Hi there,
I am 41 and have stage 4 incurable renal cancer which is difficult to deal with because its not my only health problem.
7 years ago I started waking up in the night sweaty, clammy, dizzy, with nausea, tingling lips and headache. It became a regular occurence. After several months I started passing out. Many occasions I would end up in hospital and discharged without a diagnosis. The last time I was admitted I was wearing an ECG monitor when I passed out which happened to capture what was going on. I would wake with the same symptoms above, my heart rate would drop to the low 20's. At that point I would pass out and my heart would pause. Due to the long pauses, the coronary care unit gave me no choice but to have a pacemaker fitted which wouldn't give me a diagnosis, but it would prevent my heart going lower than 50bpms and prevent me from passing out.
For 7 years I have lived with the pacemaker inplanted and have never passed out since it was inplanted. I still often wake up feeling clammy, dizzy, needing to wee, feeling sick and get terrible headaches. Tests ruled out sleep apnea, epilepsy etc. I suppose the focus has always been on oncology and cancer. Why I have these nocturnal episodes has never been discussed much. I attend the pacemaker clinic annually and I am told that the pacemaker is in use most nights but rarely through the day.
I have regularly tested blood sugar during the day and its usually between 4 - 6 mmol/L. Recently I signed up for a trial of the CBM freestyle libre 2 and its finally given me the answers to why I am wearing a pacemaker. I sleep an average of 7 hours per night and for around 5.5 hours of those 7, I am in a hypoglycemic catergory. The point where I wake up sweaty, dizzy etc is where my blood sugar is the lowest. If I didn't have the pacemaker inplanted then I guess I would pass out and have the heart pauses.
I have made an appointment to discuss this with my GP but its over a week away. In the meantime I have been trying to raise my blood sugar before going to sleep. I have tried sugar, protein and carbs but nothing has worked. My daytime wake hours shows an average of 4 - 4.5 mmol/L which spikes to around 6mmol/L after eating and straight back down to 4 - 4.5mmol/L within 30 minutes of the spike.
Can anyone please advise how they manage nocturnal hypoglycemia please? I would love to have a restful nights sleep.
I am 41 and have stage 4 incurable renal cancer which is difficult to deal with because its not my only health problem.
7 years ago I started waking up in the night sweaty, clammy, dizzy, with nausea, tingling lips and headache. It became a regular occurence. After several months I started passing out. Many occasions I would end up in hospital and discharged without a diagnosis. The last time I was admitted I was wearing an ECG monitor when I passed out which happened to capture what was going on. I would wake with the same symptoms above, my heart rate would drop to the low 20's. At that point I would pass out and my heart would pause. Due to the long pauses, the coronary care unit gave me no choice but to have a pacemaker fitted which wouldn't give me a diagnosis, but it would prevent my heart going lower than 50bpms and prevent me from passing out.
For 7 years I have lived with the pacemaker inplanted and have never passed out since it was inplanted. I still often wake up feeling clammy, dizzy, needing to wee, feeling sick and get terrible headaches. Tests ruled out sleep apnea, epilepsy etc. I suppose the focus has always been on oncology and cancer. Why I have these nocturnal episodes has never been discussed much. I attend the pacemaker clinic annually and I am told that the pacemaker is in use most nights but rarely through the day.
I have regularly tested blood sugar during the day and its usually between 4 - 6 mmol/L. Recently I signed up for a trial of the CBM freestyle libre 2 and its finally given me the answers to why I am wearing a pacemaker. I sleep an average of 7 hours per night and for around 5.5 hours of those 7, I am in a hypoglycemic catergory. The point where I wake up sweaty, dizzy etc is where my blood sugar is the lowest. If I didn't have the pacemaker inplanted then I guess I would pass out and have the heart pauses.
I have made an appointment to discuss this with my GP but its over a week away. In the meantime I have been trying to raise my blood sugar before going to sleep. I have tried sugar, protein and carbs but nothing has worked. My daytime wake hours shows an average of 4 - 4.5 mmol/L which spikes to around 6mmol/L after eating and straight back down to 4 - 4.5mmol/L within 30 minutes of the spike.
Can anyone please advise how they manage nocturnal hypoglycemia please? I would love to have a restful nights sleep.