Bad Headaches & high sugar

[Mrs of type 1]

Hi there, My names Rachel and I have just joined this Diabetes forum. I am not a diabetic myself but my husband has been a type 1 for over 30 years. The past 2 years he's been having quite a few problems. The past 4 months he has had very high blood sugars for no reason at all. Normal eating and insulin. At times they have been so high (20+) he hasn't eaten for days and even with extra insulin it takes days to come down. His doctor doesn't know why this is happening. My hubby has had lots of different blood tests and there's no reason for it. This doesn't happen all the time just, once or twice a week. For the past 13 days he has had a splitting headache he cannot shift,(the pains there whatever his sugar level is) he's seen different doctor's 3 times, had an eye test and various blood tests and again they can find no reason for it at all. We are desperate, he feels so ill. He had a week off work sick but daren't be away any longer in case he loses his job. We are waiting to see a Diabetic nurse from our local hospital but that's over 2 weeks away!! Also he has Neuropathy which he takes Duloxetine for.

Just wondering if any of you out there have experienced anything like this and have a clue what's going on? Many thanks for reading this Rachel

 

[noblehead]

Welcome to the forum Rachel!

The drug Duloxetine has a long list of side-effects ( http://www.drugs.com/sfx/duloxetine-side-effects.html) of which is headaches, I'm not sure what drug treatments are offered for the treatment of Neuropathy but it might be worth discussing this with his gp to see if an alternative drug might help with the headaches, that said you can get a headache when blood glucose is high so it could be down this.

It strange that his bg remains high even when he doesn't eat and yet takes corrective insulin doses, I would suggest to you both that you go back to his gp and ask for a referral to be seen by the Endocrinologist at your local hospital, his condition sounds complex (reading your other post about other health issues he has) and probably way beyond what your average gp can deal with, they are more specialised in a hospital setting and this is where your husband should be treated IMHO.

 

[Mrs of type 1]

Thanks for your reply.

Duloxetine was the only drug that worked for his Neuropathy, he has been on it since January and had no problems with it. But who knows maybe it is causing the headaches.

The latest update is he's been now prescribed Tramadol. the GP said if it doesn't work he may have to have a brain scan. Last night we noticed his eye close to where the pain is red and swollen, maybe nothing but something else he will have to get checked out today.

We have asked many times to be referred to the hospital but every time the GP says they can do no more than him, but he does have an appointment to see the hospitals diabetic nurse in a couple of weeks so we will see where we go from there. I agree his problems are very complex and he needs to see a specialist. I expect it's all the cuts why they are so reluctant to send him to a specialist, still that's another subject lol, thanks for reading. Rachel