“My husband feels anxious due to his diabetes medication. What should we do to manage it?”
My husband is on diabetes medication at night and in the morning. But he feels very lethargic and anxious due to these medicines. What should we do to manage this?
3 Answers
He should discuss it with his physician. Some diabetic medications can cause lethargy, but low blood sugar levels could also be responsible - so this should be investigated further.
Anxiety due to medications for diabetes usually results from low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) or blood sugar level that is decreasing too rapidly (even if not actually low). Hypoglycemia, usually defined as blood sugar below 70 mg/dL, can result from too much insulin, sulfonylurea (like glipizide, glyburide, glimeperide), or meglitinide (like repaglinide (Prandin), nateglinide (Starlix)) and SGLT2 inhibitors (like Jardiance, Farxiga, Invokana). On the other hand, some anti-diabetic medications are less likely to cause low blood sugar. These include DPP4 inhibitors (like Januvia, Onglyza, Tradjenta), GLP1 receptor agonists (like Byetta, Bydureon, Trulicity, Ozempic and Victoza) as well as acarbose (Precose) and metformin. However, even these drugs can cause low blood sugar when taken in combination or as overdose. Lows also can occur when diabetic medications are not adjusted for exercise or significant decrease in food intake. Combining diabetic medications with alcohol is especially dangerous since alcohol inhibits the ability of the liver to make glucose fast enough in response to a low. Determining the cause of anxiety due to medications for diabetes requires a bit of detective work, so it would be best not to "go it alone" and to discuss your blood sugar patterns with your health care provider. Your doctor will find it most helpful if you check blood sugars upon arising and at bedtime, before and 2 hours after eating, any any time you feel anxiety, apprehension, rapid heart rate, sweating, excessive hunger, unusual fatigue or sleepiness, lightheadedness, sudden or profound weakness.
I can't really answer this ? without knowing what he is taking or the doses he is taking. I would also need to know what his level of control is. If his blood sugar is in poor control either too high or too low, it could be the level of control causing the fatigue not the medicines, There are now many medicines available to treat diabetes so a change in medicines might be needed. Check this out with you Dr. & it should be solvable if good control is established with proper meds,
