Optifast and Diabetes?

I am diabetic and wonder how I will do on optifast.  I know lots of us have diabetes and have been through optifast before and just wonder how that works?  I am afraid of blood sugar lows and if I don't eat every 2 - 3 hours (at least a snack), I start to shake as my levels drop.  Do they take us off of our diabetes meds during optifast?   What happens if I do go into a low?  Somehow I doubt I'm allowed to take the glucose tablets I do now whenever it drops too low!  LOL

 follow your dietitians advice... if you are in a situation where your levels drop to low do as you normally would even if that means taking your glucose tablets.. I am SURE 1 tablet will not affect your overall optifast regime...

If you find your levels dropping to low all the time then get into your surgeons office or call them up...

remember blood sugar is nothing to play with as you know.. your health and safety is paramount.. WLS comes secondary, so dont delay taking  action on the basis of "what if" 

Hi Laura

I am diabetic too.  Just prior to starting optifast I saw an endocrinologist at the hospital during my pre op appt.

I was told the following:  continue with metformin as usual, continue with long acting insulin as usual and cut fast acting insulin in half when starting optifast.  I took my blood sugar in the am of day 1 optifast and it was 8.1 so to follow the advice of the endo I should have taken 35 units of fast acting insulin, but I was afraid of a low so I cut it back even more...I took 25 units.  Rather risk a high than a low.  Two hours later my sugar was 6.9...perfect.  Each time I was to have a shake I took my reading and decided how much insulin to take and by the 10th day I was no longer using any of the fast acting insulin...only the long acting.  Since surgery...just over 1 month ago I have not used any metformin, no fast acting and only 35 units of long acting daily...down from 400 units daily to 35...YAHOO.

I guess this is only helpful if you are on insulin...if not, in order to keep yourself from going low make sure you have your shakes every 4 hours like clock work...and keep a little bit of juice or apple sauce on hand...about a 1/2 cup of either should fix you up without being too high in carbs.

Good Luck...You'll do great!!!

Hey,
I was on 2 Metformin tabs and about 100 units of insulin a day.  When I started Opti I only took the 1 tab in the morning.  My sugar ran around 10.  The Internist at Guelph said he was ok with sugars up to 12-14.  They let sugars run high so you don't need glucose for lows.  I did test 8-10 times a day and it really hovered around 10.  Literally the day of surgery I'm off all meds and my blood sugars are running 7-8.  Basically see how it goes and if it inches up to much contact the Internist.
Cheers,
Donna

 I was on Meditrim,(which I believe is like optifast) and Metformin.  I was told to test several times a day and cut my medformin dosage in half.  Even with that I was still a bit low at times. You need to really watch it.

Thank you for asking this question.  I've been a member of this site for months, and I hardly ever have to ask anything because there's always someone who asks just the thing I've been wondering!

Sharon B

The best advice I can give you is talk to the clinic that is doing your surgery.  my sugars were so out of control before I started the optifast and I was on very high dosage of insulin taking two different kinds and they took me of the insulin when I started the optifast and had no problem.  The clinic will let you know what they want you to do.

Thanks everyone.  I figured that they would cut down my metformin.  I will definitely talk to them and keep a really close eye on my levels when I get to that stage.  I had actually wondered if they would take me off it completely.  Glad to know that isn't the case!

Laura

I was on huge doses of insulin when I started Optifast.  I met with my endocrinologist who took me off my rapid insulin, and gave me a sliding scale for my long acting insulin.  I had no serious lows but was watched extremely closely

why are you asking such a technical question here, rather than asking your surgeon/doctor?
and why would you put value in the answers when you haven't provided any medical context, not even which type of diabetes you have?
Please please get all the opinios you want, but listen only to those with MD after their name - and who know your history.