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mels

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hi im melanie, im 36, i was diagnosed last oct 07 with type 2, my level was 18.5 at that time n i had keytones, i felt awful, sickness,extremely dizzy, very blurred vision, and no energy what so ever. Doctor started me on 1 metformin for the first week, then 2 then 3rd week i was taking it 3 times a day, ive never been so ill in my life, chronic diahorrea and sickness, she said i was having a reaction to it so she took me off it n put me on gliclicide. im now taking gliclicide 2 twice a day and 1 metformin. my sugar levels r all over the place and my hairs coming out in handfuls, ive had every blood test, water sample test my doctor can think of to suss all this out, most mornings my levels r over 9 but by the afternoon im down to 3s and 4s. Im sticking to a sugar free low fat diet, im walking a mile every morning with my dog and im doing 10k on my exercise bike daily, ive dropped 2 clothes sizes. im hitting a brick wall does anyone have any ideas or suggestions, the hair loss is getting to me more than the type 2 !!! any advice is greatly welcomed
 
Hi Melanie and welcome to the forum.

Metformin (and to a lesser extent glicazide) does often affect the stomach and a possible way of overcoming this is Glucophage SR. This is a slow-release version of metformin so much kinder on the stomach. A number of people have switched and reported that it stopped the diarrohea.

Hair loss is not mentioned as a side effect of metformin or glicazide. Generally women who suffer unexplained hair loss have it as a result of something else. Have you been tested for PCOS, which seems to be a common cause of female hair loss?

Your exercise regime is great and is obviously doing you a lot of good. Your sugar levels of 9 in the morning are a bit high, but could be a result of your sugars dropping too low at night. When this happens your liver will produce glucose to compensate, but unfortunately it doesn't know when to stop. This results in higher than expected morning readings for many diabetics. Unfortunately tho only way to really be sure if this is happening to you is to set an alarm to test your sugar level at around 3am. If it is low (below 4) then you would probably benefit from a late-evening snack of some cheese or a handful of nuts. High in protein and low in carbohydrate, but enough carbs to get you through the night without your sugars dropping too low.

The fact that you are experiencing lows of 3 and 4 at certain times would indicate that night-time hypos are a possibility. But you also need to be watchful for daytime hypos. Generally a reading below 4 is regarded as a hypoglycaemic state.

I would guess that your sugar-free low fat diet is what your doctor recommended? If so, this will be your doctor following the government guidelines. It is now widely believed that the recommended low fat, high carbohydrate diet is not only the worst diet for a diabetic, but could well be the cause of the present diabetes epidemic. If you have a look at the "stickies" at the head of this topic section you will find a lot of information on diet for diabetics. Have a read and draw your own conclusions!
 
type 1, type 2, my doctor just told me i was type 2 from the start but my husband was wary about this, he thinks shes jumped to a diagnosis becos of my weight. my kidney function was low to start with but the last blood test showed it had improved. im just at the end of my tether to be honest, everyone telling me different things, everyone having an oppinion im just fed up
 
Melanie,

The meds you have been prescribed do two things: encourage your pancreas to produce insulin (glicazide) and help the insulin to convert your blood sugar into energy (metformin).

If you were Type 1 then your pancreas doesn't produce any insulin, so neither of these drugs would have any effect. Your blood sugar levels would just go higher and higher. The fact that the meds have helped reduce your sugar levels from over 18 to somewhere between 3 and 9 proves beyond any doubt that you are a Type 2.
 
Hi melanie,
If this is any consolation, I have suffered from hair loss in the past, and I know how upsetting it can be.
It can very easily take over your life, worrying about it.
Looking back over the years, my hair loss has been down to two things, lack of iron and when my sugar levels have been running too high for a while, hopefully now that you are getting them lower - your hair loss should slow down.

Have you had your iron levels checked? I'm sure Ive read on here somewhere that anemia (sp) can be an indicator of type 1.5.

Regards, hope things get sorted soon.
Lindsey
 
I agree: it's way way too soon to say she's a Type II "without a doubt".

She could also be a Type 1.5 - in other words have some insulin resistance as well as reduced production... Definitely pick this back up with your doctor if you are unsure.

As someone said above, you may wish to consider cutting down on carbs a bit, or at least going "low Gi" to see if this helps. Nutritionists bang on about the 60% carbs at every meal, but many many Type IIs find that this doesn't help much.

LJ
 
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Lady J</i>
<br />I agree: it's way way too soon to say she's a Type II "without a doubt".

She could also be a Type 1.5 - in other words have some insulin resistance as well as reduced production... Definitely pick this back up with your doctor if you are unsure.

As someone said above, you may wish to consider cutting down on carbs a bit, or at least going "low Gi" to see if this helps. Nutritionists bang on about the 60% carbs at every meal, but many many Type IIs find that this doesn't help much.

LJ
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I agree that it's too soon to say that she's T2 without a doubt.

This link explains T1.5 or LADA very well:

http://www.diabetesnet.com/diabetes_typ ... ype_15.php

Not to be confused with "double diabetes" where a T1 also has insulin resistance.



Patti
On Levemir/Novorapid. Last hba1c 5.3
 
Since getting his BG's under control and addressing nutritional needs my husband's shiny head has hair growing back in all the bald area. :)

Happy Trails,
Proverbs 17:22
 
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