Newbie saying hi with a question..

[jezsuttonuk]

Hi, Diagnosed T2 in October.. now given up booze and sugary sweets.. weight coming down as is blood sugar levels but I am getting headaches at night.. e.g. last night went to bed at 6.2 and woke up at 2am with headache which stayed till I had eaten breakfast, morning levels were 7.2 before breakfast. drank nothing but water all evening and at night but ate some plain nuts in the evening. any ideas ?

 

[Lily123]

Welcome to the forum 🙂

Are you on any medication for you diabetes? It could have something to do with that if you are or could be unrelated

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

Sorry to hear you were feeling rough through the night. If you are asking how your levels could hae risen from 6.2 to 7.2 without eating anything other than a few nuts, it is because there are many more things than just food which affect your BG levels. In particular, your liver trickles out glucose to fuel your vital organs when you have not eaten (like overnight) It kind of acts like a back up battery for when your main fuel isn't available. In the morning it ramps up it's output of glucose to give you energy for the day ahead. This is beleieved to be a throwback to prehistoric days when we needed to go out and hunt/gather our first meal of the day, so it would provide out muscles with the energy to do that. Unfortunately we haven't quite evolved enough to stop this behavious because walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge doesn't need that much glucose, and because we are diabetic and don't produce insulin in enough quantity or promptly enough, our BG levels rise. This is referred to as Dawn Phenomenon or Foot on the Floor syndrome. Rising by just 1mmol is relatively mild/small/tame. My levels used to rise by 5 or 6mmols when I was first diagnosed.

Your headache may be dehydration or your body complaining about the change of diet. Hopefully you are aware that diabetes isn't just about sugar but all carbohydrates which are turned into glucose by the digestive system and absorbed into the blood stream, but cutting out the sweet stuff is a good first step, and it is what I did for a couple of weeks, before I started whittling down the starchy carbs in my diet. I can tell you that it does get easier with time and nearly 4 years down the line I really don't crave that stuff anymore even when people are eating it in front of me and I have found other foods that I really enjoy.

 

[jezsuttonuk]

Thank you for your replies, I am taking Lantus once a day and Metformin & Gliclazide twice daily. initially my HbA1c was over 106!
I am trying to drink plenty of water during the day and at night but still not got my head around the carbs bit yet.. Hey after 30+ yrs of daily drinking I think I am doing ok.. except for the headaches.. they are worse than the hangovers were.. 😉

 

[Leadinglights]

You need to go carefully with your carb reduction as you have been prescribed a huge number of medications even with the high HbA1C, which may then be resulting in a sudden drop in blood glucose giving you the symptoms.

 

[Ditto]

Hello and welcome. 🙂

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, insulin and Gliclazide but a whole different slant on things and it would be wise to test your levels if you wake up in the night feeling rough like that again or through the day too and please make sure to carry hypo treatments around with you wherever you go. Most of us use jelly babies or Dextrose tablets. Have you been given information on how to treat a hypo? ie the 15 rule? 15g carbs and then test again 15 mins later to make sure your levels have come up above 4?

When do you take your lantus? At night or in the morning?

Am I picking it up right, that you were drinking alcohol on a daily basis and if so, have you had a pancreatic scan? Oh.... AND very well done for knocking that on the head by the way! It can't be easy, especially cutting down on sugar at the same time. I was a sugar addict pre diagnosis, so I know a little about how challenging that can be.

Can you tell us a bit about how your diagnosis came about. That is a pretty high HbA1c. Were you symptomatic and if so which symptoms? Did you get a trip to hospital or are you just being treated by your GP practice?

Do you have much/any weight to lose or are you slim and have you lost weight recently?

Sorry for all the questions. The reason I ask is that you may not be an ordinary Type 2 diabetic and GP's don't really know much about the other Types of diabetes to spot an anomaly. It is often easy for them to see a middle aged patient with a high HbA1c (which just tells them that you are diabetic, not what Type of diabetes) and assume you are Type 2 because that is the most common type of diabetes in middle aged people. Many of us here were misdiagnosed as Type 2 to start with and I am sure there are many more out there who are never correctly diagnosed.

 

[jezsuttonuk]

Yes, insulin and Gliclazide but a whole different slant on things and it would be wise to test your levels if you wake up in the night feeling rough like that again or through the day too and please make sure to carry hypo treatments around with you wherever you go. Most of us use jelly babies or Dextrose tablets. Have you been given information on how to treat a hypo? ie the 15 rule? 15g carbs and then test again 15 mins later to make sure your levels have come up above 4?

When do you take your lantus? At night or in the morning?

Am I picking it up right, that you were drinking alcohol on a daily basis and if so, have you had a pancreatic scan? Oh.... AND very well done for knocking that on the head by the way! It can't be easy, especially cutting down on sugar at the same time. I was a sugar addict pre diagnosis, so I know a little about how challenging that can be.

Can you tell us a bit about how your diagnosis came about. That is a pretty high HbA1c. Were you symptomatic and if so which symptoms? Did you get a trip to hospital or are you just being treated by your GP practice?

Do you have much/any weight to lose or are you slim and have you lost weight recently?

Sorry for all the questions. The reason I ask is that you may not be an ordinary Type 2 diabetic and GP's don't really know much about the other Types of diabetes to spot an anomaly. It is often easy for them to see a middle aged patient with a high HbA1c (which just tells them that you are diabetic, not what Type of diabetes) and assume you are Type 2 because that is the most common type of diabetes in middle aged people. Many of us here were misdiagnosed as Type 2 to start with and I am sure there are many more out there who are never correctly diagnosed.

blimey a billion questions...
Never had a Hypo or got near.. only ever hit 4.6 once... always carry jelly babies... I take my Lantus 30units at 6pm... diagnosis was during over 50's health check as wife noticed I was loosing weight without trying ( she is a nurse ). last yr 115kg now 90kg and i'm 6'. Yes was sent straight to hospital and now under a dodgy Hospital DN but the Dr's DN is also monitoring me and she seems to have her head screwed on differently and is waiting for the Hospital to release me so she can try a different drug setup, also I have an over qualified nurse at home 😉

 

[rebrascora]

Sudden unexpected weight loss is a red flag for Type 1 diabetes. I am guessing your practice nurse at the GP surgery may be keen to get you off insulin if she believed you are Type 2 but I would encourage you to ask about the possibility of Type 1 testing (C-peptide which measures how much insulin your own pancreas is producing and GAD antibody test which will shop if your own immune system has killed off some of your insulin producing beta cells.... Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition, whereas Type 2 is metabolic. It may sound like splitting hairs but there is a big difference in the level of support and technology you have access to based on Type, so it can be quite important to get the correct classification. Some nurses and GPs are under the impression that Type 1 only develops in children or young adults but many of us here developed it much later in life and often it has a slower onset in more mature patients, so is often mistaken for Type 2.

As regards hypos.... just because you haven't had one yet, doesn't mean you won't have one and if you are getting headaches through the night or waking up with them that can be an indication, especially if you take your Lantus early in the evening, as it's peak of activity is about 5 hours after injection, so it is potentially dropping your levels in the depths of the night when most people need less insulin anyway. You might find taking it at bedtime is better, because your levels naturally rise towards morning as your liver dumps glucose into your blood stream to give you energy for the day.

It would be worth you applying to Abbott Laboratories for a free trial of their Libre 2 sensors which will show you what your levels are doing during the night whilst you sleep as well as during the day.

What many people find after they start on insulin is that it takes the strain off their remaining insulin producing beta cells which may have been overworked for a while and under immense strain. The injected insulin allows them to have a bit of a rest which can invigorate them and cause hypos, so do be vigilant for hypos and test anytime you feel a bit dodgy day or night and make sure to have JBs and test kit by the bed as well as in all your pockets.

If you drive it is also important to test before you set off and then every 2 hours if it is going to be a long journey and you should be 5 or above to drive but if you are between 4 and 5 you can still drive as long as you eat some carbs. Below 4 and you are grounded for 45mins after you come up above 4..... essentially an hour or more because it usually takes 15 mins for a hypo treatment to bring you up anyway.

Apologies if I am repeating info you have already been given but I know from my own experience that a lot of the info I was given went in one ear and out the other because there is so much to take in, but also some of it wasn't explained from the point of view of someone living with the condition but from a clinician's view point. Real life situations and individual experience is what makes this forum invaluable for learning how to live well with diabetes.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @jezsuttonuk

Hope you manage to get the extra checks organised to confirm your diabetes classification - the unexplained weight loss is certainly worth looking into, and if you are losing beta cell mass through autoimmune attack some of the meds you are on (eg Gliclazide) would need rethinking so as not to push your remaining beta cells too hard.

Keep firing away with any questions you have too. There‘s a lot to take in in the early weeks and months, and having the sounding board of the forum hive mind can be very handy!

 

[trophywench]

I'm also intrigued as to why you use the adjective 'dodgy' for the hospital nurse?

 

[jezsuttonuk]

I'm also intrigued as to why you use the adjective 'dodgy' for the hospital nurse?

The reason I chose the word " Dodgy" is because of a few reasons..
a. with my notes in front of them they could not remember our face to face meeting less than a week before.
b. they seemed confused as to the drug dosages they had prescribed only the week before.
c. didn't install confidence with their diabetes knowledge..
d. having spoken to a friend who also came under this nurse and had a similar encounter..

My diabetes road-trip is just at the beginning and I am trying to gather as much knowledge and advice as possible, good and bad. I am finding out that everyone is different and no two treatments work the same for two individuals..
I am also finding that there are more area of clinical support than just the Diabetes nurses...
Since diagnosis I have had to get my Flu and Covid jabs, arrange an special eye test ( no driving after so need to take a day off work.) a DESMOND face to face ?

Best new gadget is :- pill cutter !!! who would have thought... for some reason they prescribe 80g tablets to be taken half twice a day !!!

Feet and hands.. Cold... since I had Covid in 2019 my feet have been frozen most of the time and very sensitive.. I have areas that don't have much feeling and the nurse has done feeler tests and is ok with them.. my wife thinks it's Diabetic Neuropathy.. I find wearing bed socks at night and thermal socks during the daytime help.. If I let them get cold I get cramps and pins & needles in them.. I love my new furry slippers my wife bought me.. 🙂

Constipation.. Me !! ?? I have always been regular normally twice a day but now lucky to go every other day.. even having to take laxatives to keep things moving.. I am drinking water by the bucket and peeing regularly.. I think it is because I have taken fruit juices out of my diet.. I used to have a large glass of OJ every morning and I think my beers every night used to keep things moving.. I now have a coffee and small bowl of Muesli for breakfast..

Finger pricking.. must get hands warm first !! if my blood bubble isn't big enough the machine errors.. sometimes it can take 3 or 4 pricks to get enough blood.. I prick the side of the tip.. any advice ?

Festive times... I think this was the smallest Christmas dinner I have ever eaten or tried to eat,,,

Alcohol. Since giving up the daily drinking on 21st Oct I have had 4 small glasses of dry white wine, plus on Xmas day I did manage to drink a whole bottle of Chablis, it did take me 10hrs !! previously it would have taken 1 hr!! and I did test 4 times on Xmas day to be safe.. all were between 9 and 12.5.