One of the problems of being put back on metformin by my doctor – ravenous hunger.
This happened way back in 2009 when I was first diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. We’d returned from a Alaskan cruise where I had more sugar than in the previous six months combined. I was peeing a lot, which was unusual for me. The wife (then best friend) made me take my blood sugar with her glucose meter. It wouldn’t read my level so she made me go to the doctor, who did get a reading. 516. Which is high.
Anyway, that was when they first put me on metformin. I was on it for a year, at the highest possible dosage your supposed to take. When I wet for my yearly check up, the doctor said “Oh, you were supposed to adjust it down to a level that worked for you.” Not helpful.
It seems that the metformin drops my blood sugar, and that my body being used to high blood sugars, tells me I’m hungry so I’ll eat and bring it back up. The problem, at least from my perspective, is that I feel like I’m starving. I’m eating sufficient amounts of food to stay alive, but I never feel full. I always feel like I can eat more.
And the real problem is that I’ve been off the metformin for a month or so now. After several bouts of heaving my guts out for hours, and trips to the emergency room and calls for ambulances I stopped taking it. The hunger has not gone away. It didn’t go away when I went off it back in 2011. It subsided but never really went away.
I’m fairly disciplined about eating in an attempt to help keep my blood sugars stable. Yes, I go a little nuts on holidays, like Thanksgiving, but I know I’m being bad and account for it.
The last few days I have felt that I’m not getting enough to eat again. I’m trying not to eat, but I find I’m getting little snacks between meals. Usually a piece of bread with butter, or maybe a handful of chips. For a while we had cashews and I was eating an extra handful of them with my lunch, and usual another handful between lunch and dinner. And I still don’t feel like I’ve eaten anything.
I know the snacks, even the cashews, are contributing to the problem. They are mostly starch which throws my blood sugar out of whack, which leads to me feeling more hunger.
It’d be nice if my body would get its act together and stop sending signals to my brain telling me I need to eat. It is most distracting and makes concentrating on tasks difficult.
I’m going to have to be more disciplined and cut out the snacks again and resign myself to feeling hungry non-stop for the rest of my life.
I hope you’re healthy, my Hordeling. If so, count your blessings.
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