Q: My 61 years old father underwent bypass surgery two months back. He is taking medicines - Nikoran (5 mg) twice a day, Clopitab-A (75 mg), Losar-H (25 mg) and Bevon (once in the afternoon). He is on insulin (5-8 units) depending on his blood sugar levels. But for the past a couple of days, his blood sugar levels are going down as low as 35mg/dl, 50mg/dl and 65mg/dl in the evening. On the contrary, in the morning, his blood sugar levels are in the range of 100-140 mg/dl. What causes the fluctuation of the blood sugar levels? Is the fluctuation happening due to surgery?

A:Blood sugar level does not go down in response to the surgery, but to the contrary, they go up. In your dad’s case the insulin dose needs to be adjusted. Also make sure that after taking evening dose of insulin he does not miss out on the diet. In fact, if the sugars are as low as 35 – 65mg/dl, then the evening dose of insulin can be totally omitted and keep a tab on blood sugar levels. You may also like to consult your physician in this regard and to consider changing insulin to oral medications.