A Helping of Tablets, with and Order of Effects on the Side

The time finally came back in June, when I started to need tablets for the diabetes. Actually, they wanted me to start them last November, but I resisted for a while. There is a psychological time required to adjust to being a tablet dependent, voluntarily admitting that your body cannot survive without medical input. It's a dent to the pride and the independence. I spent a few days feeling really down.

The standard tablet to start on is Metformin. This helps your cells absorb the sugar that is in your blood. On the down side it often upsets the tummy and gives you diarrhoea and wind. Oh joy. So I started taking the tablets, and thankfully my bowls stayed intact, although it did get a lot more gusty. My sugar came down by about a point (i.e. 8.5 to 7.5 or similar) on average. It wasn't great, but it helped a bit. Less internal organ damage. Might get to keep my eyesight a few months longer - that sort of thing.

And then... my hair started to come out. I mean great tresses of it, not just the odd strand. At the rate it was falling out I was going to be bald by the end of the summer. Excellent - bald, diabetic and flatulent.

I threw my toys out of the pram and changed my meds. Metformin was replaced with Gliclazide, which makes the pancreas produce more insulin, thus making it wear out faster. My average sugar fell another point, and my hair stopped falling out. On the other hand, these tablets make you gain weight - like I need a tablet to help me with that! Now I'm looking at a future where instead of bald, diabetic and flatulent, I am diabetic, fat and hairy. It'll be like telling King Kong to stay off the biscuits.