Un controlled my sugar readings

by k.laxmi
(hyderabad, india)

QUESTION: Sir,

Present i am 38 years old. When i was 21 years i hve got type I diabetes. That time i hve used plain and zinc insulin.

After 5 years...that injuction banned or some reason...not available. then my doctor suggested mixtard 30/70. i hve taken...that time it was not under controlled my sugar levels.

again my doctor advised that stop that mixtard 30/70, use mixtard 50mm. from that time onwards upto last week i hve used that insulin only.. morning 22 units and night 7 units.

but from last 10 days my sugar levels are uncontrolled. so i went to another general physician cum diabetologist. she said stop mixtard 50MM. use Novopix 30..and dosage is morning 28 units and night 8 units.

present i am using that dosage. today i hve tested..fasting sugar reading is 180 after 2.5 hrs of breakfast sugar reading is 175 then again before dinner sugar reading is 256....what to do...i dont understand. can u pl advise me that

why my sugar readings r uncontrolled?

ANSWER: Hi there,

It is very important for you to know that diabetes is progressive diseases, which requires sometimes therapy adjustments or even drug replacement, like in your case.

Furthermore, the organism gets used to certain drug and at one particular moment the drug becomes ineffective.

Besides the process of getting used to the drug, the organism changes its needs for insulin, which means that after certain age the organism requires more insulin than usual.

However, the health body is able to ensure this elevated amount of insulin, but when it is a matter of diabetic, the only possible option to ensure this, is to elevate the dose.

As I can see from your reading, the insulin treatment of yours requires adjustments, but severe one.

As

the normal fasting blood glucose level is between 64.8-104.4mg/dl and the post-prandial has to be less than 120mg/dl, as you can see yourself your readings are way too high.

However, only your doctor is able to put you on the exact treatment, but make sure to present him the values mentioned above, along with the values from the day before the examination.

Regarding Mixtard, your doctor was right to changes it, because it is short-acting insulin. This means that it is effective only during 1-2 hours after the application. Such drugs are not effective on patients, who are suffering from diabetes more than 10 years.

The bad thing is that NovoMix (not novopix, like you said) is rapid-acting insulin, which means that it is effective only during the first hour after the application.

I thing, that it would be better for you to speak with your doctor about the application of intermediate or long-acting insulin, which will keep your blood glucose within the normal ranges for a period longer than 1 hour.

In addition, below I will try to give you some tips, which can reinforce the treatment, and the most important of them is to follow a diet.

You have to know that diet is very important part of the diabetic treatment and you should start low-carb, moderated fat and protein diet.

Besides this, quit smoking, if you smoke and avoid the consumption of alcohol.

Other thing is to start doing exercises, because with this, you will use the excessive amount of glucose in your blood.

Moreover, there are some very important herbs, like bitter melon and cinnamon, which are used for many patients with blood glucose lowering purpose. I will suggest you to start using one of them, along with the insulin treatment, diet and exercises.

Hope it helped!

Dr.Alba