After effects of a hypo

[flojo1234]

Hi all,
Just wanting a bit of advice and to hear if anyone has had a similar experience as me.
On Friday I had a 2 hour hypo. Started around 6am and didn't hear pump alarm until 7.30 (which is a separate issue). I spent the day being completely out of it and sleeping, but the main issue is my legs. The uncontrollable shaking/tremor which I get after a severe hypo. It only occurs when I stand up, when sat down my legs hurt and feel weak but they do not shake. It is now Sunday, and my legs are still shaking, probably worse then they were originally, I was actually sent home from work today because I could hardly stand/walk.I was sent to the hospital by my doctor on Friday night, and they found I had a slight temp and glands were up but nothing significant.
This leg shaking first occurred when I was 14, and I have been hospitalised many times since with this issue, sometimes the shaking has been know to last weeks. I have had many tests but no one can come up with anything apart from that its my body's reaction to the hypo, but I struggle to see how it can still be having such an effect on me nearly 72 hours later.
As a bit of background info, I also have asthma, ME (which obviously makes things worse), and I had glandular fever in may. I have been type 1 diabetic for 9 years, and it has never been very well controlled. As much as I try, I can never seem to get it right for very long.
I am very fed up, and worried as I don't know what is wrong with me. I only started my current job 3 1/2 weeks ago, so I'm really frustrated that my diabetes has currently got this hold on my life and I have had to have days off sick because of it.
As I say, anything can be of help to me right now.
Many thanks, Chloe

 

[Juicyj]

Hi @flojo1234 Sounds pretty rotten to have this as a side effect, obviously the best advice would be to avoid hypos as much as possible, however in the real world we know that's difficult. However when you say your control hadn't been great what do you mean ?

I haven't heard of this before so my best suggestion is to get an apt with your consultant and to see if you can get a referral to a specialist and see if you can get to the bottom of this and find out why his is happening to you.

I'll tag a few other too and see if anyone else has any suggestions @donnellysdogs @catapillar @himtoo

 

[Snapsy]

Oh @flojo1234 sending hugs - I'm afraid I have had no such similar experience so no actual concrete advise to offer, but just wanted to sympathise. I'd echo what @Juicyj has suggested about trying to get a referral - I would recommend getting in touch with your GP and/or diabetes centre tomorrow to go through everything and ask for advice.

Very best,

Love Snapsy

 

[leahkian]

When i have a bad hypo i sleep for a long time after it. You have to think that the hypo take all the energy out of you and you are fighting it to get your sugar back up, so i understand the feeling of needing to sleep. the problems with your legs could be caused by medication that you might be on and a hypo may make the symptoms worse. I know that some diabetics get itchy legs, it has happened to me where you cannot seem to settle. There is a chance it could be nerve damage if your diabetes is all over the place and ask in your doctor if he thinks that it could be related, if he says no then you have lost nothing. If you are not all ready on a insulin pump ask about getting one as the pump should enable you to have better control of your BS. when i first got diabetes i was classed as a brittle diabetic which means it was hard to control my sugar levels and i think you might be too, If you are on medication read the leaflet that you get to see if it has any information about unsteady legs. If you take a few different tablets they could be causing your legs to shake. The only other thing is are you drinking enough fluid as this causes problems and get your blood pressure checked as if it is low you feel like your legs are a dead weight and this could also make you feel tired. Good luck and if they cannot find out why it is happening do not stop fighting and ask for different tests to be done until they find the cause of the problem as sometimes you have to be stubborn and keep pushing the doctors as it is you who are living with it and not them.

 

[phdiabetic]

Wow that sounds horrifying. How low did you actually get? I think that the after effects get much worse depending on how low you are and how long you stay there. The only time I've had significant after effects was when I dropped very quickly to the lowest number I've ever had, and needed a lot of juice to come back up. In that case I was extremely tired and my head felt a bit off, but that could easily be due to stress/anxiety/exhaustion from dealing with everything. In your case the symptom is more physical so I would put it down to some weird thing going on with your body not getting enough sugar. 72 hours would be a fairly normal amount of time for a very bad hypo to leave you with after effects. Hope you're feeling better soon, that sounds like a terrible problem.

 

[Robbieswan]

I tend to suffer both ends of the scale. Both hyper and hypo episodes. Mine don't seem to last as long as yours, but I would say a good hour. The after effects of both are similar, but I would say the shaking is worse on a hypo. The only thing I can compare it to is say how you feel after a road rage incident or a big argument, and your body goes into like a nervous shake. What I am learning on here though is everybody is different. When I first heard that phrase, I thought it was like a get out clause, but it's true. So many people react and behave differently, and not only that, there are so many different severities that will induce different reactions.

 

[slaxx]

I haven't had that symptom before, although with my hypo i do experience general weakness all over, and it gets hard to think/concentrate. But you mention that when you're sat down there is also pain? Have you checked with a neuro before? I'm thinking it has more to do with the nerves, and maybe the hypo only aggravates the feeling. Either nerves in the legs or maybe sciatica? Something in the vertebrae? If not the nerves, possibly something with blood circulation in the legs? I'm no doctor though, so as with what others said, maybe it's best to get a referral. Hope your health and strength improves

 

[Shannon27]

Hi all,
Just wanting a bit of advice and to hear if anyone has had a similar experience as me.
On Friday I had a 2 hour hypo. Started around 6am and didn't hear pump alarm until 7.30 (which is a separate issue). I spent the day being completely out of it and sleeping, but the main issue is my legs. The uncontrollable shaking/tremor which I get after a severe hypo. It only occurs when I stand up, when sat down my legs hurt and feel weak but they do not shake. It is now Sunday, and my legs are still shaking, probably worse then they were originally, I was actually sent home from work today because I could hardly stand/walk.I was sent to the hospital by my doctor on Friday night, and they found I had a slight temp and glands were up but nothing significant.
This leg shaking first occurred when I was 14, and I have been hospitalised many times since with this issue, sometimes the shaking has been know to last weeks. I have had many tests but no one can come up with anything apart from that its my body's reaction to the hypo, but I struggle to see how it can still be having such an effect on me nearly 72 hours later.
As a bit of background info, I also have asthma, ME (which obviously makes things worse), and I had glandular fever in may. I have been type 1 diabetic for 9 years, and it has never been very well controlled. As much as I try, I can never seem to get it right for very long.
I am very fed up, and worried as I don't know what is wrong with me. I only started my current job 3 1/2 weeks ago, so I'm really frustrated that my diabetes has currently got this hold on my life and I have had to have days off sick because of it.
As I say, anything can be of help to me right now.
Many thanks, Chloe

Oh god I hope you're feeling better now!

As for the leg shaking, when I have a bad hypo I start spasming badly. It's really irregular, but it's the reason I have to shout for help instead of sorting it out myself. When I was a teenager trying to be independent and all that, I'd test in the middle of the night, realise I was hypo and not think to have the lucozade which was right next to my bed. I'd go downstairs and in the kitchen my legs would spasm, so I'd end up sprawled on the kitchen floor. Not being a particularly petite person this generally brought someone running. Another example (again after waking up in the middle of the night) I was trying to do a finger prick and ended up accidently throwing my pricker across the room when my arm decided to do a Mexican wave on its own.

I've been told that hypo's basically pull all of your reserves of glycogen out of your liver to maintain parts of your body that need that extra energy (such as the brain, instead of the muscles) which is part of the reason why you feel weak afterwards. Whether this is true, I don't know but it makes sense! Some people replace those reserves quickly, some people can't. If this is how it works, then you may be one of the people who can't. This could be a big part of the reason why you get prolonged hypo symptoms (leg shaking).

I don't know if you've noticed but after a bad hypo it's a lot easier to go hypo again during that day. This again ties in with the "sugar-reserves-in-liver" theory. The sooner you can build them back up the better. After a hypo I try to keep my readings above 7, as mine can fluctuate quite a lot. I do get sleepy too but after a bad hypo sleeping makes me nervous, so I sit and watch telly or read a book for a bit.

My diabetes has also been poorly controlled over the last few years, I'm trying to get a grip on it again though! At the moment its 2 steps forward and one step back, but I'm still moving forward! Hope you're feeling better soon also, your health comes before your work. If they don't like it then tough! Never put people who "don't get it" before your own health

 

[Circuspony]

I get spasms in my thigh muscles when a hypo is approaching. It's my warning to get glucose tablets down me. I wonder whether our bodies start to pull glucose out of our muscles as well. Off to try and Google...

 

[flojo1234]

Hi all
thanks for your lovely messages and advice. The general consensus seems to be that it could be a problem with my nerves. I did have nerve studies done on my feet a couple of years ago, as I have numbness in the bottom of my right foot but as far as I'm aware nothing came of it.
When I say my diabetes is uncontrolled, it is very uncontrolled. last week my sugars spiked up to 32 with no obvious reason or cause.... and then during that night I dropped into a hypo. This yoyo of sugars makes me feel awful and I try so hard to keep them steady but nothing seems to work, and it has always, always been this way.
The irony is, I was supposed to have a diabetic clinic appointment on Tuesday, and I rang up to check the time on the day of the appointment to be told it had been cancelled by an administrator and I had been discharged from the service! I am only 19, and I have to say my experience of transition to adult services from children services has been nothing more than appalling. Don't get me wrong, I work for the NHS and have always, always been its biggest fan, id be screwed without it! But the adult service leaves something to be desired.
I have found I have been very, very sleepy this weekend, and I presume that's the hypo and the ME symptoms mixing. Today I have woken up and legs are slightly better but still unsteady and shaking. I have wondered if I don't get enough sugar/ energy to my muscles in my legs which could cause the shaking and the weakness, as they tend to get worse the longer I stand on them.
Again, thank you for all your help and kind words, I will speak to my nurses/ consultant/ doctor. whoever I can see first.