My dr is nuts,..i have the flu...and ?'s
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My dr is nuts,..i have the flu...and ?'s
| Wed, 05-26-2004 - 5:27pm |
I have been wanting to post here now for almost a week. I saw the dr last fri. He's enough to make a nun swear. I told him that one thing I have learned is that I cannot eat PB and jelly sandwiches for lunch. He asked me why and I told him that the combination of jelly and bread (whole wheat) it makes my BG run to high and I get sleepy and can't do my job properly. He said it had nothing to do with the jelly, just the bread. I told him that turkey and cheese on whole wheat does not do it. He says well the problem isn't the bread..it's the bread with the jelly. I'm like...that's what I just said! Argh! Then he says he wants me to do the 3 month blood test to get my numbers for the specialist next month. Now, i asked him for this test in Feb. He didn't feel it was necessary. For the last 3 months I have been controlling my BG with diet and drugs. So of course it's gonna be fine. Duh. Plus, he has nothing to compare it to cause he wouldn't run it in Feb when I was real sick with the high numbers. THEN he tells me the Metformin will cause me to gain weight. Last time I was there he said I'd lose weight. I've done neither. Then he said my job wasn't giving me enough exercise and I had to add some cardio. Last time I was there he said my job was perfect for a diabetic cause of the exercise I get all day and not to lose my job. AAAAAAAAAAAA!
Questions: I had no side effects from the Metformin for the first 2 weeks. On day 16 however I started having bad stomach pains ( like my gut was real hot inside) and now I'm constipated. Is this the Metformin? My stomach hurts at night after dinner and while I sleep.
Also, last night out of nowhere I got sick. Headache, swollen glands that made it hard to swallow and a fever. Today it got worse and I had to leave work. I was so sleepy and in so much pain. my muscles were aching and I felt dizzy. I slept for 3 hrs and when I woke up I was real lightheaded so I checked my numbers...it was 70. I did not feel hungry or hypo. I did have lunch right before I went to sleep and took advil. I still feel like crap. Should by number be that low? I have never been sick before while being a diabetic so I have no idea how everything works now. Do the rules change?
Also, I have joint pain in every part of my body pretty much. Severe morning stiffness or even if I sit for 10 mins or so. I cramp up. Is this part of the diabetes or the Metformin? I mentioned it to my dr both visits. The first visit he said it was the diabetes. The second visit he said it wasn't.
Thanks everyone
Questions: I had no side effects from the Metformin for the first 2 weeks. On day 16 however I started having bad stomach pains ( like my gut was real hot inside) and now I'm constipated. Is this the Metformin? My stomach hurts at night after dinner and while I sleep.
Also, last night out of nowhere I got sick. Headache, swollen glands that made it hard to swallow and a fever. Today it got worse and I had to leave work. I was so sleepy and in so much pain. my muscles were aching and I felt dizzy. I slept for 3 hrs and when I woke up I was real lightheaded so I checked my numbers...it was 70. I did not feel hungry or hypo. I did have lunch right before I went to sleep and took advil. I still feel like crap. Should by number be that low? I have never been sick before while being a diabetic so I have no idea how everything works now. Do the rules change?
Also, I have joint pain in every part of my body pretty much. Severe morning stiffness or even if I sit for 10 mins or so. I cramp up. Is this part of the diabetes or the Metformin? I mentioned it to my dr both visits. The first visit he said it was the diabetes. The second visit he said it wasn't.
Thanks everyone

I am sorry you are sick and being a new diabetic it can be pretty scarry.
You raised a number of issues that I would like to discuss with you. First off it is okay to run the A1C now. It probably would have been sky high if he had run it when you were first diagnosed. Let's see what it is now and if you are even getting close to treatment goals. So I am glad he is finally running it even though it is so that you can take it to the specialist. You may not be as fine as you think because you can't test 24 hours per day and you can miss highs and lows of your blood sugar.
Metformin doesn't cause weight gain. That is one of its good points. In the vast majority of people it causes weight loss which wears off in time ( or so I was told Saturday at the diabetes conference I went to.). Some people do complain of condtipation with it. Increase the amount of liquids that you are drinking and that should help. My experience with metformin is that I had a drastic drop in appetite when I started taking the drug and my appetite has never returned to the pre-medication level. So I have lost about 20 pounds on the metformin. I lost about 8 pounds the first month I was on the drug. My doc was concerned and I was thrilled!
I don't know what is causing your severe stiffness. I just looked up metformin in the PDR to make sure that I hadn't forgotten something and no where did it say anything about metformin causing muscle aches and pain or joint stiffness. This is also not something that you usually hear about being caused with diabetes.
I think you told us that you are a painter. Am I correct? If that is correct that is a pretty active job but I still think you need to get some exercise besides what you get on the job. The latest recommendation is 4 hours of exercise per week. Now, I don't know how in the world most of us can meet that goal but we really should try. So I would suggest that you do some supplemental walking for about 30 minutes 4 times per week and see if that helps with your weight and your blood sugar.
Did your doctor check your blood pressure when you saw him? Here in the US and Canada the recommendation for diabetics blood pressure is 130/80 or less. Do you know what your's was?
So test your blood sugar more frequently while you aren't feeling well. If it gets above 300 you need to call the doctor and if it gets above 400 you need to be seen at the emergency room. I do hope that you just have a virus and that it will pass real soon. Make sure you drink enough fluids and if your blood sugar is low and you aren't able to hold solid food down it okay to have regular coke.
Take care and I hope to read that you are better soon,
Mary Frances
cl-maryfrances40
Co-CL Diabetes Board