Recently Diagnosed & New Members

[genetics]

Was diagnosed March 12, 2010. Have been taking 1000 mg twice a day. It started working immediately (well, when I watched my diet). Now, my problem is keeping my numbers stable. For a while there was a serious drop after my morning pill. I started cutting it in half (though I know I am not supposed to) and it was better for a while. Then it started inching up again. Now I am trying to really watch my diet and I am on the treadmill for 30 minutes (1 1/2 miles) five days a week.  So far the numbers stay right around 90-100. I have found that the more I exercise, the lower my numbers are but I haven't found a way to like it!

[powerwalker2]

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genetics wrote:

Was diagnosed March 12, 2010. Have been taking 1000 mg twice a day. It started working immediately (well, when I watched my diet). Now, my problem is keeping my numbers stable. For a while there was a serious drop after my morning pill. I started cutting it in half (though I know I am not supposed to) and it was better for a while. Then it started inching up again. Now I am trying to really watch my diet and I am on the treadmill for 30 minutes (1 1/2 miles) five days a week.  So far the numbers stay right around 90-100. I have found that the more I exercise, the lower my numbers are but I haven't found a way to like it!

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Good for you, Genetics!  I guess we don't really have to "like" it, but just "do" it.  Although watching something I've taped like "Dancing With the Stars" makes it a lot more tolerable, and makes the time zip by.  Then when you get your great A1c, cholesterol, and blood pressure results, and enjoy improved health, you'll may actually begin to "love" the exercise. 

[alan_s Honored Contributor]

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genetics wrote:

Was diagnosed March 12, 2010. Have been taking 1000 mg twice a day. It started working immediately (well, when I watched my diet). Now, my problem is keeping my numbers stable. For a while there was a serious drop after my morning pill. I started cutting it in half (though I know I am not supposed to) and it was better for a while. Then it started inching up again. Now I am trying to really watch my diet and I am on the treadmill for 30 minutes (1 1/2 miles) five days a week.  So far the numbers stay right around 90-100. I have found that the more I exercise, the lower my numbers are but I haven't found a way to like it!

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G'day and welcome.

You have done well in a short time. What do you mean by "watch my diet"? What exactly are you watching and do you use your eyes or your meter to watch with?

[genetics]

A good sense of humor helps everything! I never worried a whole lot about what I was eating........only cared that I felt hungry. (I stayed busy enough that I didn't have the option of eating often.) Now I really look at labels. I try to avoid preservatives, additives and even have resorted to experimenting with vegatables I have never eaten! I was 169 lbs. when diagnosed and am down to 136 lbs. now. Of course, the treadmill gets a lot of credit for that. Hope you are doing as well. 

[lizzylou Diabetes Brain Trust]

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genetics wrote:

A good sense of humor helps everything! I never worried a whole lot about what I was eating........only cared that I felt hungry. (I stayed busy enough that I didn't have the option of eating often.) Now I really look at labels. I try to avoid preservatives, additives and even have resorted to experimenting with vegatables I have never eaten! I was 169 lbs. when diagnosed and am down to 136 lbs. now. Of course, the treadmill gets a lot of credit for that. Hope you are doing as well. 

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Hi Genetics,

Diet as as much, or maybe even more important than medication.

First, here's a link that will tell you all about Metformin:  click here 

You can also read a lot about diet and carbs on my blog:

Lizzy's Diabetic Lounge 

Lots of people are having great success by letting their meter be the boss of them!

Lizzy

[genetics]

Thanks! That was useful information. I have been reviewing sites recently to see if there is one that mentions a burning sensation between your shoudler blades. My doctor acts like she has no idea what it could be but I worry now that I know from my reseach, Metformin works through the liver. Anyone else have this problem?

[ronaka]

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genetics wrote:

Thanks! That was useful information. I have been reviewing sites recently to see if there is one that mentions a burning sensation between your shoudler blades. My doctor acts like she has no idea what it could be but I worry now that I know from my reseach, Metformin works through the liver. Anyone else have this problem?

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Metformin works by improving the communication of insulin with the liver, or in other words increases sensitivity to insulin and stops the liver from releasing glucose when insulin starts to rise. It also to a lesser degree improves sensitivity of the rest of the cells to insulin and allows the insulin to work better. Last it slows digestion of carbs. The most common side effects are GI upset, but most get over it in a few weeks.

[lizzylou Diabetes Brain Trust]

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genetics wrote:

Thanks! That was useful information. I have been reviewing sites recently to see if there is one that mentions a burning sensation between your shoudler blades. My doctor acts like she has no idea what it could be but I worry now that I know from my reseach, Metformin works through the liver. Anyone else have this problem?

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I can't say that I specifically have heard anyone complain about that.  I know that I had muscle problems with higher doses because metformin does work on the muscles. 

When I had liver problems in the past, the pain was usually down further than my shoulder blades.  Perhaps your tensing up and the muscles are contracting.

Lizzy 

[genetics]

Funny you should say that. My doctor wanted to know if the pain was just during the day, while I was awake or also at night. I told her just during the day and not all the time. She thought it might be muscle related. 

[hawkins77337]

I am against using any artificial sweetener. Aspertame breaks dowm into two amino acids and a free methanol atom. Methanol aka wood grain alcohol, or whats in those yellow bottles of heet you put in your gas tank in the winter, is always labeled as poison. Splenda, sucralose, is a man made chemical that does not exist in nature. It takes twenty complex chemical reactions to make it. Its not made from sugar. I have severe sensitivities to these sweeteners, and it severely limits my food choices, and increases my shopping time, lol. Granted, not every one is like me, most can handle it. I eat a lot more salads, fresh veggies, and whole grain carbs. When I want something sweet, I have a bite of dark chocolate. Or grab a stevia soda, or hansens natural fruit stix drink mix. I seem to have no reaction to stevia, and its a natural chemical. All in moderation is a very good motto to stick with. Stick with what God makes, not what man has created in a lab.