will not admit that low carb is good for so many diabetics. That is why we have to depend on other diabetics on sites like this who share their experiences.

I am so thankful for each one of you.
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Old 03-02-2011, 09:55 PM   #14  
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Hi gang, yes there does seem to be a phenomenon that quick drops in BS can cause symptoms of hypoglycemia even if the actual BS seems within normal range. Atkins "flu" is more like feeling yucky for hours at a time, and seems to happen while people get used not having their blood sugars get high anymore. When testing, I had very stable blood sugars. They didn't go down below 5 and didn't go above 7. But I felt like I had low sugar all day.

I am so interested in all of this. Have been doing Atkins for quite a while, but am deciding that I want to try calorie counting for a while. I miss a few things, and want to add them back to my diet. It seems crazy to be "cheating" by eating steel cut oatmeal, unsweetened soy milk, and peanut butter on high fibre bread. But this is going to be difficult. For one thing, Atkins is fairly high in fat, and I have to lower my fat intake to some degree with the switch. I also don't want to overdo the carbs and have my sugars go crazy.

The hard part for me is homemade food, which would be my choice most of the time. So figuring out calorie counts for my steel cut oats cooked in soymilk is tricky. And figuring out where to put my fats will be a challenge.
well, better find a site to figure out my calorie counts. and go buy some more strips, I will have to test more while doing all this.
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Old 03-02-2011, 10:57 PM   #15  
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Madeliene maybe you could still do a low fat but count it by units the way nutritions sometimes teach it. Tony's DD did that when she was pregnant and had diabetes. I'm sure you already know how to do that... one carb unit is 15 grams. I hope I can do that eventually. It may be maintenance before I can do it, but I do miss my oatmeal and my fiber bread too. Hopefully you have been on the Atkins very low carb long enough that you can make the transition with a little more with no problem and your system will co-operate.
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