Help with understanding diabetes and thyroid medications .

[lauralaura13]

Hi everyone , I wonder I'd you can help? I am diabetic and have been for a while - treating it and controlling it with diet only - all good. Then in October I stated to self medicate with nature thyroid - I'm up to 1.25 grains - feeling great on it. Anyway - when I went in for a small operation recently by blood sugar had gone out of control - up from below 5 to above 12. Can anyone tell me if this is related? Is my NDT medication impacting on my blood sugar? I'm worried about it and scared to discuss this with my GP as she doesn't know I'm self medicating- feeling much better on it though. Maybe it's unrelated? Thanks so much to all my health unlocked friends- appreciate all your wisdom and support x

[gabkad]

laura, do you have a glucosemeter so you can test yourself at home?

I can't take T3 because my blood sugar goes yoyo all over the place. You need to check what effect, if any, NDT is having on your blood sugar levels.

[lauralaura13 in reply to gabkad]

Thank you Gabkad. Yes I do have a monitor at home - will maybe try to reduce NDT to see if sugar levels fall.

[ThyroidThora]

Hiya,

I take Armour thyroid and it is known to affect blood sugar. It actaully states on the patient leaflet that it can affect blood sugar and those on diabetes medication may need to increase the dosage. I also take Metformin for diabetes and have had to increase my dose due to the Armour although, I feel much better on Armour than the synthetic stuff I was started on after my Thyroid cancer was removed.

TT xx

[Astridnova]

Hi, I am taking one grain of dessicated pork thyroid and my blood sugars have gone up slightly. I am trying to bring them down by walking an hour every day, something of which I was incapable before taking the thyroid supplement. My t4 and iodine are good, my cholesterol is good for the first time in years, I've lost weight, function much better, look ten years younger, and I feel terrific. My T3 is low, however, so the doc has suggested I try a small amount of thyroxine. It is hard to imagine more improvement, but I will give it a go. So I will also watch my blood sugar. I find that there is little variation in BGL during the day before and after meals because I follow a low carb diet, with lots of fat and protein. It's only in the mornings that I have noticed the rise, plus once when I had a cake (rare), my BGL was 12.2 after 3 hours. So I know to avoid cakes. I guess I'm rambling now. I'll watch this space.

[Treepie]

After 4months on T4 my HbA1c was 40 not diabetic, 15 months later 58 and diabetic. I read somewhere that T4 does have this effect.

[Pixielula]

Blood glucose levels are always higher in the mornings as the body releases stored glucose during the night to stop us from going hypo (this happens in everyone) diabetic or not. Our body's store glycogen in our liver and our muscle tissue. This is our "back up" energy trouble is your stuck between a rock and a hard place, as to reduce thyroid meds will make most people gain weight. It makes it much harder to control diabetes the heavier you get. my thyroid was so bad when it finally got diagnosed that I had developed type 2 als. So have never had a comparison. But diabetes is a progressive disease so you can be borderline for a while and not change anything then you slip into diabetes then you control with diet excersise then meds then insulin etc, so it may be coincidental that your sugars have gone up. Any illness, stress can have a big impact on my sugar levels. If I get a cold they skyrocket, I would never reduce or stop my thyroid meds in order to reduce my glucose levels...... Rock and hard place!!!