I was wondering if two weeks is long enough too... I figured I'll do
two weeks like the doc suggested, and then another two weeks as a
trial period. If I'm still good after that month, I'll call it a
success. Like the doctor said, I know my numbers pretty well now, so
if I start seeing them creep back up I know to up my dosage to what it
was, I don't even need to call him.
For those asking about recent numbers, I'll give the history first...
I was diagnosed in January, had FBG over 200 (I actually don't
remember exactly, but it was in the 200-250 range as I recall)... A1c
I think was in the 7's. I was hovering around 235-240 (weight) at
that point.
Last blood work was April... FBG was 118, A1c was 5.9 (doc said I'll
get A1c again in November, and I have to go get stuck next week for
cholesterol and microalbumin, which was high last time too).
Up until about two weeks ago, my own BG tests at home were amazingly
consistent... I seemed to always come up with a 2-week average of 104,
did that for like 3-4 months in a row. That's an overall average,
various times of day, before/after meals (1-3 hours varied),
before/after exercise, morning, before bed, I mixed it up a lot to try
and get some good trend analysis going. Average range was about
90-140 overall (90-110 in the morning, 100-140 2hrs after meals).
*Very* rarely went higher than 140 or lower than 90.
Now, the last two weeks for some reason I can't explain completely,
I've rarely gotten anything above 100 at any time of day. I think I
may have kind of subconsciously cut back on carbs a little bit, but I
don't think a huge amount (5g maybe per meal, something like that).
Other than that, I can't think of anything that's really changed. The
doc said the weight loss alone could explain it, and he said
(confirming what some folks here said) that it's not uncommon to hit a
point where you numbers do generally increase for no apparent reason
and (usually) stay that way.
My weight is down to 215 as I sit here now by the eay... another 20-25
pounds and I'm a very happy man!
I don't want to make anyone feel bad, but I have to say that, by and
large, it hasn't been that hard for me. Now, I know the medication is
helping with weight loss a little, but the changes in my diet haven't
been too hard... the biggest change is that I haven't had a non-diet
soda since I was diagnosed, and I was drinking A LOT of soda (think
along the lines of a 2-liter per day). I've also cut back a ton on my
other drink of choice: 4C Iced Tea (you know, the instant mix stuff).
Again, I was probably downing 48+ ounces of that a day, ON TOP of the
soda. I wasn't really eating terribly even back then, but now I just
monitor carbs, and I don't get too regimented about it. I also try
and minimize red meat and eat a few more fruits and vegetable than
before (I've always been a big veggie guy fortunately though). I
firmly believe cutting out the soda, and to a lesser extent the iced
tea, really made most of the difference. I also exercise most days of
the week now, but not too strenuous... usual 10-20 minutes on the
treadmill at 3mph-5mph, and then 5-10 minutes of weights and/or
calesthenics.
I should also mention I had the triple wammy: high blood pressure
(145/95 on average, roughly) and high cholesterol too. Now, my BP
rarely goes above about 110/65, and my cholesterol (total) was 140 in
April (HDL: 36, LDL: 79). Still a touch high there, but considering I
started with something like 240 in January, I'll take it
Thanks everyone, I'll post back in two weeks and let you all know how
it's going. I don't want to get my hopes up, but... TOO LATE! LOL
On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:14:23 -0700, sallyvel <sallyvel@hotmail.com>
wrote:
>On Jul 31, 6:59 pm, None <n...@none.com> wrote:
>> Well, I just got back from the doctor's, and he OK'd a 50% reduction
>> in my Metformin (down to 500mg twice day).
>
>Way to go! You must have been working hard to achieve those results. I
>hope that you can stay at the reduced med level. Is two weeks long
>enough to see how you are doing at the new level? I had heard that it
>takes about a month to get fully into you system.
>Sally
> 
Woo-hoo! Reduced Metformin! 
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