I joined this board for my grandmother, who was diagnosed as type 2 almost 3 years ago.
She started off on diet control which didn't have much effect, so was put on Metformin. Unfortunately, this upset her ulcerative colitis, so she was changed to Gliclazide - initially 80mg in the morning, then had 40mg added before her evening meal.
I've never felt that we have her diabetes under control though and despite her annual visits to the clinic at the hospital, nobody seems to be concerned. Her Hba1c is always above 7. Last year, it was 7.7%, her last visit 7.9% - and apparently this is fine for a lady of her years (she's 86) because they don't want to adjust her meds in case it causes hypos - however she lives with me, I keep an eye on her and she's not daft - she knows herself when things aren't right.
Anyway, sorry, I'll get to the point.
When she was on diet control, her BG levels would range from 5 first thing in the morning, to 23 in the evening.
On Metformin, it ranged from 5.3 first thing in the morning to 14 (this was actually a before lunch reading).
On the Gliclazide, she ranges from 4.8 first thing in the morning (though this was a one-off - she normally ranges between 6 and 7) to 18.3 before bedtime.
Her diet is really good - she is a very regimented lady so is strict with herself with regard to diet.
After she eats, she starts to sweat and feels really sleepy. She's also regularly getting very blurry vision.
She was last at the diabetic clinic in December 2009 and I expressed my concerns that despite good diet and medication, her blood sugars creep up and up through the day and also told of her symptoms. The doctor kept telling me she was taking hypos. I kept telling him that she wasn't and I showed him her record book, charting her sugars and how she was feeling at the time. He insisted that it was drops in blood sugars and told me to stop her evening Gliclazide tablet.
I wasn't very sure about this, so I consulted our GP and she said to keep going with it till she heard from the hospital. She contacted me today to confirm that the hospital doctor had said to stop the afternoon med but she doesn't quite agree with this. Just to prove a point though, she said to me to stop it for a couple of days and see what happens.
So tonight, my gran didn't take her Gliclazide and her sugars were 7.7 before lunch and then 15.2 before bed there just now.
Now I get onto the really strange thing - I checked her sugars and it was 15.2. She wanted a glass of warm milk before bed, so she had that, and to be on the safe side, I checked them again about 45 minutes after the milk - they'd went down to 14.4. I'd have expected them to go up (she was sweating and feeling a bit sleepy and shaky after this).
I've had occassions like this before. She was showing all the signs of a hypo one day and I checked her sugars but they were 11.2. Just in case the reading was wrong, I gave her a glucose sweet, checked her sugars half an hour after it and they were 11.1. An hour after it, they were 9.1.
Is it not a bit strange that her sugars drop after eating something sweet?
I'm totally confused and nobody seems to be able to answer that question - when I've mentioned it to the doctor, he just changes the subject.
Can anyone help me out here? It's a shame that she's constantly feeling so horrible and I'm no expert on diabetes - to me, there's something weird going on - either that or the blood sugar monitor is faulty!!!
Sorry for the long post.
Look forward to some feedback.
Many thanks
Alison
She started off on diet control which didn't have much effect, so was put on Metformin. Unfortunately, this upset her ulcerative colitis, so she was changed to Gliclazide - initially 80mg in the morning, then had 40mg added before her evening meal.
I've never felt that we have her diabetes under control though and despite her annual visits to the clinic at the hospital, nobody seems to be concerned. Her Hba1c is always above 7. Last year, it was 7.7%, her last visit 7.9% - and apparently this is fine for a lady of her years (she's 86) because they don't want to adjust her meds in case it causes hypos - however she lives with me, I keep an eye on her and she's not daft - she knows herself when things aren't right.
Anyway, sorry, I'll get to the point.
When she was on diet control, her BG levels would range from 5 first thing in the morning, to 23 in the evening.
On Metformin, it ranged from 5.3 first thing in the morning to 14 (this was actually a before lunch reading).
On the Gliclazide, she ranges from 4.8 first thing in the morning (though this was a one-off - she normally ranges between 6 and 7) to 18.3 before bedtime.
Her diet is really good - she is a very regimented lady so is strict with herself with regard to diet.
After she eats, she starts to sweat and feels really sleepy. She's also regularly getting very blurry vision.
She was last at the diabetic clinic in December 2009 and I expressed my concerns that despite good diet and medication, her blood sugars creep up and up through the day and also told of her symptoms. The doctor kept telling me she was taking hypos. I kept telling him that she wasn't and I showed him her record book, charting her sugars and how she was feeling at the time. He insisted that it was drops in blood sugars and told me to stop her evening Gliclazide tablet.
I wasn't very sure about this, so I consulted our GP and she said to keep going with it till she heard from the hospital. She contacted me today to confirm that the hospital doctor had said to stop the afternoon med but she doesn't quite agree with this. Just to prove a point though, she said to me to stop it for a couple of days and see what happens.
So tonight, my gran didn't take her Gliclazide and her sugars were 7.7 before lunch and then 15.2 before bed there just now.
Now I get onto the really strange thing - I checked her sugars and it was 15.2. She wanted a glass of warm milk before bed, so she had that, and to be on the safe side, I checked them again about 45 minutes after the milk - they'd went down to 14.4. I'd have expected them to go up (she was sweating and feeling a bit sleepy and shaky after this).
I've had occassions like this before. She was showing all the signs of a hypo one day and I checked her sugars but they were 11.2. Just in case the reading was wrong, I gave her a glucose sweet, checked her sugars half an hour after it and they were 11.1. An hour after it, they were 9.1.
Is it not a bit strange that her sugars drop after eating something sweet?
I'm totally confused and nobody seems to be able to answer that question - when I've mentioned it to the doctor, he just changes the subject.
Can anyone help me out here? It's a shame that she's constantly feeling so horrible and I'm no expert on diabetes - to me, there's something weird going on - either that or the blood sugar monitor is faulty!!!
Sorry for the long post.
Look forward to some feedback.
Many thanks
Alison
