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Newbie Sudden diagnosis 8 weeks ago

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L

Linny

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi
I went to doctor with symptoms of menopause which were becoming intolerable. I am a nurse and very rarely go to doctor. Bloods were taken that confirmed I was in menopause but glucose levels were very high. I had fasting hba1c which came back at 121.
Started immediately on metformin and Glicizide and given monitor.
Immediately threw myself into low carb low sugar diet and exercise. I exercise a lot anyway but in the next 2 weeks with ongoing high teens BG I started to feel very tired,bloated and very painful muscles. My hands and feet are painful and numb at same time.
8 weeks on and my BG levels are chaotic.
For instance today 9 before breakfast. Then 2 hours later and a 4 mile walk down to 7. Then after a shower felt sick ,very shaky and sweaty and had dropped within 30 mins to 4.3.
The biggest issue is the pain and numbness. I have been off my work as a community psychiatric nurse as I don't feel in control and don't feel I can handle the stress.
When does this get better
TIA
 
Hi and welcome.

Sorry to hear you are struggling with your diabetes symptoms but great that you have a monitor and have started lifestyle changes.
I think it is important to be aware that BG levels do very significantly throughout the day and night in response to a whole variety of factors (approx 42 of them) although some have a much bigger impact than others.... food and exercise being 2 of the main players along with medication. It is also well known that a nice warm shower or bath can drop your levels particularly after exercise and with you using Gliclazide, that can be a bit unpredictable in how your pancreas responds to it, so you need to be extra vigilant and always carry hypo treatments with you wherever you go..... Those of us on insulin often keep a stash of Jelly Babies in the bathroom for just such incidents. Obviously 4.3 isn't quite a hypo but because your body has been used to very high levels, probably for a while, it will go into a state of panic when your levels get near to the "red line" of 4 and you have experienced what we call a false hypo. Hopefully, once your body gets used to these more normal levels, you will get more minor sensations in the low 4s, warning you that you are dropping close to hypo land rather than the more extreme response you had after the shower.

Not sure how much info they have given you or you know but Glic can drop you into a hypo so you need to be prepared to treat them at all times and the general advice is 15g fast acting carbs (4 glucose tablets or 3xjelly babies, or 150 mls full sugar cola or orange juice) when levels drop below 4 and then test again 15 mins later to check that you have come up above 4. If you haven't then you take another 15g fast acting carbs and recheck another 15 mins later (called the 15 rule). Once you are above 4 then it is often recommended to have 10-15g slower release carbs like a digestive biscuit to stabilize your levels and prevent them dropping again. This may not be necessary with Glic (as oppose to injected insulin) but you need to find out what works for you. Personally, even with insulin, I don't follow up with slower carbs because I end up too high as my digestive system doesn't seem to believe in digesting anything slowly and usually just 1 or 2 JBs works for me! It is best to follow the standard advice to start with until you see how your body responds as we are all individual.

As regards the pains in your hands and feet, that is hopefully repair/recovery work happening on your nerves, due to having had high BG levels for a while and levels now coming down into range. Fingers crossed that is the case and this is a temporary situation which will resolve in a month or two. You may also experience problems with blurry vision during this transition period.

Exercise can drop your BG levels for up to 48 hours afterwards, so don't expect the effect of your walk on your BG levels to stop when your walk ends. I find walking drops my overnight levels more than my real time walking levels and I have to reduce my night time basal insulin dose otherwise I hypo through the night. Other forms of exercise like high intensity workouts and things which cause muscle burn and stress the body will initially push your BG levels up, due to the liver pumping out glucose in response to that stress but will reduce later, which can catch you out, so important to have hypo treatments and test kit by the bed in case you wake up through the night feeling restless, sweating or shaky.

Hopefully that covers everything. It may be that with your low carb diet and exercise regime you need to discuss reducing the Glic dose with your doctor or nurse, particularly if you start getting regular hypos. Eating low carb can be much more powerful than most health care professionals understand in reducing BG levels, so do let them know if this becomes a problem.
 
Thank you so much. Just reading this very informative reply has reassured me.
I have repeat bloods at GP on Monday.
I have been prescribed amitryptiline for neuropathic pain but not keen.
I have also read that menopause can make it more difficult to stabilise BG levels. Symptoms are similar. GP wants to discuss HRT with me.
I have never needed to be on medication all my life and have not been signed off sick for the whole of my 34 year nursing career until now.
Big adjustments.
 
Hi there!

I know the feeing of being signed off work - weird 🙄. Some days it's good to be off work as I feel dreadful and other days I feel like a bit of a fake. I've been off since November - better to get yourself "firing on all cylinders" before going back.

With regards to your BG levels, I also jumped into a low carb diet and couldn't make head nor tails of my BG levels - big mistake! 😱
Did a bit of reading. Tthere's a very good book recommended on this site by an Aussie-chap (Alan Stuckley???) called "What on earth can I eat?". He tells his story of T2 in a very "human" way and explains how he was able to work out what he could eat without spiking - he seems like a genuine chap 🙂 and the book's a gripping read (not getting anything for saying this). Well worth a tenner from Amazon.

Keep your head up. It's a marathon not a sprint. This forum and site is great for education about T2 - and that's the most effective tool for a long, complication-free like 😎

Best Wishes,
Andy
 
Welcome @Linny 🙂 I agree with @rebrascora that there’s a chance your hand and foot pains and numbness might improve as you get your sugars under control. Give it time and stay positive.

Controlling diabetes is harder than it sounds, especially in the early days. Don’t take ‘bad’ numbers personally or see it as a failure on your part. See a ‘bad’ number as a learning experience. Try to look at it objectively. It’s excellent that you have a meter. That’s a great tool.
 
I have a feeling that others have said that Amitryptaline isn't useful for neuropathic pain, but I may be wrong. Works a treat for putting me to sleep when I am stressed though!! Only use it once in a blue moon but one tablet and you would think I had had a bottle of wine!

As regards menopause, I battled quite debilitating hot flushes day and night for 5 years and it was only after I was diagnosed with Diabetes and started to suffer hypos that I found it made everything even more difficult and spoke to a doctor about it. I started on HRT patches (Evorell Conti) a year and a half ago and I can't tell you the improvement in quality of life/sleep, sex life and general feeling of wellbeing, as well as making diabetes easier to manage and all with no side effects for me. I can even manage on half the recommended dose by using one patch a week instead of changing it every 3-4 days. I have to say that it blows my mind how that little bit of clear plastic can make such a massive difference to my life. One of the striking things was that I no longer need a pit stop through the night. I sleep right through sometimes from 9pm (if I have had a very active day) till 6.30am without needing the loo.... even if I have a glass of water or cup of tea before bed and that changed almost from day 1 of using the patches. That alone is a big and unexpected bonus for me but not waking up drenched and feeling like I was going to pass out with overheating day and night and not being able to wear certain clothes because I would be at risk of stripping off in public if I had a rollneck sweater or dress on and I got hit by a "thermostat malfunction". I used to carry a spray bottle containing water with me to mist my face, neck and arms and then waft them when I overheated. It was really debilitating and embarrassing when you were out socially.

Anyway, pleased you are feeling a little reassured about your diabetes. You will learn lots here on the forum so do stick around and dip into it regularly and ask whatever you need to know or is troubling you as someone else will almost certainly have experienced it before. If HRT is offered, I would encourage you to try it and if you do, I hope it is as life changing for you as it is for me. Personally I would opt for gel or patches rather than oral meds as less side effects. The patches take a bit of time to find a place where they stay put, but once you have that figured out, I can't see any real drawback. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
Thank you. This is all so helpful. Hopefully when better and more knowledgeable I will be there for others going through same.
Yes I do feel like a fraud being off but would not manage to put these measures in place whilst working...no breaks etc
 
@Linny - I was also gonna say - don't knock HRT. Whatever female hormonal probs I had pre menopause paled into insignificance in comparison to menopause and post-m.

- and the author of 'What on earth can I eat?' is Alan - but last name - Shanley ! (and he really is a very nice man! who I've only met once but @Pattidevans and her husband have known him for years, but since he's native Australian (ex Aussie Air Force, resides near Brisbane) none of us are likely to see him very frequently at all) His blog 'Type 2 Diabetes - A personal journey' is a goldmine of useful info!
 
I have Type 1 so my medication regime is slightly different, but I've also had quite a lot of challenges with hormones and their impact on my blood sugar. I find eating smaller amounts but more regularly really helps and I also try to do daily exercise after a meal, even if just a walk round the block, as this helps keep the post-eating highs in check a bit better. But like others have said, it definitely takes time and you'll find you're always learning new tricks and tips. Sometimes our bodies catch us off guard too and sugars don't behave how we expected, but don't give yourself a hard time, it sounds like you're doing all the right things to figure out the best way to manage things for you and you'll get better and better at it.
 
trophywench said:
and the author of 'What on earth can I eat?' is Alan - but last name - Shanley ! (and he really is a very nice man! who I've only met once but @Pattidevans and her husband have known him for years, but since he's native Australian (ex Aussie Air Force, resides near Brisbane) none of us are likely to see him very frequently at all) His blog 'Type 2 Diabetes - A personal journey' is a goldmine of useful info!
Click to expand...
As @trophywench says, Alan's blog is very worth reading. He's still around on Facebook, but rarely seen in UK forums these days. I have "known" him almost 20 years via the internet and newsgroups which were for fore-runners of forums.
Though we have met only twice, once in Aussie and once on the occasion @trophywench also met him. His advice for T2s is very good. His blog is here http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/opinions.html?m=0

As to peripheral neuropathy, I had it when first diagnosed. As others have said, the pain can come from nerves regenerating themselves when BGs drop to more normal levels. That doesn't stop it being very painful indeed though. I was recommended to try the "Peripheral Neuropathy Cocktail" which is a regime of natural supplements such as Evening Primrose Oil (also excellent for the menopause) and others. See http://web.archive.org/web/20071229043057/www.diabetic-talk.org/dpn.htm The neuropathy resolved itself quite quickly on this regime.

Hope this helps.
 
Welcome to the forum @Linny

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, and some of the difficulties you have been experiencing.

Hope things begin to calm down and settle as your BG improvement continues. It may be that your levels have been gradually rising over quite a long time, and it can take a while for it to adjust to a sudden change in average BG concentrations.

Hang in there, and keep asking questions!
 
Well done that is fantastic, I hope your nurse is well impressed. It looks like what you have been doing has worked so keep it up and you should see further improvement by the next test.
 
That's brilliant Linny!
 
Well done you !
 
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