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Hi

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DrGill

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi,
I'm type 2 diabetes and was diagnosed about 5 years ago. I joined this forum today because I'm having severe problems with it and need to ask some questions. My username is DrGill because I'm a psychologist not a medical doctor, I have no medical knowledge.
 
Hi and welcome

Would you like to tell us a bit more about your diabetes, like how you came to be diagnosed and what if any medication you are on? What, if any dietary changes you have made since diagnosis, how much exercise you do and if you have much/any weight to lose? Also do you know your current HbA1c result and is it up or down from the previous one?

Fire away with the questions, but the more background info you can give us, the better our responses can be tailored to your situation. Diabetes is highly individual, so having more knowledge about your circumstances helps us to figure out what the best options might be.
 
Hi @DrGill and welcome to the forum. I'm a fellow type 2 but luckily I'm not having problems with it at the moment.

Fire away with the questions: there will be someone here who has knowledge or experience of most things and they are a lovely helpful bunch. I'm fairly new to both diabetes and the forum so am still learning.

I'm sure you'll get the information you need to help you
 
I decided to ring NHS Direct to ask them if I could increase my dose of metformin as I'm not on the maximum dose. After talking to me at some length they've told me I should go to the hospital immediately.

So, to anyone who has responded to my introduction of myself, please accept my apologies for not acknowledging your message yet.
 
Oh dear! That doesn't sound good, but hospital is the best place if things have gone haywire. Please update us when you can. Good luck!
 
@DrGill rang 111 to ask should he increase his metformin dose - evidently he spoke to someone helpful who thinks there's definitely more to this than meets his eye - and to go to A&E, but not passing Go and not collecting £200.

Sincerely hope he's OK.
 
Thanks for the update.
I hope that they are able to settle things down for you.
Keep us updated, and ask any questions that you have.
 
I hope you are ok
 
Welcome to the forum @DrGill

I’ve merged your threads to keep your updates and welcome messages in the same place. 🙂

Hope you are doing OK. Thank goodness you contacted NHS 111!

You’ve not described the difficulties you were facing, but from other forum members’ experiences in the past, I wonder if perhaps you had been mis-classified with your diabetes and had something like LADA which may have initially appeared to respond to T2 treatment, but would have needed insulin within a few years.

Please do let us know how things have gone and what you have found out
 
Hello @DrGill and welcome to the forum. 🙂

I have no medical knowledge.
Click to expand...
Don't sell yourself short. Five minutes on this forum and you'll be a knowitall like us. :D
 
Hi Everyone,

And hi to: rebrascora, Vonny, trophywench, SB2015, Ljc, everydayupsanddowns and Ditto.

I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to get back to you but I've not had the energy to focus until now.

Thank you so much for your kind responses to my posts. I'd like to reply to each of you personally but that would take forever as there's so much to say so I'm doing it generally.

I'll start by telling you about my diabetes as best I can as my memory isn't what it was since I had 5 strokes back in 2000 and I cope by not thinking about what's wrong with me. I'll also give a brief outline of the other conditions I live with. I'll warn you now, this is going to be a long post so please don't feel obliged to read it all.

Ok, my diabetes:
I was diagnosed about 5 years ago as being pre diabetic. At first I was on Metformin but, as I didn't take the diabetes too seriously at first and didn't change my diet, I was soon diagnosed as having type 2 diabetes. Sitagliptin was later added to my meds, then Gliclazide. I adapted my diet and with the meds my diabetes was under control until a few weeks ago when I started to get very thirsty, then my vision became blurred, I had genital itching, was constantly tired and was sleeping excessively, in fact I had all the symptoms of high blood sugar with the one exception, the only one I would have welcomed, weight loss. I went to my GP who did blood tests.

My Hba1c was consistently 56 or 57 up to now, but this one came back as 115. I'll be honest, I hadn't checked my sugar levels for a few months so I was unaware of the change. The doctor increased my Gliclazide and gave me a new monitor which only goes up to 33.3 if my blood sugar is above that it gives a reading of 'Hi' and a week later it was still reading 'Hi' and that's when I went into hospital because it was reading 'Hi' before breakfast.

I was treated very well in hospital but for one thing, they didn't have a diabetic menu, I had to eat what everyone else was eating which made getting my sugars under control very difficult. They've stopped my Sitagliptin and Gliclazide and started me injecting NovoMix 30, 20 units in the morning and 14 at night. I was in hospital for 4 days and my sugar was still in the 20s most of the time as it was when I was discharged. The diabetic nurse is monitoring me at home by phone.

When I came home the dose had been increased to 24 and 18. First night home and sugar was 'Hi' again so the nurse increased it to 28 and 22. My vision has improved, the itching has almost gone thanks to Canestan cream but I'm still quite thirsty and tired.

I've just spoken to the diabetic nurse and she's increased my insulin again, now it's 32 units before breakfast and 24 before evening meal.

I'm going to post this now as it's taken me 3 days, on and off, to write this much. If anyone's interested in the other conditions I live I'll come back later, otherwise I'll leave it until I speak to the nurse again next week and come back with an update on my diabetes.

Once more thank you everyone and, in particular, thank you everydayupsanddowns for organising my posts and replies.
 
Hello @DrGill and many thanks for letting us know what has been happening to you.
I am sure everyone will be pleased to know that you are home from hospital and getting monitoring support at home.

Please don't worry about posting, and leave it until the time is right for you.
If there are any questions though that the forum may be able to help with then please ask, and we will do our best to help.
 
Hi
Thanks so much for the update and absolutely no need to reply personally as we are all able to read your response.

Sounds like you have had a really rough ride. I hate it when my BG hits 10 so dread to think what 30+feels like.
Pleased you are now home and on insulin and your levels are coming down slowly. It is important to make that transition gentle otherwise tiny blood vessels can get damaged, so they will steadily increase your doses until your BG comes into range. You will feel so much better once you get used to having normal BG readings but initially it can feel scary, especially if they suddenly tumble. Please make sure you have hypo treatment with you at all times including by the bed. You don't want to be staggering around the house in the dark looking for a treatment if your BG drops too low. Many of us use jelly babies or Dextrose tablets as they are convenient to keep in your pocket or bag. Chewing them well before swallowing helps them to work more quickly as the glucose can be absorbed by the cells in your mouth.

Rest and look after yourself and let us know how you are getting on when you feel able.
 
Blood sugar meters are such friendly little machines aren't they?

No criticism whatsoever when you're either far too high nor too low - they just cheerily say an abbreviation of the word 'Hello' - over 33.3 and it's 'HI' - under 4.0 and they say 'LO'. So non judgemental. That's why I like them - your best mates should be like that, shouldn't they?

Sorry - that little fact has always amused me!
 
Glad you are home @DrGill, and thanks so much for the update. I look forward to more of your posts when you are feeling a bit better. In the meantime, take care of yourself x
 
What they said @DrGill as they're all more erudite than me. 🙂 Don't stress about posting, just when you're ready.
 
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