Started on Insulin - Stomach aches

[Seansmit17]

My BS has been hard to control for many years. Unless I quite literally walk 7 miles a day its been high 10-20.
I figure I must be borderline Type 1 tbh.

So, I have finaly been put on a daily injection of Insulin Toujeo. Curretnly up to 20 Units a day and gone from 2x80mg Gliclazide twice a day to just 1 80mg tablet a day. (plus some other meds i have been on for many years)

BS Has been coming down but still spikes when I eat. (Might be put on fast acting insulin for that) Anyway. The point of my post is,

Stomach aches, It's an odd one. It almost feels like hunger pains. Ive been getting them since I started the injections 6 weeks ago.

But the past few days the "ache" has changed to out right agony at times. It may be something else thats causing it but started at the same time. I cant see anything mentioning stomach aches with this medication either, But has anyone had this issue?

It could be an ulcer but I will have to get a hold of my GP to get checked out I think but thats a whole other can of worms to get through, So I thought id ask here before I subject my self to being on hold on the phone in a qeue of 40 other people trying to get an appointment.....

 

[Inka]

Hi @Seansmit17 Type 1 isn’t high blood sugar, or using insulin. It’s an auto-immune condition where your own body attacks the beta cells in your pancreas. You can’t progress from Type 2 to Type 1. They’re two very different conditions. However, if you think you were misdiagnosed, there are tests you can have done to help determine your diabetes type.

To answer your question, yes, insulin can occasionally cause stomach ache and something similar to IBS. It’s one reason why I changed insulins. However, it would be sensible to see your GP and get other causes ruled out first.

 

[rebrascora]

I am concerned about the stomach pains you are experiencing and wonder if it might be Type 3c rather than Type 1 or Type 2 and you are perhaps suffering with pancreatitis. Type 3c is damage to the pancreas due to disease, trauma or surgery. It is really important to get checked out and I would be pushing for a scan of your pancreas and liver, since your diabetes hasn't responded to Type 2 meds .... and presumably some dietary changes .... although you don't mention, that just walking??.... and you are now needing insulin. I agree that it may also be Type 1 considering you are in your 30s and have been diagnosed some time. I have no experience of insulin causing stomach pain and it will be a very rare side effect if that is the cause. I hope it is as that is easily fixed by swapping to a different type but really feel it is very important to get checked out. Can you correlate the pains to a period of time after injecting each day or is it totally random. ie. If you injected in the morning and got pains at lunchtime each day, that might be more indicative of the Toujeo being the issue.

Can you tell us a bit about how you came to be diagnosed. Did it come on suddenly or was it picked up via a routine blood test? Did you have symptoms and what were they? How old were you when you were diagnosed? Do you have much/any weight to lose and have you lost any weight during the intervening period unintentionally? Have you had any problems with your gall bladder?

Does your surgery have an eConsult option. I had my diabetes diagnosed via this means 4.5 years ago and it was a very efficient way of getting prompt attention. I filled in the proforma email on the Sunday at my own leisure detailing my symptoms, the doctor read it Monday morning and made an appointment for me with the nurse on Tuesday for a blood test and I had a phone call from the nurse on Wed with the results.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear about the pain you’ve been experiencing @Seansmit17 and the ongoing difficulties managing your glucose levels.

It does sound like that acute stomach pain needs to be checked out. Does your surgery offer an ‘e consult’ option? That may be a way of flagging your concerns without having to jump through the phoning-for-appointments fiery hoops.

If your stomach pain worsens, you might also want to consider A&E, or NHS111.

Hope you are able to get an appointment soon.