+1
Well done! Congratulations!
My midday reading before lunch yesterday was 112! From 359 last Monday morning to 112 in one week. My GL is hovering around 140 most times. Still bad but hey, 112. I'm just scared now that somehow this is only temporary. I don't intend my diet to ever go back to what it used to be but I do want to not have to take pills eventually...
That is absolutely fantasatic, Alexander!!!
I've been where you are, but decided to go on insulin to manage my BG for several reasons -- flexibility, easier on the beta cells, possible to achieve tight control.
However, I started with an a1c of 11.4 (average BG 280), and since I had insulin to bring it down, I decided to "go for broke" and slam it down to normal within 48 hours.
It wasn't fun, and probably explains some of how you're feeling as you get this under control. Basically, your brain's setpoint for what is "normal" in terms of BG has been adapted to your high sugar levels. While this adaptation doesn't alleviate any of damage to your health high BG causes, it does result in something called "false hypoglycemia" when you bring your BG down to normal.
This is why doctor want you to do it gradually over weeks: You won't have the heavy-duty hypo symptoms to deal with, when you aren't hypo at all.
I suffered through it for 3-4 days while it my setpoint gradually adjusted, and my brain became accustomed to normal (85) BG.
I agree with others here that if you can manage without the Glipizide (or other beta cell stimulants) it would be much better for you. If you're willing to consider a bolus (meal-time) insulin, I'd strong recommend it, as you'll find many other T2's here will as well. It is, however, much more involved and intensive work than oral meds. On the other hand, you can achieve near non-diabetic BG control... my last a1c was 5.9.
Thanks for your thoughtful and informative reply!
My GL last night, two hours after dinner, was 79! GL overall hasn't been over 150 in about 5 days now. 14 day average was 188 but now 7 day average is 145. A little less than two weeks and I'm seeing positive results. Just gotta keep this up.
Wow, that's impressive!
I am so happy for you! That's awesome results.
One thing to add to your adjustment to this: Carry some sort of sugar with you at all times to counter hypoglycemia if it happens. When I was treating with diet/exercise/metformin/glipizide I had an occasional hypo. Problem with glipizide is that when alpha cells secrete glucagon to counter low BG, the beta cells don't respond an shut off, continuing to pour out insulin. So normal counter-regulatory processes don't work very well. In this case you need to eat some fast sugar.
Also, you'll need to be more careful about what and how much you eat, as weight gain is an issue with beta cell stims.