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catscradle Jun. 20th, 2007 12:54 pm)
catscradle Jun. 20th, 2007 12:54 pm)So yesterday I'm all freaked out and fretting because my blood sugar levels were higher than they should be and I'm frantically trying to figure out what I ate that raised it so and ARGH! So as I'm going to bed at night I notice I'm feeling all crappy and congested and my throat feels funky. I wake up in the morning with a cold.
Surely enough - even illnesses as simple as a cold raise the blood sugar. Thus far it's low enough not to worry too much about, but I need to monitor it closely until I'm better. It makes sense that the body would dump a load of fuel into the system to help fight the good fight against the nasties. And it's kind of neat that checking the blood works as kind of an early alert system that something is off.
In related news, I've discovered that I have what's called the Dawn Phenomenon - this is when the blood sugar spikes between the hours of 4am to 8am (though if you don't eat it can continue to rise until 10-11am). So you go to bed with a BGL of 110 and in the morning it's 165 and you freak out because you're working so hard to keep it down and the fucking dawn, yes the Sunrise, is screwing you all up. Actually, no, it has nothing to do with the Sun. It's your body giving you the energy to get up and start the day! Rise and Shine! Even non-diabetics experience this. It's cool if you're getting up early to run a wooly mammoth off a cliff, but kind of sucks if you mainly sit on your ass and play with a computer all day.
I tell this to my current doctor - well actually I describe the symptoms first to see if she comes to the same comclusion. She, without coming to the same conclusion, ups my meds because we need to get the morning levels down. And that's okay, because I do think I needed a higher dose, but I'm a little concerned that she didn't address it. So I bring it up - and you know the one thing doctor's love to hear is "Well, I read on the internet..." But, hey, power to the people, I took my health in my own hands - so sue me. And she looks at me for a moment and then says she's never heard of it. And I just totally plotzed, though internally because I hate making scenes. She tells me she'll look into it, but I've already decided SPECIALIST! Need one of them.
I take my new prescription, give a little blood and head out the door. Now get this - I'm told not to take the new dosage until I get the results of my tests. I never get them. It's a week later and I call the office. I'm told by her assistant that rather than call me, she had her file it because everything was reading normal (normal for me, that is). And I'm all plotzing again, but this time I tell the assistant with aggitated voice, "Um... no, see, she had me waiting on the test before I take the new meds." And not thinking too quickly, the assistant responds with "Oh, but if the tests are within range, they don't have us call." The mind reels. Do you really not follow the logic here, dipshit? There's a tax for that, you know! Argh! If I can't take my meds until I know the results, then it doesn't matter if the tests are normal or not - YOU NEED TO CALL! It's the doctor's fault for telling her to file it, but I expect the assistant to at least see the point that I still need to know the results and if I should up the dose. Oh, well. I make her give me the results and hang up.
But it gets better! Oh yes! The dosage was upped by 1000mgs/day - and I'm getting all sick from the meds. I'm exhausted, feel all flu-like, need to run to the bathroom every five minutes. It was bad for about 8-10 days before it petered out. Well see, I'm reading the interwebs again and run across some information that says you should only increase metformin by 500 mg/week or you get sick like I did. So definitely not going back to this woman. I'm looking for a specialist now, because criminy...
Surely enough - even illnesses as simple as a cold raise the blood sugar. Thus far it's low enough not to worry too much about, but I need to monitor it closely until I'm better. It makes sense that the body would dump a load of fuel into the system to help fight the good fight against the nasties. And it's kind of neat that checking the blood works as kind of an early alert system that something is off.
In related news, I've discovered that I have what's called the Dawn Phenomenon - this is when the blood sugar spikes between the hours of 4am to 8am (though if you don't eat it can continue to rise until 10-11am). So you go to bed with a BGL of 110 and in the morning it's 165 and you freak out because you're working so hard to keep it down and the fucking dawn, yes the Sunrise, is screwing you all up. Actually, no, it has nothing to do with the Sun. It's your body giving you the energy to get up and start the day! Rise and Shine! Even non-diabetics experience this. It's cool if you're getting up early to run a wooly mammoth off a cliff, but kind of sucks if you mainly sit on your ass and play with a computer all day.
I tell this to my current doctor - well actually I describe the symptoms first to see if she comes to the same comclusion. She, without coming to the same conclusion, ups my meds because we need to get the morning levels down. And that's okay, because I do think I needed a higher dose, but I'm a little concerned that she didn't address it. So I bring it up - and you know the one thing doctor's love to hear is "Well, I read on the internet..." But, hey, power to the people, I took my health in my own hands - so sue me. And she looks at me for a moment and then says she's never heard of it. And I just totally plotzed, though internally because I hate making scenes. She tells me she'll look into it, but I've already decided SPECIALIST! Need one of them.
I take my new prescription, give a little blood and head out the door. Now get this - I'm told not to take the new dosage until I get the results of my tests. I never get them. It's a week later and I call the office. I'm told by her assistant that rather than call me, she had her file it because everything was reading normal (normal for me, that is). And I'm all plotzing again, but this time I tell the assistant with aggitated voice, "Um... no, see, she had me waiting on the test before I take the new meds." And not thinking too quickly, the assistant responds with "Oh, but if the tests are within range, they don't have us call." The mind reels. Do you really not follow the logic here, dipshit? There's a tax for that, you know! Argh! If I can't take my meds until I know the results, then it doesn't matter if the tests are normal or not - YOU NEED TO CALL! It's the doctor's fault for telling her to file it, but I expect the assistant to at least see the point that I still need to know the results and if I should up the dose. Oh, well. I make her give me the results and hang up.
But it gets better! Oh yes! The dosage was upped by 1000mgs/day - and I'm getting all sick from the meds. I'm exhausted, feel all flu-like, need to run to the bathroom every five minutes. It was bad for about 8-10 days before it petered out. Well see, I'm reading the interwebs again and run across some information that says you should only increase metformin by 500 mg/week or you get sick like I did. So definitely not going back to this woman. I'm looking for a specialist now, because criminy...
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I figure once I have my new insurance I'll start looking around for other doctors to go to.
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