Newly Diagnosed Type 1 - Quick Question

[LDN1985]

Hi All

I was diagnosed with type 1 about 3 weeks ago and I'm just starting to get to grips with things (ish!). It was quite a shock as I'm 31 and never anticipated that the symptoms I was experiencing could be type 1 diabetes. So much so that I left going to my GP for way too long and developed DKA. My Ketone readings were 6.9 when I first arrived at the hospital!

Anyway, that's all been dealt with and I'm now and I'm now trying to get used to the 'business as usual' side of diabetes and a life of insulin injections.

There are a few things I'm still unsure of but one thing in particular stands out for the moment. I'm often waking up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat. When I check my blood in the morning after it's mainly been on the low side which makes me think the sweating is to do with going low? But then on a couple of occasions after sweating a lot in the night my blood has been high first thing on the morning after so I'm a little confused.

Does anyone have any info on what could be causing it please?

Thanks!

 

[db89]

Hi @LDN1985 and welcome to the club.

Have you tested your blood when you've woken sweating? It could well be a sign of your blood glucose on the move but without testing you'll not know where it's at. Also, if you are having a hypo through the night you really should be treating it. The high reading you had in the morning, for example, could have been a result of your body reacting itself to the low and overcompensating with a liver dump.

If they are happening more than 5 hours after you've eaten and taken your fast acting insulin it is more likely to be related to your basal insulin but the only way to tell what is happening is test. Raise it with your DSN also so they can advise any adjustments as you are so newly diagnosed.

 

[Harrysdad]

Quite often if I go low overnight my liver will dump glucagon to protect my blood glucose levels and I will show as higher in the morning, this usually leads to a day of hypos while my liver recovers its store.

 

[LDN1985]

Thanks both.

No I haven't actually tested when I've woken up sweating, which seems an obvious thing to do when I think about it now. If and when it happens again I'll make sure to do that.

Cheers

 

[Juicyj]

Hello @LDN1985 Welcome to the forum

As mentioned by @db89 You should really check your BG levels when you wake up, you could very well be going low but unless you check you won't know and yes you do need to treat it so keep some fast acting glucose next to your bed, so carton of orange juice, jelly babies, glucogel, all of these are fast acting.

Generally your BG levels are at their lowest around 3am, so maybe you could set an alarm to test at 2am, personally I try to avoid hypos during the night as much as I can, I love my sleep so want to make sure I can go through the night having a good night's sleep, I also look to have a target of around 5.5 - 6 mmol/l before I go to sleep, as you are newly diagnosed your DSN should discuss your bedtime target with you, it's important to note that your waking BG target should be roughly the same so within 1-2 mmol/l, this then means your basal insulin is set at the right dose.

Let us know how you get on

 

[noblehead]

Thanks both.

No I haven't actually tested when I've woken up sweating, which seems an obvious thing to do when I think about it now. If and when it happens again I'll make sure to do that.

Cheers

If there's a pattern to the time you wake up drenched in sweat then set your alarm one hour before to see what you bg levels are doing, that way if your bg is dropping low you can pre-empt the hypo (meaning take on board some glucose).

 

[LDN1985]

Ok thanks Noblehead, good idea.

 

[LDN1985]

Hello @LDN1985 Welcome to the forum

As mentioned by @db89 You should really check your BG levels when you wake up, you could very well be going low but unless you check you won't know and yes you do need to treat it so keep some fast acting glucose next to your bed, so carton of orange juice, jelly babies, glucogel, all of these are fast acting.

Generally your BG levels are at their lowest around 3am, so maybe you could set an alarm to test at 2am, personally I try to avoid hypos during the night as much as I can, I love my sleep so want to make sure I can go through the night having a good night's sleep, I also look to have a target of around 5.5 - 6 mmol/l before I go to sleep, as you are newly diagnosed your DSN should discuss your bedtime target with you, it's important to note that your waking BG target should be roughly the same so within 1-2 mmol/l, this then means your basal insulin is set at the right dose.

Let us know how you get on

Ok cool will do, thanks for the advice!

 

[Type1Bri]

Hi ya
Sound advice above, I was diagnosed at the age of 34 myself so can relate to how you are feeling with it all.
I see your username, are you from London at all??
If you are check out the T1D London Meetups, you could really benefit from meeting some other type 1's. It was the best thing to have happened to me for my diabetes management. Face to face Meetups are great fun
Www.t1dlondonmeetups.co.uk

 

[LDN1985]

Hi ya
Sound advice above, I was diagnosed at the age of 34 myself so can relate to how you are feeling with it all.
I see your username, are you from London at all??
If you are check out the T1D London Meetups, you could really benefit from meeting some other type 1's. It was the best thing to have happened to me for my diabetes management. Face to face Meetups are great fun
Www.t1dlondonmeetups.co.uk

Yep I'm in North London. Thanks so much for that, I've been meaning to find a face-to-face support group so I'll definitely have a look into that!

 

[Type1Bri]

It's a pleasure, do have a look through the website and join the Facebook group and either myself or @ewelina will add you
We have over 370 members on there and have meetups every couple of months. The next one will be on 6th May

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I get hot sweats when I go low.

 

[GrantGam]

Quite often if I go low overnight my liver will dump glucagon to protect my blood glucose levels and I will show as higher in the morning, this usually leads to a day of hypos while my liver recovers its store.

Glycogen is technically what you mean; sorry I'm a picky ******

Glucagon is made by the alpha cells in your pancreas and this is released as a means to trigger the conversion of glycogen (stored in your liver) to glucose. Your liver by default dumps the converted glycogen; not the glucagon (that's your pancreas). The two do work together in a fashion though.

 

[Scott-C]

Is it a cold sweat? If so, there's a gadget www.hypoband.co.uk which measures temperature and humidity on the wrist and then rings an alarm on a phone via bluetooth if it reaches certain limits.

I bought one a while back but, ironically enough, haven't had any cold sweat hypos since then so can't say if it works or not!

When your sugar drops low, body has a bit of a panic attack and squirts out adrenalin. It's the adrenalin which causes the sweating, and usually some shaking/jitters, rather than the low sugar itself. It's kind of like how people get a bit jittery after a fright.

 

[LDN1985]

Is it a cold sweat? If so, there's a gadget www.hypoband.co.uk which measures temperature and humidity on the wrist and then rings an alarm on a phone via bluetooth if it reaches certain limits.

I bought one a while back but, ironically enough, haven't had any cold sweat hypos since then so can't say if it works or not!

When your sugar drops low, body has a bit of a panic attack and squirts out adrenalin. It's the adrenalin which causes the sweating, and usually some shaking/jitters, rather than the low sugar itself. It's kind of like how people get a bit jittery after a fright.

Yep it's a cold sweat. Thanks Scott that looks really useful, I think I'll get myself one of those.