diabetes lows and highs

I'm working with my mom to control her diabetes. We have been testing before meals, and prior to bed per doctors orders, at this point, as she was just diagnosed. So I don't really have an answer to your question from experience.

On another note, my mother has hypothyroidism, and mental illness in addition to the diabetes. Her thyroid disease went untreated for decades and I've long suspected this was related or contributed to the mental illness. We suspect the diabetes was caused by her psyche med, zyprexa. She is now on Latuda.

Since I'm new to helping my mom regulate her blood sugar, we're still getting the meds right, so that's affecting things a bit. Now that I'm regulating her diet, it's become pretty clear that at meals when she eats meat, her blood sugar is much lower than after meals when she eats yogurt or cheese for her protein.

Also, since she's been converting from injectable insulting to the metformin, I suspect, there's a cumulative effect of the metformin, where the longer you're on it, it sort of build up in the system and works better.  

Also so on the list to check, is her thyroid medication because often, they are ineffective for people with severe thyroid disease when meds are at 'normal' blood levels due to antibody production, high T3, etc. I don't think my mother's thyroid meds have ever been right and wonder how much this contributed to the other problems and whether the psychosis will decrease with proper thyroid meds. She was diagnosed schizophrenic decades ago, but that was a catch all diagnosis back then, I don't know her psyche diagnosis now.

She was taking melatonin to help her sleep, but it made her all groggy during the day. I stayed in the room with her, to find that although, she thought she wasn't sleeping, she was asleep most of the night, but either had a lot of movement, or just woke up feeling unrested, and would say she hadn't slept well. The melatonin made her sleep extremely restless, and she tossed and turned all night. Clearly, no more melatonin...

interesting that hat you make a connection between sleep and blood sugar levels. I'll watch that in my mom.

I'd be interested in any comments or recommendations you have on this combination of illnesses.