Sudden glucose spike

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

John58

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi. This is my first post here, which I am making for a reason. I was diagnosed as Type 2 at the beginning of 2021.

After about four months of staying off Metformin and Gliclazide and with my glucose levels seemingly under control, things have suddenly gone a bit haywire at the end of last week.

On Friday my glucose count varied between about 20 and 7.6 over the course of the day. I've started back on my diabetes meds and need the loo a lot less already, although I haven't had any other symptoms such as dry mouth, tiredness etc.

What I am wondering is, could other medication - specifically Losartan - have caused this? I have also had a bit of an upset stomach and apparently Losartan can also cause this. Needless to say I will be speaking with my Diabetic nurse and GP as soon as I can. Anyone got any ideas about this?
 
Welcome to the forum @John58

Sorry to hear your diabetes has been throwing you a few curveballs recently :(

I am no expert, but I’ve not heard of Losartan being associated with increased glucose levels. It’s not something I’ve heard members talking about frequently either.

A quick google turned up a double blind randomised controlled trial which found Losartan to be neutral when it came to lipids and glucose levels.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of losartan on insulin sensitivity in hypertensive subjects - PubMed

Losartan, the first specific and orally available angiotensin II receptor antagonist, is a potent antihypertensive drug with a low incidence of side effects in humans. However, the effects of losartan on insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism have not been investigated in detail. Therefore...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Hope your nurse and GPs can give you some reassurance, and that your restarted meds start to bring your glucose levels back into line a little. 🙂
 
As a precaution I'm going to stop the Losartan and Bisoprol for a week or two while staying on the diabetes meds just to see how things are.

My bloods have been stable for quite a while now so I really am wondering what has caused this sudden flare up.
 
The one thing Losartan does (apart from reduce the BP which is why it's prescribed) is reduce the serum sodium level, which in itself may be OK as long as the serum potassium level is still OK. It certainly never affected my blood glucose level one way or the other all the years I took em.
 
John58 said:
As a precaution I'm going to stop the Losartan and Bisoprol for a week or two while staying on the diabetes meds just to see how things are.

My bloods have been stable for quite a while now so I really am wondering what has caused this sudden flare up.
Click to expand...

I would suggest talking to your GP or nurse before suspending any medication - they will be best placed to advise you.

Diabetes can and does throw the rule book out of the window on a whim, so it’s entirely possible that the raised levels are entirely unconnected to any of the medications you have been prescribed to help with various things.
 
I'm due to speak with a GP on the 25th, diabetic nurse on the 1st of March when I've an habc1 test scheduled although I am going to try and get an appointment this week. I will be surprised if I can't get my bloods back down to what for me are normal levels soon.
 
trophywench said:
The one thing Losartan does (apart from reduce the BP which is why it's prescribed) is reduce the serum sodium level, which in itself may be OK as long as the serum potassium level is still OK. It certainly never affected my blood glucose level one way or the other all the years I took em.
Click to expand...
I really need to sort out my meds with one of the local GPs again. I discovered I couldn't take Furosemide and Dapagliflozin together, and now I am concerned that something has provoked my blood levels, which is preferable to the idea that my Type 2 is just going to deteriorate.

My diet could be improved although my weight is acceptable and I am a bit active.
 
Has your diet changed since stopping the meds? Was it something you ate that put you up to 20? Did your GP talk to to come off the medication?
 
I've been off diabetes meds for about six months. This flare up happened on Friday and I haven't seen any medical people yet. My diet isn't perfect although I don't overeat and the last time I spoke with a diabetic nurse she seemed satisfied with how I was doing. This was towards the end of November.

I have a background here of hypertension since an operation I had in 2014, plus I've had a very nasty cold for about five weeks from first week of December to just about ten days ago.

The last time my bloods spiked like this was a year ago when I had a rhinitis infection. My glucose levels were higher than now for a few weeks. I'm also wondering if it's just the time of the year.
 
John58 said:
I've been off diabetes meds for about six months. This flare up happened on Friday and I haven't seen any medical people yet. My diet isn't perfect although I don't overeat and the last time I spoke with a diabetic nurse she seemed satisfied with how I was doing. This was towards the end of November.

I have a background here of hypertension since an operation I had in 2014, plus I've had a very nasty cold for about five weeks from first week of December to just about ten days ago.

The last time my bloods spiked like this was a year ago when I had a rhinitis infection. My glucose levels were higher than now for a few weeks. I'm also wondering if it's just the time of the year.
Click to expand...

John I don’t normally post on here but something you said concerned me. If you have a history of hypertension, please don’t stop the Bisoprolol as you suggested as this could be very dangerous. Wait until you receive medical advice. It sounds like you’ve had a virus for many weeks which could have destabilised your glucose control but please don’t mess with the meds which are important for cardiac function. Good luck!
 
Infections are likely to push up your blood glucose but it would usually begin to come down once you feel a bit better.
When you are unwell normal routine can become disrupted so you may have become dehydrated which can affect blood glucose.
Did you double check your very high reading as you could have had something on your fingers.
It is easy for diet to slip when you think things are going OK so you could perhaps revisit your menu and keep a food diary of everything you eat and drink with an estimate of the carbs, with some before and 2 hours after eating readings , it would at least provide some evidence to show your GP.
 
Leadinglights said:
Infections are likely to push up your blood glucose but it would usually begin to come down once you feel a bit better.
When you are unwell normal routine can become disrupted so you may have become dehydrated which can affect blood glucose.
Did you double check your very high reading as you could have had something on your fingers.
It is easy for diet to slip when you think things are going OK so you could perhaps revisit your menu and keep a food diary of everything you eat and drink with an estimate of the carbs, with some before and 2 hours after eating readings , it would at least provide some evidence to show your GP.
Click to expand...
I checked my readings thoroughly on Friday, I did about 8 from morning to dinner time and they were all over the place which is unusual. This happened from Thursday as I said. The most important reading is the one I take before the evening meal. This was suggested by one of the nurses and these readings have been stable for a while. I've started back on the Metformin and Gliclazide and the readings are still a bit high although I'm giving it a few days to work properly.

One thing is that the nurse I last spoke to told me that a bad cold or flu can affect an Habc1 test taken up to 6 weeks later and I definitely had an unpleasant cold that lasted almost a month, until about 10 days ago.
 
Leadinglights said:
Infections are likely to push up your blood glucose but it would usually begin to come down once you feel a bit better.
When you are unwell normal routine can become disrupted so you may have become dehydrated which can affect blood glucose.
Did you double check your very high reading as you could have had something on your fingers.
It is easy for diet to slip when you think things are going OK so you could perhaps revisit your menu and keep a food diary of everything you eat and drink with an estimate of the carbs, with some before and 2 hours after eating readings , it would at least provide some evidence to show your GP.
Click to expand...
I'm actually wondering if my glucose reader is very accurate, I definitely dropped and broke it a while ago although I have been able to fix it. Going to ask for a new one.
 
Amigo said:
John I don’t normally post on here but something you said concerned me. If you have a history of hypertension, please don’t stop the Bisoprolol as you suggested as this could be very dangerous. Wait until you receive medical advice. It sounds like you’ve had a virus for many weeks which could have destabilised your glucose control but please don’t mess with the meds which are important for cardiac function. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you, I am trying to be a bit conscientious about this.
 
trophywench said:
The one thing Losartan does (apart from reduce the BP which is why it's prescribed) is reduce the serum sodium level, which in itself may be OK as long as the serum potassium level is still OK. It certainly never affected my blood glucose level one way or the other all the years I took em.
Click to expand...
The NHS website does say that anyone with diabetes should check with their GP about Losartan so I am going to do this. Just wish I could get an appointment sooner, I need to book two weeks in advance.
 
Question @John58 - did they try you on an ACE inhibitor (all the BP drugs whose names end in ~pril, eg Lisinopril) for your BP before the Losartan?- cos usually they try that class of drug first.
 
I asked to be taken off Ramapril as it seemed to make me a bit twitchy. Now I need to reset all my meds again, seems to happen annually.
 
John58 said:
I asked to be taken off Ramapril as it seemed to make me a bit twitchy. Now I need to reset all my meds again, seems to happen annually.
Click to expand...
Aaah - I got the well known persistent dry cough side effect and hence had to be swapped to an ARB instead, which did the trick for years for me. Prob with me is that I do have low sodium, which the ~sartan drugs are famous for causing but then can't take anything which causes fluid retention (which a lot of BP lowering meds do for me and I've unsuccessfully tried different ones) but can't take any diuretic because of the low sodium. It is potty because I've been off the ARB for yonks now and my sodium is still low - perhaps some people just have low sodium?

Absolutely never heard of it affecting BG though and I'd certainly have noticed that for me, because of the frequent monitoring of it over the years both for myself and at odd times as a hospital in patient.
 
Low sodium would suit me very well. I just discovered that my blood pressure is definitely too high despite my taking Bisoprolol and Losartan regularly for the past four months. Not happy and already booked the GP appointment.
 
Amigo said:
John I don’t normally post on here but something you said concerned me. If you have a history of hypertension, please don’t stop the Bisoprolol as you suggested as this could be very dangerous. Wait until you receive medical advice. It sounds like you’ve had a virus for many weeks which could have destabilised your glucose control but please don’t mess with the meds which are important for cardiac function. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Agreed.

John58 said:
Low sodium would suit me very well. I just discovered that my blood pressure is definitely too high despite my taking Bisoprolol and Losartan regularly for the past four months. Not happy and already booked the GP appointment.
Click to expand...

Get my low sodium salt in tesco, don't use lot of salt anyway but like it on things like tomatos & fried eggs.

There's loads of low sodium products about, even gravy. Once stabilised exercise will also help keep bp down, simple exercise like walking is effective.

Taken ramipril for donkeys years never had any issues but have heard about cough symptom but never experienced it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top