scary experience

[goldfish_21]

My afternoons have been going a bit strange for a while now, and I was wondering whether anyone else had experienced anything like this. Am not sure if it's diabetes related or not....

I've been getting really spaced out and vacant in the afternoon for quite a while. I'd previously put it down to too many carbs at lunch, but I doubt that's the case now as I've cut right back on carbs. I decided on Thur when this happened to test to see if it was high bg, got my kit out, then zoned out completely. The fog lifted after I don't know how long, and I found I was sitting there repeatedly trying to shove a testing strip into the end of the finger progger and wondering why it wouldnt work! :shock:

BG was 5.3, and this was around 3hrs after eating, then tested again every half hour for a bit as I was quite scared to he honest, and it went down to 4.9 after half an hour, then back up to 5.4 half an hour after that.

Similar happened the following day, only instead of not being able to work a testing kit, I found I didn't know how to cut and paste (which I had been doing repeatedly for about the previous half hour on autopilot) and was repeatedly flicking between spreadsheets in a confused manner.

Please don't suggest alzheimers, I'm only 34 :shock: I have to go to the GP next week, but in the meantime was wondering if anyone else had experienced this?

BTW I am type 2, on Metaformin (2x 500mg with breakfast and same with evening meal, and also 4mg glimepiride before breakfast)

Vicky

 

[Squire Fulwood]

No I have never experienced anything similar. In the afternoon, if I pass out then the cause is obvious and I promise to take more water with it in future.

I decided to post since I find the timing of your glimepiride odd. I was told to take mine before my main meal of the day. My nurse said the they can cause hypo's if not taken with food or if you take too high a dose. She also said that the effect of them lasts 8 hours which they don't.

Your readings are not particularly low unless you are using a meter which habitually reads too high such as the SD codefree. Such readings can be misleading at low levels.

 

[Squire Fulwood]

I have just been to get my glimepiride box and I find that mine are 1mg tablets. If you are taking 4mg and taking them before breakfast then I am surprised you are not floating round the light fittings by lunchtime.

 

[CarbsRok]

Hi Vicky,
sorry to hear you are having problems. I have no idea what to suggest, you do need to talk to your Dr though and if you drive, perhaps don't until you have the ok from him as you could end up having a nasty accident if you zone out.

 

[Indy51]

Have you had your blood pressure tested? The only time I experienced anything like that I was in the midst of really high blood pressure, especially the spacy feeling and being unable to carry out a task that would normally be a piece of cake for me - I was working in an Excel spreadsheet at the time and totally lost the plot for about 5 minutes. My blood pressure when I tested was around 185/84.

 

[CarbsRok]

I have just been to get my glimepiride box and I find that mine are 1mg tablets. If you are taking 4mg and taking them before breakfast then I am surprised you are not floating round the light fittings by lunchtime.

Trouble is Vicky's blood sugar dont indicate a hypo. Unless it's a false hypo if she has been running high for a while.

 

[Squire Fulwood]

Trouble is Vicky's blood sugar dont indicate a hypo. Unless it's a false hypo if she has been running high for a while.

Yes I know but as I was writing I was mindful of that story about the woman who went hypo but read high and a para medic from next door found her meter was reading too high and dealt with it accordingly.

 

[goldfish_21]

Thank you for your responses.

In reply:

I can't remember whether it was the leaflet in the pack or the diabetic consultant who told me to take the Glimepiride before the first meal of the day. I've lost the leaflet in the current pack, so when I get a prescription refill I will check. I was started on a low dose, then they gradually increased it over time till my numbers started to get to a more acceptable level. The timing seems to work for me, and am not 'floating about the ceiling' :lol: but it sounds like fun!

I'd never though about blood pressure. Mine normally reads borderline high, usually put down to 'white coat syndrome'. I've ordered a monitoring thingy online, so will look into it.

And to reassure you, I am not driving at the moment. Had to stop in 2010 when my foot problems started. It was because of that that I discovered the diabetes, even though that only turned out to be part of the problem. I'm still trying to get to the bottom what's causing the rest of the pain in my feet, and trying to find out how to fix it, meanwhile I can't hold the pedals down as it hurts so am not driving.

 

[Squire Fulwood]

I have a sticky label attached to the box of pills by the surgery and the instruction is:-

"Take before or during the first main meal of the day"

I suppose it depends on how big a breakfast you have.

I found my leaflet so here is an edit to the above.

"Glimepiride must be swallowed with at least half a glass of water.Usually the entire daily dose is taken all at once directly before or during a substantial breakfast. If you do not have breakfast you should take the product on schedule as prescribed by your doctor."

Substantial breakfast ......main meal. etc.

 

[Squire Fulwood]

Thank you for making me read the Glimepiride leaflet because it has brought up another point of interest which I will discuss with my nurse when I see her next.

"During Glimepiride treatment regular monitoring of your blood sugar level is necessary."

And my test strips are rationed.

 

[etmsreec]

""During Glimepiride treatment regular monitoring of your blood sugar level is necessary."

And my test strips are rationed."

Sounds wise to discuss this with your diabetes nurse when you next see them. If you don't have a diabetes nurse, explain it in very simple terms to your GP or their nurse.
There are a number of different meters on the market and I suppose it's possible that one of them may have much more cost-effective (i.e. cheap!) test strips. Maybe this would be an option for your testing?

 

[joycegill]

I don't want to worry you but I do think it is important to see your GP_/nurse at the earliest opportunity.

Just a thought is it possibly Petit Mal?
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000696.htm a lot of people have this without knowing. Please let us know how you get on.

 

[Hobs]

I definately urge you to see your GP or even A&E asap. It comes across to me a a lesser form of seizure known as 'petit mal'
I know someone who suffers PM events, so that's how I thought you could be the same.

 

[goldfish_21]

Thank you for your responses.

I went for an HBA1c on Thurday at the GP surgery, and asked them to book an appointment for me to speak to the doc, as the nurse was busy doing flu jabs. Unfortunatley they have one of those stupid 'book on the day' systems which is useless if, like me, you work full time on weekdays and need to book in advance to arrange cover. They have a limited number of book in advance appointments, but the earliest one I could get was 5/11, when I'm away for a few days, so am booked in for the next available which was 13 Nov!!! I think I'll give them a ring on Monday and try to hassle for an earlier one as I could barely concentrate at all this afternoon. Was doing a job involving a lot of scrolling up and down long reports on the computer screen, and I seemed to space out more doing that than when doing my normal job of writing the reports.

I been using the blood pressure monitor, and my BP is largely normal.

I've read the bit on petit mal, and it does sound worryingly similar.......

 

[Momblegoose]

Hi there Vicky

My daughter suffers with 'petit mal' seizures and your symptoms do sound quite similar to hers.

Please, tell your surgery that you need an urgent appointment .. if nothing else it will hopefully give you some peace of mind, you need to get to the bottom of these funny spells.

Suzanne xx

 

[Paul_c]

Thank you for making me read the Glimepiride leaflet because it has brought up another point of interest which I will discuss with my nurse when I see her next.

"During Glimepiride treatment regular monitoring of your blood sugar level is necessary."

And my test strips are rationed.

Regular is a bit of a weasel word. They can claim that an annual test is regular.

 

[Squire Fulwood]

Regular is a bit of a weasel word. They can claim that an annual test is regular.

Bless you for that Paul.

I have not bothered them much about it anyway. I buy my own if I need them.

 

[Paul520785]

I have been Type 1 for 54 years - I can fully understand the worry of what you describe –

I suggest -
1) Use the test solution for your meter to check the result or
2) Next time you visit the doctor ask them to do a test and you do one as well to compare the result.

The meters do generate strangely wrong results on occasions - I have 4 replaced FOC in the last 15 years due to high or low readings.

The other thing to be aware of is that low blood sugar can be recognised but the sign is different for everyone - in time you should be able to spot the sign(s). For myself and many diabetic acquaintances (treated type 1 and 2) a tingle or slight numbness in the top lip can be one of the advance warning but years of experience does help.

It could be something which is nothing to do with being a diabetic so get checked out!

 

[goldfish_21]

Just a quick update for those people who were kind enough to reply to me and who were concerned. I went to the GP surgery last Thursday, and saw a new doc who I think was covering for holidays. Anyway, she referred me straight to the emergency assessment unit at the hospital, who did all sorts of blood tests and basic neurological tests, and decided there was probably nothing nasty wrong, but they wanted a brain scan just to be on the safe side. I had the scan today, and it was normal. The consultant has put the 'funny spells' down to something called 'transient global amnesia', which is unlikely to reoccur, but they will do a brain wave activity test in a couple of weeks just to be sure. All of the blood work was normal, so that leaves me relieved, but back to square one with regard to the tiredness. Back to the GP on 13/11/12.

 

[))Denise((]

Hi Vicky

It is good to hear that the docs didn't find anything serious.

You mention tiredness. As I was mis-diagnosed with chronic fatigue, I did a lot of reading about the causes of extreme tiredness. The following things came up as suspects for causing tiredness:
1. Running high blood sugar levels
2. Vitamin D deficiency (this is what I had)
3. Anaemia
4. Underactive Thyroid
5. Vitamin B12 deficiency.

If you haven't had this lot tested, then it would be a good idea to have them done. Apparently the Vitamin D test is expensive so they don't like doing it, but if you spend a lot of time indoors then it is possible that you are not getting enough vitamin D.