Dear Dr. Donohue: I have type 2 diabetes and check my blood sugar every morning before breakfast. It's usually in the 125 mg/dl (6.9 mmol/L) to 150 (8.3) range.
When I have my blood sugar checked at the lab, they tell me to fast before taking the test. My AIC is in the 6.2 to 6.5 range. My doctors are happy with these numbers. I take metformin and glyburide daily. I am 80 and have been doing this for many years.
My question is that before retiring for the night, my sugar reading is 110 (6.1) to 120 (6.7). Why does my sugar rise during the night when I'm asleep?
No one gives me a satisfactory answer. Some say, "The body does strange things," and other nonsensical answers. Can you give me a common-sense answer?
It's not easy explaining why blood sugar rises when you have nothing to eat during sleep. I don't mean to offend you, but do you take a late-evening snack?
It can take four hours for some food to exit the stomach. The carbohydrates taken from the snack might not raise blood sugar until four hours after you've eaten it.
A better explanation is that your diabetes medicines have been metabolized before you wake up in the morning.
Metformin comes in two different preparations, an extendedrelease form and an immediaterelease form.
If you take the immediate release, the medicine might be long gone before you waken the next day.
The same goes for glyburide. It lasts from 12 to 24 hours. But if you are a person in whom it lasts on the shorter side of that span, it, too, may have been metabolized long before you wake in the morning.
A before-breakfast blood sugar is best when in the range of 70 (3.9) to 130 (7.2) Your highest reading is 150 (8.3), not all that far from the ideal high. Too-exact control can result in dangerously low readings.
Your hemoglobin A1C is perfect.
It indicates blood-sugar control for the prior three months. I see why your doctors are happy with your readings. You should be, too.
Dear Dr. Donohue: You wrote less-than-favourable comments on turmeric. I am 82 and have had severe leg pains in both legs. I could not make it to my grandson's graduation. I was told to try turmeric, and I started. After three days, I noticed improvement. After 21 days, the pain is gone. I walk much better. I referred it to a friend who has had the same success. Please do the world a favour and print this.
R.S.
Turmeric comes from the roots of a plant related to the ginger plant. Curcumin is its most important constituent. It's used as a spice in curry.
It's been used for a wide range of illnesses. The proof of its healing properties isn't extensive.
However, I feel that a person who gets relief from symptoms with turmeric should continue with it and spread the word to others. I don't believe it will harm anyone.
Medicines derived from plants are nothing new.
Aspirin, perhaps the most widely used medicine in the world, was first derived from the bark of the willow tree.
