I thought I was keeping diabetes under control at last then it was decided I no longer needed glyclaside and no longer needed to do blood tests. Since then I have been so confused, I still take readings but not as often and I feel the readings are always high. For instance my morning reading was never higher than 5.7 now 7.8 or sometimes higher. Today I went out with my husband and was glad I did, we got off the bus and I had a 'funny' turn, very dizzy and everything felt sort of wavy , swimmy, hard to describe I am sure I was swaying too! My husband grabbed my hand and stood until the feeling passed. I don't drink ever, and had a good breakfast before we left. Short journey. Same thing happened a week or so earlier but I dismissed it.
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Dizzy 'swimmy' T2
- Thread starter MaryKate
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Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Welcome to the forum
It is unfortunate that the symptoms you describe can happen with both high blood glucose or low blood glucose so it is always a good ideas to test when that sort of thing happens.
It may be that in the absence of the gliclazide your body is not coping with the carbs in your meals all that well.
I would be useful for you to go back to testing before and 2 hours after eating to see if that is the case.
If you have relaxed your diet and carbs have crept up then keeping a food diary and estimate the carbs that would give you an idea if that has happened.
If you can establish if it is low blood glucose then you would have a better idea of what to do.
What did you have for breakfast? if quite high carb then your pancreas may have overproduced insulin in response which made you go low.
It is unfortunate that the symptoms you describe can happen with both high blood glucose or low blood glucose so it is always a good ideas to test when that sort of thing happens.
It may be that in the absence of the gliclazide your body is not coping with the carbs in your meals all that well.
I would be useful for you to go back to testing before and 2 hours after eating to see if that is the case.
If you have relaxed your diet and carbs have crept up then keeping a food diary and estimate the carbs that would give you an idea if that has happened.
If you can establish if it is low blood glucose then you would have a better idea of what to do.
What did you have for breakfast? if quite high carb then your pancreas may have overproduced insulin in response which made you go low.
My diet hasn't changed, I walk a bit more I suppose. Breakfast was porridge with a little grated raw apple . I may eat one slice of bread some days. Could the hot weather be playing tricks with my readings? Guess I need to see the diabetes nurse again I'm obviously doing something wrong
Thank you for your quick reply . I will certainly try keeping a food diary and testing before and after a meal too but I will now need to buy more test strips. I can't imagine keeping diabetes level without testing...
Thank you for your quick reply . I will certainly try keeping a food diary and testing before and after a meal too but I will now need to buy more test strips. I can't imagine keeping diabetes level without testing...
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I suppose when you were having the help of the gliclazide you may have been more tolerant of carbs and indeed it is advised that for the gliclazide to work you do need to eat some carbs but those who are not on medication like that may find they do need to reduce their carbs.
The best way forward is to test those meals like your breakfast which is quite high carb, depending on the portion size obviously and see what the difference is between the before eating and after 2 hours, if no more than 2-3mmol/l then it is OK.
If you are going to now be needing to buy strips than depending on your monitor which may have more expensive strips you may be better to get a new monitor that takes cheaper strips. We can point you in the right direction if needed.
I have just recalled that I had a similar thing a few weeks ago and my blood pressure was really high so worth getting that checked.
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- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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- He/Him
I can completely understand that. Some T2 members here liken it to driving without a speedometer through multiple zones with very strict speed limits and just hoping you don’t get a ticket!
There is some research that shows people find self-monitoring annoying, painful, confusing, and distressing (and that it doesn’t help them improve levels all that much) BUT the same research also shows that there is a group of people with T2 who find it invaluable and it helps them manage their diabetes much more effectively.
Lots of members here are firmly in the second group, and it feels like you might be too!
If you have strips left for your meter I think you might find it reassuring to take them with you so that if you have those unpleasant sensations again you can check your BG levels, a d see if the feelings might be glucose related.
There are other conditions and things which can effect your sense of balance and trigger feelings of anxiety, so it would be good to rule out errant glucose levels being part of it
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