• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Feeling baffled…(type 2 unwell / missed insulin/ unusually low bs levels)…..what’s going on…

Molly56

Molly56

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,844
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
My partner has been unwell and in bed since Wednesday night…started with a sore throat...headache/ feeling sick/ sweaty …he is Type 2 on both tablets (Metformin 2000mg and Gliclazide 320mg) and insulin (Humulin 1 once a day, started 3 weeks ago at 10 units increased to 16 units)…

He usually takes the insulin in the morning when he gets up (about 11am) but on Thursday had not got up and taken his medication before I got back from work at 5pm….gave him medication to take when I got home and bs levels at that stage were 8.3…..his usual bs levels in the morning are normally between 9 and 11 and before evening meal have come down from about 15 or 16 to about 11 or 12 …..

He had eaten nothing at all on Thursday though I did insist that he ate something after medication…he only ate a small bite of cheese roll though / didn't want anything else….on Friday bs levels ranged from 6.3 to 8.9 but as he was not eating much I took the decision to not have insulin as not sure what effect that would have….tried calling dn and left message on answerphone but I had to go out to work so was not here when she returned call…

Yesterday bs levels was 5.4 in the morning (made him bowl of porridge / had morning meds but no insulin) ; 10.6 mid afternoon when I got back from work …..and a rather worrying 4.1 when tested in the evening…made him eat and treat as potential hypo…level increased to 7.3 an hour later….

Apologies for long winded explanation and details but I am just wondering what is going on….I always assumed that if you were unwell then bs levels would rise but these seem to be heading in the opposite direction…and to levels not previously experienced….

Am confused as to whether he should be taking his insulin and do not have anyone to ask until Monday at the earliest…will have to leave message on dn answerphone in the morning and wait for them to get back to me sometime later in the day….

Am only hoping I am giving him the right advice and doing the right thing….am assuming that providing he continues to take his tablets then he will be covered as he was before he started on the insulin…to recap, the last insulin he had was 16 units on Thursday at 5pm.....

Have had some excellent advice from one member of the forum….don’t know how I would have coped without her…but just wondered if anyone else could shed some light on what is going on….
 
Molly56 said:
My partner has been unwell and in bed since Wednesday night…started with a sore throat...headache/ feeling sick/ sweaty …he is Type 2 on both tablets (Metformin 2000mg and Gliclazide 320mg) and insulin (Humulin 1 once a day, started 3 weeks ago at 10 units increased to 16 units)…

He usually takes the insulin in the morning when he gets up (about 11am) but on Thursday had not got up and taken his medication before I got back from work at 5pm….gave him medication to take when I got home and bs levels at that stage were 8.3…..his usual bs levels in the morning are normally between 9 and 11 and before evening meal have come down from about 15 or 16 to about 11 or 12 …..

He had eaten nothing at all on Thursday though I did insist that he ate something after medication…he only ate a small bite of cheese roll though / didn't want anything else….on Friday bs levels ranged from 6.3 to 8.9 but as he was not eating much I took the decision to not have insulin as not sure what effect that would have….tried calling dn and left message on answerphone but I had to go out to work so was not here when she returned call…

Yesterday bs levels was 5.4 in the morning (made him bowl of porridge / had morning meds but no insulin) ; 10.6 mid afternoon when I got back from work …..and a rather worrying 4.1 when tested in the evening…made him eat and treat as potential hypo…level increased to 7.3 an hour later….

Apologies for long winded explanation and details but I am just wondering what is going on….I always assumed that if you were unwell then bs levels would rise but these seem to be heading in the opposite direction…and to levels not previously experienced….

Am confused as to whether he should be taking his insulin and do not have anyone to ask until Monday at the earliest…will have to leave message on dn answerphone in the morning and wait for them to get back to me sometime later in the day….

Am only hoping I am giving him the right advice and doing the right thing….am assuming that providing he continues to take his tablets then he will be covered as he was before he started on the insulin…to recap, the last insulin he had was 16 units on Thursday at 5pm.....

Have had some excellent advice from one member of the forum….don’t know how I would have coped without her…but just wondered if anyone else could shed some light on what is going on….
Click to expand...

Hi Molly, Catherines post is a good one, even though members take Insulin, we can all react differently when we are ill. And being as he is a new user of Insulin, possibly his system maybe is a little overload, or 'stacking up' with Insulin.? Often when blood sugar are high, our bodies fight to get to a stable level, but often it can drops very low, there's spiking too, depending on the type of foods that are eaten.
Can you make an appointment to talk to his GP or DSN, by phone tomorrow, as a phone consultation?

I hope YOU are keeping well Molly and take care, good luck,

RRB :)
 
I can't help you with the insulin bit but just thought I would let you know my experience when I'll is that my numbers drop rather than rise, I had an abscess on my tooth a couple of years ago and was eating all sort of "wrong" things for a week as I just couldn't chew I had mashed potato tinned tomato soup with bread torn up in it, fish cakes, mashed banana and never got above 4.5 - if I ate those things when well I would be in constant double figures.

Not saying this is the case for your other half but it's right that we all don't react the same when ill
 
The gliclazide will carry on working making his pancreas produce insulin even if he hasn't eaten. Talk to his GP as the dose may need changing.
 
I wonder if the lower levels are making your OH feel strange... False hypo's??

I don't know on this as not a type 2 but am aware that lower levels when been high(er) for long while can make you feel odd?
I think your OH was previously 15-20's so done well to get down to 10's now and I think he will be feeling slightly idd with lower levels that he is interpreting a feeling unwell?
 
Back
Top