Hi Pete, I started with readings of 190 (10.5) and after about 5 days on the diet it dropped to 7.5, I started to reduce my insulin from 38 units to 36, then 34 and so on. Within 2 weeks I was down to 6.1 and I was getting shaky in the afternoons but instead of doing what I had before, eating something high carb or super sweet, I followed the advice of someone on here and ate 2 prunes and 2 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt and the shakes stopped. After 6 weeks on the diet I was due a HbA1c and found it was down from 8.2 to 6.7.
The diet continued and my morning BG was around 5.5 but in the afternoon it could drop as low as 3.5. I countered this with the prune and yoghurt but was still reducing my insulin by 2 units every 10 or so days. Then I read that glicazides could cause serious lows so I cut one out (I was on 3 in the morning). Since then I don’t seem to get the shakes etc even though my BG can go as low as 4.0 and I don’t even feel afternoon hunger – however, in Summer I exercise strenuously in the afternoon (swimming) in Winter I do my exercise in the morning about 1 hr after breakfast. I am still on 2 glicazide but my insulin is now down to 22 units. I showed my doctor my daily log and asked him ‘considering I often go low in the afternoon which should I reduce, the glicazides or the insulin’. He told me to try to get off the insulin first but if I continue to have lows below 3.8 to cut one of the tablets in half so I am on one and a half.
I know my meds are different and maybe my circumstances but I see you have had a conversation with your doctor and have not had a satisfactory answer. I don’t think your BG is too low at 5.1 (your wife’s don’t compare as she is not diabetic) but I do think they are low for what you are used to and it is scaring you. I too was frightened but I have got used to it and am now very disappointed if I go over 5.0 in the morning and 4.5 in the afternoon. When you start getting lows too often, and I mean under that 3.9 mark, maybe you should at least reduce the Metformin but I am not your doctor and, like him, I am going to err on the side of caution and not tell you what to do. Most people on this diet have stopped taking Metformin once their levels are down. You can always go back if BG rises again.
Oh and you might want to have a small snack just before bed, just a glass of milk or piece of cold meat or cheese, just to ward off the dawn effect which can send your BG high in the morning. By the way my last HbA1c was down to 5.9.