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t2 sugars stay high

C

claudetteholmes

Well-Known Member
Messages
87
Location
north somerset
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
rude people, turnips, current diabetic support
Hello to the fantastic community that changed my life in 2015. I started my LCHF journey then and my sugars were brilliant so much so that my medication was reduced. I am desperate for help
I am type 2 diabetic for 10 years now was on metformin was very happy till in 2014 I started to have tummy upsets till I was housebound. After changing doctors twice I tried another medication with out success. I started with Sitagliptin x1 and Gliclazide 80mg x1 with diet it all went well.
May 2017 HbA1c was 5.2 weight did go up but my diabetic nurse shrugged and said I am doing all the right things just to preservere because I am in Menopause.
In beginning April this year I felt very unwell and tested my sugar ( I confess due to work load I haven't tested for two months but ate well and did my normal intermittent fasting and exercise. I am honest a few more birthdays and I did fall of the wagon now and again) To my shock my sugar was 13.5 waking, I wept never in 10 years was my sugar this high.
I immediately booked my blood test and diabetic screening.
My sugars yo-yo between 14 and 7.5 with lowest reading in afternoons from 3 -6 pm
So I tightened my diet very strict between 18-25 carbs daily avoiding milk fruit 1 or 2 x per week a few berries
To my absolute detriment my sugars improved only slightly In the next few weeks had kidney ache , headaches that drove me nuts and nausea. Two doctors later that just shrugged and said it can happen lets wait for blood test. Due to staff shortages I only got my results and appointment 30 th April no surprise my HbA1c was 9.8. My Gliclazide was upped to 4. over 2 weeks.
I am now almost at the end of May and things are slightly better but symptoms just as bad with my feet swelling and burning as an added bonus.
My main concern is huge glucose dumps after exercise and I had a fright with a cake almost falling my sugar was 16.3??
Trying to do my normal fasting which has never been hard I can easily eat 1x every 24 hours no results in very high sugars and me feeling really sick
Today we went to movies and little one gave me a few bits of salty popcorn ( yes I know a big no- no ) sugar of 18?
I am so down in the dumps any advice will be very welcome. I have to see nurse only at end of June honestly I cant live with these high sugars any more
I give examples of some of my readings and food
best reading this last week:
21st May 4x Gliclazide
5.15 waking 9.4
egg
10.27 after breakfast 9.3
13.09 before lunch 7.4
mushroom soup
15.15 11.1
18.53 before dinner
meatball stew with veg
21.44 after dinner 8.6

my sugars have actually gone up from a month ago but morning sugars have come down With my diet and my upped medication my results are very dissapointing
any advice?
 

Claudette - Do you have any other health conditions you're handling at the moment, or are you in the meddle of anything very stressful )aside from your discovery about your bloods)?
 
DCUKMod said:
Claudette - Do you have any other health conditions you're handling at the moment, or are you in the meddle of anything very stressful )aside from your discovery about your bloods)?
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Aside from lactose intolerant just milk can do cheese and a bit of cream. After my metformin problems I have a bit of IBS fine as long as I dont eat cabbage or whole grain the latter not being a problem as I havent eaten bread in forever. My eye screen was normal. So aside from being overweight there is no diagnosed medical issues
 
As to stress did have a very heavy work load and father with terminal cancer in South Africa. So yes normal stress for a long time. My daughter had cancer at 2 she is 12 now so ongoing issues. Since menopause struggling a bit more with stress
 

In your shoes, I might try a couple of weeks really low carb, just to see what happened.

The other comment I might make is, if you can't eat whole grain, I wonder if you maybe have isssues with gluten? That can cause some wierd symptoms. Mine don't involve higher blood glucose levels, btu I do know @Brunneria learned, after going GF that gluten had been impacting her.

Gluten isn't just in bread or baked goods, it can sneak into all manner of things, much to my huge irritation.

I'd urge you, if you decide to try either of those things, to do one at a time, otherwise if things improve, or just change in any way, you wouldn't be able to work out which made the change.

Personally, I'd try the very low carb option first, as going GF can take several weeks or months to show any impact.

Adding this, having just seen your follow-up posts:

Stress can play havoc with our blood sugars and other hormones. Have you had your thyroid and other hormones
checked recently?

It's all a bit of a jigsaw initially.
 
I know for a long time that gluten is a problem as I my sister is a celiac. I cook everything from scratch so there is no or very little gluten in my diet . Cooking is basics fresh garlic, salt pepper, raw spices coriander
 
claudetteholmes said:
I know for a long time that gluten is a problem as I my sister is a celiac. I cook everything from scratch so there is no or very little gluten in my diet . Cooking is basics fresh garlic, salt pepper, raw spices coriander
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As to really low carb on days that carbs were under 10 saw huge spikes. So only reason my carbs is higer is I take 2 almonds when nausea is at peak
 
claudetteholmes said:
I am wonder if gliclazide is really working ?
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I'd be inclined to get back to the Doc and ask for a lot more tests, to include testing for Coeliac and more auto-immune conditions. I'm not suggesting you are coeliac, or anything else, but auto-immune conditions can run in families.

I'd also ask my Doc to rule out a slow onset variant of T1 too.

As I say, I'm not trying to diagnose you with anything. I am a lay person, but to me, it looks like there could be something else going on there.

Good luck with it all, and keep posting.
 
Thank you so much just talking about it makes me feel not so alone. My surgery wont test me if I dont eat "wheat" products. There is not a chance I will eat wheat in past 3 years ago a single slice put my sugar to 12. But yes Tuesday I will knock on the surgery door again ...I do get feeling they aren't keen on finding a cause just push medicine and come back later. I will push for various test as my family have both type 1 and type 2 diabetics
 

I saw an Endocrinologist privately about something else, but during my initial consultation he took my family medical history, which is literally literred with auto-immune conditions. When I had finished, he looked again at his notes and asked which of "that lot" I'd got. He was astonished by my response of "None".

Cutting to the chase, I was then tested for a whooooooooole raft of very scary stuff, including coeliac, lupus, rheumatoid arthrisitis, connective tissue disorders, AI thyroid disease and a bunch more. I had been low carbing for over 3 years at that point, and asked specifically about the coeliac screening as I knew the usual criteria. His response was, well it would make a diagnosis a bit trickier, but he didn't want to set up a false situation against which to test. (Phew!)

Perhaps if your GP is unwilling to run additional tests, he could make an endo referral. Of course, that could take a while to come through, but it's just a thought.

One further comment is that there are over 400 different drug combinations now available to treat T2 diabetes (combinations, not individual drugs), so it seems likely there coiuld be a few more to try if Gliclazide isn't doing the trick.

Good luck with it all. I do feel for you. I've spent a couple of years trying to get something diagnosed, and it sometimes feels like 1 step forward, rapidly followed by 2 backwards. For what it's worth, I may be getting close now.

Stick with it. Everything will work better and feel better with numbers under some sort of control.
 
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I'm in your position too. Immobile totally or just a little? I vary depending on painkillers.
I stopped metformin to find I had ibs not metformin side affects. So back on metformin and very happy for it.
I'm getting much better bgs and needing less insulin. ( I inject insulin not use Gliclizide tablets).
I'd like you to read about the somogyi effect.

"Chronic Somogyi rebound is a contested explanation of phenomena of elevated blood sugars in the morning. Also called the Somogyi effect and posthypoglycemic hyperglycemia, it is a rebounding high blood sugar that is a response to low blood sugar."

Could you be experiencing this with your fasting? So worse through your day?
You may need to do some intense blood test strip testing. Have you plenty in for your monitor?
Start right away and make a diary of what your eating.
There will be an explanation.
 
DCUKMod said:
I'd also ask my Doc to rule out a slow onset variant of T1 too.
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I'd agree with this. Plus the suggestion that you need to see an endocrinologist. If you've stopped producing insulin then no amount of low carbing will keep your blood sugars down, as your body needs some insulin to metabolise the sugar produced by the liver...
 


Thank you so much to everyone that posted. I agree with EllieM of to see endocrinologist even if I have to go privately. I only posted the best of my sugars. The low low carb days and fasting my sugar is far higher. There is very little rhyme or reason. I have 3 years of dairy with sugars and low carb diet record and my resonse is so different now. I even tried repeating the same food on different days with such widly different results same activity and routines
 
My family have both type 1 and 2 diabetics. The number of both types in my extended family is well above coincidence so I've always felt there is something going on genetically that we can't put our fingers on. One day medicine might work out what it is. Just thought I'd mention it as it doesn't seem to occur all that often.
 
claudetteholmes said:
As to stress did have a very heavy work load and father with terminal cancer in South Africa. So yes normal stress for a long time. My daughter had cancer at 2 she is 12 now so ongoing issues. Since menopause struggling a bit more with stress
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Sorry to hear about these stressful things going on in your life. I have had to deal with high stress too. Do you still have a very heavy work load? Also, what is your sleep like, do you feel refreshed by it, and do you have to get up at night to use the bathroom?
 
My work load will ease after Friday. I sleep well but have all the prediabetes symptoms. So yes get up 2-3 times per night. I do feel great first thing in the morning then the awful nausea and headache start. Then feel dizzy irritable and by 3 im fine my sugars go under 8. I then get things done
 
I am only on my sitagliptin and gliclazide. I swim once week and walk daily with my dogs. 30- 50 min depending on my work schedule but normally consists of Slow/ powerwalking/ brisk on each walk. At the moment I take a paracetamol when the headache gets bad
 
My medication hasnt changed to generic or different brand in last 6 months
 
Glad to hear the high workload is only a short term thing. I think if it wasn't, it might be worth making some changes, at least for a few months if possible. Waking 2-3 times at night is not ideal. If it's entirely caused by high BG then it won't improve until your BGs improve. It becomes a vicious cycle doesn't it?

I fell off the wagon (see below) and due to mistakes made at the medical centre I have been hyperglycemic for at least 18 months. Sore feet, frequent skin infections, thrush, one UTI so far, extreme tiredness, frequent urination, hunger and not feeling satisfied, you name it.

I can't wait to see my BGs come down with insulin. Not going to bother with the other meds as I can't afford to gain weight or get side effects.

Hope things improve for you soon!
 
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