Type 1 Constant fatigue, falling asleep at noon

[Ido_Wolf]

Hi everyone,

Some background: I am 21 years old, living in Israel, T1D since the age of 4, also having Hashimoto's thyroiditis since 13 and Coeliac since 18. Both of the latter are being fully treated appropriately (eltroxin and gluten-free diet). I'm using a pump and my current HbA1C is about 7.5%. I've been studying for my bachelor's for the past year.

For the entire past year I have been very, very tired. At first I thought it's simply due to a tight schedule, so I made it a point to sleep as much as I should be - and I've been sleeping about 7-8 hours a night (sometimes more, during weekends and end of semesters).
However, nothing has changed - I'm getting pretty tired by 12:00-1:00 PM, I fall asleep at noon for 2-3 hours whenever I'm home during that timeframe. My doctor sent me to multiple blood tests that could be the cause, and they all seemed to be OK, so it's most likely not even medical, but I want to be sure and check if any fellow diabetics face this issue.

I don't have much more information to hand out here, so my questions would be - Has it happened to anyone, could it possibly have anything to do with my diabetes (the other diseases are balanced), and what else should I check or do to find the reason for my fatigue?

Thanks and best regards.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Although I see posts of people feeling tired at times from being diabetic, my own view is that much of it may be psychological or due to other medical conditions? Unless blood sugar is way out of range there is no real physiological reason for it to contribute to tiredness. Meds can always have an effect of course. Sorry I can't help further.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Instead of heading for a sleep.. Could you push yourself to go out for a walk instead etc??

If your meds are keeping your bloods balanced etc and no medical cause being identified then it may just be psychological..

Are you eating or drinking anything with asparatame in it?
I just know I suffered at least 15 years of aspartame poisoning due to sugar free chewing gum or diet coke.

Since checking every item I eat then the difference is huge. I have my life back totally. No excessive tiredness (in fact now I am wide awake) and the pains I suffered for years have gone pretty much...

Its just worth looking at whether you are having anything with artificial sweeteners in. I've been wrongly diagnosed with all sorts for 15 years due to a letter from a consultant not being discussed with me or put on my file.

There are no tests for aspartame/artificial sweetener intolerance. It is just a case of checking labels and avoiding and see if things improve.

 

[Ido_Wolf]

Thanks for your answers. @donnellysdogs, well, it's embarrassing to admit but I almost consider myself addicted to diet coke. The day I wrote this post I also began a cold turkey attempt at quitting it, I'll see if it has any positive influence (most likely it will).

Regarding your first suggestion, this may definitely help when I'm home, but I don't really have much time to take a walk when I'm taking classes and only have 10 minute breaks or so. For the first time in my life I've actually fallen asleep a few times in class this year, so it's still a problem when I'm outside. But once again, I'll do my best and see if there's any difference.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Be aware that if you have a lot of dist coke you can well get different sleeping. I used to che sugar free gum and just giving this up.. I am still wide awake at 1am!!! I don't have so many nightmares and my sleep talking has stopped.
My pain and fatigue is at most 1% of previous and thats peob from the gym I'm doing now!

Be aware that it is giving up an addiction though... Give it time.
"Cold turkey" is hard but the only way to find out.. No tests known to prove intolerance..