Menopausal and type 1

[MoominPar]

Is there any women out there who can share how it is for them as i need to know I'm not on my own!
If there is a professional who sees this, would you be able to give me some direction please.

 

[JMK1954]

Hi,
It's potentially a real problem for a Type 1. The first thing that happened to me was crazy BS levels. Still remember the first time. I was at work and did a blood test before my insuin and my lunch. It was 4.6 and just a routine check. After my insulin and my lunch, (took the mimimum half hour) I re-started work. After about an hour began to feel odd and thirsty. Did blood test. Above 22. Decided to leave as soon as I could, about an hour and a half later. (I was on flexi-time.) Wondered if I had a virus. Once home, fished out info about D and the menopause. Levels suddenly fell to near normal again. This kept on happening. My GP was zero help. My husband strong-armed me and forced me to drink Lucozade in the middle of the night the first time I had a hot flush in bed, but of course I wasn't hypo - just way too hot. He remembered when I had been pregnant and the state I was in then, when I was frequently hypo at night, so he was convinced that was the problem.

The answer proved to be HRT suggested by the diabetic clinic at the hospital. They explained that the constantly shifting hormone levels usually only affect glucose levels for a couple of years, but this was news to my GP who had never heard of HRT to stabilise glucose levels. I should explain I was on no treatment for anything just insulin and Levothyroxine for a (now) under-active thyroid and was otherwise healthy.

I would suggest you contact your DSN / hospital clinic and see what they suggest. Is it wildly fluctuating blood sugars that are your main problem ?

 

[Dodo]

The only problem I had was being able to distinguish between the beginning of a hypo or having a hot flush, particularly during the night. Luckily my doctor understood my frustration at having to keep checking my blood during the night and I am still taking a low dose HRT twelve years on,

 

[MoominPar]

Hi,
It's potentially a real problem for a Type 1. The first thing that happened to me was crazy BS levels. Still remember the first time. I was at work and did a blood test before my insuin and my lunch. It was 4.6 and just a routine check. After my insulin and my lunch, (took the mimimum half hour) I re-started work. After about an hour began to feel odd and thirsty. Did blood test. Above 22. Decided to leave as soon as I could, about an hour and a half later. (I was on flext-time.) Wondered if I had a virus. Once home, fished out info about D and the menopause. Levels suddenly fell to near normal again. This kept on happening. My GP was zero help. My husband strong-armed me and forced me to drink Lucozade in the middle of the night the first time I had a hot flush in bed, but of course I wasn't hypo - just way too hot. He remembered when I had been pregnant and the state I was in then, when I was frequently hypo at night, so he was convinced that was the problem.

The answer proved to be HRT suggested by the diabetic clinic at the hospital. They explained that the constantly shifting hormone levels usually only affect glucose levels for a couple of years, but this was news to my GP who had never heard of HRT to stabilise glucose levels. I should explain I was on no treatment for anything just insulin and Levothyroxine for a (now) under-active thyroid and was otherwise healthy.

I would suggest you contact your DSN / hospital clinic and see what they suggest. Is it wildly fluctuating blood sugars that are your main problem ?

Thank you for your response, yes at the moment it appears to just be the blood sugars being that no day is the same and too either making me think I'm going down with something or I've given too much insulin. To me it is like being dropped off a cliff when I go low, leaving me feeling utterly wreaked and feeling out of control. The hardest part is that I have allways been ok and in control as much as I can be, but now it is running away with me leaving me quite tearful and feeling that I cannot cope with it. This has been going on for about 6 months+.
I really need someone who can talk me through what is going on, not the nurse or doctor, as you said they are no help and just keep telling me to record everything for them to take a look and suggest different amounts of background insulin. That's not what I need, they just don't get it, I feel like I'm going mad!,

 

[MoominPar]

The only problem I had was being able to distinguish between the beginning of a hypo or having a hot flush, particularly during the night. Luckily my doctor understood my frustration at having to keep checking my blood during the night and I am still taking a low dose HRT twelve years on,

Than you for your reply, did the low dose HRT really make any difference? I just want to feel a little bit normal again!

 

[JMK1954]

I think I only needed it to stabilise my blood sugars for two to two and a half years. The general opinion was that it was better to stop it because of possible side effects if taken longer term. I put up with hot flushes after that, but my sugar levels were again stable as the original doctor who had prescribed HRT had predicted.

 

[JMK1954]

Is it just your GP and your practice nurse you've been talking to then ? Do you have clinic appointments at a hospital ? I got an answer that worked for me from the hospital who wrote to my GP. Yes, the steadying effect of the 'added-in' hormone largely prevented the truly terrible peaks and troughs. It wasn't perfect though, say 95% better. The peaks still happened occasionally but to nothing like the same height, if you see what I mean. Hope that makes sense. I only put up with the problem for 3 months and then I happened to have an appointment at the hospital. The letter recommending HRT took 3 weeks to arrive at my surgery and after a week I rang up every day to see if it had arrived, so I could make an appointment and get a solution. I was really desperate.

You're not going mad but I understand what you're talking about. I had also been very well-cotrolled before all this chaos hit me. The practice nurse asked me when the fluctuating hormones made my sugar levels rise, as if there was a pattern. That was when I lost patience and shouted. (I was already on HRT by that time, but she couldn't understand why and thought I should be able to predict when my sugar levels would rise.) It sounds as if you are in the same position.

 

[Karenchq]

Menopause is like a bad joke that keeps going on and on. It has been almost two years of horrible hot flashes (20-30 per day) and night sweats. Not sleeping well and constantly tired. SUCKS! Sometimes I just want to cry managing both T1 and menopause. BS up and down and have no idea what the solution is to control fluctuations . No, you are not alone and it helps me to know that I am not alone either.

 

[Dodo]

Than you for your reply, did the low dose HRT really make any difference? I just want to feel a little bit normal again!

It did help and still does. I now only take about two tablets a week but it controls the flushes which are the only symptoms I suffer from.

 

[JMK1954]

Karenchq,
I understand what you mean completely. The consultant who recommended HRT for me said that GPs were generally reluctant to prescribe it to type 1 diabetics, but in a woman who is type 1 with crazy sugar levels for several years, the effect of the HRT in controlling fluctuating sugar levels outweighs any other consideration, as long as her blood pressure is ok, because it avoids her developing kidney damage etc etc -you know the list of possible complications. I could put up with the hot flushes much more easily than I could put up with BS rising above 20 for no reason, taking extra insulin to compensate, fluctuating hormones suddenly kicking in again, so abruptly I was extremely hypo .

We wouldn't be normal human beings if hot flushes, disturbed sleep etc didn't get us down. It is the extra consequences of what is happening for a type 1 diabetic that I think we need to be particularly concerned about.
Would you consider HRT if it was offered ? How bad are your blood sugar fluctuations ? I would guess the original poster had the same dramatic situation to cope with that I did.

 

[smag3]

Hmmm, I think I am just about over this now. Hopefully! Yes major confusion with flushes and hypos in the night. I went onto a free style libre which make testing so much easier. I also took black Cohosh which really helped me. I have recently come off that after 2 years and so far no flushes.
It will end. Eventually. Just make sure you look after yourself as best you can.

 

[MoominPar]

Hmmm, I think I am just about over this now. Hopefully! Yes major confusion with flushes and hypos in the night. I went onto a free style libre which make testing so much easier. I also took black Cohosh which really helped me. I have recently come off that after 2 years and so far no flushes.
It will end. Eventually. Just make sure you look after yourself as best you can.

Thank you for that, probably the best advise because only I can!

 

[devexity]

Re-animating an old thread because I am in desperate need of advice. HRT helped stabilise everyone's blood glucose then? I'm perimenopausal not menopausal and the thought of my glucose fluctuations getting even worse is beyond horrifying.

 

[JMK1954]

It worked for me. As I said I was told I would probably only need it for a couple of years or so and that turned out to be correct. However, I gather we don't all have the same experience with regard to wildly fluctuating sugar levels. It's definitely worth asking about at your hospital clinic. It's not a magic solution in that they may need to try several different drugs to see what works best for you. I stuck with the first one I tried, because although I still had occasional spikes (perhaps twice /three times a week?), they were about half the size of the earlier ones and it was such a bother getting time off work for a new clinic appointment with no guarantee that whatever I tried next would produce results that were any better.
I didn't find any sort of supplement recommended for menopause made the slightest difference to me.

You've time to discuss things properly so don't panic. Good luck!