Pneumonia - take 2 & Metformin, weight loss

Type 1 and LADA
1

So, these two darling subjects are intertwined. 30 days ago, my endo put me on strict insulin regiment with metformin for good measure. Looks like I may have a touch (there’s sarcasm) of insulin resistance with a belly of 47 inches. Oops!

At first the metformin was harsh - but I knew the side effects, and it didn’t really bother me so much.

When I went in them, I weighed 213.5 with clothes on. It’s 30 days later, and now I’m down to 209. Is that about right for the amount of weight loss in a month?

No exercise, but I also went on the diabetic exchange diet - one that my nutritionist challenged me for 30 days. I thought eating that many carbs was gonna mess with me and my numbers.

Well, now my numbers are damn near normal, and on the side of low. I’ve had to cut my insulin back by 25%…I am still pretty shocked by that.

Now onto pneumonia - last Thursday I started with a little fever - no big deal - 102ish. Through the weekend Tylenol was my new best friend, and I went from 99-103 constantly. The weird part?

I was going LOW. I swear I was eating as much as I usually did by my protocol (the CDA exchange) but I was still going down to below 75 on regular bouts.
I had to add glasses of OJ to keep my blood sugars up. Crazy, huh?

I am wondering - this is my second bout of pneumonia in 6 months. This time it’s walking pneumonia - but should I be concerned I got it again?
I got my flu shot this year, but I don’t understand how ingot pneumonia agin. Are we just lucky as diabetics or something?

2

It's the combo of Metformin & Tylenol that caused the lows. Tylenol alone won't cause hypos.

I was on an antibiotic that caused lows. My doctor said it wouldn't effect BG. Wrong.

Regarding weight loss, it depends how much you've cut calories & carbs if that's a reasonable amount.

Since I started taking D3 supplements, I haven't had as much as a sniffle. I've had viral pneumonia twice & could barely get out of bed.

Matching insulin to the exchange system isn't accurate. Using sliding scale isn't accurate either. As you lose more weight, your insulin doses should go down.

3

Thanks Gerri!
Wow, the Tylenol and Met can cause lows. I never thought of that. In the interim, I’ve lowered my basal dose, and cut back my BOLUS dose a bit. It seems to be helping.

4

Hope you're feeling better soon!

So many med interactions.

5

I agree with Gerri here and I would actually caution against the regular use of Tylenol (particularly with Metformin or with alcohol). Despite being an over the counter drug, Tylenol is pretty dangerous and is the cause of significant numbers of deaths. Both Metformin and Tylenol must be metabolized by your liver, if you double up, you can get an accumulation of both drugs in your system and really bad things can happen.