This may seem long-winded, but please bare with me and read it all carefully, as your (the 'real' experts) advice and comments will be greatly appreciated..
I am a 45 year old male and was diagnosed as Type 2 last March. I had absolutely no symptons of diabetes at all but after having my bi-annual medical at work I was advised that my sugar levels were slightly raised and that I should make an appointment with my doctor. Anyway, sure enough, a fasting blood test showed that my blood sugar level was 7.2 and the doctor put me on 2 x 500mg of Metformin.
To be honest, I was angry at myself for getting myself into this postion, because I had 'let myself go' over the last couple of years. I used to do a lot of hill walking and also worked out at the gym 3 times a week, but here I was 2 years later, overweight and out of condition.
Anyway, I decided to dust myself down and get back into shape. By the time I came to have my next blood test (3 months later), I had lost one and a half stone and was feeling great again and my blood sugar reading was 5.2 (non-fasting). However, I was having a lot of headaches and would sometimes feel weak after excersise. My diabetic nurse suggested that the weak feeling I was having were hypos and that I was probably being over medicated. She went to have a chat with my doctor (the diabetic clinic is in the same building as the doctor's surgery) and when she came back she said that I would only have to take 1 Metformin tablet from now on with a view to taking me off the medication altogether if I showed the same progress by my next consultation.
Six months later (December) I had lost another stone in weight and was back for my blood tests and two weeks later I was told by my nurse that the reading was 5.3. I told her that I was still having hypos and had one particularly bad one whilst halfway up a mountain in Snowdonia where I frightened the life out of my wife, but thankfully after eating all the food in my rucsack and resting for one hour I had regained enough energy to get back down off the mountain. The nurse then told me that Metformin should not cause hypos (is this right?) but still thought that I should come off the medication but could not ok it without discussing it with my doctor first who was not in the surgery that day. She said that the doctor would almost certainly agree with her and she would ring me in a couple of days to confirm it.
Three days later I had heard nothing, so I rang the surgery myself and asked to speak to the diabetic nurse. After a long pause I was told by the recepionist that she was busy and that she would get her to ring me back. This went on for a week and when I finally got to speak to the nurse she said that she hadn't had the chance to speak to the doctor yet but would see him that day and ring me back. I waited all day for the phone call which eventually arrived at 4.30pm, but it wasn't the nurse that rang me, it was the receptionist and she told me that she had a message from the doctor for me saying that there was no change to my medication. I was not entirely happy with the decision but it was now December 22nd and I decided to wait until after the Christmas holidays and see how it goes.
This month was only 2 weeks old when I had already had 3 hypos (2 in work and 1 whilst out walking) but I was well prepared for them this time. Two days ago I decided to buy a test meter from the pharmacists (against the wishes of my doctor, I must add) so that I could check what my levels were the next time I had a hypo. My wife picked it up for me and out of curiosity I took a reading straightaway and I had a reading of 3.8 !! I wondered if the meter was accurate, so my wife (non diabetic) took a reading of herself and hers was 5.7. I have taken 3 readings since and they have come out at 4.9 ( 1 hour after breakfast), 4.3 ( mid afternoon) and 4.5 (last thing at night).
To top it all off, my wife went to pick up my prescription from the doctor's yesterday and aswell as the Metformin tablets she was also given Simvastatin (40mg) tablets and when she questioned them she was told that the doctor wants to get my cholesterol below 4 because I am 5 times more likely to have a heart attack being diabetic. My last cholesterol reading was 5.1 but was 6+ when I was first diagnosed with diabetes. I am now totally disillusioned and to be honest with you, it is starting to really stress me out. I feel like I am trying my very best to get off the medication but I am not being helped by my doctor who seems (to me) to be intent on keeping me on medication. I am confident that I could manage my diabetes and cholesterol with diet alone, but I am not being given the chance to try it. I suppose I could just stop taking the tablets without telling them and see how it goes, but I don't want to do that. I therefore made an appointment this morning to see my doctor next week to discuss how I feel. All I am asking for is 6 months to prove that I can control everything with diet alone, but I somehow doubt it will happen
I am affraid that the doctor will persuade me to carry on taking the Metformin and now the Simvastatin as I am usually nervous of doctors because prior to being diagnosed I had only visited the doctors twice in the last 20 years. Any advice from the 'veterans' on here on what to say or do would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Ian 🙂
I am a 45 year old male and was diagnosed as Type 2 last March. I had absolutely no symptons of diabetes at all but after having my bi-annual medical at work I was advised that my sugar levels were slightly raised and that I should make an appointment with my doctor. Anyway, sure enough, a fasting blood test showed that my blood sugar level was 7.2 and the doctor put me on 2 x 500mg of Metformin.
To be honest, I was angry at myself for getting myself into this postion, because I had 'let myself go' over the last couple of years. I used to do a lot of hill walking and also worked out at the gym 3 times a week, but here I was 2 years later, overweight and out of condition.
Anyway, I decided to dust myself down and get back into shape. By the time I came to have my next blood test (3 months later), I had lost one and a half stone and was feeling great again and my blood sugar reading was 5.2 (non-fasting). However, I was having a lot of headaches and would sometimes feel weak after excersise. My diabetic nurse suggested that the weak feeling I was having were hypos and that I was probably being over medicated. She went to have a chat with my doctor (the diabetic clinic is in the same building as the doctor's surgery) and when she came back she said that I would only have to take 1 Metformin tablet from now on with a view to taking me off the medication altogether if I showed the same progress by my next consultation.
Six months later (December) I had lost another stone in weight and was back for my blood tests and two weeks later I was told by my nurse that the reading was 5.3. I told her that I was still having hypos and had one particularly bad one whilst halfway up a mountain in Snowdonia where I frightened the life out of my wife, but thankfully after eating all the food in my rucsack and resting for one hour I had regained enough energy to get back down off the mountain. The nurse then told me that Metformin should not cause hypos (is this right?) but still thought that I should come off the medication but could not ok it without discussing it with my doctor first who was not in the surgery that day. She said that the doctor would almost certainly agree with her and she would ring me in a couple of days to confirm it.
Three days later I had heard nothing, so I rang the surgery myself and asked to speak to the diabetic nurse. After a long pause I was told by the recepionist that she was busy and that she would get her to ring me back. This went on for a week and when I finally got to speak to the nurse she said that she hadn't had the chance to speak to the doctor yet but would see him that day and ring me back. I waited all day for the phone call which eventually arrived at 4.30pm, but it wasn't the nurse that rang me, it was the receptionist and she told me that she had a message from the doctor for me saying that there was no change to my medication. I was not entirely happy with the decision but it was now December 22nd and I decided to wait until after the Christmas holidays and see how it goes.
This month was only 2 weeks old when I had already had 3 hypos (2 in work and 1 whilst out walking) but I was well prepared for them this time. Two days ago I decided to buy a test meter from the pharmacists (against the wishes of my doctor, I must add) so that I could check what my levels were the next time I had a hypo. My wife picked it up for me and out of curiosity I took a reading straightaway and I had a reading of 3.8 !! I wondered if the meter was accurate, so my wife (non diabetic) took a reading of herself and hers was 5.7. I have taken 3 readings since and they have come out at 4.9 ( 1 hour after breakfast), 4.3 ( mid afternoon) and 4.5 (last thing at night).
To top it all off, my wife went to pick up my prescription from the doctor's yesterday and aswell as the Metformin tablets she was also given Simvastatin (40mg) tablets and when she questioned them she was told that the doctor wants to get my cholesterol below 4 because I am 5 times more likely to have a heart attack being diabetic. My last cholesterol reading was 5.1 but was 6+ when I was first diagnosed with diabetes. I am now totally disillusioned and to be honest with you, it is starting to really stress me out. I feel like I am trying my very best to get off the medication but I am not being helped by my doctor who seems (to me) to be intent on keeping me on medication. I am confident that I could manage my diabetes and cholesterol with diet alone, but I am not being given the chance to try it. I suppose I could just stop taking the tablets without telling them and see how it goes, but I don't want to do that. I therefore made an appointment this morning to see my doctor next week to discuss how I feel. All I am asking for is 6 months to prove that I can control everything with diet alone, but I somehow doubt it will happen
I am affraid that the doctor will persuade me to carry on taking the Metformin and now the Simvastatin as I am usually nervous of doctors because prior to being diagnosed I had only visited the doctors twice in the last 20 years. Any advice from the 'veterans' on here on what to say or do would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Ian 🙂
