Amlodipine is the latest they have me on for blood pressure. I changed from Indapamide to this, and it is, err, interesting.
First off, the Indapamide made me very "on-edge" but I could get work done, but was out of breath all the time.
Now on Amlodipine it is different. The first thing was going off the Indapamide meant I was hypo (low blood sugar) and had to quite drastically lower my insulin. Hypo is pretty easy to spot and to fix, if you have snacks.
Then put on Amlodipine I was hyperglycaemic, which is harder to spot. You feel more tired, which is easy to dismiss. But you also find infections, spots, acne, boils, and all sorts within days. Not at all nice. High blood sugar can be a real pain, and take a while to recover. Though, low blood sugar can be dangerous in very short timescales too. It is harder to die from high blood sugar, generally, but not nice.
What is key is any change of any medication, even if unrelated to diabetes, do the blood sugar tests like mad, even if only for a few days! Other unrelated medication like these drugs for blood pressure can have a massive impact!
Amlodipine has massively pushed up blood sugar and I am on almost twice the daily insulin now. That alone is strange.
Routine is everything - change anything from routine and it all goes to shit. I had this at the weekend, with being late for my usual breakfast. OK breakfast is a costa coffee and sausage roll, but normally at 8:30. My body does not understand weekends. On Sunday, my blood sugar went from high 7 to low 4 in 20 minutes and by 9:30 I was shaking. Going on holiday, along with a few time zone changes, is going to be, err "fun". I'll cope. There is 24 hour pizza on the ship!
As long as I stick to routine now, I think I have it sussed, finally. Much higher insulin, but breakfast, some light lunch, a proper dinner (with Gliclazide) and a few drinks... The daily routine works and keeps me on balance. It amazes me sleep for 8 hours+ works to be honest as during the day that would not, so clearly my body learns a routine and adapts.
It was so much easier when my body regulated this crap entirely by itself! One day we'll have stem cell or artificial replacement pancreas implants, but for now, I inherited this crap from my mum. Not her fault, obviously, and she has had a way harder time than I have. But that's life.
