Hello!

Type 2
1

Hi! I'm so glad I found this place! I was just diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes this past week. I was put on Metformin/Glipizide pill (500mg/twice a day) and Lipitor. My initial reading on Monday morning was 359 and my reading this morning was 201. I had a low of 169 yesterday afternoon and for the week the highest has been 269. It's incredible that in just a few days with the pills and a completely new diet I am sort of seeing some progress. It's a long battle but I think I'm off to a good start.

I'm still doing research on diet and finding out what works for me but I have cut off most sugar and high fats. I'm eating tons of vegetables, but not too much fruit. Protein too of course.

You know what's amazing? I used to pop zantac like it was multivitamins because I've suffered from terrible heartburn as long as I can remember, and five days into this new diet I haven't had heartburn once! I'm glad because I found out that ranitidine can interact badly with Metformin, but look at that, not a trace of heartburn.

There are only two issues I'm having: I feel "fuzzy" and my eyes are bothering me. I have contacted my Dr. and I'm awaiting her reply, but does anyone have experience with these side effects? The "fuzzy" feeling is hard to explain, I just feel off. However, I can work through it.

The eyes issue is much more annoying. It's not quite blurry vision although I do get that with far objects but mostly I'm having trouble focusing them. The best I can explain it is that if I move my head to the side it's like I feel it takes a few milliseconds for my eyes to re-focus on the new area. Almost as if my vision is lagging. Does that make sense? Anyone experience something similar?

Thanks!

2

Hey AlexanderB:

I'm sorry you had to join this club, but we're glad to have you here. You'll find a community of caring individuals here with a wealth of experience.

Congratulations on the initial progress. If there is one silver lining to this chronic condition, it's that it is completely manageable. It's not always easy, but if you have the commitment you'll be fine, and you'll find plenty of support here.

If you have a chance, visit bloodsugar101.com. It's a very informative site and I found it immensely useful when I was initially diagnosed. There are also a wealth of good books to help, and I'm confident others will give their many recommendations to this thread. My recommendations would be Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution and Wheat Belly, both available on Amazon Kindle for immediate reading if you wish.

Good to hear you're taking Metformin. It takes several days for the benefits to show, but it's one of the most prescribed and safest first-line diabetes medications out there. They should just put it in the water, in my opinion. I would be cautious about the Glipizide, however. This belongs to a class of drugs called Sulfonylureas, which have the potential of burning out the remaining beta cells you have left. I would suggest discussing safer alternatives with your Dr., such as incretin mimetics (Byetta, Victoza, Bydureon) and DPP-4 inhibitors like Januvia.

The fuzzyness is probably your metabolism adjusting to the improved blood sugar levels and the blurry vision could be a symptom of having sustained high blood sugar levels. I suspect that once you normalize your BG levels these symptoms should disappear, but be sure to discuss them with your Dr.

You're making good progress on your food choices. Because everyone's metabolism is different, I'm a big fan of the "you" diet, or eating to your meter. Post diagnosis it's really important to test frequently so you can see what the effects of various foods are on your blood sugar. Through a process of trial and error, you will find the foods that raise your glucose levels the least. Test one and two hours after eating and you will quickly see what foods are the best for you. These will be the foods that contain little to no grains, starch or sugar. By the way, fat is ok, as long as it's not processed (i.e., trans-fats or vegetable oils), so enjoy your bacon and eggs, butter, sour cream, avocados, almonds, steaks and burgers (just no bun). It won't raise your blood sugar, and your body will need it for energy.

All the best and good luck!

Christopher

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Congratulations on the progress you have made!

Christopher has given you some great advice. I would add that you may not feel well as your blood sugar comes down. Your body has gotten used to very high blood sugars and it will take a while to readjust.

Diabetes is very much a do it your self disease, so you will want to educate yourself about what is going on with your body and how you should react to it. Your body can no longer deal with high carbohydrate loads and you will have to modify your diet in response to this new reality.

Your meter is your best friend, test test and test again to learn how your body reacts to various foods and adjust your diet accordingly.

I too think bloodsugar101 is a great place to start. This website is also a great resource, spend some time reading the old posts by folks who have been there and done that.

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Welcome and good job on the progress so far!

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Hi Alexander: You still are having high blood sugars, consistently, which make vision fuzzy. And the high blood sugar also makes you feel just bad. Please work with your doctor to improve your situation! And welcome to TuDiabetes.

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Your eyes contain glucose, like other tissues in your body. When you go from a chronic high to a much lower number, you can have an imbalance from inside to outside of your eye, and yes, it can make for very blurry vision. Eventually, the concentration will even out and the blurriness should get better. (At least, this was what I was told when I was diagnosed and saw my vision get much worse as I got better, but it was temporary.)

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Welcome Alexander,

I'm glad you are making good progress in your treatment! I had damage to my vision which didn't completely improve after dka so I would recommend going to a retinologist for a complete exam with dilation and digital pictures of your retina/blood vessels etc. once per year to monitor things. As people have said high and fluctuating bg will cause blurring and you want to know if anything else is going on. As you normalize your bg more your vision should improve more and hopefully go back to normal for you.

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Oh my. Welcome Alexander. You are getting great input and I would just underline it. Moderating our carb intake is something we all need to do, but how much we need to do so can vary wildly. The mantra of "eat to your meter" is really a great one. It just means you have to test a lot to determine what works for you!

Low-carb has worked for me. Seven years in and I'm not on any meds yet. But that also includes developing a variety of exercise options, hand in hand. Moderation and TestTestTest are the mantras.

Anyway. You really are doing great. Keep it up and keep us in the loop. We love to help out!.....Blessings.......Judith in Portland...

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Hi Christopher! Thank you for your lengthy and informative reply! I'll look into the books and I'll talk to my Dr. about Glipizide.

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Hi BadMoon! Thank your reply. I'm testing first thing in the morning and then 2 hours after every main meal to see how my body reacts to the food. It seems my body responds well to protein.

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Thank you Tamra! My blood sugar this morning was 186. Still high BUT considering it's been over 210 every morning this week I'll say it's progress.

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Thank you Melitta! I'll be seeing my Dr. quite often in the next few months and I'm good with that.

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Hi Michelle. I talked to my Dr. yesterday and she scheduled a diabetic retinal test for this coming week. She'll also be sending me to have my feet checked out.

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Hi Judith! Thank you for your kind words. It's barely been a week since I was diagnosed and I began eating different but I can already feel a difference. My body is getting adjusted and although my blood sugar is still high, it seems to be getting lower little by little each day. Thanks for your kind words!

15

Thank you to everyone for their support, knowledge and kind words! My blood sugar this morning was 186. I know that is still very high BUT it's the lowest it's been in the morning since I began testing a week ago. I'll take it!

I have talked to my Dr. and she scheduled a diabetic retinal test for this week and she'll also be sending me to have my feet checked. Just a precaution as I don't have any issues with my feet so far.

One last thing. I don't know how to explain it and I'm afraid it might make me look weird. I have used glasses since I was a teenager. Really bad vision, can't see clearly without them. This morning I wake up, put on my glasses and turn on the TV and everything looked so fuzzy. Annoyed I took off my glasses and noticed that I can see the TV clearly right now without my glasses. I've never ever been able to watch tv without my glasses. Haven't really been able to do much without them actually. Am I imagining things? Could my vision problems all my life have been caused by diabetes? I'm seriously fascinated that I'm seeing crystal clear without my glasses. It feels weird lol.

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Echoing what Melitta said: sustained high blood sugars (which you've probably had for quite some time) can definitely cause vision problems. In fact, that's how I was originally diagnosed.

There's a high probability that normalizing your blood glucose will solve the vision issues, but it will take some time -- days, possibly weeks -- to stabilize. If that doesn't happen, see your opthalmologist and investigate further. In fact, you should see him/her anyway; one of the standard recommendations for all diabetics is to have eyes checked at least once a year, more often if there are problems.

Also echoing a point someone else made, sulfonylurea drugs work by making your beta cells produce insulin at maximum output -- in effect, by forcing them to run in overdrive. Months or years of that can cause them to burn out even sooner than if things were left to themselves. So if you can achieve good control without them, you're better off. I for one would have many more functional beta cells now if I hadn't spent more than a decade whipping them so hard. As it is, there are very few working ones left.

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Hi Alexander,
I'm a T2 and have worn glasses all my life. I've had the same vision issues when I've been consistently running high blood sugars and then began dropping. It is temporary, but it is a nuisance. Try out some drugstore reading glasses at different magnifications to get you through this period.

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I'm having vision problems right now too. It's not that my vision is blurry, I just don't feel like I am seeing correctly. I had this once before and the doctor took picture of my eyes. They were swollen which he said could be caused by either diabetes or macular degeneration. Since it went away quickly, we decided it was diabetes. That put a scare in me and I really watched my eating and got my blood sugar way down. It has slowly been inching up, but nothing like it was then.

All this is to say that several things could be causing it and you do need to get it checked. I've been putting off having mine checked, but your post made me realize I need to do it. Thanks for posting.

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I had a reading of 129 last night, 2 hours after eating. Wow. That's probably the lowest it's been in maybe years? Incredible what just eating right does. Thanks to everyone for their support.

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Great news Alexander, you've got a great attitude which is half the battle IMHO