Any Glucophage, Low-Carb weight loss advice greatly appreciated!
Hi everone, I'm pretty much a "forum virgin", so please excuse any repetition. I went to my endocronologist (not sure about that spelling, anyway my thyroid doc), about 2 weeks ago. I've been on synthroid for about 7 years. Found out I had a thyroid problem the same day I found out I was pregnant. Very sadly it ended in ectopic and followed a year later with a miscarriage. (We are still blessed with 2 wonderful sons 24 and 19) Anyway, now back to the present, my thyroid doctor asked about checking my insulin and glucose levels with a blood test (one without fasting, YUCK, did the fasting thing when I was pregnant). He said my glucose was okay, but the insulin level was very high, 32, which should be around 14. He suggested I try a LOW CARB DIET and start taking glucophage medication. I have struggled with my weight my entire life. Just 15 pounds overweight as a teen, but felt like 150. Now, at age 43, at 5'8", I weigh in at 210 pounds! HELP! Tried every diet known to man and had tried the low carb years ago and totally went crazy and ate a whole 6 pack of pecans twirls. Tried Sugar Busters and Atkins a couple years ago, but just didn't work for me. I tried to make the Atkins bread and it tasted like a pan of paper and glue. But, now I see there are so many ready made low carb foods to help. I even got an Atkins low carb chocolate bar at Walgreens that was really good. Are there any other low carb dieters out there that have been on Glucophage and had good results with weight loss? I have been on 1 pill a day for a week, and will go to 2 a day in another week and then to 3 a day after 2 more weeks. So far no real side effects, except my period seems to be lasting much longer than usual, may not be related to the medication, just guessing. Would love to hear from other Glucophage users!

Greetings and welcome aboard!

Can't help you with the med related questions you asked - I'm sure others can and will, it is a frequent topic here - but did want to say "Hi" and welcome you to the forum.

You might try doing a search (the globe icon underneath the orange tool bar at the top) and look for "glucophage". If you leave all of the other fields alone you'll get nearly 70 hits so there's probably some good information in there. You might think of some other key words to further narrow the search as well.

Good luck!

Hi there Tango Welcome to the forum. Yes, there are a few members on glucophage - and a few more with diabetes. Two that come to mind are Ruth and Debi Warne - both have journals in the "bootcamp" section of the forum. You may want to have a look through their journals. I know that Ruth is having phenonmenal success controling her diabetes with LC nutrition and exercise!

As for your question about extra long cycles - this is not uncommon when starting a LC WOL (way of life). There are a few threads about it that you might want to check out - try a search (upper right hand corner of every page) for "Cycle AND menstrual" and you should get a few good hits. General theory is that because fat cells store estrogen it is released when they shrink as you lose fat causing things to go a little haywire at first. The effects seem more pronounced when you are on any kind of BCPs. Good news is things do settle back down to normal after a few months.

Happy LCing and Happy Easter
Nat

Tango,

Welcome to the board. I hope you feel welcome here and will find the support you need to stick to a LC WOL (way of life) since you've had problems before.

I'm going to answer your glucophage question in your other thread in the diabetes forum, but I want to suggest something in this thread.

You need to approach lowcarbing as a way of life. Eat un-processed, whole natural foods like meats, fish, eggs, cheese, vegetables & more vegetables. Forget about the low carb substitutes for the foods you are used to eating: breads and baked goods of all kinds, sweets, chocolate, candies **unless** you make them yourself and therefore know exactly what is in them. Caveat: some of the LC substitutes can set off cravings.

It is recommended that you shop the outer ring of the stores: meat counters, produce and dairy sections and avoid the inner aisles where all the highly processed food resides. No doubt, it is a BIG adjustment going to a LC WOL, but you can do it.

I'm off to your other thread in the diabetes forum

Thanks all for the welcome, comments and suggestions.
Cheryl