Recently, my mom got sick and she needs strong medications. However, her doctor (internal med) said that her blood glucose must go down for the meds to work (she has diabetes mellitus). So now she injects insulin twice a day (she uses the pen type- 20 units per shot) She complains being weak and constantly hungry. Is this the effect of the insulin? Her doctor said she has to undergo insulin treatment for 6 months. Does she have to experience all these as side effects?
Diabetes - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
If she's injecting insulin, she needs to test her blood sugar regularly as well. Her symptoms MIGHT be because her blood sugar is too low, but they might also be from something else. She needs to check her blood sugar at least twice a day, and keep track of it.
2 :
if your blood sugar goes down enough, you'll feel sick like you can't breathe almost, get sweaty, fatigued. all that good stuff. but don't let her sugar go too far down or up. cuz that can lead to diabetic comma.
3 :
No, she shouldn't have symptoms from injected insulin. Insulin itself should have no side effects. If the symptoms are related to the insulin at all, two things may be happening now. 1) Her body may be so used to running at a high blood sugar that she is experiencing low blood sugar symptoms at a normal blood sugar. These symptoms should go away once her body has time to adjust. 2) She may not be taking the right amount of insulin for her body's needs, and she could be having low blood sugars. She will need to treat the low blood sugar with a high carb food (lots of people use juice) and talk to her doctor about changing the insulin dose she is taking. The only way to know what is happening is to test her blood sugar. She should test (at least) before taking insulin, before bed, and any time she is feeling the symptoms you describe above. Most people on insulin test 5+ times a day. Many test 10+ times. If the blood sugar is lower than her doctor recommends (I'll treat anything lower than 70, especially if I feel low blood sugar symptoms) she needs to eat something.
4 :
Hello. I just started insulin 6 weeks ago. Since being on it, I'm not as hungry as I was before and I have been eating less food. I will assume it is because I have less glucose in my blood and more of it is getting to my cells which means I have enough fuel for my body to function. When my sugars are high, I'm very hungry and thirsty. The nurse told me to be aware of low blood sugar when taking insulin and to take your levels daily. You should know the signs of low blood sugar and what to do. Best thing to do is to ask a health professional concerning side effects.
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