Before I get started, I just want to throw out that Metformin is not an option for me. I tried for 4 years across multiple brands and varieties, and in the end it almost put me in the hospital. I know it's an unpopular opinion on this board, but I cannot tolerate that drug . Trust me, I'd be on it if I could; it was the only thing that seemed to work :(
Anyway, since quitting metformin I have tried a variety of medications to get my BG under control: glimeperide, Januvia, Farxiga, and the latest is Jardia. My daily carb intake ranges from 100-120 gms total (stats brought to you by MFP :D ). My last A1C was in January, and in spite of the holiday goodies it had fallen from 7.1 to 6.8 in two months. Then I had to quit meformin, and everything went crazy.
The next drug I tried was Januvia. I used to cruise between 110 and 120 between meals, and that number jumped by an average of 10 points. Even worse was that my postprandial spikes were exponentially worse; a meal that used to bump me up by 20 now shot me up by 60 or more, and I stayed high for hours. On top of that, the pills also had a side effect of anxiety (as diagnosed by my therapist) so after 2.5 weeks I stopped Januvia.
Next came glimeperide although my endo wanted to pass it over because she was certain it would give me lows. Thankfully it did not, so I tried it for a month. It either worked amazingly or horribly; sometimes I would stay between 90 and 110 for days, but other times I could not get under 160 no matter what I tried. On glimeperide, I seemed to have no ability to recover from spikes; a carb-y meal or session of hard exercise would spike me up to 200 or more, and it could take days to fall again. I even tried doubling the dosage, but it had no effect.
I only tried Farxiga for a week because I was only given that many days of a sample. However, it didn't seem to do anything. Now I'm on Jardia, and I know it's doing something because I peeing about twice as much as before. However, none of my tests have varied outside 140-160 since I've started this drug (including fasting). I guess stability is good, but I need that to be about 50 lower lol.
I feel like I'm starting to run out of options here. My endo tested for antibodies and we verified that I'm not T1 or T1.5, and she seems unconcerned about my numbers and apparent resistance to any medication. However, I refuse to relax until my A1C is under 6.5. For the immediate future I'll find a way to cut carbs to under 100 gms daily, and once I'm recovered from a minor foot injury I'll get back to daily exercise. I'm also considering temporary (aka a few months) of Keto to lose some excess body fat and hopefully lower insulin resistance, but that diet is really hard for me to maintain.
Has anyone had an experience like this? Is there something I might be doing that is rendering the medication inactive? I have enough pills that I could try combining some and see how they work together, but all of my doctors think that will give me serious lows. Any advice?
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