Hi Everyone! My first post..
I have been helping my 74 yer old father in law out with some medical issues over the last 3 month and am now concerned about his diabetes.
He started treatement by tablet (Matformin I believe) for diabetes 2 or 3 years ago after being on steriods for some years.
During an admission to hospital in November for a chest infection the nursing staff regularly recorded Bedtime readings over 30mm/l. He was put on 20mgs Gliclazide daily. On his day of discharge a couple of weeks later he was shown how to inject insulin and then sent packing with a Meter, bagfull of testing strips and some insulin (slow release if memory serves - 12 Units in the morning).
His readings over the following 6 weeks never really improved and despite the concerns of a District Nurse (3 visits post discharge) nothing changed. His average bedtime reading is probably 26mm/l and the morning about 4mm/l.
He has spent the last 10 days in hospital for IV antiobiotics after getting a Pseudomonas infection during the November admission. During this current stay he has had 3 visits from a Diabetic Nurse. She has increased his injection to 14 units and his Gliclazide from 20 to 60mgs.
He is due to be discarged today, but with his last 2 nights being 27.6mm/l and 28.9mm/l I am concerned. He has Heart Failure, Bronchiectasis, Hypertension, CHD and rapidly failing Eye Sight. He is active and happy. With my limited (4hours on the web) knowledge of Diabetes, I'm not sure whether or not I should be pushing for a referral to an endocrinologist or not (or some other consultant for that matter). Apart from the loss of eyesight, I'm really concerned that the high levels are going to lead to a Cardio event. Thanks for any input.
I have been helping my 74 yer old father in law out with some medical issues over the last 3 month and am now concerned about his diabetes.
He started treatement by tablet (Matformin I believe) for diabetes 2 or 3 years ago after being on steriods for some years.
During an admission to hospital in November for a chest infection the nursing staff regularly recorded Bedtime readings over 30mm/l. He was put on 20mgs Gliclazide daily. On his day of discharge a couple of weeks later he was shown how to inject insulin and then sent packing with a Meter, bagfull of testing strips and some insulin (slow release if memory serves - 12 Units in the morning).
His readings over the following 6 weeks never really improved and despite the concerns of a District Nurse (3 visits post discharge) nothing changed. His average bedtime reading is probably 26mm/l and the morning about 4mm/l.
He has spent the last 10 days in hospital for IV antiobiotics after getting a Pseudomonas infection during the November admission. During this current stay he has had 3 visits from a Diabetic Nurse. She has increased his injection to 14 units and his Gliclazide from 20 to 60mgs.
He is due to be discarged today, but with his last 2 nights being 27.6mm/l and 28.9mm/l I am concerned. He has Heart Failure, Bronchiectasis, Hypertension, CHD and rapidly failing Eye Sight. He is active and happy. With my limited (4hours on the web) knowledge of Diabetes, I'm not sure whether or not I should be pushing for a referral to an endocrinologist or not (or some other consultant for that matter). Apart from the loss of eyesight, I'm really concerned that the high levels are going to lead to a Cardio event. Thanks for any input.
