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Help! Type 1, Contraceptive Pill and Ketones!

M

ma5on

Well-Known Member
Messages
61
Hey

I've been struggling the last year or so to get a grip on my sugars (HbA1C around 10%) and have finally realised that it could be the pill making them worse. I take Microgynon and am 6 pills into my packet. The last few days my levels have been steadily rising despite corrective doses added to my usual regime.

This morning (after another horrible night of getting up to wee/drink/wee) and a corrective dose of 8 units (I figured a hypo would have been preferable to the high!), I still woke with a sugar of 15.5mmol. I had medium urine ketones but no blood ketones.

Last night before dinner my sugar was 15mmol. I did a corrective dose of 5 units and took the dogs for a brisk walk for 40 mins. When I tested an hour after getting home my sugar was the same.

On my pill-free week my sugar levels are in single figures and I feel great. This week I feel terrible. Aam struggling to be at work, my brain feels like it is doused in syrup and I can't see straight.

Does anyone out there experience the same thing, or can anyone offer me any advice?

I'm at my wits end!

Thanks you!!! xxx
 
Firstly by what you are saying it sounds as though you are getting insulin residence when you BG’s are raised, the higher you BG the higher the ratio of insulin required, i.e. a normal correction could be 1 unit will bring you down by 3mmol/l, but above a certain BG you could need 2 units of insulin to being you down by 3mmol/l


It also sounds as though hormones are playing apart in your control; however is this a direct link to the Pill or whether this is being caused by a normal monthly hormone cycle is hard to say… A lot of women do find that there insulin needs will change during the month…

You need to ask yourself, have I changed the type of Pill recently, if so has these changes happened since I changed? If the answer is yes it is highly likely that the pill is the main cause of your problems…

If no, then you’re have to look at what is happening during your month cycle to see if there is any set patterns which you might be able to adjust to gain better control.

As to the Pill, it might be worth talking to your GP concerning this, as different Pills having different levels and composition of hormones to prevent ovulation in a female, so changing brands or type , might work much better with your natural hormone make up
 
A visit to an endocrinologist might be the answer.
 
Thanks guys.

Been on this pill for about 6 months now. Before that I was taking various ones but bled throughout so went back to the original one I tried (pre-Diabetes).

Think I might head to the doctor though. Am sick of them assuming it's my lack of control when clearly I can manage it other times of the month. Was wondering if a pump would be of any benefit (my dad had one of the original ones and said it changed his life!), but the hospital seem reluctant to help.

Appreciate your advice - gives me some perspective¬ :o)
 
It sounds like you need the higher hormone dose in the pill to control your cycle. All steroid hormones antagonise the insulin effect to some extent and make you insulin resistant. As long as you are fairly slim, you can get over the pill effect to some extent by having higher insulin doses for the 3 weeks you are on the pill compared to when you are off it.

Other options are long acting contraceptives like depoprovera and implanon or a coil. D and I and the mirena coil all have progesterone in them which also antagonises the action of insulin.
 
Thanks Katharine

Tried Depo when first diagnosed...worked ok (gained about half a stone after each injection but always lost it again in a couple of weeks - prob fluid etc), and no periods at all. Prob is my husband and I want to try for a baby soon and when I came off the injection I had no periods for a year and a half. I know I could probably have got pregnant in this time but it would make trying for a baby a lot more difficult. Unfortunately I have to be quite calcuated in when we do conceive to ensure my control is as tight as possible.....

Maybe a higher dose pill is the answer? I'm just over 1 stone overweight which I feel is partly down to this issue. I eat the same all month (actually LESS while taking the pill so I can avoid higher doses of insulin if possible), but seem to always lose and regain the same weight....it's beyond frustrating.

Would a Progesterone only pill be the answer???
 
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