DIABETES PILLS DON’T WORK OVERTIME !!

The credit for this post goes to Mrs. X. She inspired me to write this small post as well resuscitate my blog which has not been updated very frequently off late.

Mrs.X is a cheerful 60+ lady who has been managing her blood sugars decently well. She is on a small dose of Glimepiride and Metformin. She checks her blood sugars regularly. Doctor reviews are perfect and no complications so far. In short she is the ideal patient every Doctor would aspire for.

This cheerful lady went about doing her chores gleefully till that day…

That day…. She got up in the morning as usual and went to the bathroom. Her absentminded maid had forgotten to scrub the bathroom floor. As soon as Mrs.X set foot on the bathroom floor she went sliding to other corner of the bathroom. Her unplanned inertia was cut short by the wall where she had hit her knee. With some help from her daughter she managed to settle down on the bed with liberal supplies of ointments, thailams and how water bag.

After a day well spent with aunties telling home remedies based on neighbor’s experience, uncles becoming overnight doctors plus a few volunteers getting herbs from nearby native medicine shop, evening comes and our once gleeful Mrs.X is reeling in Pain and now she has one more symptom – SWELLING!

Swelling and pain… Two things that can drive anybody to visit the white coat gentleman. After one hour Mrs.X found herself in the clinic waiting to meet the orthopedic. Doctor examined her, ordered some investigations and little later she got the good news! NO FRACTURE… relieved Mrs.X was given a prescription aimed to reduce the pain and swelling. Back home she counted all the pills plus her current medication. Totally SEVEN! The next decision was a bad one! She thought to herself that if she takes all pills together she will develop side effects and decided to reduce two of them – Glimepiride & Metformin. Her logical mind said she has been taking the same pills for 5 years without missing a day so the effect should pull her through the next three days where she will follow only the orthopedic’s prescription.

Next day morning she felt better. Pain and swelling had reduced considerably and slowly she felt that she was on her way to recovery. By evening she was feeling quite hungry& thirsty. She thought the ortho pills have had this effect on her. She again skipped the diabetes medicines. Next day morning when she got up she was not feeling so good. Pain and swelling had reduced but she was feeling tired, giddy, and hungry. She just could not place her symptoms in context. The symptoms were similar to the ones she experienced 5years back when she was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. So her Diabetes pills had failed her? Does she need to change her tabs? Is it side effect of ortho pills? Does she require insulin? Does she need to get admitted? Picking up courage she took the glucometer and checked her blood sugar. 290 fasting blood sugar. OMG! It finally dawned upon her. All the symptoms she has been having is related to high blood sugars. The increased thirst, increased frequency of urination, sudden increase in appetite & Tiredness. In essence the blood sugars were high but nothing was reaching the tissues due to lack of insulin in the body. Mrs.X learnt a very valuable lesson … She cannot afford to stop diabetes medication on her own!

Thank you Mrs. X for the inspiration….

Points to remember!

• Diabetes medicines are prescribed once daily or twice daily depending on the duration of action
• Just because you skip a dose, the previous day’s dose does not continue to act!
• Side effects can be prevented by taking the current prescription along with you when meeting a new Doctor.
• Skipping dose or stopping medicines on your own can end in disasters!
• Be responsible with tablets and when in doubt feel free to contact the “White Coat Gentleman”