A1c not spectacular but reasonable. You could probably improve them a lot with insulin and then have a next to nothing risk of complications. You would probably need very little so weight gain would no be an issue. This is the only downside. You could keep on taking the metformin with insulin. Of course in all cases exercise and diet are very important. Insulin would not be a license to eat anything you want that could led to masive weight gain which would be way worst that your present situation.
Hi Craig, any suggestions on the amt to take of the supplements he writes about? I have printed the list to take to my favorite homeopathic pharmacy but wonder at dosage to look for. Any ideas? Iām getting leg cramps lately (I backed off bananas as folks said they have too much sugar) but I ate one tonight and will watch my BG but it just seemed like the right thing to do. It was a small banana.
Hi, just saw this blog. Iām curious about what you guys are talking about with metformin. Iām taking Met. hlc 1000 mg. 2xs a day. Iāve been taking it for about 5 weeks. It seems like ever since I started I donāt have an appetite, lose weight more easily, feel full quickly, and get weird pains in my stomach and just feel like crap in my stomach most of the time. I seem to feel the best when I first wake up. I am worried it is something else because I thought they said the digestive symptoms usually go away after 2 weeks. Iāve had problems off and on with my stomach ever since I was little but this is all the time now.
Fish oil: 2,000 - 3,000 mg/day spread throughout the day
Cinnamon: 1/2 teaspoon a day
Banaba (I take an extract) 60 - 120 mg/day
Coffee Berry (new to meā¦ no idea)
Chromium: no more than 100 microgram/day (mcg)
Vanadium (vanadyl sulfate): no more than 500 mcg/day
Inula racemosa (another new one to me)
Gymnema sylvestre: 400 mg/day
Pterocarpus marsupium (new to me)
Bitter Melon: 900 - 1000 mg/day
Grape seed extract: 300 - 400mg/day
Resveratrol: 5 - 10 mg/day
R-Alpha Lipoic Acid: 300 mg/day
Carnosine (new to me)
In addition to those recommended in the article,
I also take fenugreek before my banana: 500 to 1000 mg/day,
Green tea extract before exercising: 250 to 500 mg/day
A complete vitamin supplement,
And 1,000 mg of vitamin C twice a day. (itās water soluble, so itās flushed out in 12 hours)
Avocados are just as good a source of potassium as bananas with far fewer carb calories. Yes, theyāre more expensive, and yes they have more fat, but itās good fat and we, as diabetics, should be more oriented toward fat burning as opposed to carb burning. Hereās a handy chart: High potassium foods.
You need between 2,000 and 4,000 mg of potassium a day. I hope one day you can lower your insulin resistance enough to enjoy a large banana, as I do, each and every morning.
If you arenāt already, you should be exercising those legs (a lot) to keep these nutrients flowing through the muscle cells in order to maximize their benefits. The key to lowering insulin resistance is coaxing the cell walls to be more receptive to insulin and glucose. The best way that Iāve found to do that is to keep blood sugar as normal as possible while loading up on these important nutrients.
Hereās an excellent article on how insulin works: Insulin function
Thanks for asking,
Hope Iām not overwhelming anyone.
Craig
Well, weāre talking about the unpublished side effects of Metformin. Click this link for more.
I was out hiking one day and started to feel pain all overā¦ particularly in my chest. I figured it had to be lactic acidosis induced by the exercise and the Metformin I was on. Since then, I learned all I could about taking care of my T2DM with diet and exercise. Since Iāve been off Metformin (14 months now) I feel as good as I did twenty years ago.
Yes, Metformin has itās benefits, but not without some other issues. Read some of my other posts for more.
Thank you so much for saying this. I get my information from a huge array of sources (mostly alternative, some mainstream). Mr. Peachyās favorite quote is, āYou can never know too much when it comes to your healthā.
I wish I could afford medical care, because I really want to see what my current A1C is. If you figure that my average daily BGL is right around 100, it should be 5.5. But, we may never know because Iām so thoroughly disgusted with doctors, big pharma, and the food industry that Iām resigned to living my life out naturally.
Youāre rightā¦ itās not an easy road. But the back roads are always more challenging and rewarding.
My experience with metformin has been that I can not tolerate it. It would make me run to the bathroom all the time, so I wouldnāt stay on it long enough to see any results. I have been battling this med for years. SO about three weeks ago, I stop eating chicken and red meat. I will eat fish and low and behold I can tolerate the meds. I dont feel as sick as I use to when I was eating the meats. I have lost a couple of pounds and I get enough fiber and protein in my diet others ways so Im not off balance. I do see a difference in my cravings for carbs still. I am working on that. Any suggestions?
I would add that certain high nutrient foods like bananas will cause a temporary high, but in the long termā¦ they may be just what you need. I think many type twos fall into the trap that I fell into. If it has too much sugar, stay away from it. This thought process might just be what keeps you reliant on man made drugs like Metformin. The sooner you fulfill your bodyās needs for nutrition, the sooner youāre most likely to become less drug dependent.
Cravings for carbs are usually a sign of either insufficient overall nutrition or a lack of L-glutamine (or both). With my diet of mostly raw, natural foods, Iām seldom hungry and I rarely crave carbs.
Hi All:)
I just wanted to say thanks for this amazing thread. I learned so much and have so much information. I am also on Metformin. I get the stomach cramps like once or twice a month but have not lost weight and I need to.
Great thread! I read about the B12 (and folic acid) deficiency associated with metformin in another forum and asked my doctor about it after Iād been on the med for three years. He told me āeveryone who takes metformin should take a B-Complex vitaminā which I now take. My question is why didnāt he tell me about this when he first prescribed the met?
I will say that I am ravenously hungry for 3-4 hours after taking the B-Complex supplement.
I find that to get anywhere with doctors you have to pull rabbits out of the hat they will rarely volunteer anything but will answer questions, thatās why we need sites like these.
Interesting phenomene that B-Complex causes hunger, I will keep an eye out for this.
āMy question is why didnāt he tell me about this when he first prescribed the met?ā
I suspect that he didnāt know, Richie.
If thereās a lesson to be learned here, itās that doctors donāt know everything. In fact, when it comes to type two diabetes (my specialty), they know very little. Iāll bet you that the average M.D. gets less than a weekās training in this sort of thing. Iāve spent countless hours over two years studying this stuff. Let me place one more little tidbit into your thought processes, āWho cares about you more? You, or your doctor?ā
Now, let me ask youā¦ āDid your doctor tell you that Metformin depletes your body of other essential nutrients, like potassium?ā
I didnāt think so.
I hope that everyone learns an important lesson from all of this. That is, if youāre going to conquer this miserable disease, donāt expect anyone but YOU to do it. The information is out there, youāre just not very likely to find it in your doctorās office.
Hi, I just started on Metformin 2 days ago and find all this information great. My Doctor, pharmacist ,and diabetic dietitian-counselor gave me the basic information and I read the print out the drug store supplied. They all said to take 2 - 500 mg Twice daily and the first day I felt terrible.
Then I decided Iād better get my act together and read up again on Diabetes. I had done a lot of reading 4 years ago when first diagnosed and at that time I was handling my diabetes through diet and exercise. So I pulled out āDiabetes for Canadians for Dummiesā went to Alan L Rubin, M.D. Diabetes specialist web site and immediately found out, that you should start out slowing with Metformin for the first 5 days.
That has certainly helped, but after reading the blogs here, I am certainly going to work on improving my diet and exercise programs to try to cut back or get off the Metformin. I look forward to learning more from all the information here, especially the mainly raw diet Mr. Peachy is talking about.
Thank you all for your input and help.
Bjay, helloā¦
I donāt know if my opinion would help you, but I take Metformin (one-half 250 mg.,a day). The reason is to help lower the bg and put it in a reasonably normal range. But I have been reading some articles and lately found out that the blood sugar escalates when there is too much carbs eaten in relation to the protein and fats in the meal.
Fats are said to be the energy source when doing activities like walking or doing the regular chores of the day. Carbs burn too fast, but still can cause blood surgar to rise (spikes?) Protein slows down the effects upon blood sugar. My readings are mostly normal (fasting rate is between 80-95mdl) and after a meal (two hours after the start of the meal is 126 to 180, (depending on what is consumed). Too much carbs does the most damage. I was off all meds until my doctor saw that the A1c was creeping toward 7+. The last test has me at 6.3 now. I hope this has some grit for your mill in helping you.
Craig,
I am on Metformin and Lantus for the past year and I had gained the weight, I was so proud of losing, 70 pounds back. They had put me on these after I was in the hospital for a small surgical removal of an infection on my leg. I too am experiencing hair loss, pain on my left shoulder, fatique, and this weight gain.
Iāve started on vit D3 and for the past year Fish oil. The fish oil has brung down my bad cholesterol dowm to way normal but the doctor says to keep taking Lipitor. Iām out of my Lipitor but continue on Fish oil. Fish oil is 3000 mg than the vit D3 is 5000mg a day.
I want so much to lose that extra weight again, to be more healthy for my grandkids and to be more functioning for the community of tudiabetes and the public.
The research youāve done is a benefit for alot of people, I appreciate alot you did to write this down for us. I will keep in contact as to how things are going. Patti L.
As long as you keep the high nutrient natural foods levels up, and the refined carb calories low and throw in some moderate daily exercise, your weight should become manageable in no time. Itās too bad that weāve come to believe that big food companies are really looking out for us while we too often ignore what God gave us.
I appreciate your comments more than you can know. Itās people like you that keep me doing this research thing.
