Eratic bg Readings

[Pandy54]

Hi!

I've posted here a couple of times before and found the advice given to be very helpful so, here I am again to see if anyone has experienced the situation I find myself in

Diagnosed with T2 over a year ago, I was put on Metformin. Not happy with the support of my GP, I went to another doctor in the practice. He has been fantastic, referring me to a specialist Diabetes Nurse who filled in many gaps. He has also now decided to refer me to an Endicrinologist because the pattern of readings is incredibly eratic.

I take bg using a Freestyle Lite meter four times a day and have found that my readings are so eratic that I can have a reading of 1.1 then half an hour later, it can be 12.5 - having only taken a glucose lozenge and nothing else. Half an hour later - 8.8. This is just one example, there are many others.

I no longer take any kind of medication, the doctor wanted to get a picture of what my body was doing without any artificial intervention.

I have a balanced, healthy diet. Lots of fruit and veg, wholemeal bread, lean meat in moderation and very few processed foods (ok, I might sneak a choc digestive biscuit with my Sunday morning coffee!)

The big problem is that I dont usually recognise when I am having a hypo.... and I have them daily, even without medication. The only time that I am vaguely aware of something being wrong is when I have a really low, low... 1.5 or less. I get nauseous, dizzy and feel very weak. I had two within 12 hours this week and it made me so tired, I just wanted to curl up in a corner somewhere - unfortunately, my boss had other ideas (he doesnt put me under pressure, I do that myself)

Has anyone experienced these eratic levels? How was it controlled?
Or not recognised hypos? Did you learn how to?
What can I expect from the Endicrinologist?

Any suggestions will be received with my endless gratitude!

Lin

 

[goji]

Hi Lin

When you had the two low readings (1.5) this past week, were you on any kind of medication?

Untreated diabetes doesn't usually cause hypos, it's the diabetic medications (insulin or others) that can make you go hypo. If you are having hypos while off medications then it makes me wonder if there is some other cause for your hypos?

There are various things (apart from anti-diabetic meds) that can cause hypglycemia so it's good that you are going to see an endocrinologist as they are well-placed to do the testing to see what's going on.

I suppose for now just try and test as much as possible so that you can keep track of your blood glucose without waiting for the low warning signs. Does your doctor provide you with an adequate supply of test strips? I think under the circumstances, they should do.

Also try and keep really accurate records so that you've got some evidence to show the endocrinologis of when these episodes happen and what you ate or what meds you did or didn't take beforehand.

How long do you have to wait to see the endocrinologist?

Goji x

 

[hanadr]

Hi Lin
I can't understand why you should be having hypos when not using medication. It's something that can happen in its simplest form to anyone who isn't eating at all, but generally, it's caused by medication NOT diabetes. Metformin rarely causes it. the usual culprits are insulin and the sulphonylureas, such as gliclazide.
As to erratic numbers:
perhaps I can shed a little light
Firstly, if you don't eat at all for a few hours, you liver can release glucose into your blood, because you go into starvation mode.
Then
Starch turns into blood glucose, so if you eat, bread[wholemeal or white],potatoes,pasta, rice or baked goods. in an hour or do afterwards, your BG will have gone up.
The FSA healthy eating plate of 1/3 of calories from Carbohydrate foods isn't particularly good for diabetic control, unless you wish to use a lot of medicine.
If your doctor wants to know how your system handles carbs. this is useful to him
If you want to cut tour BG down, you need to reduce your consumption of carbs and/or go to low GI.
Fats are good for diabetics. the Atkins diet is an ideal means of diabetic control.
Hana

 

[Pandy54]

Thanks for your reply Gogi

The only meds I take are Thyroxin (have taken same dose for over 20years) and HRT. I stopped taking Metformin and Gliclazide over a month ago - strangely, it has had no effect at all on my readings.

The symptoms that I now recognise as hypo's have been with me for several years, I didn't know what they were until I started testing a couple of months ago.

My doc has now started to prescribe the testing strips, so my overdraft is slightly less than it could have been

I have downloaded the software that works with my testing meter (Freestyle Lite) and upload the data regularly. So I get very accurate records of readings, then I just add notes where I can.

I'm seeing the specialist next Monday, I hope that he can find out what's going on - I really don't want diabetes to rule my life but at the moment, I'm so conscious that I don't recognise the hypos, I'm thinking about and testing my bg more often than I would like to be.

Thanks for your support x
Lin x

Hi Lin

When you had the two low readings (1.5) this past week, were you on any kind of medication?

Untreated diabetes doesn't usually cause hypos, it's the diabetic medications (insulin or others) that can make you go hypo. If you are having hypos while off medications then it makes me wonder if there is some other cause for your hypos?

There are various things (apart from anti-diabetic meds) that can cause hypglycemia so it's good that you are going to see an endocrinologist as they are well-placed to do the testing to see what's going on.

I suppose for now just try and test as much as possible so that you can keep track of your blood glucose without waiting for the low warning signs. Does your doctor provide you with an adequate supply of test strips? I think under the circumstances, they should do.

Also try and keep really accurate records so that you've got some evidence to show the endocrinologis of when these episodes happen and what you ate or what meds you did or didn't take beforehand.

How long do you have to wait to see the endocrinologist?

Goji x

 

[Pandy54]

Hi Hana, thanks for your reply

I wish I could understand why I'm having hypo's too!

I tend to have breakfast and lunch at approximately the same time every day (7am and 12 midday) then dinner is usually somewhere between 6 and 7pm. I always have mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks of fruit or yogurt or low-sugar cereal bars, ever conscious that to go without food is likely to cause problems.

As far as carbs are concerned, I have cut down drastically over the last few months. Replacing with fruit and veg where I can. A couple of slices of wholemeal bread at lunch and a very small portion of potato or pasta with dinner. Although that might sound like more than I should be having, believe me - it's taken a lot of willpower to give up the cakes, pastries and biscuits that I used to eat quite a lot of! So, maybe there's still some room for improvement.

Interesting to hear about the Atkins diet - at least there are still some pleasures to be had with food

Thanks again
Lin

Hi Lin
I can't understand why you should be having hypos when not using medication. It's something that can happen in its simplest form to anyone who isn't eating at all, but generally, it's caused by medication NOT diabetes. Metformin rarely causes it. the usual culprits are insulin and the sulphonylureas, such as gliclazide.
As to erratic numbers:
perhaps I can shed a little light
Firstly, if you don't eat at all for a few hours, you liver can release glucose into your blood, because you go into starvation mode.
Then
Starch turns into blood glucose, so if you eat, bread[wholemeal or white],potatoes,pasta, rice or baked goods. in an hour or do afterwards, your BG will have gone up.
The FSA healthy eating plate of 1/3 of calories from Carbohydrate foods isn't particularly good for diabetic control, unless you wish to use a lot of medicine.
If your doctor wants to know how your system handles carbs. this is useful to him
If you want to cut tour BG down, you need to reduce your consumption of carbs and/or go to low GI.
Fats are good for diabetics. the Atkins diet is an ideal means of diabetic control.
Hana