please help

[Steve66]

I have just told my girlfriend charlotte off for writing such a load of rubbish. Yes, it's basically true, but due to her crazy state of mind, caused by her illness, it didn't make a great deal of sense and also says nothing of the extreme worry and anxiety we are both going through right now.

The facts are:-

She had a seizure - couldn't walk or talk.
Rushed to A&E she slowly regained her faculties.
They took blood tests but didn't tell her anything other than to see her doctor asap.
Instead of seeing the doctor she was given more blood tests.
Which - unbelievably - after 5 days on - were found to be lost and had to be repeated.
Based on these tests ( HBA 1C missing ) a nurse phoned and diagnosed type 2. However one piece of information we gave her which was erroneous was weight loss. Not having any working scales until 2 days ago we assumed she hadn't. The fact is - she has. The nurse prescribed Metformin 500mg one a day for the first 5 days then 2 a day after that. She has not been given any information whatsoever and no access to a glucose reader.
Lucky we bought a meter and the book ''Think like a pancreas'' which has been a great help.
We have a problem. Having taken so many readings, we're finding it hard to make sense of them. Although generally high (14-18) they are also erratic i.e.drops of 13.5 down to 2.3 in one hour and, after taking her first Metformin tablet with food her blood sugar dropped to 1.9 from 16.2 within 90 minutes.

We've also had 2 really frightening episodes (hypoglycemia) in the past few nights.

With nobody to give us any advice, and it also being the weekend, all we've been able to do is read as much as we can and in doing this we are now becoming more and more convinced that Charlotte is suffering from late on set type 1 diabetes.

1. Cannot control her bladder
2. lost weight
3. always thirsty
4. always tired.

So her medication is inappropriate.

We are so worried and scared.

She's not getting the right type of insulin and desperately needs a management programme.

Can anybody please help us with so much needed advice

Thank you.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Steve
Good to hear that Charlotte has a caring partner to look out for her and try to help. It is also excellent news that you have a BG meter.
The thing which is very odd is that she is suffering hypos when she is not injecting insulin or Gliclazide. If she was Type 1 LADA or Type 2 she would not be suffering hypos like that just on Metformin as it does not work that way... it just helps the body's cells utilise it' own insulin a bit more effectively. LADA and Type 1s generally see their BG get progressively higher and it only starts to yo-yo like you describe when they get started on injecting insulin and get the dosage wrong.

I wonder if she has a different and much rarer condition known as Reactive Hypoglycaemia where the BG rises and then drops suddenly and dramatically after a meal, particularly a meal which contains a good proportion of carbohydrates.
There is no specific treatment for this condition as far as I am aware but having multiple low carb meals a day rather than 2 or 3 carbohydrate rich meals can help. I am by no means an expert, having only read a few posts on the subject but it is something that you might want to research.

It would be a good idea for her to keep a food diary of everything she eats (and drinks) and take readings before each meal and then 2 hours after.

For information carbohydrates are not just the obvious sweet stuff like sugar, cakes, biscuits and sweets but also fruit and fruit juice and starchy foods, so anything made with flour or grains, like bread, pasta, couscous, noodles, rice, breakfast cereals (many high in both starches and sugars are a really bad double whammy) and root vegetables like potatoes in all their forms.
Meat and eggs and fish and mushrooms are all good and green leafy veg like cabbage, kale spring greens and salad leaves. Cauliflower is great for us diabetics and can be cooked and mashed with a dollop of cream cheese and mustard to replace mashed potato or grated and cooked to replace rice as well as used to make a lovely cauliflower cheese, which goes really well with ham/gammon, high meat content sausages etc.

I hope that gives you some ideas to help you manage things until you get further medical assistance.

 

[Ralph-YK]

Repeated post, with replies here: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/please-help.86729/
It's less confusing & easier if you keep everything in one thread.

 

[Ralph-YK]

The thing which is very odd is that she is suffering hypos when she is not injecting insulin or Gliclazide.

She's not getting the right type of insulin

I took this to mean she is on insulin.

 

[trophywench]

No Ralph - only on Metformin so Steve says. Steve also infers that Metformin reduced her blood sugar - it can't do that Steve. It isn't meant to even, directly.

 

[Inka]

It could be Reactive Hypoglycaemia or it could be a late insulin response - too much insulin, too late. So, she initially goes high because the first part of her insulin response is missing, but the second response still works and comes in late and too fierce.

I’d try to speak to her GP for support. In the meantime, I’d do as suggested above and stick with low carb meals. Keep testing obviously, and, due to the nighttime hypos you describe, I’d also set an alarm to test during the night.

There might be other medical issues that could be contributing to her problems so that’s why I suggest speaking to her GP and get some medical input.

Did the hospital say her seizure was due to hypoglycaemia or did they suggest other factors might be involved? Whatever, I think you need to speak to someone for further advice if there’s the possibility of further seizures. I’m presuming the loss of bladder control was due to the seizure?

Edited to add that I noticed mention of a bloated stomach and alcohol on Charlotte’s thread. Again, if there are any potential issues there, I’d hope the GP could provide information and support, and check the appropriate blood tests had been done.

 

[SB2015]

Hi Steve. Great for Charlotte that she has a partner who is so caring.

It is quite common for adults that develop T1 to be misdiagnosed, however as others have said if she is just in Metformin this cannot be causing hypoglycaemia. If her levels are going that low there must be another cause. I definitely think that she should contact her GP to get some follow up.

Is she logging the carbs that she is eating alongside her levels, and monitoring her levels before and about 2 hours after a meal. This can help to see how her body reacts to different amounts of carbs and also to different food stuffs. All useful info whatever type of Diabetes we have.

Let us know hw she gets on.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hello Steve

Welcome to the forum.

I think we are all a little confused about the hypo/hyper things, because what you’ve said about your partner and a possible diagnosis with diabetes would usually result in high (hyper) blood glucose, rather than low (hypo).

Were the very low numbers you have seen associated with the common hypo symptoms - disorientation, slurred speech, tingling lips, sweating, confusion, visual disturbance?

As has been said, there is a form of hypo called ‘reactive hypoglycaemia’ where the body responds to high BG with too much insulin, too late. That could well be worth discussing with your partner’s GP.

I hope you get to the bottom of this, because it sounds very worrying for you both.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Oh... and in terms of hypoglycaemia, it is important to treat it properly and swiftly. Your partner mentioned some odd things in another post, but that may have been confusion (it’s hard to remember clearly when your brain had been knocked sideways by a hypo!

The standard treatment for hypos is to use the ‘15 rule’. Eat 15g in carbs of fast acting glucose (2-3 jelly babies, 15 skittles, 3-4 glucose tabs, 200ml of Lucozade or full sugar Coke) then wait 15 minutes and check again. Retreat if necessary. You should do this with any BG below 4.0mmol/L