Flushing - help please!!!

[Sugar Free Min]

I've been diagnosed type 2 for just over six months now - take sitaglyptin and metformin daily and stick to a reasonably low carb diet with a 5% limit on sugars and saturated fats imposed by my DN.
I get the most awful flushes accompanied with a metallic taste in my mouth - both lasting for about five minutes, sometimes during the day and predominantly at night, making me lose sleep as I wake up boiling and prickly hot, throw the duvet off and then ten minutes later really cold and have to cover up again! Its exhausting me and my husband is suffering from my grumpiness!! Does anyone have any solutions please? My DN says the symptoms are not drug related and has no suggestions as to what I can do, but I'm beginning to get to my wits end! HELP!

 

[Daibell]

First, the metallic taste would be the Metformin; it's one of the side efffects mentioned on the leaflet. Mine lasted 6 months but did go away after that. Your DN should know that. I can't comment on the hot flushes. I'm afraid I'm going to have to comment on the diet advice from the DN who is just repeating poor NHS advice she has been trained to give. You need to keep all carbs down and it doesn't matter what the amount of sugar is as long as the total of all carbs each day is something like 150gm or less. A meter will guide you on this and if you haven't got a meter then most of us would advise you to get one. Protein and fats are not a problem for us. Some still say to keep the saturated fats down but the scientific evidence for this is very weak.

 

[Totto]

As Daibell says, carbs are the culprit regardless if they are sugars or starches so good to keep them low. Many of us here only have 25-30 grams of carbs per day while others stay below 50, or 80, or what limit they feel works for them. And don't worry too much about the sat fat.

Do you test when you get the hot flushes? If so, what are your readings?

What age are you?

 

[Moosepig]

First, the metallic taste would be the Metformin; it's one of the side efffects mentioned on the leaflet. Mine lasted 6 months but did go away after that. Your DN should know that. I can't comment on the hot flushes. I'm afraid I'm going to have to comment on the diet advice from the DN who is just repeating poor NHS advice she has been trained to give. You need to keep all carbs down and it doesn't matter what the amount of sugar is as long as the total of all carbs each day is something like 150gm or less. A meter will guide you on this and if you haven't got a meter then most of us would advise you to get one. Protein and fats are not a problem for us. Some still say to keep the saturated fats down but the scientific evidence for this is very weak.

thanks for that......i did have the initial metallic taste from the metformin, but it did go away - this only comes with the flushing and is quite fierce. Thanks for the carbs advice - i did count carbs for a fortnight just before Christmas but my DN said just count the sugar and sat fat, and my levels have dropped well.

 

[Moosepig]

As Daibell says, carbs are the culprit regardless if they are sugars or starches so good to keep them low. Many of us here only have 25-30 grams of carbs per day while others stay below 50, or 80, or what limit they feel works for them. And don't worry too much about the sat fat.

Do you test when you get the hot flushes? If so, what are your readings?

What age are you?

i tested a couple of times and the readings were only slightly higher - 7.2-7.5. I'm 58 and i did consider menopause flushes but i had a radical hysterectomy 10 years ago so i don't think its that......also the fact that i get the taste as well and the whole episode doesn't last more than 10 minutes at a time.

 

[lessci]

Have your thyroid levels been checked recently? I had an overactive a few years ago, still run on the high side of "normal" and get hot flushes due to that.

 

[cold ethyl]

If you had radical hysterectomy are you taking HRT? It maybe that your hormone levels need checking as it sounds suspiciously like menopausal flushes. Anxiety rushes can also cause flushing and a metallic taste. Are you feeling stressed at all, this issue aside?

 

[Sugar Free Min]

Have your thyroid levels been checked recently? I had an overactive a few years ago, still run on the high side of "normal" and get hot flushes due to that.[/QUOTE
I must admit, I don't know if my thyroid levels have been checked recently - I had my HbAic done last month again so I don't know if it would have shown up on that as I also had my cholesterol checked. Maybe I'll ask my DN if it has been checked, thanks.

 

[Sugar Free Min]

If you had radical hysterectomy are you taking HRT? It maybe that your hormone levels need checking as it sounds suspiciously like menopausal flushes. Anxiety rushes can also cause flushing and a metallic taste. Are you feeling stressed at all, this issue aside?

I don't take HRT and I don't think I'm a particularly anxious person, certainly not at night when it seems to be the worst!

 

[Robbity]

You have my sympathy! I've been getting them regularly too since the summer but mine happen generally when I wake up then another several throughout the day. I sometimes think they might be related in part to my 2 hour after meal spike, but not always, and I rarely get large spikes now unless I'm eating "naughty" - I'm on a very low carb diet.

I'm way past the menopause and these are worse than the hot flushes I had then. I occasionally had a wake-up one before I was diagnosed at the end of 2013. I often end up soaked in sweat and it feels as though a tap's been turned on in my head...

I saw my GP (not my diabetic one) recently and mentioned them - he couldn't really offer much help, though he did check all my medications for such side effects. He found a possible culprit and suggested I reduce my dose by half. However when I double-checked my information leaflet it just listed fever, and increased sweating, which I don't believe are really the same thing, and I've actually been taking this for many years without any similar issues.

I think if you have a search you'll find there's at least one other thread about this, and on the one I know of no-one appeared to have been given a cause for them.

Robbity

 

[borderter]

Still getting flushes 30 years after hysterectomy and its just as you say, fling off bedding then wake shivering to climb under again

 

[cairnlady]

Still getting flushes 30 years after hysterectomy and its just as you say, fling off bedding then wake shivering to climb under again

Yes, I am the same! Dr says it can happen!!