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When do you stop meds with doc approval or not

J

johnratoo

Member
Messages
9
Location
Nakhon Ratchasima, Korat, Thailand
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Smoking - I quite 8 years ago. I hate drinking and wild living. I like mostly a quite life.
My blood sugar levels have dropped quite a bit so I ask twice when she would start reducing the meds. She seem to be irritated when I ask and never gives a straight answer. My levels each time I test are below 100 before meals. They were 200 plus and sometimes over 300. I have also lost over twenty pounds. Is there a guide to go by?
 
Difficult question really. What meds are you on and for how long are you getting good readings for ? Is there another doc/nurse you can discuss this with ? I don't think an open forum is a place to be asking such specific advice, we don't know your history and so cannot advise you to stop taking your meds. Having said that, it's your body and your choice. I would certainly try to talk to a healthcare professional first. Good job on the weight loss though :-)
 
i didn't want to take medication at all because it was "for life" but the doctor said it didn't have to be, the reason for the for life thing is because when we stop taking them, the good work they were doing will be undone, so in my opinion only and I'm not advising you or anyone to stop taking anything if for example you were taking a certain medication (for example statins) for high cholesterol and your cholesterol went down to a nice level you may for example be able to reduce the statin whilst keeping an eye on your chol level to see if it went back up, i use statins as an example because i have personally knocked them on the head for several reasons, but will monitor things so i know if i need to take them again, the docs seem to be keen on us taking preventative meds for just in case, this is nuts to me otherwise why don't we take paracetamol in case we get a headache, or have chemotherapy in case we have a cancerous growth we don't know about, i have stopped or reduced meds when i decided it was the right time and not under medical supervision because i have very little faith in my doctors but do keep an eye on test results to make sure I'm not harming myself, you also have to consider other benefits to medications other than the reason for taking them, metformin is a good example because apparently this has other benefits other than bg control, i am in no way medical, everything here is just my uneducated opinion
 
It's worth understanding what each of the meds you list in your profile does and then discuss options with the doc. Lipitor is merely a statin and has nothing to do with diabetes. Metformin has a small effect on blood sugar and helps with insulin resistance if overweight. It also has some protective properties. Gliclazide/diamicron stimulates the pancreas to produce more insulin and can have a big effect on blood sugar if your pancreas still has active islet cells. As long as you are not having hypos then you may well be fine with the meds as they are. If your blood sugar levels go down too low with hypos then discuss the Gliclazide with the nurse.
 
I am not taking any diabetes drugs except Metformin, so I can't really comment. Daibell's suggestion looks good to me though, this is what I did with my blood pressure medication. I was taking 4 different ones and when my blood pressure dropped too far, I worked out which one I wanted to stop taking, and then asked my doctor if this was OK. I am down to one blood pressure tablet now.
 
I took the medication since I did not want to defy any medical advice. Every pill had side effects and in one case I was recorded as being intolerant of statins. Hopefully that record will remain,.

I shall continue to eat well and not worsen my diabetes
 
If your blood glucose is 100 mg/dl before meals that's great, but that will be due to the meds, so it's not a reason to come off them, far from it. If you were having hypos (as T2 people sometimes do) then that would be clear cut. It's a tricky situation because you might be able to maintain that BG control without the meds, you might not, and the only way to see would be to reduce them. Maybe propose a slight reduction in any insulin-stimulating drugs you are on (eg gliclazide) and see what she says. But if your blood sugar rises after that, go back on the meds.
 
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