Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Type 2 Diabetes

This is topic Type 2 Diabetes in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 07-28-2017, 05:52 AM:

I received official diagnosis on Tuesday. I'm pretty sure that I've had it for several years. but couldn't bring myself to go to a Doctor. The symptoms have got distinctly worse in the last few months, and when I had an eye test in May they insisted I had to go.

Doctor has put me on Metformin, 2x500 mg each day, and is going to put me on two other types of tablets, but I'm not sure what they're for until I see him again on Monday.

Took tablet yesterday morning, but did not take any food at the same time as instructed, and felt distinctly unwell later in the day, which seemed to get better after I had some lunch.

I'm sure there must be others here who also have this, it's very common in older people; how much does it affect your life?

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 07-28-2017, 06:09 AM:

This may get too personal for a public forum - but what are your eating and drinking habits? A lot can be done if that is adjusted to avoid carbohydrates. And that doesn't just mean 'reduce sugar'.

- Carsten

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 07-28-2017, 08:05 AM:

My uncle is a retired hospital consultant specializing in diabetes, so I grew up hearing a lot about it.

However, that was a long time ago. From my limited memory of all of this, the fact that you are not on insulin injections is good news, suggesting that your diabetes appears to be relatively mild as yet. According to its Wikipedia page, Metformin works by decreasing the body's natural glucose production and increasing its sensitivity to existing, naturally produced insulin, and is used very widely as part of a "first line of attack" against the disease. Again, according the Wikipedia article, nausea is a common and well-known side effect, and so while unpleasant, is not a cause for alarm.

A colleague in my last-but-one workplace (the last place I worked before leaving Britain) was diagnosed with it. I'd known him since 2000, and almost that entire time you could tell just by looking at him that he clearly wasn't well. Even two flights of stairs were a struggle. Same scenario: he clearly had a bit of a phobia about seeing a doc (and had the added complication of all the hurdles you have to clear to get a GP appointment in the UK). When he finally did, about 10 years after I first met him, he was put on insulin injections straight away, plus a very strict diet. Within a few months he was completely transformed - sleeping properly, lost a lot of weight, and felt better in about every way imaginable.

The fact that step 1 for you is the Metformin would seem to suggest that it's been caught early enough that the overall management strategy might not need to be too radical or a pain in the neck. Fingers crossed.