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Advice required please

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Colacube

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Good evening all,

I am a type 2 diabetic myself but I am after some advice regarding my partners mother who is also T2. She like myself manages with metformin. Over the Christmas period we all became ill. My daughter is one and at hospital she tested positive for influenza A. It's probable his mum also ended up with this particular flu but regardless was very poorly. During the illness she lost her appetite which still has not really returned and last night my partner called her an ambulance and it turned out she was having a hypo and her reading was 2.0mmol. Today after eating mashed potato and beans her reading was 3.8mmol which to me seems still quite low. She is in her 70s if this is relevant information.

So I expect the advice will be to seek professional expertise but in the meantime would you think this would warrant a referral to an endocrinologist? Should she continue with the metformin? Is there a risk of a bad hypo in the night?

Just anyone who has experienced this after being ill or something similar?

Thanks in advance!
 
Some people find that Metformin reduces their appetite - it could possibly help with recovery if it was stopped - it doesn't do much, but in the circumstances it seems counter intuitive to continue to medicate for high blood glucose and over eating. I'd certainly suggest it rather strongly to her doctor or nurse.
Metformin along with Atorvastatin also made me feel really depressed - verging on suicidal. I was 65 at the time of diagnosis and taking the tablets.
 
Hello @Colacube

I am really sorry to hear about your partner’s Mum being poorly, and your illness over Christmas.

2.0 is very low blood glucose level and must have been very worrying for you all. I hope she is feeling much better now.

It certainly seems that something is up with your Mum’s BG levels. Metformin doesn’t usually carry much of a risk of hypoglycaemia, because it doesn’t work directly on glucose in the blood, but rather it reduces the trickle of glucose that the liver emits to keep us going in the background. Having said that, it would certainly be worth asking your GP or nurse their advice, and whether your partner’s mum should continue with the metformin.

I would suggest having a ready source of fast acting carbohydrate to hand at all times (eg jelly babies or glucose tablets) and to make your partner’s mum aware of the warning of hypos which should be treated with the ‘15 rule’ - take 15g of rapid acting carbs, wait 15 minutes and recheck BG. Re-treat the hypo if levels are still below 4 mmol/L.

Common symptoms of hypos include:
  • trembling and feeling shaky
  • sweating
  • being anxious or irritable
  • going pale
  • palpitations and a fast pulse
  • lips feeling tingly
  • blurred sight
  • being hungry
  • feeling tearful
  • tiredness
  • having a headache
  • lack of concentration.
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/complications/hypos
 
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