[Diabetes] General Chat and Support Thread

not yet

My BG readings seem a bit odd at times. During the day they can be 5.4 to 6.6 (very little carbs and no sugar) but my morning reading is always around 6.2 to 6.8 even having fasted from 8pm to 8am..

Anyone else have higher reading in the morning. I'm aware of the dawn effect and can only put it down to this. I've answered my own question haven't I

banie01

not yet wrote: »

Anyone else have higher reading in the morning. I'm aware of the dawn effect and can only put it down to this. I've answered my own question haven't I

Yep you reall have IMO.

My morning readings are always my highest throughput a day unless I go on a serious sugar binge.

Combination of the dawn effect and a leaky liver in my own case.

not yet

banie01 wrote: »

Yep you reall have IMO.

My morning readings are always my highest throughput a day unless I go on a serious sugar binge.

Combination of the dawn effect and a leaky liver in my own case.

Seems to be the 'norm' in the morning, I've been really focused on morning readings up till now, I'm going to stop taking reading in the morning and focus on evening readings. It's so simple foe me..If I watch my carbs etc I'll always read mid 5s, if I lose track it can be high 6s..

jimf

I think its our livers thinking we are starving to death during sleep and giving us an ould dump in preparation for the day

johnnie T2

Went to the podiatrist this morning - he cleaned and scraped all the hard skin off my feet.
Did a few sensory tests (asking if where the pin was touching my foot with eyes closed) and then did a sonar test checking the pulses on my feet and ankles.

He said all seemed fine bar the pulse on front of my right foot a bit off the others but could be just cause of sport etc.
He said to continue with the sports just ensure to clean any cuts and make sure they are healing and not infected.

We had a general discussion about diabetes and he gave me a load of booklets similar to what I got from my GP previously. Again kind of a lot of possibilities as he noted its unusual for me to be T2 with family history. He said with my testosterone levels its possibly some hormonal thing going on and another test should clarify.

A few hours later I got a call from what I assume was the GP working in the podiatrist clinic saying the podiatrist from earlier had advised she call me to follow up on few things I said in the exam. She said he mentioned I was prescribed metformin but not taking it - she said with the low testosterone at my age this is a sign of diabetes and possibly the metformin could help this and to start the metformin now so that it is in my system before seeing endocrinologist.

Any thoughts on this last paragraph? the podiatrist seemed to cast doubt if its diabetes I have, then I was told after to start meds? have any of you heard of metformin helping with low testosterone.
I would have been thinking it been better to see the Endo meds free so he can assess me from clean slate rather than after effect of meds. cheers

ohnonotgmail

johnnie T2 wrote: »

Went to the podiatrist this morning - he cleaned and scraped all the hard skin off my feet.
Did a few sensory tests (asking if where the pin was touching my foot with eyes closed) and then did a sonar test checking the pulses on my feet and ankles.

He said all seemed fine bar the pulse on front of my right foot a bit off the others but could be just cause of sport etc.
He said to continue with the sports just ensure to clean any cuts and make sure they are healing and not infected.

We had a general discussion about diabetes and he gave me a load of booklets similar to what I got from my GP previously. Again kind of a lot of possibilities as he noted its unusual for me to be T2 with family history. He said with my testosterone levels its possibly some hormonal thing going on and another test should clarify.

A few hours later I got a call from what I assume was the GP working in the podiatrist clinic saying the podiatrist from earlier had advised she call me to follow up on few things I said in the exam. She said he mentioned I was prescribed metformin but not taking it - she said with the low testosterone at my age this is a sign of diabetes and possibly the metformin could help this and to start the metformin now so that it is in my system before seeing endocrinologist.

Any thoughts on this last paragraph? the podiatrist seemed to cast doubt if its diabetes I have, then I was told after to start meds? have any of you heard of metformin helping with low testosterone.
I would have been thinking it been better to see the Endo meds free so he can assess me from clean slate rather than after effect of meds. cheers

assuming it was the GP you were talking to i would go with what they say before the podiatrist.

CramCycle

Em, no, in some cases it is reported as lowering Testosterone, not the other way around (you said your GP claimed yours was low right?). Again though, everyone is different and this is what, while a GP can make educated recommendations, an endocrinologist is the person to talk to, as well as the health care team, testosterone levels vary widely from person to person and while it maybe low compared to the population, it could simply be fine for you.

Personally if it was me and I didn't need it yet, I'd take the GPs original advice and wait for the endo to see you, so they get a clear overview with no interfering factors, but thats me.

johnnie T2

CramCycle wrote: »

Em, no, in some cases it is reported as lowering Testosterone, not the other way around (you said your GP claimed yours was low right?). Again though, everyone is different and this is what, while a GP can make educated recommendations, an endocrinologist is the person to talk to, as well as the health care team, testosterone levels vary widely from person to person and while it maybe low compared to the population, it could simply be fine for you.

Personally if it was me and I didn't need it yet, I'd take the GPs original advice and wait for the endo to see you, so they get a clear overview with no interfering factors, but thats me.

My blood tests with my GP showed I have <0.3 testosterone and was asking me if I could grow a beard etc. so assume quite low.
My GP prescribed me Metformin but said it was no rush to start it i.e. I could wait for my LTI card to arrive - but still was suggesting going on it.

Since I had no more bloods or conclusive tests of feeling bad myself - my thoughts were to not do any meds before seeing the Endo. The GP on phone today from the center seemed to think it would be good for the Endo to see the results of some time on the meds beforehand - whereas I'm sort of unsure of the diagnosis to begin with.

As I was hoping to increase testosterone soon I was just wondering about this as she said to me that metformin would help the glucose regulation to fix testosterone issues. Didn't really hear anyone saying that the metformin would help with testosterone issues.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Has your GP spoken to you about Testogel to fix your low test count?.

Like you I was diagnosed with a low test count, can't recall what it was but I was put on Testogel and have found it brilliant particularly for me moods and although I hadn't noticed anything and there was no complaints but I was about a week into it and riding my bike home and got a random erection, it wasn't until that happened that I realized this hadn't happened in a long time.

But there's the potential for raised blood pressure when using TRT, I've recently been put on medication for stage II hypertension. I was asked if I wanted to come off the TRT and check my BP over the course of three months but I'd be really reluctant to come off TRT at this stage.

Good news for me is my last HBA1C score was 32 and I've been taken off metformin, something I was reluctant to do but I done it as a little celebration too

Royal Legend

Adalyn Big Numeral wrote: »

Has your GP spoken to you about Testogel to fix your low test count?.

Like you I was diagnosed with a low test count, can't recall what it was but I was put on Testogel and have found it brilliant particularly for me moods and although I hadn't noticed anything and there was no complaints but I was about a week into it and riding my bike home and got a random erection, it wasn't until that happened that I realized this hadn't happened in a long time.

But there's the potential for raised blood pressure when using TRT, I've recently been put on medication for stage II hypertension. I was asked if I wanted to come off the TRT and check my BP over the course of three months but I'd be really reluctant to come off TRT at this stage.

Good news for me is my last HBA1C score was 32 and I've been taken off metformin, something I was reluctant to do but I done it as a little celebration too

Great to hear you are off the metformin, well done

not yet

Lads, I'm going to throw this out there, not sure what I'm thinking but maybe some thoughts would help..

Not on Meds as previously explained, BG range between 5.4 to 6.6 when I watch crabs etc. Been on a statin for 7 odd years, which I rightly,or wrongly blame for a lot of my issues. Anyways, stopped the statin about a week ago and all my BG readings seem to be mid 5s, even after medium amount of crabs. Not really sure whats going on but am thinking the statin possibly keeping my BG High.
???

Gremlinertia

not yet - charter applies, no medical advice allowed, please contact your health professional before adjusting meds unsupervised
However i'll leave this post for now in case other posters have some input.

not yet

Gremlinertia wrote: »

not yet - charter applies, no medical advice allowed, please contact your health professional before adjusting meds unsupervised
However i'll leave this post for now in case other posters have some input.

How are thoughts medical advice..

Gremlinertia

not yet wrote: »

How are thoughts medical advice..

Please dont question mod notes on thread but for clarity on this occasion it could be any other poster seeing the post and leading to a discussion that may fall foul of the forum charter. Any further questions feel free to Pm myself or indeed another mod of the forum, Grem

not yet

Gremlinertia wrote: »

Please dont question mod notes on thread but for clarity on this occasion it could be any other poster seeing the post and leading to a discussion that may fall foul of the forum charter. Any further questions feel free to Pm myself or indeed another mod of the forum, Grem

OK cool..

jimf

congrats on such good numbers

but I would be very slow to come off medication without doctors advice

the thing with a lot of these medical issues we suffer from they tend to come in little groups ie

diabetes for instance can be seen with/ high cholesterol /or maybe blood pressure raised /or even gout

with diabetes we can test at home via our meters bp we can test if we have a monitor but cholesterol we need docs assistance


hope this doesn't sound like me been a negative ould fart I don't mean to be as you are to be congratulated on your glucose control

CramCycle

27.1mmol/l over night, woke up in such pain I couldn't get out of bed as my back and legs had seized. By morning coffee time it was down to 1.7mmol/l. Needless to say, this has been a poor day for my Diabetes.

banie01

Artovastatin/Lipitor is known to have an adverse effect on some individuals and can raise BG or lead to type 2 diabetes.
It's an on label warning for the medication.

That said, if you have already been diagnosed T2 and are being treated as such a station is usually only added to control cholesterol and reduce arterial plaque.

I'd always advise any change in meds be discussed with your care team, but it is a known issue with Lipitor and may be playing a part in increased BG.

banie01

CramCycle wrote: »

27.1mmol/l over night, woke up in such pain I couldn't get out of bed as my back and legs had seized. By morning coffee time it was down to 1.7mmol/l. Needless to say, this has been a poor day for my Diabetes.

Jesus CC!
Hope you are picking up a bit, that's a rough set of numbers like.

not yet

jimf wrote: »

congrats on such good numbers

but I would be very slow to come off medication without doctors advice

the thing with a lot of these medical issues we suffer from they tend to come in little groups ie

diabetes for instance can be seen with/ high cholesterol /or maybe blood pressure raised /or even gout

with diabetes we can test at home via our meters bp we can test if we have a monitor but cholesterol we need docs assistance


hope this doesn't sound like me been a negative ould fart I don't mean to be as you are to be congratulated on your glucose control

No, Absolutely not, I am going to see my GP soon and maybe even change the statin, They seem to be horrible drug to be on..

jimf

as banie says above a lot of docs put us on low dose im on 10mg for vascular protection im also on aspirin 75mg again preventative im told

even though my ch is quite good at 4.6 ldl low hdl high

jimf

same ould story lads no money to be made on cures only treatment

was reading recently the cost of diabetes treatment in the us is just crazy we don't know how lucky we are here as we are covered regardless of income

not yet

jimf wrote: »

same ould story lads no money to be made on cures only treatment

was reading recently the cost of diabetes treatment in the us is just crazy we don't know how lucky we are here as we are covered regardless of income

No profit in a healthy patient..

banie01

jimf wrote: »

same ould story lads no money to be made on cures only treatment

was reading recently the cost of diabetes treatment in the us is just crazy we don't know how lucky we are here as we are covered regardless of income

We really are, and we get relatively quick access to updated drug treatment regimes too. The Tech side could use a bump IMO.
I think freestyle or similar CGM should be made available Insulin dependant diabetics as a matter of course.

The US in particular is an awful, awful place to be sick.
There are a few threads ongoing over on reddit r/diabetes that highlight the recent deaths of 3 young diabetics.

the choice between paying rent, buying food, paying for education, paying for the car to allow them get to work to earn the money needed to pay for all this and trying to balance that with somehow paying for insulin they needed to stay safe and healthy.
They made poor choices and they died as a result of money management...

Whatever else I will say about our health system, those are choices that none of us will have to face.
I mean in the US my meds would easily run to 2k a month!!!

In Ireland I'm lucky the LTI scheme covers the majority of that and I'm even luckier that my health issues have resulted in me being granted a medical card.
But even before I had that, the cap of €144 a month for medication is a real safety net that in the "greatest country" in the world is denied too many people.

The number of people in the US suffering amputation and diabetes related complication due to not being able to afford Doctors visits and having no integrated care and support system is something that any 1st world country should be ashamed of IMO.

ohnonotgmail

jimf wrote: »

same ould story lads no money to be made on cures only treatment

was reading recently the cost of diabetes treatment in the us is just crazy we don't know how lucky we are here as we are covered regardless of income

which would make sense if there was a cure available. unfortunately there isn't.

jimf

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

which would make sense if there was a cure available. unfortunately there isn't.

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oh I agree 100 % but there are cures out there for other ailments im sure which are been treated long term

who knows maybe even type 2

but my point was are we on more drugs than we actually need

ohnonotgmail

jimf wrote: »

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oh I agree 100 % but there are cures out there for other ailments im sure which are been treated long term

who knows maybe even type 2

but my point was are we on more drugs than we actually need

short of a pancreas transplant there is no cure for diabetes

jimf

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

short of a pancreas transplant there is no cure for diabetes

has it been tried with any success I wonder

ohnonotgmail

jimf wrote: »

has it been tried with any success I wonder

has what been tried?

banie01

jimf wrote: »

has it been tried with any success I wonder

Yes, its quite a common transplant.
Type 2 can be put into remission as can be demonstrated my Mak here and a few others.
Simple but determined lifestyle changes can also massively improve the prognosis of many Diabetes patients.