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How will I feel medicated?

Q

Quartermass

Member
Messages
12
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
I thought I might have diabetes, so I bought a blood tester, and I've been testing at an average of 15.9 over the past few days, peaking at 28.0 and the lowest (before breakfast in the morning) is 10.5 mmol/l. Since the 28 on Sunday I've tried to cut down on carbs in my diet and eaten almost no sugars which has caused the numbers to drop down a little. I believe when I go to see my doctor on Friday I'll be diagnosed as a T2 diabetic - of course until then it's just my best guess.

I have a number of health issues that have been troubling me for a while, and I suspect that diabetes may have an effect on them, so I thought I'd ask if other people have any opinions on what may or may not be related.

I'm always tired, and I don't sleep well. I do my best to get to bed at 11pm and rise at 7am, and even still I struggle to stay away during the day, and I haven't slept through the night for years.

I frequently feel a little fuzzy. I can't put it precisely into words, but I feel a touch lightheaded and I have to make an effort to focus.

My eyesight can be a little blurred but if I want to focus I can do so, however this makes my eyes tired quickly. I can still read and see fine, although small print is an issue.

I expect to be prescribed medication to help control my blood sugar - my hope is that with this medication my sleeping/tiredness problems might lift...

Any thoughts?
 
I'm no expert..... I was only diagnosed on Friday.

That said, I was put straight on meds (Metformin) not a single bit of old school sugar has passed my lips (no sugar in coffee, no pop, no sweets, no chocolate, no cakes, no biscuits, not that I ever had the last 4 anyway :wink: ) and I feel amazing :D

My tiredness is incredibly reduced, I'm sleeping better, I'm not getting blurry eyes. All in all, I'm seeing my diagnosis as a blessing as I feel more well than I have felt in a long time :D

All the best.
 
SpaceChick said:
I'm no expert..... I was only diagnosed on Friday.

That said, I was put straight on meds (Metformin) not a single bit of old school sugar has passed my lips (no sugar in coffee, no pop, no sweets, no chocolate, no cakes, no biscuits, not that I ever had the last 4 anyway :wink: ) and I feel amazing :D

My tiredness is incredibly reduced, I'm sleeping better, I'm not getting blurry eyes. All in all, I'm seeing my diagnosis as a blessing as I feel more well than I have felt in a long time :D

All the best.
Click to expand...

No sugar at all since I took my first reading on Sunday for me... I realised the readings were very high and I've done what I can to get them down. Not unless they snuck sugar into the jar of sauce I made tonight's dinner with - which wouldn't surprise me.

The tirdedness and sleeping better I'm excited about... if that could stop my life would be much better. And the diagnosis would be a good thing.. the root cause not ideal of course, but sorting it rather than the mess of symptoms I have would be a great thing.
 
Netty70 said:
Good job your going to the docs they are very high readings
Think some of the fuzzy feelings might be due to your sugar levels
Hope the doc sorts you out
Good luck :-)
Click to expand...

It's very difficult to put the readings into context, because the only people who really measure their blood sugar are people who already medicate themselves, so obviously my readings are high in comparison, but I'm interested to work out if they're high for someone not trying to control (or at least I wasn't until Sunday) diabetes, or if they're what you might expect...
 
Be aware that they will probably need to send you for a fasting glucose test, followed by a glucose tolerance test to confirm it.

Good luck with the Doctors.
 
Yeah, I'm hoping that the doctor will see the results on the meter and use those as a fasting glucose test. I've done 3 so far on it on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. I've also taken readings before and after meals, so hopefully they can use those as well. The meter I bought records the times and results of the readings - I've just done it now 90 minutes after eating and it's back up from 13.3 to 21.1.
 
If I could suggest that you start to write down everything that you eat and drink. There is normally a direct relationship between what you eat and drink and your BS levels as a potential T2.

You might need meds but the best solution might be to adapt your diet as diet controlled is better if you can manage that.

It will be a journey though and whilst it will at times be a real challenge it should in the long run bring improvements to your health.


Diagnosed Type II 1998 1 x 80 mg Gliclazide, 4 x 500mg Metformin and 1 x 100mg Sitagliptin - HbA1c - 48 mmol/mol
 
Ideally I don't want to be taking medication.

I'm obese, so there's at least a chance that if I lose a significant amount of weight there might be a drastic improvement, however in the short term I understand that high blood sugar is bad for my health in many ways, so I do want it to be lowered.

What I don't want to do is control things with medication but not adapt my lifestyle to suit. I'm thinking this point in my life is a fork and I need to take the correct path or things will get consistently worse over the next couple of decades before I die early. Alternatively if I do deal with this properly then I should have a normal healthy life with a little bit of management.

As far as watching the effects of things, I'm fairly comfortable with the diet side of diabetes, so far. I've only been watching my levels for a short time, however they do act as I might expect - if I eat a light meal for example salmon fillet with broccoli and cauliflower then I don't have a large increase. The meal I had last night - lamb rogan josh did cause a spike and I would imagine the jar of sauce I used was loaded with fast carbs of one kind or another.

Lunch is probably what I'll need to experiment with the most. Dinner is easy enough as it'll be some kind of lean meat with lots of green veg. Breakfast will be scrambled eggs, and twice a week mackerel. Lunch when I'm at work is a little more difficult as I'll probably have to substitute salad or shredded cabbage etc instead of bread/wraps.

I gave up smoking 3 years ago and it was made easy because I had the signs of COPD starting. I was advised that if I gave up then they would reverse and I'd suffer no long term effects. If I didn't stop I'd slowly lose lung function. That made it easy to give up and I've not looked back since (although I put on weight). I see myself at the same point now.
 
Quartermass said:
Ideally I don't want to be taking medication.

I'm obese, so there's at least a chance that if I lose a significant amount of weight there might be a drastic improvement, however in the short term I understand that high blood sugar is bad for my health in many ways, so I do want it to be lowered.

What I don't want to do is control things with medication but not adapt my lifestyle to suit. I'm thinking this point in my life is a fork and I need to take the correct path or things will get consistently worse over the next couple of decades before I die early. Alternatively if I do deal with this properly then I should have a normal healthy life with a little bit of management.

As far as watching the effects of things, I'm fairly comfortable with the diet side of diabetes, so far. I've only been watching my levels for a short time, however they do act as I might expect - if I eat a light meal for example salmon fillet with broccoli and cauliflower then I don't have a large increase. The meal I had last night - lamb rogan josh did cause a spike and I would imagine the jar of sauce I used was loaded with fast carbs of one kind or another.

Lunch is probably what I'll need to experiment with the most. Dinner is easy enough as it'll be some kind of lean meat with lots of green veg. Breakfast will be scrambled eggs, and twice a week mackerel. Lunch when I'm at work is a little more difficult as I'll probably have to substitute salad or shredded cabbage etc instead of bread/wraps.

I gave up smoking 3 years ago and it was made easy because I had the signs of COPD starting. I was advised that if I gave up then they would reverse and I'd suffer no long term effects. If I didn't stop I'd slowly lose lung function. That made it easy to give up and I've not looked back since (although I put on weight). I see myself at the same point now.
Click to expand...

Sounds like your thinking about everything which is a good thing and yes the jar sauces can be really high
Know what you mean about the meds I have to take five tablets a day :-( but it could be worse
Good luck with the docs
Keep testing :-)


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Well done on your positive attitude!
Before diagnosis I always felt tired/exhausted and couldn't be bothered to do things - that very quickly disappeared once I started to control my blood sugar levels. Will never forget that lovely feeling one bright morning when I woke up before the rest of the family - sun was shining, everything quiet and peaceful and I felt full of energy again. Wondeful.
Have never had the best eyes - but again, was having problems with fuzziness and very dry eyes - that also has much improved and I don't need eye drops any more.
If you follow a low carb diet like you gave you should also lose weight - another bonus.
Best of luck.
Anne
 
Ok so all positive thinking so far - now try to target getting the spiked readings down - check 2 hours after food - if you can get to below 8 you will be doing very well. Another problem for lots but not all of us is milk so test test test and learn.


Diagnosed Type II 1998 1 x 80 mg Gliclazide, 4 x 500mg Metformin and 1 x 100mg Sitagliptin - HbA1c - 48 mmol/mol
 
Much better. I had exactly the same problems until I was diagnosed and treated with type 2 diabetes . Within a month I felt I had a new lease of life. Don't worry if you have to take medication at first as you might be able to reduce it or even come off of it once you lose weight. Most important thing is to see the doc and get back to a normal life again. Good luck x
 
jane67 said:
Much better. I had exactly the same problems until I was diagnosed and treated with type 2 diabetes . Within a month I felt I had a new lease of life. Don't worry if you have to take medication at first as you might be able to reduce it or even come off of it once you lose weight. Most important thing is to see the doc and get back to a normal life again. Good luck x
Click to expand...

Having thought about things for the past 4 days I've settled on a strong desire to be on medication to control things.

I have little or no energy, I can't motivate myself to do anything non-essential. I'm tired and can't sleep properly. I'm off work today and I called into a telephone meeting and struggled to stay awake, despite having plenty of sleep.

I don't want to be taking medication, but what I mean by that is I don't want to need to take it. I believe as things are I do need to take it, and I don't want to be running this high level of blood glucose as it will cause complications.
 
You do need to see your doctor, but in the meantime try drastically reducing your carb intake and your total food intake if it's high.
Hana
 
hanadr said:
You do need to see your doctor, but in the meantime try drastically reducing your carb intake and your total food intake if it's high.
Hana
Click to expand...

Yep - appointment is tomorrow morning, which is the earliest I could make it.

Carb intake is right down.. wholemeal bread for a sandwich today at lunch is the most carbs I've had this week.

From experience when I cut my carb intake a few days later my appetite will also decrease, so hopefully I'll find it easier in the next week or so.
 
From my own experience (and I'm only just diagnosed) - I switched drastically to low carb/low sugar a month ago. Do be aware that for the first couple of weeks you can feel really really tired and sluggish... and your stomach can get a little upset. This is due to all the sugar leaving your system and your body is switching to being fuelled differently. Keep going with lots of fresh veggies and fruit, keep processed foods to an absolute minimum. If you can handle it, I found plain black coffee first thing helped to just give me a bit of "go" - although I don't need it now. Berries first thing can be good. Definitely stock up on fruit - it helps a lot through the transition. Once you get over the initial couple of weeks, you should find that your energy will kick in - you'll feel way better and your body will be adjusted to a healthier, fresher diet... you may find, like me, that you're craving fruit and veg rather than anything unhealthy. Stick with it - when you come out "the other side" of the transition, it really does feel great - the tiredness etc... doesn't last forever. I hope this helps.
 
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