"Fed up"

[Elaine Ann]

Hi everyone, I hope someone can give me something positive to look forward to.
Since my last post, having just being diagnosed I think about 22nd march and being started on simvastatin and metformin, I have been swiming 3 times a week plus been realy good with my diet and managed to loose 9lb.
After the first couple of weeks I began to feel a little better, my eyesight improved a bit, I wasn't quite as tired or thirsty and didn't itch as much etc. From then on I have begun to feel worse again. Almost 2 weeks ago I rang my diabetic nurse at my GP practice and put forward the argument for a BG meter, after listening to my rather persuasive argument (thanks to encouragement from this forum) she reluctantly informed me she would agree to it as she could tell I wanted to help myself as much as possible but warned me to not go taking it all the time as I would only get confused with all the differant numbers, as if!
Since then I have taken it before breakfast average reading being around 13.8. The lowest being 11 on one occasion upto 16.8 before my evening meal, 2hrs after eating ranges from 13.5 to 20.9 Last night I took it before bed and it was 18.5 which I thought was high and I hadn't really felt well all day (too tired for a swim). This morning I got up and felt terrible, I kept feeling cold one minute then breaking out in a sweat, my eyesight was atrocious, very dizzy, my tummy felt like it was churning and I felt like I was having palpitations and so tired I just wanted to go back to sleep. I did my BG 2hrs after consuming porrige 30g and a cup of tea, it read 23.3 which alarmed me and I thought probably accounted for how rubbish I felt. After deciding there was no way I could go out to see my friend I rang GP and went to see her 1/2hr later. She checked my urine for keytones but said that was ok but it was full of sugar and that was obviously why I felt lousy. She has doubled my metformin to 2 morning and night and also started me on gliclazide 80mg with breakfast. I do so hope I begin to feel better soon.

Sorry for going on so much but just felt I wanted to tell people who understand what I am going through.
By the way I have bought 2 books recomended by members of this site, The first twelve months and the Cals and carbs, both excellent books and would strongly recomend them to anyone trying to get their head around it all.
Thanks again for listening
Regards Elaine.

 

[Cleo]

hi elaine
sorry to hear you are fed up and feeling poorly (dont blame you for feeling fed up right now!)
I am a type 1 and will openly admit I know nothing about T2 treatment / managment but I'm sending you some hugs and I hope you start to feel better soon ! 😱
Did your GP tell you how often you should be testing and at which times of the day? am asking so you dont drive yourself crazy unnecessarily 🙂. Hope this is all down to a treatment glitch and that your levels get better with the new treatment you're on 🙂

C

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Hi Elaine,
so sorry to hear you are feeling so unwell.
Are you sure you haven't been mis diagnosed and are infact type 1 instead of type 2?

 

[Northerner]

Hi Elaine, don't be down-hearted. You sound like you've made a good start - great weight loss and the exercise and diet changes will be doing you a lot of good, so well done! 🙂

I'm just wondering if, when you started feeling really funny, you were experiencing a 'false hypo'? This is when your blood sugars, even though they might be quite high still, are much lower than you are used to, so if you are ued to being in the teens then a drop to single figures might make you feel like this. If it happens again then test to see what your levels are. Also, if you haven't already come across it, then Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S is a good guide to efficient testing so that you can make better sense of the figures 🙂

It's possible that you could have been misdiagnosed, a few people here have, or it may be that your pancreas currently needs the support of some medication so try not to think of it as failure because it's not - you are trying everything you can think of. Keeping good records of your testing will help your GP or nurse really see what is going on, so be sure to record things in a spreadsheet or diary, along with the food (in particular the carbs) eaten.

Keep up the good work, and I hope that you start to feel the benefts again very soon 🙂

 

[Redkite]

Sorry to hear you're feeling so awful Elaine. My son is type 1, but if his levels are in the high teens or 20's he feels b****y awful, so you have my sympathies. As you are so recently diagnosed, it's bound to take a bit of time to adjust your medication until you start getting optimal blood glucose levels, so hang in there! Sounds like you are doing a great job with the exercise and weight loss, so you should feel proud of yourself, and hopefully this will soon be reflected in lower BG levels and better general well-being. 🙂

 

[Elaine Ann]

Hi Cleo

hi elaine
sorry to hear you are fed up and feeling poorly (dont blame you for feeling fed up right now!)
I am a type 1 and will openly admit I know nothing about T2 treatment / managment but I'm sending you some hugs and I hope you start to feel better soon ! 😱
Did your GP tell you how often you should be testing and at which times of the day? am asking so you dont drive yourself crazy unnecessarily 🙂. Hope this is all down to a treatment glitch and that your levels get better with the new treatment you're on 🙂

C

When I saw the "specialist" GP at my surgery he promptly informed me that as a type 2 he would not issue me with a BG meter. It was only after nagging the nurse did she finaly agree to giving me one. She told me not to be testing all the time as I don't need to but from things Iv'e read on here unless I test regularly I haven't a clue how I respond to my food. I tend to test at differant times of day to try to get an overall picture.

 

[Northerner]

When I saw the "specialist" GP at my surgery he promptly informed me that as a type 2 he would not issue me with a BG meter. It was only after nagging the nurse did she finaly agree to giving me one. She told me not to be testing all the time as I don't need to but from things Iv'e read on here unless I test regularly I haven't a clue how I respond to my food. I tend to test at differant times of day to try to get an overall picture.

The testing needs to be methodical and each test needs to provide extra information. As long as this is what is happening then there is a reason to test 🙂 When people are newly-diagnosed they will have much more reason to test as they are trying to determine how their levels are affected by their preferred food choices and any subsequent modifications. This may take a few months, but after a good picture is built up then familiar meals only need an occasional 'spot check', so the amount of testing can decline substantially. This means you can establish good BG control and improve your chances considerably of avoiding complications - it will also improve your general well-being and quality of life as your levels improve, and will more than likely mean you do not need progressively more complicated and increasingly expensive treatments and medications. It's common sense, and anyome who is motivated to test and learn how to use the information sholud NEVER be dissuaded - that is just stupid! 🙄

 

[Andy HB]

Hello Elaine,

I'm sorry that you are still feeling so grotty. Mind you, with those BG readings, it is no surprise.

Try and keep the weight loss up. In time it will make a difference and will help you get those BG readings down. Don't give up on that!

Have you managed to correspond your BG readings to the kinds of foods that you are eating? Has anything stood out which is particularly bad for you or conversely has anything turned out better for you than expected?

Andy 🙂

 

[Elaine Ann]

diet & BG readings

Hello Elaine,

I'm sorry that you are still feeling so grotty. Mind you, with those BG readings, it is no surprise.

Try and keep the weight loss up. In time it will make a difference and will help you get those BG readings down. Don't give up on that!

Have you managed to correspond your BG readings to the kinds of foods that you are eating? Has anything stood out which is particularly bad for you or conversely has anything turned out better for you than expected?

Andy 🙂

Hi Andy, thanks for your reply. I have been trying various meals that I enjoy but of course much smaller portions and being carefull with the carb content. It doesn't seem to matter what meal it is or how carefull I am with portion size and carbs, my readings have remained well above 10 on all occasions but hopefully after seeing my own GP who has doubled my metformin and added in gliclazide 80mg I am hopeing to see a reduction in the high numbers. It's a pity I have felt so bad all week as I have not felt I had the energy to go swiming but hopefully by the begining of next week things will begin to get better. (fingers crssed!)

 

[Elaine Ann]

thanks

Sorry to hear you're feeling so awful Elaine. My son is type 1, but if his levels are in the high teens or 20's he feels b****y awful, so you have my sympathies. As you are so recently diagnosed, it's bound to take a bit of time to adjust your medication until you start getting optimal blood glucose levels, so hang in there! Sounds like you are doing a great job with the exercise and weight loss, so you should feel proud of yourself, and hopefully this will soon be reflected in lower BG levels and better general well-being. 🙂

Hi Redkite thanks for your reply. So sorry to hear about your son, I can only imagine how difficult it must be at times for you both. Hope all is going well at present for you, bless him he must be a brave boy. It's interesting to hear you say how awfull he feels when his levels are high as I don't have much idea how high readings make other people feel, maybe someone else could tell me how it makes them feel. I still feel very much in the dark about some things. My diabetes care is managed by a "diabetic nurse" and a GP at my surgery but to be honest I get the feeling that the nurse is only begining to learn about diabetes herself as I have noticed she can't always answear my questions. At present I feel I would rather be under a specialist hospital team. When I asked the nurse about this she said she would try to find out for me but I haven't heard anything yet.