Blood sugars too high

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Ron AKA replied on Fri, Sep 25 2009 11:00 AM

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Yes, it would be a good idea to see an endocrinologist. Is your husband type 1 or type 2? Overweight? If overweight yes, insulin resistance can be a factor. Metformin can help reduce insulin resistance in type 2's, as can exercise and weight loss.

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imalicsw replied on Fri, Sep 25 2009 11:39 AM

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My husband is type 2 and very overweight. The problem is that he needs a total knee replacement and there is little exercise he can do due to the pain. He cannot have the knee replacement until he loses enough weight. He also cannot have gastric bypass unless he loses 100 lbs. He has lost 40 lbs so far and was actually off insulin and meds altogether until 2 months ago when he got a sinus infection. They talked about metformin SR (is that right?) at the hospital because the regular metformin gave him severe gastro-intestinal issues.

Thanks for your response.

Danielle

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Ron AKA replied on Fri, Sep 25 2009 1:33 PM

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imalicsw:

They talked about metformin SR (is that right?) at the hospital because the regular metformin gave him severe gastro-intestinal issues.

Yes, there is a timed release metformin. The original was called Glucophage XR. Not sure if the extended release is available as a generic now or not. In any case the usual method of starting metformin is to use the smallest dose (500 mg), and perhaps even split it to take it twice a day. The dose is not increased until after 2-3 weeks, when another 500 is added. The total maximum dose is 2550 in a day, but there is little benefit after 2000 mg. So it takes quite a while to work up to the effective dose. If you go faster it is likely to cause GI upset.

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jen1229 replied on Sat, Sep 26 2009 2:09 PM

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Hi:

There are many eercises that can be done while sitting in a chair.  A friend at my Weight Watcher meeting gave me two three pound weights and I was doing exercises with those until I was able to join the Y and go back to swimming.  He might be able to get a referral to physical therapy at a place where they have a therapy pool for exercising.  As to gastric bypass surgery, most people know how against it I am.  It is a life altering operation and just having the surgery does not guarantee that it will never come back.  I can't imagine only being able to eat a tablespoon of food at at time for the rest of my life.  And if he has to lose 100 pounds before having the surgery, why not just keep on and lose more? 

Many doctors are touting GBS these days because it is one way of not having to deal with overweight patients and constantly harpiing about losing weight.  After having to leave my job in April of '08 I was in very bad shape and on my way to weighing 400 pounds.  Since January of this year I have lost 57.2 pounds (today's official weight) and while I have a long way to go I intend to see it through.  I receive a lot of encouragement from the people here and on the message board at Weight Watchers.  I am learning how to eat properly for the first time in my life and have also learned that feeling satisfied after eating is not the same as feeling stuffed.  I have just finished one of my favorite fall foods, a caramel apple.  Sound awful for a person watching their weight, but it isn't.  Nothing is off the table as long as I can fit it in to my daily allowance and carb count.

Sorry for this long post and I don't mean to sound preachy, but I can see no practical reason for GBS unless it is because people ant to lose weight fast.  Losing weight fast usually leads to gaining it all back and to put one's body through all of that trauma for little value is jsut beyond my ability to comprehend.