I have a big problem.....

[Guest guest]

Hey All,

I have something that has been really, really been bothering me.

I've kept it to myself for awhile now, haven't spoken about it to

ANYONE. So, I come to my friends here who understand most of whats

going on with this disease. In March/05 I was DX as a diabetic....I

was immediately put on amaryl 2mg, and after a couple weeks when

that wasn't working he increased it to 4mg. I immediately started

feeling very odd....really odd. My blood sugar would be sky-high,

or way-low, Hardly never in the " normal " range. And sometimes, I

haven't figure out when it happened, but I was having these weird

things happening in my head, I think. I'll give you an example. I

was taking my girls to school one morning, now remember we live in

Springfield Ohio, and I swear I saw a cobra snake....upright in a

stricking position, and I thought I was seeing things! So I turned

around & drove by it again, then turned back towards home & looked

again...yep, sure enought....it was right on the grass, close to the

road. I kept expecting it to move, but it never did. I came on

home, and it bothered me all day. When I went to pick the girls up

from school I slowed down when I was getting close to the spot..and

you'll never believe what I saw! A small street sign with a blue

retangle. Thats it! I thought I was going crazy, the shock almost

knocked the breath out of me! Some other stuff like that was

happening sometimes too, and then I thought it might be when I blood

sugar was low, I was imaging things. I don't know. Well, about 2

weeks ago I stopped taking the amaryl because these things were

really starting to get to me, ya know? And it seems like my mind has

cleared up 1000%! I don't feel like I'm seeing things, or that odd

things are happening around me. Am I weird? What do you thing?

Could it be the amaryl? I make sure I check my blood sugar about 10

times a day now, since I stopped taking the meds, and I'm really

watching my diet. It is high sometimes, but its normal alot too,

never low. So am I diabetic or not? Was it the meds making me seem

crazy? Or am I just crazy? I don't know. Weird, huh? Anyone else

have anything like this happen to them with diabetic medicine? I go

back to the doctor next week, I'm going to talk to him about it. In

the mean time I'm really keeping a good eye on my BS levels. I

normally don't get many replies, but I hope someone might be able to

explain this to me this time. Thanks alot! I just may be nuts! Any

minute now I expect those nice men wearing white to show up at my

door with their " special " jacket & take me away! lol

Lots of Hugs,

[Guest guest]

Hi . Wow that is pretty freaky. No one person is ever going to

react to a medication the same way as another. We are all different

and we all will have a very individual reaction. I think you need to

discuss this with your physician immediately. You should not stop

taking the Amaryl without letting your doc know about it. It is

imperitive that you keep you blood sugars stable, or as close to

stable as possible. Having wide swings in your BS is not a good

thing at all. I'm glad you are watchin what you eat, that is very

important. However, there are tons of differnt meds that can be

taken to control your BS and you need to tell your doc you want to

try something else.

There was one drug I took a while back that also gave me

hallucinations and terrible nightmares. I was hesitant to discuss it

with the doc because I thought he might think I was a looney tune.

Well I did, and all he said was " lets just try something else and see

how it works for you " . YOu are not going nuts at all. Drugs are

helpful in treating a condition but only if it works. Your experince

means only that this drug is not doing its job appropriately and you

need to get rid of it and try something else.

I do hope this helps and please let me know what you doc has to say

about it. Call him tomorrow.

Warmly,

[Guest guest]

,

I was put on amaryl in Dec 04 when I had to go back on prednisone for my liver

disease. Prior to that time, my diabetes was controlled by diet and occasional

insulin when in the hospital with a panc flare. While taking the amaryl I had

to VERY careful because my blood sugar would drop to the 40's if I went more

than 2 hours without eating. It would just hit me from nowhere - feeling fine

one minute, pooring sweat, confused, the next. It was so bad that I did not

drive for almost two months until I was on a low enough dose of prednisone that

I didn't need the amaryl all the time.

After having the episodes of very low blood sugar (in the 30's too many times to

count) with my latest panc flare, the endo said that if I ever have to go back

on med for my diabetes, I cannot take anything orally because most of the oral

meds are long acting. These latest low blood sugar episodes came after I'd been

throwing up for almost 24 hours. I had not had amaryl for several months so it

wasn't the amaryl that made my blood sugar go so low at this time. The endo and

my GI are pretty sure that at this point my blood sugar goes so low because my

liver cannot produce the glucose it is supposed to produce when I am unable to

eat. Your liver is what allows you to go long periods without eating because it

is supposed to produce small amounts of glucose when you are fasting. Since I

have liver disease, my liver doesn't work as it should.

The main reason I mention the liver thing is because maybe with having cp, your

liver is slightly compremised so your body can't handle a long acting diabetes

med like amaryl. The endo told me that if I had taken amaryl prior to having

the latest panc flare, puking, unable to eat, etc. that I would most likely be

dead because if my blood sugar could drop to 32 without taking any diabetes

meds, it would have surely dropped even lower if I'd had diabetes meds and I

would have gone into seizures, a coma, and then died! Kind of scary and the

thing is that my blood sugar must go low a lot more than I realize because until

it hits 40, I feel just fine!

Hope this helps.

W