Hyper information please

[vince13]

Having been diagnosed type 2 back in April 2008 (levels high 7s/high 8s at that time) I suddenly went up to 25 in October and ended up being monitored in hospital for a few days during which time I was mostly between 12-18. The consultant said he thought I was either misdiagnosed and was actually a type 1 or was "evolving" into a type 1 and he would do all he could by medication to get my body to give up its insulin until he felt it best that I should go on insulin injections - I see him again in Feb. when I think he will advise this more strongly. I've said all this before so I'm sorry to bore you but....

I'm on Metformin 500mg once a day and gliclazide 80mg x 4 a day. I take Ramipril for high blood pressure. I've had "anomalies" with my liver function tests for about 4 months which, again, they are monitoring. I have been told to test my blood sugar levels once a day fasting first thing in the morning and they have come down recently to between 7 and 9 which I was pleased about - but this morning about 11 a.m. I suddenly felt very dizzy and shaky and took my blood sugar levels and they had soared to 18.5 so I had a drink of tea and a garibaldi biscuit and by the time I had my lunch about an hour later I felt OK again. Any ideas why I felt shaky at a high level, I thought the shakes only came on with hypos ?

 

[lynn]

Having been diagnosed type 2 back in April 2008 (levels high 7s/high 8s at that time) I suddenly went up to 25 in October and ended up being monitored in hospital for a few days during which time I was mostly between 12-18. The consultant said he thought I was either misdiagnosed and was actually a type 1 or was "evolving" into a type 1 and he would do all he could by medication to get my body to give up its insulin until he felt it best that I should go on insulin injections - I see him again in Feb. when I think he will advise this more strongly. I've said all this before so I'm sorry to bore you but....

I'm on Metformin 500mg once a day and gliclazide 80mg x 4 a day. I take Ramipril for high blood pressure. I've had "anomalies" with my liver function tests for about 4 months which, again, they are monitoring. I have been told to test my blood sugar levels once a day fasting first thing in the morning and they have come down recently to between 7 and 9 which I was pleased about - but this morning about 11 a.m. I suddenly felt very dizzy and shaky and took my blood sugar levels and they had soared to 18.5 so I had a drink of tea and a garibaldi biscuit and by the time I had my lunch about an hour later I felt OK again. Any ideas why I felt shaky at a high level, I thought the shakes only came on with hypos ?

Hi Faith,
A very happy new year to you, i am a T2 and i don't really if it makes a big difference but i only usually get the shakes etc when i'm close to a hypo and when i know i've eaten something i should'nt have and my BS levels are up a bit i tend to get very sleepy and 9 times out of 10 i will drop off to sleep, day or night, i take 5 x 500gm of metformin plus 1/2 a gliclazide a day and have been told by my GP that i will eventually end up on insulin, and i don't know wether thats a bad thing or not because i know people that have gone from tablets to injection and they all seem to say the same thing that they wish they had done it sooner ! so i'm gonna wait and see what happens next but, try not to let it worry you i'm sure everything will be ok. Good luck best wishes lynn x

 

[Ruthie24]

I'm going to sound so "new" and "un-educated" I know, but what is the difference between T1 and T2.

I had always thought that T1 was diagnosed in your early years, but it's become apparent from visiting these blogs a couple of times now that that just isn't the case! I think there's someone here who was diagnosed T1 at the ripe age of 69!!

As to hypers - I can't focus well on what people are saying to me... I stagger a bit, get a bit blurry and then just want to sleep ..... hypo's - hubby knows before me as my normal lighthearted personality (debatable!!) is turned upside down to reveal the Prince of Darkness's bad tempered daughter with PMT..... then, i get the slight confision and normally a really thumping headache... by which time my staff are usually force feeding me fruit etc!!

I found while my sugars were settling down, I would get hypo symptons while my BS was still quite high.... it's ok now though.

 

[vince13]

Thank you both for your info. Sounds as if I'm running pretty true to form then. Happy New Year both....

 

[tracey w]

Having been diagnosed type 2 back in April 2008 (levels high 7s/high 8s at that time) I suddenly went up to 25 in October and ended up being monitored in hospital for a few days during which time I was mostly between 12-18. The consultant said he thought I was either misdiagnosed and was actually a type 1 or was "evolving" into a type 1 and he would do all he could by medication to get my body to give up its insulin until he felt it best that I should go on insulin injections - I see him again in Feb. when I think he will advise this more strongly. I've said all this before so I'm sorry to bore you but....

I'm on Metformin 500mg once a day and gliclazide 80mg x 4 a day. I take Ramipril for high blood pressure. I've had "anomalies" with my liver function tests for about 4 months which, again, they are monitoring. I have been told to test my blood sugar levels once a day fasting first thing in the morning and they have come down recently to between 7 and 9 which I was pleased about - but this morning about 11 a.m. I suddenly felt very dizzy and shaky and took my blood sugar levels and they had soared to 18.5 so I had a drink of tea and a garibaldi biscuit and by the time I had my lunch about an hour later I felt OK again. Any ideas why I felt shaky at a high level, I thought the shakes only came on with hypos ?

Hi,

Yes I get the shakes when my bs is high not just low, you did the right thing by testing just to make sure. However, I would not have eaten a biscuit at 18.5, but if it made you feel better at the time who am I to say.

I too was misdiagnosed at first and with bs like yours you should be on insulin sooner not later. I really dont understand why they need to wait?? If you re feeling unwell see your gp and get an urgent consultant referral. I have discovered as others have you need to ask, ask , ask to get sorted or else they will presume you are ok and leave you alone. This is your condition and your health, look after yourself.
🙂

 

[Northerner]

I'm going to sound so "new" and "un-educated" I know, but what is the difference between T1 and T2.

I had always thought that T1 was diagnosed in your early years, but it's become apparent from visiting these blogs a couple of times now that that just isn't the case! I think there's someone here who was diagnosed T1 at the ripe age of 69!!

Well, in a nutshell, T1 is when your pancreas stops producing insulin because your beta cells have been zapped by your immune system. T2 is when you are still producing insulin, but the cells in your body have become resistant to it so it's not being used effectively. T1's all need to inject insulin (or use a pump) whereas T2 can be treated with diet and exercise (this will make the body use the insulin it produces more effectively), tablets (again to make the use of insulin better), or injections (extra insulin to top up that being produced so that there is sufficient to keep the sugars under control despite the insulin resistance).

T1 often strikes in childhood/adolescence and used to be called juvenile diabetes, but many are adults and even in late adulthood as you have observed (I was 49). T2 used to be associated with the over 40's, but due to increases in obesity levels in younger people (obesity increases the potential for insulin-resistance), often affects much younger people these days.

Someone will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong - I'm fairly new to this myself!🙂

 

[Ruthie24]

Cheers Northener 🙂

 

[Vanessa]

Ruby

Just a little addition to Northerner's excellent post to say that some Type 2s will actually produce very high levels of insulin initially to try to offset the insulin resistance. However, after a while their bodies may then reduce the insulin dramatically (in quantity or quality) so there is not enough and some of the tablets we take (gliclazide in my case) stimulates the pancreas to produce more. For some of us even that won't be enough and we'll join the Type 1s in needing to inject insulin but with the added joy of managing our ongoing insulin resistance too

Of course there is the added challenge of some drugs being "weight positive" too so we have to work even harder to keep our weight down and, in my case, manage to avoid going hypo when I'm then tempted to eat everything in sight!



Vanessa

 

[C*5_Dodger]

Northerner,

Type 2 diabetes is not caused by obesity, but is a consequence, as is obesity and heart disease, of a constellation of Metabolic disorders known as Metabolic Syndrome. The main disorders characterising Metabolic Syndrome are:

1. Elevated triglycerides
2. Low levels of HDL Cholesterol
3. Hypertension
4. Hyperinsulinemia
5. Insulin Resistance
6. Glucose Intolerance

So people who are type 2 will have some or all of these as will obese people. Whether obese people go on to develope type 2 diabetes is now believed to be connected with genes that interfere with the normal mechanisms the body uses to regulate blood sugar, i.e. items 4, 5, 6.

Regards Dodger

 

[Northerner]

Northerner,

Type 2 diabetes is not caused by obesity, but is a consequence, as is obesity and heart disease, of a constellation of Metabolic disorders known as Metabolic Syndrome. The main disorders characterising Metabolic Syndrome are:

1. Elevated triglycerides
2. Low levels of HDL Cholesterol
3. Hypertension
4. Hyperinsulinemia
5. Insulin Resistance
6. Glucose Intolerance

So people who are type 2 will have some or all of these as will obese people. Whether obese people go on to develope type 2 diabetes is now believed to be connected with genes that interfere with the normal mechanisms the body uses to regulate blood sugar, i.e. items 4, 5, 6.

Regards Dodger

Thanks Dodger, although I'm a little confused - are you saying that increases in Type 2 diagnoses are due to an increase in Metabolic Syndrome amongst the populace? If so, why are the government not targeting that, if possible? Or is it that a healthy diet and lifestyle will reduce metabolic syndrome leading to diabetes? Sorry for all the questions - I'm an inquisitive soul!🙂