Hi All, Just a quick question - I'm new to the forum so excuse me if I don't have the etiquette quite right yet. I'm type 1 diabetic on novorapid and lantus, I've been prescribed Erythromycin by my doctor and for the two days I've been taking them have suffered really bad hypos with the onset coming on very quickly. Monday night was 1.6, I assumed that it was the lantus not acting as it should but I kept my sugar higher last night and it still dropped dramatically very quickly before taking lantus, so can't possibly be that. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I need rid of this chest infection but this is causing quite a bit of worry. Thanks a million. Spiritus.
Erythromycin and hypos
- Thread starter spiritus
- Start Date
jopar
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,222
What sort of regime are you usning?
If you are using basal/bolus then it could be that you need to lower the quick acting insulin with meals as it not only dealing with the carbs with the meal but also interfering with the lantus by working on the Basal needs...
Lantus is designed in theory 24 hours, most people find that it does tail off near from 18 hours ect... So at the moment it still could be too much without you really knowing.. the only problem with reducing it is that it can be a couple of days to show any adjustments... and then you could end up going high once you off the meds...
work arounds...
Reduce your quicking insulin at meals, you would need to keep a eye on levels after to ensure that you are not going high..
Reduce the lantus to match the present needs, but this could cause hassel when you come of the meds... As it can take a couple of days to readjust to lower levels and then the increased needs..
You could always carry on stay as you are, but take more bg's so that you can pick up if you are starting to get low and then take some extra carbs to avoid going low...
hope thismight be helpful
If you are using basal/bolus then it could be that you need to lower the quick acting insulin with meals as it not only dealing with the carbs with the meal but also interfering with the lantus by working on the Basal needs...
Lantus is designed in theory 24 hours, most people find that it does tail off near from 18 hours ect... So at the moment it still could be too much without you really knowing.. the only problem with reducing it is that it can be a couple of days to show any adjustments... and then you could end up going high once you off the meds...
work arounds...
Reduce your quicking insulin at meals, you would need to keep a eye on levels after to ensure that you are not going high..
Reduce the lantus to match the present needs, but this could cause hassel when you come of the meds... As it can take a couple of days to readjust to lower levels and then the increased needs..
You could always carry on stay as you are, but take more bg's so that you can pick up if you are starting to get low and then take some extra carbs to avoid going low...
hope thismight be helpful
My T1 husband can't tolerate Errythromycin and always has to have a penicillin derivative if he needs antibiotics.
Hi Spiritus,
Trials of Erythromycin conducted in 2003 showed that it can have a huge impact on blood sugar. The trials involved 45 type-2 diabetics who had an average fasting BS of 11.1 mmol. After a 2 week course of oral Erythromycin their fasting BS average was 6.75 mmol (with no change to any other diabetes medication taken).
Your GP should have been aware of this before prescribing so I can only suggest that you refer the problem back to him. It may only need an adjustment to your insulin to resolve the hypos.
Trials of Erythromycin conducted in 2003 showed that it can have a huge impact on blood sugar. The trials involved 45 type-2 diabetics who had an average fasting BS of 11.1 mmol. After a 2 week course of oral Erythromycin their fasting BS average was 6.75 mmol (with no change to any other diabetes medication taken).
Your GP should have been aware of this before prescribing so I can only suggest that you refer the problem back to him. It may only need an adjustment to your insulin to resolve the hypos.
Hi All, thanks very much for your advise - I really appreciate it, especially finding out I'm not the only one to have problems with this. Thanks again 
I reaad the reference caitycakes gave us and noted that they thought that erythromycin derivatives without antibacterial activity are what is needed. Still T1 husband can't tolerate the stuff. He never keeps it down long enough to findout if it works as an antibiotic for him.
If erythromycin didn't have any side effects other than lowering blood glucose levels, especially as it's cheap to make, I expect it would be prescribed to everyone. Like statins seem to be.
But they do have unwanted side effects, including anaphalaxis for some people.
As Hanadr said, if we all took any antibiotic it would encourage resistant bacteria to evolve.
But they do have unwanted side effects, including anaphalaxis for some people.
As Hanadr said, if we all took any antibiotic it would encourage resistant bacteria to evolve.
HI, I have prob with Erythromyciin-makes me puke, and gives me awful stomach probs-can't tolerate it so avoid it. Have you been having unexplained hypos other times when you've not been on anti-biotics, and blamed on something else?? While I was on Lantus I had many many episodes of enexplained hypos, and am not alone. I blamed it on everything exept the wind direction! Come off it and know now the hypos was just the Lantus, it stays at the injection site for up to 36 hours and just releases when it feels the urge! Prob something to do with it's PH, best to ask the manufacturers.
Jus
Jus
Eddie,
It's still not an acceptable risk when there are other less risky methods of controlling blood glucose levels. Like the low-carb diet lots of people on this list seem to swear by. I personally don't think the prescribing millions of people something known to be risky and could cause death within a very short space of time is a good idea. I know hypos can kill and very quickly too. But I can't see prescribing what I don't believe is a 'very mild' drug, or any drug for that matter, to be 'on the safe side'. Not even asprin, according to some in the medical world. The same basic 'do the benefits outweigh the risks?' scenario.
I take an antiepileptic, which has completely controlled my seizures for over 10 years. But my neuro hasn't advised me coming off them - the benefits outweigh the risks. And the side effects aren't lovely at all! Other people have trying successfully coming off the med after a couple of years. It's different for everyone, as are the side effects up to a point.
Also, you can't deny that killing off your gut bacteria is a good plan, as Janabelle has experienced.
It's still not an acceptable risk when there are other less risky methods of controlling blood glucose levels. Like the low-carb diet lots of people on this list seem to swear by. I personally don't think the prescribing millions of people something known to be risky and could cause death within a very short space of time is a good idea. I know hypos can kill and very quickly too. But I can't see prescribing what I don't believe is a 'very mild' drug, or any drug for that matter, to be 'on the safe side'. Not even asprin, according to some in the medical world. The same basic 'do the benefits outweigh the risks?' scenario.
I take an antiepileptic, which has completely controlled my seizures for over 10 years. But my neuro hasn't advised me coming off them - the benefits outweigh the risks. And the side effects aren't lovely at all! Other people have trying successfully coming off the med after a couple of years. It's different for everyone, as are the side effects up to a point.
Also, you can't deny that killing off your gut bacteria is a good plan, as Janabelle has experienced.
I can see the potential for this if someone needs erythromycin in any event eg teenage acne. At the same time predictability is a real issue.
Thanks for letting me know about this.
Thanks for letting me know about this.
