Prayers for my mom, and any advice from diabetics/people with diabetic relatives is appreciated....

[moriah]

She was just diagnosed with diabetes. The random sugar they drew was over 500. Her husband has a blood glucose meter, and a 2-hour post-parandial showed "Hi" -- which on his meter, was 600.

Her fasting glucose level this morning was 300.

They just started her on Metformin so it hasn't even had a week to react, but she's having a lot of symptoms -- exhaustion, confusion, lost 20 lbs in a month, and *severe* headaches.

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As her daughter, I know there's nothing I can do. But I'm also aware that she's very lucky she wasn't in a coma with those kinds of sugars, and a 300 fasting is in the danger level too AFAIK.

Diabetics: were your sugars this high when you were first getting it under control w/o insulin? I can't help but worry that they're just giving her the brush-off, when the last person I knew who was diagnosed with diabetes with a fasting sugar of over 300 was immediately handed insulin syringes and given an appointment with an endocrinologist for the next day. She had gastric bypass surgery 15 years ago and is only in the "overweight" category now, drinks unsweetened tea and diet sodas already, eats healthily.... and no one in our family has diabetes.

[Aristus]

1. I treat a lot of patients with Diabetes.

What was your mother's hemoglobin A1C level? You can PM it to me if you want.

Metformin is a great medication for treating Diabetes. It can cause a lot of the side effects you mentioned, plus diarrhea, which is the most common side effect. But it's fantastic at bringing down glycosylated hemoglobin levels with very low risk of causing the patient to become hypoglycemic. Hypoglycemia can actually be much, much more dangerous than hyperglycemia.

[moriah]

5. Dunno what the A1C levels were, they were testing her for DKA and HHNS quickly tho.

Fortunately, she hadn't developed either yet.

Because of being post roux-en-y gastric bypass, she has a lot of experience with hypoglycemia and knows how to recognize it, fortunately. I can't help but wonder if the constant "dumping syndrome" she experienced when she ate sweets had something to do with this happening now -- her poor pancreas might have said "Enough is enough, I can't do this anymore!"

[TreasonousBastard]

2. We've got a diabetes support group...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1271

It's not as active as i'd like, but it's there, and good people have been posting.

I was way up there when first diagnosed, and can still into the 200's once in while, even while on insulin, if I don't watch the diet and exercise. That's bad, and long-term it's more problems, but it won't kill me this week. Same with your mother-- once they figure out how to get it under better control, she should be OK. Or as OK as it gets. That they could get it down from 500 to 300 so fast is a good sign.

Her husband with the 600? And he already has a meter so he's presumably being treated, so 600 is way too high. I've known people who just stubbornly won't give up the rice or that third ear of corn. Or the donuts. I don't know what's going on with him, but he needs to get it down any way he can.

[moriah]

4. It was her with the 600 after eating, she is using his meter since she hasn't gotten one of her own.

I heard that number and nearly wet myself.

Edit: thanks for the link to the group, I'll check it out. I know as a daughter there's nothing I can really do except support her and hope it doesn't get any worse.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Yes, I misread that...

But, again, if they can get her down to 300 on metformin, the next step might be to add glipizide, and then insulin to get her down to normal. That's what they did for me, and it's working, but everyone's different and her doctors know her best. And, there are newer drugs out there that may work better for her.

Bet wishes to you both.

[TexasTowelie]

3. Her blood sugars of 300 are too high for waking up after fasting all night.

If her blood sugars are above 600 after eating again that is too high. Both of those are particularly troubling if she has started a metformin regimen and makes me suspicious that her body is not producing any insulin whatsoever. It is not a surprise that she feels exhausted and her weight loss may also be attributed to her high blood glucose levels.

As far as diet is concerned she should reduce her intake of carbohyrdrates (including bread and pasta) and starches since they will be converted to glucose. She should also try to get some exercise although that may be difficult with the fatigue.

[moriah]

6. Yeah, the weight loss, exhaustion, blurred vision, and yeast infections were what sent her to doc.

Due to the GB, she can't eat much untoasted bread, but would definitely eat a lot of pasta because it didn't give her stomach troubles. Meat, on the other hand, is very hard for her to digest.

I praised the Fage Greek yogurt I love so much, and the low-fat sharp cheddar cheese sticks that I ate a lot of when I was losing weight, as alternative snacks. I dunno if Greek yogurt is better than others insofar as sugars, but I know it's got a higher amount of protein. She's also eating a lot of salad, but her doctor said to avoid dressings, which is making it harder to eat them. I know they want her to continue to try to lose some weight, but her BMI is only a 28 now, where it used to be 48.8 before her surgery 15 years ago. I'd rather see her eating the salads with Hidden Valley Light dressing (3 g carb, 7 g fat) if she'd actually eat the salads.... ya know?

[lovemydog]

8. Prayers for your mom, moriah.

[PennyK]

9. Please look into low carb

Fat is not the enemy, carbs are(sugars and starches). All starches turn to sugar in your body. At least get off the processed crap and eat brown rice and REAL bread. Meat, eggs, fish and all the great fats, and you'll see a huge improvement!