Not Getting Medically Cleared because Diabetes! HELP!?!

Hi All, I am in a bind. I have a scheduled date for surgery, but my primarcy care physician will not clear me for surgery because my blood sugar levels are too high. I am newly diagnosed with diabetes, my levels were a little above 200 with a Hbalc of 10. I am now on Insulin and she says she will clear me if my fasting blood sugar levels are around 100. That is quite stringent for a diabetic. I feel like Im losing hope. My primary motivation of getting this surgery was to avoid the complications of diabetes since 80% of diabetics get off their meds after gastric bypass. Any advise would be helpful? What were yoru blood sugar levels when approved for bypass? Any help or input would be appreciated. Thank you and God Bless you all with good health and happy times!

I got you email and boy do I understand your levels are just a little higher than mine were when I got a serious wound infection. You want to be healthy enough to go through surgery so you need to get your levels down, my doctor likes my fasting BS to be under 100 also and my A1C to be 7 and below she would love a 6 but I have a hard time with that. I find if I cut out the bad carbs (pasta, rice, bread and sweets) and just eat protein, veggies and moderate fruit I can keep it down. It's like any other diet it's hard but it can be done and you will be amazed at how fast you can get your levels to drop. Just be careful now that you are on insulin that you don't get to low of a blood sugar, I carry glucose tablets with me at all times just in case I get a low. If I can answer anything else just let me know, hang in there!!

Stephanie, you got a wound infection after your surgery? Oh boy! Will they allow the surgery if I control my blood sugar levels this month? The surgery is only a month away????

I beleive you can drop your levels significantly in a month and then yes I think they will do the surgery. You can do it Good luck!!!!

I did not go back to my iniitial PCP doc -- of course, she was not clearing me in my best interest, which I acknowledge, however, I didn't appreciate her condescending attitude and her incompetency as a physician. She put me on insulin, when there were other drugs on the market that would better suit me as an individual (I am an obese female with PCOS, menstrual irregularities, etc) and metformin would be ideal. I went to another physician, he put me on metformin, I got off Insulin. My blood sugar levels have drastrically been reduced in combination with a balanced diet. The insulin in combination with a healthy diet was doing nothing for me ... I was still sitting at 199 for my fasting blood sugar levels and I was excercising and barely eating! Now on metformin I have a FBS of close to 100. Yesterday, it was 97. Of course, I am eating chicken salads, protein drinks, and attempting to refrain from carb overload. Thank you all for your input! God Bless you all! FYI for anyone else reading this in a similar scenario: here's the catch 22, you need to go into surgery with controlled sugar levels to avoid wound infection and poor healing, however on the other hand Gastric bypass allows 80% diabetics come off metformin and 79% to come off INSULIN. However, you will always have a sensitivity to the comorbities of diabetes ... things like susceptibility to vascular disease, CAD, etc. Chances are if you are excercising in combination to your gastric bypass, you will live a long and healthy life! Good health and happiness to all of you! My New Birthday ... AUG 31 ... is still on!

Wow!! That's great. I was going to suggest that you go to another doctor to see if her or she would clear you. I am so glad you did. My surgeon doesn't requre my blood sugars to be in control before surgery. I was sure he would when I asked him, but he said he felt that the surgery was so important that the would put in place many precautions to prevent problems for me. Congrats to you.

Oops, I forgot to mention ... I've been medically cleared by my other physician! And hence, Aug 31 My new Birthday (day of surgery) is still on!

Anj A1C of 10 is really high. That means your blood sugar has been elevated for a long while. My A1C was at 6.9 when I had my surgery and I still got a wound infection at my drainsite which landed me back in the hospital 2 weeks after my WLS. Diabetes is nothing to play with. I'm glad the Metformin is working work you though. It was a great help to me as well in controling my blood sugar levels. You have to know thought that not everyone gets off meds post op. I am 7 months out and still on insulion although much much less than I used to take. I am also off my oral diabetic meds (metformin and actos). Good luck to you.

Hi there - my A1c was 7.5 before surgery - got it down to 7.1 in 3 weeks with a newer drug called Byetta. My doc wouldn't clear me unless I was below 8. I have been off Byetta, down two tabs of Metformin instead of four per day, and taking Glyberide twice a day - I am 4 weeks post op with a LapBand. I have dropped from 246 to 222 in that time as I am on a strict liquid diet. I would think of your surgery date as tentative even though I know how very hard that is to swallow. Time to back up a bit and get the diabetes under control first and then move on to surgery. I was told by my one clearance doc that the other one might not clear me at 7.5 even though I found later he would have cleared me if I was under 8. I remember the panic I felt as once you make this decision to have surgery you want it yesterday! Hang in there, you will get to have your surgery, just work on the diabetes control first. I would want to know what my doc wanted my A1c to be and work toward that as it is an overall indication of how well your diabetes is controlled as you know. I will be rooting for you!!

Getting your Blood glucose levels in better control is not only good to reduce Infectiosn but also to prevent Diabetic retinopthay from the sudden weight loss and sudden lowering of HA1c's....... see: Retinopathy progression, sudden lowering of HbA1c , etc, http://medweb.bham.ac.uk/easdec/retinopathyprogression.htm My A1C was over 13....... when I went ionto surgery. In the past two years it went down to 7.9 HOWEVER I now have had 4 episodes of Retinopathy adb 4 laser surgeries. I ma facing steriod injections as well a eye surgery, to STOP further loss. ANY DAMAGE already done is permant! I have less than 80% vision in my left eye and less than 50% in my right eye. Please ask for a referral to an Opthamologist as well as a diabetic specialist to lower the A1c slowly. BEFORE surgery. Lisa