i've been diagnosed for some time and have been down the controlling by diet and exercise route (some success but eventually the hba1c result was such that docs wanted me to take medication) and was put on first metformin (which i could not tolerate at all) and then glucophage slow release (1000 mg) which i stopped taking this week after 3 months of trying. The side effects would have been tolerable for a short time, but after 3 months of diarrhea and very bad stomach cramps after every single meal (regardless of what it was - in fact just drinking water gave me cramps), after which i was feeling run down, lethargic and miserable, not to mention having to curtail every activity from going out shopping to going to the gym and even going out socially because of the 'effects'. I was prepared to keep going longer but recently have begun to have tightness in the chest and have woken up in the night with the tightness and a feeling of impending doom. I'm sure that the pain is not severe enough for a heart attack, but it is sufficiently scarey to stop me taking the tablets. However, this leaves me in the position of uncontrolled diabetes. I started monitoring more regularly (which is expensive since the nhs doesn't prescripe testing strips) and have made the following discoveries:
I feel dreadful at bs of 11.1 (not had higher than this since first diagnosed); thought there were ants crawling over me and occasionally biting me, had headache, blurred vision and a personality change from me to someone whose head spins round and vomits nails.
I feel dreadful at bs of below 7 (frequent readings between 6 and 7 in mid afternoon) - can't stay awake, memory fails, can't string 2 words together.
I feel at my best with bs of between 8 and 9 (which I know are too high as an 'operating' bs)
my fasting bs (around 7 am) is always higher than my post-dinner reading (around 10 pm) - last night's was 8.4 and this morning's was 9.1 - which i cannot understand.
my practice has a diabetic nurse who doesn't listen (to me anyway) and i feel treated like a number and def not an individual.
If anyone has any similar experience and/or can give me any ideas about other medications, I'd be pleased to hear. I'm overweight so don't want to take anything that will make me fatter (!) and in general i seem to have very little tolerance for any medications.
Thanks
type 2 for 3 years
latest hba1c 8.5
low carbing
hypothyroid for 20 years (125 mg levothyroxine pd)
taking coversyl (2.5 mg) for hypertension; began with pregnancy 20 years ago.
I feel dreadful at bs of 11.1 (not had higher than this since first diagnosed); thought there were ants crawling over me and occasionally biting me, had headache, blurred vision and a personality change from me to someone whose head spins round and vomits nails.
I feel dreadful at bs of below 7 (frequent readings between 6 and 7 in mid afternoon) - can't stay awake, memory fails, can't string 2 words together.
I feel at my best with bs of between 8 and 9 (which I know are too high as an 'operating' bs)
my fasting bs (around 7 am) is always higher than my post-dinner reading (around 10 pm) - last night's was 8.4 and this morning's was 9.1 - which i cannot understand.
my practice has a diabetic nurse who doesn't listen (to me anyway) and i feel treated like a number and def not an individual.
If anyone has any similar experience and/or can give me any ideas about other medications, I'd be pleased to hear. I'm overweight so don't want to take anything that will make me fatter (!) and in general i seem to have very little tolerance for any medications.
Thanks
type 2 for 3 years
latest hba1c 8.5
low carbing
hypothyroid for 20 years (125 mg levothyroxine pd)
taking coversyl (2.5 mg) for hypertension; began with pregnancy 20 years ago.
