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Strange incident in Waitrose

cazza54

cazza54

Well-Known Member
Messages
136
Location
UK
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Turnips and Tuna fish!
OK I was silly, but there was a method in my madness.

I skipped breakfast and my Metformin tablet this morning, intending to do both when we returned from doing the weekly grocery shop (due to the laxative effects of the pills!).

However, while out I had a "funny turn". I felt light headed, clammy and very sick. :( I had to leave the shop because I thought I was going to be sick. I took my BG reading and it had dropped from 9.8 on getting out of bed, to 7.3. I thought this was still too high to be a hypo though.

I sat in the car and ate some watermelon that I had bought. After a little while I felt a bit better. On returning home the BG had gone up to 12.1!

All this up and down roller coaster is beginning to get on top of me. One minute I can feel Ok and the next, rubbish. :(

I am hoping it will settle down soon.

Regards,

Carol
 
Best not to skip breakfast to be honest.




Late onset T1, several auto immune issues.
Humalogmix25 twice a day, Methotrexate 25mg once per week, FolicAcid 5mg once per week, prednisolone 5mg daily, Allopurinol 300mg, Calcichew-D3 800iu, Levothyroxine 50mcg, Atenolol 50mg, Losarten 100mg, Aspirin 75mg, Nicorandil 20mg, Nitrolingual GTN spray, Metformin 2000mg, Allimemazine 10mg, Lanzoprazole 30mg, Atorvastatin 20mg, Co Codamol 8/500mg, Depo Medrone (Methylprednisolone) or double Prednisolone for 7 days in case of RA flare.
 
Thanks guys. Lesson learned I guess. :(

Regards,

Carol
 
Hi,

You can get hypo symptoms if you usually 'run high' and then, for whatever reason, your BG drops sharply. It's known as a false hypo, but the symptoms are horribly real, aren't they?

The rise to 12+ may have been liver dump since I doubt if watermelon would spike you from 7 up to 12.

I think it is the physical activity that does it - walking, pushing trolley - it uses us the glucose hanging around in the blood stream, and the BG level drops sharply. Which then makes you feel wobbly, and your liver releases it's stored reserves off glucose (glycogen) to get you back up to normal running levels.

It used to happen to me quite a lot as a prediabetic, but (as the others have said) breakfast is the key. Preferably slow release protein - not carbs(in my case). This releases the energy slowly which prevents sharp drops, like a drip feed.

If you over-react by eating masses of carbs after this hypo, you just set yourself up for another one, when the high sugar drops off sharply

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks Brunneria. That does make sense. After lunch I went for a walk with the dogs and it is now back down to 7.9 so moving in the right direction.

It has been running high for heaven knows how long (I was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago but had symptoms prior to that, I now realize).

Regards,

Carol
 
150g water melon = 12g carbs. I think it's one of the worst melons for carbs. In Turkey I'm known as the karpus queen... Not for nothing either, but I won't be raiding my friends' fridges in the middle of the night this year! Ha ha


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I have had a couple of episodes where I've felt light headed, sick and generally yuk, early on after my diagnosis and had just started metaformin (3 x 5mg daily). Luckily, both were when I was at home and I was able to recognise the symptoms and have some carbs to bring blood sugar back into balance. I tested and found that my BS has dropped from the norm I'd had at around 7.5 to just below 4. I still don't know what had caused the sudden drops and haven't experienced anything like them since.

Things are now much more stable three months in, and my BS was 4.9 last Friday, which reflects a gradual weekly fall from the 7.5 and 8's I was getting before. I have adopted the LCHF diet and have ensured that medication is taken on time with food and I take moderately more exercise. I do the weekly shop, do all the housework and walk everywhere, whereas before I'd have got in a car.

I know that three months is a short time, but at least I seem to be making progress, it's just the diet causing me problems sometimes. I am vegetarian but also with a nut allergy so doing some of the stuff in the recipes with almonds etc isn't really an option for me. I have to carefully select all food stuffs, checking carb content before buying and carry a small list of good and bad foods with me when I go shopping.

As I do all of the cooking it means that my spouse (not a diabetic and also not vegetarian) has to put up with a double whammy of a restricted diet because of my diabetes. She's been very good about it all, but I can sense that she might be frustrated a bit when I say that I can't do carbs, when she wants them in her diet. Hopefully give and take will help us to adjust and I can start cooking carbs for her, while substituting for my food.
 
Hello cazza. It's a hard learning curve isn't it? But yes, I would totally agree with @Brunneria, it makes sense but please, don't miss breakfast again ok? Not even if you have to make the time for it, trouble is that we need to realise that we MUST come first in some things now. Your ongoing health is so important and I know that feeling awful at home is a whole lot different to feeling awful when you are out. It feels out of control and I can get panicky so I take care to do all the right stuff before I leave home, at least it gives me a good chance!

Take care, xx :)
 
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