newlydiagnosed

[jaynio7]

so my husband lost over two stone very rapidly, within 4 weeks, by the second week we had the doctor involved. Rob had no other health problems, so to start with they went with a liver problem, and he had blood tests for that, and they set up an ultrasound scan, which found he had a fatty liver. Then on the third week, he developed a raging thirst, advised the doctor of this, they set up urgent blood tests, which still took two days to get an appointment, they got the results next day, and went into real panic mode. Doctor rang the hospital as they thought Rob might need to go in there, high sugars and very low sodium. Hospital advised them to bring him into the surgery do a test, check everything else, final decision was to put him on metoformin. They let us go with 500g tablet twice a day, and told Rob not to "eat sweet things", and eat wholemeal bread and pasta, excellent information. They also said the diabetic doctor from the surgery would be in touch. So, 11 days later, no one has contacted us, rang the surgery. Apparently the doctor had tried to contact us to put Rob on glyclazide as well, he couldn't remember which numbers he had rung, but certainly not the mobile. He said there was no need for Rob to test his blood sugars, as the metformin would work to reduce this, and he put the metformin up to 1000 g a day. Nothing was said about the side effects, bless, they left us to find out about them by ourselves. We have thrown away many undergarments, sorry about that. Trying now with a gut health yoghurt twice a day, fingers crossed. So Rob's eyes are blurry, so again contacted the surgery. They said blurry eyes were what happenned and that they would settle down when his sugars were down. We have an optician appointment on the 12th July, at home, doctor said the optician might delay the eye test if his eyes are still blurry. Again he said we do not need to check his blood sugars, even though I said how do we know we are doing the right thing. The reason for this is because we would not get a correct reading because his blood sugars have not stabilised. What do you think, is that correct? During the time waiting to find out what was wrong, Rob fell at least 3 times, he looked like someone had beaten him up, he can still get dizzy, is that part of it.
So, having read everything I can find, we are working on the carb factor, 40to 55 carbs per meal, which includes any dessert, and anything over as a snack.
Rob is dessert mad, so I knew this was going to be difficult, lol, strawberries and cream, very low carb icecream, frozen berries with yoghurt, can he eat watermelon, some say yes, some say no, so off this. Can he have a bar of chocolate as a treat if it is included in his carbs. Thank god for hovis nimble, so low carb.
Any advice would be welcome, especially regarding testing blood sugars. I do feel that we have been left to discover stuff ourselves, the doctor gave us a number of a local diabetic place, you can go for 2 1/2 hours a week for six weeks and they will tell you what you need to know, but I work full time, there is little chance of doing this. They kindly sent us some reading stuff, but its what we already have off diabetes uk.

 

[Inka]

@jaynio7 You say your husband lost two stone very rapidly. Sudden weight loss can be a sign of Type 1 diabetes. Contrary to popular opinion, Type 1 is not just a condition of childhood - it can develop at any age.

I’d most definitely buy a blood glucose meter and test at home. If he’s Type 1 and has been misdiagnosed, he could potentially become very ill quite quickly. Testing his blood sugar will allow you to watch out for this.

 

[Drummer]

They are treating your husband as type 2 even with the rapid weightloss?
I really advise that you send off for a blood glucose tester - I found the Spirit Healthcare Tee2+ which seems a reasonable price and has given consistent results.
I'm afraid that the advice to use wholemeal carbs is an indication that they don't know much about diabetes.
If your husband starts to feel unwell over the weekend then dialling 111 or - if he seems really bad, A & E might be an option. I suspect that he could be a variant of type one - I could be over thinking it, but it would be as well to be aware that it could be the case.

 

[Inka]

To add more - even if he is Type 2, the blood glucose meter will still be extremely helpful as it will let him see the effects various foods are having and to moderate his diet to get the best results.

You say he fell over 3 times. That sounds worrying. Did he have any symptoms before he fell over?

 

[jaynio7]

Thanks so much I will get the meter to test. What blood sugar am I looking for This is his fourth week on metformin, I should have said this, the falls were in may, he was really unwell. He is better than that now, slightly,took a while to get his appetite back, but his weight is steady. He still is very tired, he has copd as well,this can make exercise difficult, but we are keeping this up, its such a relief to speak to people who know what they are talking about, when I read back my first post, I could see how panicked i was and still am, thank you so much x

 

[Drummer]

Thanks so much I will get the meter to test. What blood sugar am I looking for This is his fourth week on metformin, I should have said this, the falls were in may, he was really unwell. He is better than that now, slightly,took a while to get his appetite back, but his weight is steady. He still is very tired, he has copd as well,this can make exercise difficult, but we are keeping this up, its such a relief to speak to people who know what they are talking about, when I read back my first post, I could see how panicked i was and still am, thank you so much x

You can register with Spirit Healthcare's website and you then get an email to confirm that your order is for someone being treated for diabetes, then when you return to the site you can order without paying VAT.
You will, of course, get the exact reading of blood glucose at the time of the test (what do they teach these people?) and so you will be able to see the effects of a meal and the progress made. The usual way to start out is to test just before eating, than 2 hours later. After a while the before test should become unnecessary. Two hours is a good time interval as it shows both progress and how a person is coping with that specific meal. If the double testing shows over 2 to 3 whole numbers difference then it indicates too many carbs. As time goes on the after eating test should be drifting lower little by little as the metabolism recovers.

 

[jaynio7]

Thankyou for that, very grateful

 

[Inka]

Thanks so much I will get the meter to test. What blood sugar am I looking for This is his fourth week on metformin, I should have said this, the falls were in may, he was really unwell. He is better than that now, slightly,took a while to get his appetite back, but his weight is steady. He still is very tired, he has copd as well,this can make exercise difficult, but we are keeping this up, its such a relief to speak to people who know what they are talking about, when I read back my first post, I could see how panicked i was and still am, thank you so much x

That depends on what his blood sugar is now really @jaynio7 Although high blood sugar isn’t good for the body, it’s better to bring it down gradually rather than have a sudden drop. There is some information here, but, again, bear in mind that if his levels are high, he’s looking for a gentle decline downwards not a cliff edge drop. So these are levels he should be working towards not necessarily expect to have immediately:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/managing-your-diabetes/testing

.

 

[jaynio7]

That was really helpful, thanks,

 

[rebrascora]

I am really surprised that the surgery have not supplied your husband with a BG meter and test strips now he is on Gliclazide, especially if he has had some recent falls. If he drives then he should be testing his levels before he drives because gliclazide can cause hypos and I believe they should have supplied that equipment to keep him and others safe.
I would ring up the surgery first thing tomorrow and ask why he hasn't been given a testing kit (and sharpsafe) and shown how to use it, when he has been prescribed a medication which can cause hypos and mention that he has suffered several falls. It might be worth buying one online in the mean time if you can afford it ( Approx £15 for a basic kit) but you will need at least a couple of extra pots of test strips (approx £10 each) and a box of lancets (£5ish) unless you are happy reusing the few that come with the kit. Some of us have an annual changing of the lancet on St Swithin's day even though they are supposed to be single use. Anyway, it is always useful to have a back up BG meter even if the surgery manage to fix you up with one which they should but might take time for them to get it sorted, particularly with the weekend approaching.

I too am of the opinion that your husband is likely a late onset Type 1 like myself and many others on the forum. 40-50g carbs per meal may well be a lot more than his body can manage without injected insulin. A meter will show you if he is coping with that level or it needs to be reduced and if there are some carbs which affect him more than others, as it can be quite individual...For instance some people can get away with a little wholemeal pasta, but potatoes send their levels into orbit (mash particularly) whilst other people can manage a few roasties but bread is a no go. Porridge can work well for some and best avoided by others. A meter will enable you to tailor his menu to his own particular body's tolerance and tastes of course. No point in eating porridge if you hate it even if it doesn't spike your levels. If he is eventually found to be Type 1 then he will need to start injecting insulin at some point probably in the near future and as others have said, things could come to a head suddenly although lowering his carb intake should buy you a little time. Might also be worth popping to the chemist tomorrow and picking up some Ketostix so that you can test his urine (approx £5) from the pharmacy counter. This is so that he can test his urine for ketones, which in the presence of high BG levels can make his blood acidic and make him very unwell (Diabetic Ketoacidosis... DKA). If he starts to get abdominal pain (other than the Metformin) or respiratory distress and his breath smells like pear drops, get him to hospital ASAP.

Anyway, that would be my advice. Most health care professionals have no idea of the power of BG testing when used to tailor your diet or how powerful the right diet can be in managing BG levels for Type 2 diabetes and if it turns out he is Type 1 then he will need to test regularly anyway, so the test kit will come in useful but should have been provided.

As regards Metformin, it is usual to start on just one tablet a day and slowly increase up to 4 over the course of several weeks. He should have been advised to take it with food, ideally mid meal or just after as it has a reputaion for gastric upset. I am sorry your husband has suffered such bad effects. If it doesn't settle down despite taking it with food then ask for the slow release version which may be easier on his system, but sometimes that explsive reaction does settle down after a few days/week.

Good luck and keep us posted on his progress

 

[jaynio7]

He never actually got onto the gliclazide, I have picked up new ER tablets, hope these will be better. Got a meter coming tomorrow, so that will be interesting. Surgerys viewpoint is that it wont help testing in the first 3 months , as we will get different readings, which arent necessarily right, when you know nothing about diabetes, you assume they know what they are talking about, so this sounded reasonable!!! What do I know!!! Thanks for the metformin tip mid meal, we are trying that.

 

[rebrascora]

If the doctor supposedly tried to contact you to tell you that he was prescribing Gliclazide then why is he not taking Gliclazide? It all seems shockingly muddled. Sadly this is all too common at the moment though. Hope the extended release "Metfartin" are kinder to him and that taking mid meal helps a bit too. At least my nurse warned me about possible side effects! If we weren't mostly staying at home anyway, that could have been horribly embarrassing and uncomfortable for him. Poor guy! Really hope you make some useful progress soon and get some better support from your Health Care Professionals

 

[jaynio7]

It's a sad fact that I dont expect much from doctors, and have they got worse since the start of covid!!! But thanks to everyone for all their help

 

[Jay Judge]

so my husband lost over two stone very rapidly, within 4 weeks, by the second week we had the doctor involved. Rob had no other health problems, so to start with they went with a liver problem, and he had blood tests for that, and they set up an ultrasound scan, which found he had a fatty liver. Then on the third week, he developed a raging thirst, advised the doctor of this, they set up urgent blood tests, which still took two days to get an appointment, they got the results next day, and went into real panic mode. Doctor rang the hospital as they thought Rob might need to go in there, high sugars and very low sodium. Hospital advised them to bring him into the surgery do a test, check everything else, final decision was to put him on metoformin. They let us go with 500g tablet twice a day, and told Rob not to "eat sweet things", and eat wholemeal bread and pasta, excellent information. They also said the diabetic doctor from the surgery would be in touch. So, 11 days later, no one has contacted us, rang the surgery. Apparently the doctor had tried to contact us to put Rob on glyclazide as well, he couldn't remember which numbers he had rung, but certainly not the mobile. He said there was no need for Rob to test his blood sugars, as the metformin would work to reduce this, and he put the metformin up to 1000 g a day. Nothing was said about the side effects, bless, they left us to find out about them by ourselves. We have thrown away many undergarments, sorry about that. Trying now with a gut health yoghurt twice a day, fingers crossed. So Rob's eyes are blurry, so again contacted the surgery. They said blurry eyes were what happenned and that they would settle down when his sugars were down. We have an optician appointment on the 12th July, at home, doctor said the optician might delay the eye test if his eyes are still blurry. Again he said we do not need to check his blood sugars, even though I said how do we know we are doing the right thing. The reason for this is because we would not get a correct reading because his blood sugars have not stabilised. What do you think, is that correct? During the time waiting to find out what was wrong, Rob fell at least 3 times, he looked like someone had beaten him up, he can still get dizzy, is that part of it.
So, having read everything I can find, we are working on the carb factor, 40to 55 carbs per meal, which includes any dessert, and anything over as a snack.
Rob is dessert mad, so I knew this was going to be difficult, lol, strawberries and cream, very low carb icecream, frozen berries with yoghurt, can he eat watermelon, some say yes, some say no, so off this. Can he have a bar of chocolate as a treat if it is included in his carbs. Thank god for hovis nimble, so low carb.
Any advice would be welcome, especially regarding testing blood sugars. I do feel that we have been left to discover stuff ourselves, the doctor gave us a number of a local diabetic place, you can go for 2 1/2 hours a week for six weeks and they will tell you what you need to know, but I work full time, there is little chance of doing this. They kindly sent us some reading stuff, but its what we already have off diabetes uk.

Go to boots buy a test kit and check the blood sugars, I do know that if he drives and his blood sugars are under 5 it automatically invalidates his insurance

 

[jaynio7]

He doesnt drive, hasn't for a few years, but thanks .

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @jaynio7

I can*sort of* understand the surgery’s reluctance about checking BGs when then know the results are likely to be above the optimum range and that people might find that upsetting… but I don’t really agree with their strategy of just suggesting menu changes and hoping it works out eventually. As @rebrascora says, reactions to different foods can be very individual, and there really aren’t one set of ‘better’ choices that will work for everyone. Some people need to dramatically limit their carbohydrate intake for T2, others only need a modest tweak to their existing menu.

And if your husband ends up being LADA or some other type, then different treatment entirely will be needed - metformin and some diet tweaks won‘t be enough.

And all of this will be easier to see and monitor progress and reactions if you have BG levels to observe IMO. Just because you don’t check when BG is high, doesn’t make it not high!