Sweating

[flashy158]

Hi, I was diagnosed 3 weeks ago and take metformin. My problem is that I am sweating profusely nearly all day and through the night, it is so embarrassing. Is this normal?

Sweating for me had been a huge problem for years, not the underarm sweating but face, head and neck sweating. I would be walking around a supermarket and would find myself having to find somewhere to sit. One day an elderly man saw me sitting on a seat that people use to try shoes on, it was middle of winter and I was wearing a white summer dress and had bare arms, he stood and stared at me asking if I needed a glass of water and I was so hot and red, for years I suffered this embarrassment. I would send my hubby into the shop as I knew as soon as I started to walk I'd sweat, it really affected my life One day I rode my bike DOWNHILL all the way to the local post office, when I got there I was sweating profusely, I sat down on a plastic garden chair in the post office which was there for old people to sit on in the queue (I only 49 so not yet an old lady) and told the man next to me that I had just rode miles...... I lied. My hair was sticking to my head and my face bright red. The post mistress looked at me and mimed "sugar", I didn't even know the woman. When it was my turn she told me to cut out ALL sugar and ALL carbs..... IT WORKED!! of course being overweight didn't help but giving up sugar and carbs brings the weight down anyway. I was so excited the day I didn't have to take my coat off in the supermarket, in fact I had a jumper on and a coat, when I got outside I said to my huband "look at my head and hair"....... he said "what, I can't see anything"......... I replied "EXACTLY!......... dry as a bone

 

[flashy158]

So glad i read this, had about 4/5 years of excessive sweating and doctors put it down to my bp tablets, i have chopped and changed tabs in the last two years, decided i had had enough and went back to doctors yet again, junior doctor on duty and she was great, ordered all these tests and surprise surprise !! Type 2 diabetes, made a quick appointment with DN and she said diabetes nothing to do with diabetes ?? Now on a 6 week diet and constant sweat till they decide to give me medication, daily readings of 15.9, today was 14.3. Now i have doubts about the DN after reading these posts !! Any reassurance would be welcome.

 

[phoenix]

Increased upper body sweating can be to do with diabetes as Hobbs said earlier in the thread.
I've copied the answer below from a post I wrote some years ago

People who have diabetic neuropathy are known to experience decreased sweating in their feet but increased sweating in their face and neck. The increased sweating in the upper body is thought to be in compensation for that lost in the lower limbs.

It seems as though that this redistribution of sweat may occur far earlier than any overt neuropathy. Researchers looked at the sweat pattern of people who had been recently diagnosed with T1 (2-20months, age 10-20) and found it to be already evident. They suggest that the that the sympathetic nervous system (that controls sweating) is especially vulnerable to high glucose levels.
http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/co ... l.pdf html

 

[flashy158]

..... UPDATE.... Chest x-ray normal, all bloods normal except for HBAC1 which i knew, sweating like a pig for no reason and 18.9mmol this morning, *** is going on. 5 weeks to wait for next blood test, think i should stop monitoring ?

 

[jack412]

G'day at least you know what's wrong now
I got my BG down by cutting grain, grain product, potatoe and sugary stuff with a LCHF diet and metformin

 

[Bev18]

My mum's suffered this for years and I think she's Defo type 2, I'll tell her to ask her gp to check hba1c. They kept saying oh it's borderline etc but those sweats it pours off her, one gp couple of years ago said it could be menopause what cobblers she's 69 this yea and finished menopause by early 50's. I'll check her blood on Saturday for curiosity. Plus she's drinking a lot and weeing loads. Very glad someone resurected this thread. I'll report back.

 

[flashy158]

I read a post on here somewhere today and he hit the nail on the head for me, he mentioned sudomotor which is linked to sweating and diabetes, i will be mentioning this to my doctor as it fits quite strangely to the symptons i have.
However this man was deserves a medal.

 

[Saber]

I had this sweating problem for years when the neuropathy started getting severe. Phoenix's post makes sense to me. As a woman I was told it might be hot flashes but I was really too young. And now I am of menopause age I do not get it anymore. But I do not sweat on my feet and they get very dry. I think this is caused by the neuropathy complication too. I get normal sweating in the upper body now. Also that profuse sweating with hypos does not happen to me now either.

 

[Terrytiddy]

Well as they say you learn something new every day! I have had a problem with sweating all my life, worse as I got older. I put it down to drinking, but when I stopped drinking the sweating continued. Even in winter I just have a shirt on and still sweat. I've tried all sorts but now going to try low carb diet to see how that goes, will let you know results.

Terry

 

[flashy158]

I have been sweating like this for years and years, its embarasing when everyone else is cold!! it makes me feel like some kind of freak
I am "SO" glad to hear that its not just me, thought no one else suffered from this nightmare.
I had mentioned the sweating to Dr's quite a few times over the years but the only reaction I got was a look and a shrug!!!!!!!!
I was newly diagnosed last month, type 2, and had heard nothing from Dr's until the other day when I was called in for a blood test and given a questionnaire to fill in and bring with me... in 3 weeks time!!!!! when I will see the dietician, podiatrist and nurse, its all very daunting.
Went to Dr on Fri and that was when I actually found out it was type 2, know absolutely nothing about any of it, was also told my cholesterol was high, blood pressure high and he mentioned something about my liver but for the life of me can't remember what he said

Same here, too much info in such a short time, i am suffering from same as you and looking for answers.

 

[Bev18]

Tested mums blood this morning it was 7.7 so has slowly gone up . Have told her to ask what her last blood test results were and a recent urine sample test results are. Have also said to ask for slow release metformin if she's put on it, as she has a hiatus hernia .

I always blamed simvastatiin for some stomach problems never twigged it could have been the metformin.

 

[flashy158]

Jesus i wish someone would give us a straight answer and a solution, even doctors have not got a clue, i am dreading summer.

 

[daddys1]

Jesus i wish someone would give us a straight answer and a solution, even doctors have not got a clue, i am dreading summer.

Hi @flashy158 Not sure you realise but you have come in on a very old thread, back to June 2014

Maybe you need to start a new one.

Neil
Ps Just seen this which may be helpful. @flashy158

Have you heard of autonomic neuropathy? This can affect the sweat glands.

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/neuropathies/#autonomicneuropathy

Sweat Glands
Autonomic neuropathy can affect the nerves that control sweating. When nerve damage prevents the sweat glands from working properly, the body cannot regulate its temperature as it should. Nerve damage can also cause profuse sweating at night or while eating.

 

[flashy158]

eating

I will take that to my doctors.

Many thanks.

 

[LeoEtc]

I had to create an account so I could chime in here too... Today I was feeling fine, movin' around just a little bit, then doing a presentation... it was warm-ish, but it wasn't hot, air was moving, I was not nervous... right after I finished the presentation I looked down and noticed that darn circle of sweat soaking through my shirt under my neck. So embarrassing, so gross!! Then I could feel the wetness from the base of my hairline right down to my upper chest...

Late last summer I noticed by chance that if I took a 'choline citrate' tablet before I was active that I wouldn't get super sweaty from barely moving around... but the pills are huge, and I keep forgetting why I was taking them... has anyone else noticed this?

About me, I'm 45ish, from USA, had gestational diabetes 10 years ago, and happen to have a high fasting blood sugar (and so does my son). My A1C blood tests always come out great, so no diabetes yet. A cardiologist told me I definitely had metabolic syndrome X, one aspect of which is insulin resistance, and I believe that. I, my son,and my mom get crazy affected by heat... wilt like a flower in heat, and light from certain lightbulbs and sun feels terrible on our skin (but no rash)... anyway, if anyone notices choline citrate (or one of the two) stops them from sweating profusely from their hairline down their necks and upper chest, comment please : )

 

[Sherwick]

Hi Everyone, I have had type 2 diabetes for over 10 years and this horrible head and face sweating problem for at least 5 years too. However, it is has SUDDENLY GONE AWAY over the past few days! The only thing I can put it down to is that I STARTED TO DO YOGA about 10 days ago and the change in me has been drastically good. I controlled my blood sugar previously with meds, exercise and diet but nothing stopped the sweating, which used to start under the mildest of stressful situations or after a hot shower when I was drying my hair. But all gone now touch wood!

 

[Yorkie68]

I now realise that my out of control sweating was a symptom of my diabetes: I thought it was related to my obesity but I realised that other people who were very overweight didn't seem to suffer like I did. All it took for me to become soaked in sweat was just walking; it didn't have to be very far or for very long but as soon as I stopped it just poured out of me. Night time too was bad and I would wake up in soaked bedding (and no there was no 'accident' involved!)

Now that I have controlled my BG by LCHF diet the problem has gone. I've lost weight but am still obese but touch wood I have found my cure.

 

[Brock04]

I'm late onset type 1 but I would like to add since starting insulin I sweat so easily! I'm constantly fanning myself with magazines or my bus pass. 20 mins exercise brings on so much it's dripping off my nose and chin! It's embarrassing..

 

[plr36]

Hi I sweat so bad it's embarrassing and then I go all clammy and then feel cold, I was diagnosed with diabetes type 2 last Tuesday but the sweats have been going on for some time now, my GP says it could be the steroids that I'm on for severe asthma that has bought on the diabetes xx

 

[Juicyjan53]

Hi all. This thread has certainly given me food for thought. I had been on HRT for about ten years and thought it was time to stop, so I did a few months ago and had an almost immediate return to hot sweats with which I had been plagued before the HRT. I now wonder if my sweats are diabetes related, as I assume that I will have had undiagnosed diabetes at the time I stopped the HRT. I shall now see if what I eat has any effect. Thanks to you all for the insights into the cause and effect.