Disturbing news (to me) about Metformin...

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Permalink Reply by Bjay on February 16, 2009 at 1:16pm

As you know, I stopped all my meds when I lost weight and was doing a higher percentage of raw foods. No cravings, except that I craved fruit. I started Metformin again, digestive issues, extreme carb cravings, and hair loss immediately after restarting. Plus, I'm having some pain in my shoulder which had previously going away. I wonder if the Met could be contributing to that in some convoluted way.

My goal is to get off everything. Like you said, I don't think I lost enough weight to make a big difference in my insulin resistance so fruit effects me. As an experiment I ate a banana last night. Usually I just eat fruit during times my blood sugars normal run low, in the afternoon. I had eaten a salad at lunch and nothing for dinner. I woke up with my blood sugar almost 300. :( So I still need the friggin stuff lol, well, if I want to eat fruit that is. I have been avoiding fats the past couple days too. Some people on the 80/10/10 diet said that would help, but so far I don't see a difference. I think I just need to lose more weight first. Hard when the Metformin gives me carb cravings lol. I've talked about it a little on my blog. http://www.bjaysblog.blogspot.com

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on February 16, 2009 at 4:41pm

Dear Bjay.

You should go on insulin for a while, your blood sugar is way too high and this will kill your pancreas totally. You need to bring your BG closer to the normal range. then you can try whatever.

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Permalink Reply by Bjay on February 18, 2009 at 10:15am

I am usually in the normal range. I'm eating raw foods and have been avoiding fruit. I started metformin in order to eat fruit, but even then I can only eat small amounts.

Recently some other diabetic raw foodies had told me the fruit shouldn't effect me. So I experimented with a banana before bed lol. No good. I probably need to lose more weight before I can eat more fruit. Nice goal - lose weight so I can eat fruit! :)

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on February 18, 2009 at 12:05pm

Try apple instead of banana a lot less sugar and starch in apples. Nothing wrong with weight loss. the more the better.

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Permalink Reply by Mr. Peachy (Craig) on February 18, 2009 at 8:09pm

Hi Bjay,

Avocados are almost the same as bananas in terms of essential nutrients. Yes, they're high in calories, but they require practically no insulin to utilize those calories. Almonds are a good one also. The key to lowering insulin resistance is twofold. Number one, of course, is exercise/weightloss, but many folks seem to miss out on certain essential nutrients in their quest to lower carb intake. The Standard American Diet (SAD, for short) is woefully lacking in many things, like potassium. Did you know that you require between 2,000 and 4,000 mg of potassium per day? I didn't until fall of 2007. I know you've been on a pretty healthy diet, but you might benefit from learning what foods are high in potassium, calcium, vitamin D, B12, and the like while being low in insulin requiring calories. Getting off Metformin was the single best thing I've done for myself. Fruits were an integral part of that. If your spikes aren't going over two hundred, then a banana might be doing more good than bad. If you are going over, then try mixing in some avocado and almonds instead of bananas. Just be sure to burn all excess calories. In other words, anything over, say, 1500 (total) Calories a day, should be offset by moderate exercise. Apples are fine, but they don't pack nearly as many nutrients per calorie as bananas and avocados. Get familiar with the various fruits nuts, and vegetables by visiting nutritiondata.com and be sure to use their nutrient search tool. It's pretty handy for sorting out what's high in what, while low in this or that, and in what food group.

Rather than go for the quick weight loss, try baby steps. Eating healthy and losing weight incrementally and naturally is quite a bit more effective toward lowering insulin resistance than a super low carb diet and quick weight loss.

You might want to look into some supplements as I have. There are quite a few listed in that naturalnews.com article (above). I can't pin my success down to any one thing that has helped me more than another in my quest (except exercise/weightloss), so while I'm not saying the supplements are a panacea, I can say that something's working awfully well. Might just be all of the above.

Craig

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Permalink Reply by Ellie on February 19, 2009 at 8:14am

Try berries, they're much lower in carbs. That's the one fruit I eat now, well, the 2 or 3 kinds of fruit, as I eat one handful a day of berries in my morning yogurt: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, or whatever looks good at the store.

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Permalink Reply by Mr. Peachy (Craig) on March 2, 2009 at 7:15pm

I would add that certain high nutrient foods like bananas will cause a temporary high, but in the long term... 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 body's needs for nutrition, the sooner you're most likely to become less drug dependent.

More on the glycemic index here: David Mendosa's site.

More on potassium here: Potassium Chronicles.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on March 2, 2009 at 7:51pm

Exercise will also cause a temporary high unless you do a lot and nobody doubts that it is good for you, could it be the same for bananas?

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Permalink Reply by Mr. Peachy (Craig) on March 3, 2009 at 5:05am

Speaking from my experience, I think exercise and high nutrient raw natural foods work synergistically in helping to lower insulin resistance.

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Permalink Reply by Karla J Sherer on March 14, 2009 at 3:41pm

Anthony........In reply to what you told Bjay about the pancreas and taking insulin - is that a universal thing? Does going on insulin always kill the pancreas and I suppose that stops natural insulin production? My problem is multiple but I am having a specific problem that would negate what you are saying. Please understand that I am not trying to argue your point but instead would love to know more about this. Any info about this is appreciated.......thanks, Karla

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Permalink Reply by Gerri on March 27, 2009 at 9:22pm

Karla,

Going on insulin does not kill the pancreas. It does the opposite by helping to preserve your beta cells. What Anthony said is that high BG harms & burns out the pancreas.

When diet, exercise & meds don't help Type 2s have control, small doses of insulin can help & safer than oral meds. Some Type 2s just take basal insulin. Others take bolus doses before meals. Most important is keep your BG in control, whatever method is successful.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on March 28, 2009 at 9:09pm

Dear Karla.

I agree with what Gerri has said. I would think that adding external insulin would relieve the stress on anyone's pancreas. But I would hesitate to call it a unerversal since joining this web site I have been astonished at the great variability in diabetics. Please tells us more why you would be led to believe that insulin harms the pancreas?

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