Hello all New here and need some advice

[Lloydyw]

I am trying to find out some info for my mother.
She is almost 80 and has a few ailments.
Firstly Angina, which she takes medication.
Her 1st Covid Vaccination last year brought on a condition known as Myasthenia Gravis which put her in hospital for plasma treatment.
It was on her 2nd bout of treatment that the doctors told her she was diabetic.
They sent her home with the equipment to take her levels but the finger pricks were making a mess of her hands, We have since purchased the Libre2 as the NHS would not supply, Which has since been very helpful.
The issue she is having is that she is experiencing very rapid drops on her levels, particularly in the mornings.
For example, this morning:
06:30 reading was 4.8
She had Apple Juice, Dextro tablets, Banana Sandwich and a tea with 1 sugar.
07:30 reading was 7.5
She then started to get herself ready for the day and felt peculiar.
08:45 reading dropped to 2.9.
This is happening daily
She becomes very shaky and slurred speech.
She had the paramedics out Yesterday who went through what shes doing/eating etc and they said shes doing all the right things.
Her GP is not interested and keeps referring her to Neurology who in turn refer her to the Diabetic nurse who was supposed to be contacting her weekly since she left hospital but has only called twice.

Sorry for the long winded post but we are at a loss as to which way to turn.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you

 

[Lucyr]

If she is T2 then this sounds like reactive hypoglycaemia. 4.8 is a good level but apple juice, dextrose tablets and banana sandwich and tea with sugar is a huge amount of fast acting glucose. Is this what she has been advised to have for breakfast? Reactive hypoglycaemia would mean that her pancreas saw the huge sugar intake and over produced insulin in response.

If the 2.9 was a libre reading not a fingerprick then this could be reading lower than reality too.

A smaller amount of sugar and balancing carbohydrates with protein / fat might have been a better breakfast.

 

[Lloydyw]

Thank you for your reply Lucy.
More help there than what the so-called professionals have given.
I have just explained it to my mum and she understands.
This is all new to her and it sounds like a balanced diet is the best way forward to start with.

More learning to do 🙂

 

[Leadinglights]

If the finger pricking is making a mess of her hands then her technique may be at fault as really it should be a painless process and only produce the small drop of blood, size of a pin head needed for the monitor strip. She may be stabbing too deep so the setting on the pricking devise may need to be reduced.
There are some Youtube videos on technique which may be useful as if the levels are as low as you say she really need to double check the Libre reading with a finger prick.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

So sorry to hear that your mother is having such a rough time with her Blood Glucose levels. That will be making her feel pretty awful, especially if she is going high and dropping low.
Libre is a brilliant bit of kit for showing you what is happening and helping to understand how food and perhaps medication works.

An important question first.... Can you tell us what, if any medication your mother is on for her diabetes? I am wondering if she is taking something which is causing her BG levels to drop suddenly ie her dose of medication is perhaps too high or if it is Reactive Hypoglycaemia as mentioned, which is supposedly quite rare but I suspect may just rarely be diagnosed but perhaps more commonly experienced and not diagnosed.
If she isn't on any medication or just a mild one like Metformin, then it may well be her diet pushing her levels up high which then triggers her pancreas to overreact and produce too much insulin which is then dropping her too fast and too low. Than really is most unpleasant and is putting your mother at great risk of a fall if not worse and losing consciousness.

Can you post a photo of her Libre graph for one of those occasions so that we can see what is happening throughout the day.

Do you know what her HbA1c result was at diagnosis and when was that (roughly) and has she had any more blood tests since then to check it? HbA1c is the blood test used to diagnose diabetes and will usually be a number in excess of 47mmols/mol or may sometimes be expressed in the old units as a smaller number as a %.

The more information you can provide us with the easier it is for us to try to figure out what is happening and give appropriate advice to help your mum.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Lloydyw

So sorry to hear about the difficult time your Mum is having. Must be very unpleasant for her, and very worrying for you.

Typically recommendations for glucose levels tend to be 4-7 before meals and no higher than 8.5 by 2hrs after meals, but there is good evidence that in later life there is significant benefit in aiming a little higher than that, to reduce the risk of hypoglycaemia and falls. So don’t be concerned if your Mum starts getting levels mostly 6-10ish.

As a rule of thumb, readings below 4.0mmol/L can be treated with the 15 rule. Take 15g of fast-acting carbs (eg lucozade, dextro tabs, or jelly babies) then waiting 15 minutes before rechecking. Retreating with another 15g if glucose levels remain below 4.0mmol/L. Once levels are back up above 4, following up with approx 10g of slower acting carbs, eg a digestive, can help protect against a ‘double dip’.

Hope your Mum’s levels begin to settle soon.