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Advice please as low BG for no apparent reason !

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Bazzlejet

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi all,

yesterday was like any other day. Got up, did my test - 6.8. Had my breakfast, pottered around till lunch, then made a nice 3 egg omelette with onions and mushrooms. About an hour after lunch i was about to do some exercise when i had that feeling that my BG was low. At 13:48 i did a test - 3.9.

I thought to myself having not long had lunch, i'll wait a bit before i did any exercise. At 15:29 i did another test - 3.4 😱 I decided to leave the exercise and hit the emergency Skittles. So, i downed my 15g of Skittles. Another test at 15:49 which was 4.0. I thought this would have been higher, so i had a banana and a plum.

At 16:54 i did another test which was 5.0. I decided not to exercise, just in case it dropped me back low again. At 18:48, just before dinner, i was 6.5. My last check before bed was at 23:38 which was 5.3.

To say i was shocked at a 3.4 is an understatement. Can anyone shed some light on why i could have been that low please? I have gone to 4 x Metformin (as per my Dr), so take 2 in the morning with my breakfast and 1 Gliclazide, and 2 in the evening with my dinner. Apart from that, everything is the same as i've been doing for the last few weeks !

Thanks for reading.
 
Almost certainly the gliclazide dropping you too low and you need to discuss reducing your dose or possibly removing it altogether with your Health Care Professionals. Low carb eating is extremely effective at lowering BG levels because you are not putting nearly as much glucose into your blood stream in the first place. It also gives your pancreas a rest from needing to produce so much insulin..... but Gliclazide encourages your pancreas to produce more insulin which you no longer need so that extra insulin is now dropping you too low. Gliclazide can be quite unpredictable as to when it will lower your levels and with you working shifts it is important to discuss a reduction with your GP nurse asap.

We have another new member @Newbie777 who has had similar problems very recently, so you might want to read his thread...
(3) To eat more | Diabetes UK
 
I agree with @rebrascora I assume the reason is your Gliclazide. I’d speak to your GP and see if you need your medication adjusted or reduced.
 
Bazzlejet said:
Hi all,

yesterday was like any other day. Got up, did my test - 6.8. Had my breakfast, pottered around till lunch, then made a nice 3 egg omelette with onions and mushrooms. About an hour after lunch i was about to do some exercise when i had that feeling that my BG was low. At 13:48 i did a test - 3.9.

I thought to myself having not long had lunch, i'll wait a bit before i did any exercise. At 15:29 i did another test - 3.4 😱 I decided to leave the exercise and hit the emergency Skittles. So, i downed my 15g of Skittles. Another test at 15:49 which was 4.0. I thought this would have been higher, so i had a banana and a plum.

At 16:54 i did another test which was 5.0. I decided not to exercise, just in case it dropped me back low again. At 18:48, just before dinner, i was 6.5. My last check before bed was at 23:38 which was 5.3.

To say i was shocked at a 3.4 is an understatement. Can anyone shed some light on why i could have been that low please? I have gone to 4 x Metformin (as per my Dr), so take 2 in the morning with my breakfast and 1 Gliclazide, and 2 in the evening with my dinner. Apart from that, everything is the same as i've been doing for the last few weeks !

Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Hello,

Sorry to hear that you have low blood sugar (BG).

I take the same medicine as you, plus an additional Canagilflorizin tablet in the morning. also my HbA1c reading is similar to yours at 102.

When do you take the other Glicizide , lunch?evening?

Best speak to your GP or Diabetic Nurse, they may want you cut back on the Glicizide, but they can give you the expert advice as they know all your medical history etc.

My personal circumstances...I have really cut back on the very high carbs I was eating each day (300g plus), now on about 90 to 100g per day, resulting in low BG at night, causing me a lot of stress, so I have stopped taking 1 Glicizide a few days ago and yesterday I stopped taking the other one.
I will need to carefully monitor my BG levels over the next few weeks and hope to start exercising soon, am hoping that may not need Glicizide again!

I am still learning but found this forum invaluable (thanks Barbara and other kind people).

Good luck.
 
Hope you can get to speak to your GP this week @Bazzlejet

Well done for bringing yourself round, but if there is a next time it would be worth having your Skittles at 3.9 rather than waiting for lunch to kick-in.
 
Thanks ever so much for your replies @rebrascora @Inka @Newbie777 @grovesy @everydayupsanddowns, really appreciated 🙂 .

From what I've researched and read on this forum, I completely agree about the Gliclazide. I did speak to my Dr regarding the Gliclazide a couple of weeks ago, and he was adamant he wants me on it until mid April (2 x 80mg). I will try to get hold of him again this week, but its quite difficult getting through atm.

I've left messages on the number i was given for the Diabetes Nurse, but had no reply yet. I spoke to the GP Nurse a few weeks ago, who pointed me to this site, but i haven't been assigned (if that's how it works) or had any contact with a Diabetes Nurse yet!

Personally I think I've nailed my diet and exercise. It's just taken some adjustments, but is totally sustainable, which is a good thing. I'll reduce the Gliclazide and see how that goes. I test regularly so i can keep an eye on things and make adjustments where necessary.

@Newbie777 - wow, seems a very similar experience to myself, so thanks for sharing, it really helps. As far as my tablets go, my Dr said take 2 x Metformin and 1 x Gliclazide in the morning after my breakfast and 2 x Metformin and 1 x Gliclazide after my evening meal.

@everydayupsanddowns - yeah, looking back, that was a bit silly of me... i've taken that onboard, thank you.

I'm also still learning all the time, and if it wasn't for this forum I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be as far along as i am now 😉
 
Your are most welcome thank you very muc, but please keep trying to get the proper medical advice.

I had a concern with working away from home and going hypo at night, the GP advised me same as you to take 1 Glicizide in the morning and the other at Tea time.

But, I was so worried about Glicizide in the evening and risk of going hypo, I stopped taking it.

Some months later, I spoke to another GP who questioned me about why I didn't take the other Glicizide as I should have, he then correctly pointed out that I should take it but at lunchtimes with food.

That helped a great deal, but am not sure whether that would work for you.

It's nice to see that you are asking the right questions/putting in the required steps and you like me find people here are great and have fantastic knowledge/experience they can share with you.

You have made a fantastic start and I know you have the issues, but am sure they will get sorted once you get the correct medical advice, good luck.
 
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