Type 2 Always tired

[jacko3469]

Can anybody help, i am always feeling tired especially mid afternoon and all the time from wednesday onwards. I dont like feeling like this as i like to play sport in my sparetime, but it is affecting my sports

 

[paul a carr]

Can anybody help, i am always feeling tired especially mid afternoon and all the time from wednesday onwards. I dont like feeling like this as i like to play sport in my sparetime, but it is affecting my sports

Are you on any meds

 

[jacko3469]

Yes mate 3 metformin a day, 2 in morning and one a night

 

[paul a carr]

Could be low blood sugars or high sugars

 

[Mrsass]

Could it be what you are eating causing a big spike in bg? I feel tired when my bg is higher than normal

 

[Brunneria]

If it builds as the week passes, I would hazard a guess it is to do with your weekly routine.

Do you eat more carbs for breakfast and lunch on weekdays?
Or are you more/less active during the week, so that the blood glucose isn't utilised, and builds.

Tiredness is often a sign of high blood glucose.

 

[jacko3469]

No tired all the time i eat healthy and train at least every other day

 

[JohnEGreen]

It may not be to do with your diabetes it may be caused by any number of things if it carries on would advise talking to your doctor about it.

 

[Brunneria]

No tired all the time i eat healthy and train at least every other day

What do you mean by 'eat healthy'?
There are so many different ideas about what constitutes a healthy diet, and some just don't work for us Ds.

 

[jacko3469]

I eat salads,pasta,rice jacket potatoes, i also have chips once or twice a week

 

[Bluetit1802]

I would also feel very tired if I ate all those starchy carbs. Pasta, rice, potatoes, cereals, bread and anything made with flour will all raise your blood sugars. Have you got a meter, and if so do you test yourself when you are so tired? That might be a good idea.

.

 

[Brunneria]

I eat salads,pasta,rice jacket potatoes, i also have chips once or twice a week

Ah. That explains a lot. I would be permanently zombified, tired and lethargic on such a high carb diet.

I find that my body functions much better, sleep better, feel more rested, more alert and more energy when I eat a low carb diet.

@daisy1 has a great intro factsheet explaining how it works, and what to eat and avoid.
Basically, it comes down to the fact that normal 'healthy diets' full of complex carbs simply do not work for type 2 diabetics - in fact they often make us much worse.

 

[jacko3469]

Hmm but the thing is i need pasta, rice because i play sport all over the country and it keeps me going, i dont eat these all on same day its one from the list every day. I tried glucose gel if needed during my sports but i need toilet a lot more

 

[daisy1]

@jacko3469

Hello Jacko To help you with your diet, here is the information we give to new members (but I know you have been a member for a long while now and have maybe already seen this) and I hope you will find it useful. Ask more questions when you need to and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.