Newly Diagnosed Type 2

[ODAR]

Hi All,

I have recently been diagnosed with Type 2 - I am 48years old and over the last few years (actually since my father died and my mother moved into live with us) I was gradually stacking the weight - but only in my middle area. I was doing bobypump, walking - relative active but noticed I tired really quickly. Soon after my periods stop so thought I was menapausing. Went to docs but was prescribe no HRT as my sister had breast cancer at 32!
Anyhow this year - July 14th found out that I had DT2 - and was prescribe diaformin. I decided to get my daughter checked out (16yrs) also as she has always had a weight problem and her appetite always seemed endless. 4 years ago - I took my daughter to see doc as she was getting all these black blemishes./ marks on her skin. My doc's remarked to her at the time was - its a skin pigmentation - and prescribe her cortisone creame.
Needless to say four years later - my daughters came back with high sugar levels, PCOS and Kidney disfunction! She is now in the care of the diabetes state clinic with Endo's checking her out throughly. She was given an insulin injections and prescribe metformin.

What we both wanted to know was - how long does it take for the tabs to work - and can we loose weight from it.

Thanks for letting me vent too.

Cheers,

[Granny Shanny]

Welcome aboard, ODAR. It takes several weeks. Some say even longer, but I'm sure mine was working in a month or so. And it has helped me lose weight too.

I'm new to this myself, but there are veterans on this forum who have a wealth of knowledge & wisdom about our disease. You'll find great help and comfort here.

[kgm0612]

Welcome to the forum, ODAR.

it takes a good month or so before Metformin starts to work. You may also experience stomach upset, but that usually subsides with time.

Karen

[dbaratta]

Hi All,

I have recently been diagnosed with Type 2 - I am 48years old and over the last few years (actually since my father died and my mother moved into live with us) I was gradually stacking the weight - but only in my middle area. I was doing bobypump, walking - relative active but noticed I tired really quickly. Soon after my periods stop so thought I was menapausing. Went to docs but was prescribe no HRT as my sister had breast cancer at 32!
Anyhow this year - July 14th found out that I had DT2 - and was prescribe diaformin. I decided to get my daughter checked out (16yrs) also as she has always had a weight problem and her appetite always seemed endless. 4 years ago - I took my daughter to see doc as she was getting all these black blemishes./ marks on her skin. My doc's remarked to her at the time was - its a skin pigmentation - and prescribe her cortisone creame.
Needless to say four years later - my daughters came back with high sugar levels, PCOS and Kidney disfunction! She is now in the care of the diabetes state clinic with Endo's checking her out throughly. She was given an insulin injections and prescribe metformin.

What we both wanted to know was - how long does it take for the tabs to work - and can we loose weight from it.

Thanks for letting me vent too.

Cheers,
Metformi can cause weight loss in some people. Insulin however is a fat promoter, fat storer. I was not told this till I started gaining weight from it. Nice! My doc told me the meds (metf) are supposed to start working right away.

[dbaratta]

Welcome aboard, ODAR. It takes several weeks. Some say even longer, but I'm sure mine was working in a month or so. And it has helped me lose weight too.

I'm new to this myself, but there are veterans on this forum who have a wealth of knowledge & wisdom about our disease. You'll find great help and comfort here.
Doc says the meds work right away, do you think it took a month for you because you were learning how to adjust your diet and exercise? Or is my doc just wrong. I am not sure I trust him all that much.

[princesslinda]

Welcome ODAR! I saw results pretty quickly on metformin, but I also started watching carbs and exercising at the same time...so I don't really know how long it would have taken if I hadn't done diet/exercise as well. I have seen many on the forums who mention it taking a few weeks though.

The dark spots your daughter has may be "acanthosis nigricans," which is caused by insulin resistance. It's commonly found on the neck, thighs and armpits. In some instances, getting blood sugars under control will cause these to improve. If this is what it is, there's no creams that will help with it though.

[dbaratta]

Here is a site with info on metformin

How Long Does It Take For Metformin To Work? (http://www.thelaboroflove.com/articles/how-long-does-it-take-for-metformin-to-work/)

[Dis-N-Dat]

Welcome!

I'm fairly new to this site as well, it's terrific.

Dbaratta thanks for the link, I learn something new every single day.
:party:

[Granny Shanny]

Doc says the meds work right away, do you think it took a month for you because you were learning how to adjust your diet and exercise? Or is my doc just wrong. I am not sure I trust him all that much.
I have no doubt that the metformin begins to "work" immediately by simply beginning to accumulate in the body, but it works cumulatively, so it may take days or weeks before it reaches maximum blood levels, so that we can begin to notice the results. The labor-of-love link that you posted says as much: "If a woman is taking metformin to regulate her blood sugar, metformin typically will work within a few days or a few weeks at the most." If one patient is taking 500mg and another patient is taking 1500mg b.i.d, it might follow that the first patient would have a slower cumulative effect that the second, just by virtue of the lower dose.

I would never say that your doctor is wrong, but what I WILL say is that there are plenty of professionals out there treating diabetic patients who know a lot less about this disease than they THINK they know. I think my OWN doctor is wrong in telling me to test only for fbg once a day and then occasionally through the week take other readings at different times of day. I know he's trying to help us keep our budget intact, but I also know that I need to test much more than that right now to get a handle on what I can eat while keeping my bg under 140.

[GayleM]

Hi there!

Well, first of all the meds won't cure you or enable you to eat anything in any amount. It is just a tool and you will have to change what you eat and in what amounts to fully control the disease.

What where your numbers at diagnosis? A1C? Fasting? Glucose tolerance test? Did your doc give you a BG goal to maintain? How often and when are you testing?

Alot of questions, I know, but that is the easiest way for you to get advice. The pill alone won't dramatically change things unless you add the control of diet and exercise.

If you would care to share the other info, there are many things you can do to manage the disease.

So, I guess my question is what is your goal?

Take care!

[PrettynPurple]

met didn't bring my blood sugars down right away, it did start to help other things. After taking it for 2 days, I stopped needing to pee so much and i was sleeping through the nite again (wella s much as I could). I had to start other meds to get it down completely, but with changing my carb habits, I am back down to met only.

[ODAR]

Hello Everyone - and thanks so much for all your replies. I am taking everything on board and processing it bit by bit. Firstly for Diet - I have been on low carb, medium protein diet since February 09 as I was already feeling like ****. Really super tired etc. I went to a naturepat who tole me that I was gluten intolerant and so cut out all sugars, starchy carbs and wheat/yeast products. I kept pretty much too it but found that I still could'nt loose the weight. I would walk for 35 minutes 3 days a week and still nothing was really moving. Anyway after a few months she actually suggested I go get all my bloods tested. I was at the time on Liptor for high cholestrol. My blood readings came back as the following:

fasting - 8.5
1 hr after glucose - 11
2 hrs after glucose drink 11.1

my cholestrol levels was 3.5 ( not sure about the all the other levels).

Because there is a histroy of Heart and Diabets and Cancer in my family on both my father and monther ( sister had breast cancer at 32), my daughter put me on diaformin and told me I needed to exercise and loose about 15kgs. She also said to cut out all sugars but can still have a potatoe here and there or 2 slices of bread etc. I've tried this and found that my sugar level in the morning is always higher sometimes 6.9 ( and thats with the meds.) I've just now stopped all starchy carbs and just have spinach and salad etc with my meals. For breakfast - I just have a ketoslim shake with flaxseed oil and lunchtime is mainly always salads with a piece of cold chicken and or roast beef slices. Dinners is Cooked veges with either chicken breast, steak or fish. For snacks I have macadamian nuts or raw almonds or cashews.

Is this too much carbs for a day?

[Granny Shanny]

Do you have a carb counter, ODAR? If not, the CalorieKing is a pocket-size reference & has a lot of fast food & other restaurant listings too, and here's an online one that's fairly easy to search: Carb Chart (http://www.ntwrks.com/~mikev/chart5a.htm) I just use the Find (CTRL+F) feature to search it.

[GayleM]

Hi, ODAR!

I think I converted your mmol numbers to the USA measurements of mg/dl correctly - please check them for me:

Fasting = 153
1 hour aft = 198
2 hours after = 199.8

and the higher morning reading you mentioned would be 124.2.

I asked you a few posts up what your goal was - is it to stay on a low dose of meds as long as you can and manage through diet and exercise as well? Do you want to keep your BG levels within a "normal" range at all times? Did your doc give you a goal for your BG? It would be helpful to know what you would like to achieve so we could be more specific.

It appears you are not counting carbs as in tracking every morsel you eat and figuring the carbs based on the weight or portion you eat. That is the only way you can know what your true carb count is - I can't jude that from general descriptions.

The only way to tell if you are getting too many carbs is to test! Your meter will tell you if you are or not. Have you found your peak time after eating? If not, test at 45, 60 and 90 minutes after your FIRST BITE of food at a meal for 3 days. You will easily see at what point after eating you spike. That is when you should test, not 2 hours. To manage your food choices you need to know what foods spike you too much and which ones don't. After finding your peak, ideally test upon rising and after each meal. TRACK IT. I use an Excel spreadsheet where I track what I eat, the calorie, carb, sodium and fat contents and well as my BG readings. Easy for me to see what works for me and what doesn't that way and adjust accordingly. PORTION CONTROL in your eating is critical. My total carb intake per day runs from 80-120 or so, but never higher. That is for 3 meals with 2 snacks of 10-15 carbs. Dieticians often tell diabetics to eat 45-60 carbs per meal....on the forums at least it is rare to find anyone that can tolerate that without being on insulin.

If you can, walk every single day at a brisk pace - enough to where you break a light sweat, but can still carry on a conversation) to start. You should also incorporate that daily brisk walk with some kind of weight or resistance training. That combo does wonders for weight loss. If you try to just diet alone or do casual walking as your exercise, the weight will move off very slowly because your body will try to retain fat in response to what it considers possible starvation mode. I'd crank up the working out big time. A good strong walk for 30 minutes will have residual benefits for up to 5-6 hours after, but you need to push it more.

As for the potato or bread, what does your meter tell you? If you don't spike over normal ranges, it may work for you. Many of us can tolerate very few carbs in the morning and I can't until mid-afternoon. One thing on the starchy carbs...they will make you crave more carbs and it will be harder to diet without a lot of willpower. Sounds like you are only moderately overweight if your doc only wants you to lose 33 pounds. (15 kg) so that is good! And losing it a couple pounds a week is healthy, won't stress your body and you are more likely to keep it off.

From your numbers, you are definately diabetic. While your numbers from your test were high, they certainly weren't "head for the ER" range....but they were high enough to show that you were having symptoms and doing damage to your beta cells, possibly having some neuropathy symptoms as well. I suspect you have actually been diabetic for at least a couple years, looking at those numbers. Obviously, you want to avoid ever hitting those numbers with your regular diet intake.

So, it comes back to what is your goal? If you want to tackle this and use diet and exercise along with your meds to manage the disease as long as possible, please consider tracking what you eat and testing as I mentioned. You simply have to test test test....that meter will be the only thing to give you the right feedback for you.

And, it really isn't as big a pain tracking foods and BG as it sounds...your daughter is doing it now being on insulin (do I remember that correctly?) and after a few days it becomes second nature. I spend no more than 10 minutes a day recording everything and doing meal planning, so it does get easier :)

Take care!

[genie86333]

You will easily see at what point after eating you spike. That is when you should test, not 2 hours.

Actually, you do need to test at 2 hours because that is when your blood sugar should have come back to "normal" range. Also remember, you won't spike at the same time with each meal - different things (amount of fat, some medications, etc) can slow down the time it takes for digestion, so your blood sugar can spike at one hour with one meal but 90 minutes (or more) with another meal.

[GayleM]

You are right about the spiking later with a heavy fat type meal, for example, like pizza. But, that is info that testing at your peak after meals tells you and how fat & protein can impact your food choices. Honestly, when I first started I tested before and after every meal and still when I add something new to my diet I thoroughly test up to 90 min. after eating to see when it peaks for me so I know exactly how I am tolerating it. Even when I was new, reading various forums educated me quickly on the types of food that would delay a spike and how to mix fat & protein for a balance if needed. In the case of this poster, 2 hours would not tell them how they are handling the food really, and they could have meaningful spikes that still start taxing the body, even if they come down to normal ranges 2 hours after. It is a more conservative approach to managing our food intake, yes, but it is a common practice in conservative and strict management. If your peak numbers go up that gives you the same indication as a 2 hour test. I think the difference is the food management is easier with peak testing and leads to taxing your system less. A non-diabetic will never go over 145, no matter what they eat or how long you take to test. I, for example, haven't gone above 170 in GTT for some time now, but I do hit that point even though I come down nicely in 2 hours. That time I am above is still harmful, so that is why I advocate knowing how high you go and managing to a normal range. I guess the question is - is your goal to stay in a normal range at all times - if yes, you must test at your peak. As with anything, I say the best source is our meter for telling us how we are doing :)