Hi --

I am new to the forum! I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes almost 10 years ago, but until last month I was not on any medication.

I've done LC pretty consistently for several years, along with regular exercise. I slipped off the wagon this summer -- there was a stressful situation in the family so I handled it by eating :-(

My A1C soared to 8.1 and I couldn't get my BG's under 200 even when I went back on the LC program. So the doctor started me on Avandia, 4 mg twice a day, a month ago. The numbers didn't move much at all and I started to feel awful 3 days after starting the Avandia.

I went in for a physical last week (at that point I had been on the Avandia for 3 weeks) and he handed me a prescription for Glucotrol XL, 5 mg, at the end of the visit. I didn't realize till I came home and looked it up that it was a sulfonylurea, which I have always wanted to avoid.

Won't that just burn my pancreas out faster? I went ahead and started on it because I thought it was essential to get the BG's down.

I am being strict with the LC program again (basically Bernstein's 6-12-12 with maybe one small 3-6 gram snack after exercise.) My fasting BG's have dropped to about 155 (down from mid-200's 5 weeks ago). My fasting BG is usually quite a bit higher than my bedtime reading. Immediately after exercise I have been getting readings of about 90 --- and that is lower than I used to get after exercise, so I am attributing it to the Avandia and Glucotrol.

But I am really unhappy about being on any meds at all, and I am worried about the sulfonylurea in particular. Dr. Bernstein's book (which was published before Avandia was out) says he uses Glucophage.

I have felt bad ever since I started the Avandia, and I don't think it's doing much anyway. I feel a sort of full feeling in my chest and neck and head and I am "aware" of my heart beating, altho it doesn't seem to be racing. I would describe the feelings as symptoms of low BG, except that when I check, the numbers are not low. I told the doctor and he said he's never heard of that type of reaction, so he wanted to do a 24-hr holter monitor test and echocardiogram. I'm wearing the monitor right now.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Do you think the Glucotrol XL is ok to use for awhile? (Oh, yeah, I gained weight this summer. I was 195 last spring, and I went up to 215. I'm under 210 now, but I always lose very slowly, even on strict LC.)

Many thanks for listening to this newbie's concerns!
Marjorie

Hi Marjorie and welcome!

I understand how you feel about having to go on meds after years of diet control. I found myself in the same situation a few years ago. With low carbing, I did manage to get back off the meds again after a few months of low carbing.
As for the Glucotrol; I think it would probably be okay for short-term use but if you find that you will need to stay on it long-term, I personally would request to be switched to something that was not a sulfonylurea such as Glucophage (Metformin) simply because of concerns with pancreatic burnout.
I hope that the Holter monitor tests came out alright and if they showed no problems there, you might want to talk to your doctor again about stopping the Avandia and finding something else. IMHO, medicine shouldn't make you feel worse and if it does, something else needs to be tried.
Let us know how you're doing!

Thanks, Lisa!

It's very encouraging to hear that you were in a similar situation and managed to get back off the meds after a few months. Are you still controlling your diabetes without medication?

I am delighted to have found this forum. I have been browsing through the archived posts and I've been impressed with the technical questions and answers that have been posted in the past.

I am happy that my BG's are coming down but I think a lot of that may be attributable to being back on strict LC and rigorous exercise. I don't like how I am feeling, and I am convinced it *is a result of the medication, but I'm going to try to tough it out until I go back in to see the doctor on the 18th.

Thank you!

Marjorie -- welcome,

Keep in mind that the Avandia is an insulin sensitizing agent and is very similar to Glucophage (Metformin) in what it does -- not necessarily in how it does it.

It makes your body utilize the insulin more effectively since the insulin resistance is the root of many of our problems.

You might ask your doctor to put you on the Metformin -- but keep in mind it sometimes causes nausea early on. I was on Avandia (8 mg) and it did not help as much as Metformin -- but back in the olden days I was on Metformin and had a heart attack requiring a Cardiac Catheritization and the dye was contra-inidcated for those on Metformin so they had do wait a few days for it to clear. They've since found it was not really a problem after all and can do the Catheritization right away -- God forbid you'd need one.

I had a similar incident with going crazy on the diet after my Mom died unexpectedly earlier this year, and my A1C was 9.9 -- which scared the dickens out of me -- and my docotor threatened me with insulin -- little did he know how I'd been misbehaving over the summer -- that was late August.

I tried one of those new home A1C tests in late September and it came in at 6.7 and I'm scheduled for a lab A1C next week. I'm currently on Metformin 2 ~ 1,000 mg and Glyburide (yes it's a sulfonurea) 2 ~ 10 mg.

My goal is to get off the Glyburide -- who cares about the Metformin since it's not kick-starting my pancreas -- which is very similar to Avandia.

Starting to ramble.

Good luck.

-louis

Louis --

>>> I had a similar incident with going crazy on the diet after my Mom died unexpectedly earlier this year, and my A1C was 9.9 -- which scared the dickens out of me -- and my docotor threatened me with insulin -- little did he know how I'd been misbehaving over the summer -- that was late August. <<<


I am very sorry to hear about your mother. Isn't it awful how we handle stress by abusing our bodies? When my own mom was dying of cancer 20 years ago she told me that my children (who were very young) were going to lose their Grannie and she didn't want them to lose their mom, too, so would I please take care of myself and try to lose weight.

Good for you to have gotten your A1C back down again so quickly! I hope your lab results match (or beat) the home test. I've seen the home tests advertised and I have been curious about how accurate they are.

I have been re-reading some of my LC books this afternoon and their remarks about the sulfonylureas reinforced my desire to get off the Glucotrol.

I've been on the Glucotrol one week. Today I had a BG of 82 after exercising, which is the lowest BG I have had at any time of the day in over 10 years. I could count on one hand the number of times I've ever been under 100 at any time of the day in the last 10 years.

I know that technically 82 is not a low BG, but it *felt low to me, especially since I was in the mid 200's for most of the summer. My fingers were tingling and I felt very out of it. I went to the bathroom and checked my BG and then I sat down on an exercise mat and ate a Carb Solutions bar (supposedly a net carb count of only 3 grams) and managed to drive home after a bit, but this was a new (and unpleasant) feeling.

Thanks for replying!

Hi Marjorie!

Yes, I am still diet controlled after 2 1/2 years. I wish I had known more about low carb when I was in my 20's and knew then what I know now..I probably wouldn't be in the state that I'm in if I had.
Stress or emotional eating is a hard habit to break, but it can be done. I know that I still have to fight that impulse to go visit "the great white psychologist" (aka the refrigerator) whenever I'm feeling stressed, but as time passes I'm getting more successful at finding better ways of dealing with stress that don't involve food. Not that I haven't occasionally caved in to comfort eating, but it's getting a lot less frequent and my choices are usually low carb when I do.

Hi,

I had a similar reaction to the Glucotrol.( I can't spell??!) Anyway, when my doctor put me on it I had heart palpitations. I could tell that I was very aware of my heart beat and it seemed,..... harder or something than ususal. He hooked me up to the EKG thing and saw them right there. So he switched me to glucophage XR, which now I am really glad he did. At the time I didn't know much about the different kinds of meds. He said that heart palpitations are a rare side effect of the glucotrol. I also had some bad lows on it. I was 59 once after eating a full, big meal. (Low carb, but still plenty of food.....grilled Salmon and salad) It felt terrible, I thought I was going to pass out. Anyway, I hope you get it under control.

jamie

Jamie ---

I felt so awful Friday morning that I just said that's it, I'm stopping. I'll tell the doctor when I go back on the 18th, and I'm keeping careful records to show him.

You mentioned the big meal of salmon and salad --- low carb but still a lot of food. I've been "watching" my carbs for years, mostly doing something sort of half way in between the Zone and Bernstein/Protein Power/Atkins. It wasn't till I read Dr. Bernstein's book that I realized big meals can raise blood sugar even if they are strictly LC. He has a story about a woman who was eating a whole head of lettuce (IIRC) before exercising and her bg was going way up. The lettuce, even a whole head, had very few carbs, but he describes the big meal as Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. I had been fooling myself when I thought I could eat an ENTIRE Outback Steakhouse meal of grilled salmon with veggies AND house salad (sans croutons). Lately I've been cutting the salmon in half and putting it and half the veggies in a carryout box before I start eating. That way I'm not tempted to keep nibbling on a little more, a little more, till the whole thing's gone. Plus I get a healthy lunch for the next day.

Cheers,
Marjorie

I almost put myself back on Metformin while my Mother was here, but the day after she left...the numbers came back to normal. Think about lowering the stress in your life. I am a true believer in that now!

Best Wishes!

Sherrielee ---

I saw your posts in the other thread and was very sympathetic! (But since I am new here I didn't want to jump in and say so.)


>>> Think about lowering the stress in your life. I am a true believer in that now!<<<

The family situation from this summer is much better, so I am less stressed. But, boy, I gave myself a scare this time seeing how badly I could get out of control when I respond to stress by overeating. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!

This is day#4 without the Avandia and Glucotrol and week#3 of really strict 6-12-12 LC, and I am having the best readings I've ever had in the past 10 years.

I feel so much better in only 4 days off the medication. The full feeling in my chest/neck/head is gone and I am waking up an hour early feeling good and raring to go. I can hardly believe it!

I probably should have phoned the doctor before I did this, but I am keeping records and will tell him about it when I go in on the 18th. He seemed skeptical when I told him the Avandia was making me feel bad and he asked if I was "worried" about it affecting me. I told him this was happening first thing in the morning before I even had a chance to think about worrying.

Thanks for writing!
Marjorie

Hi Marjorie!

So glad you are doing better! It is sometimes tough to keep going because almost every day has stress in it anymore.

Continue to take good care of yourself.