Do you feel your Diabetes?

[HpprKM]

Oh yes, that tiredness and dreadful yawning that I cannot control, happens all day on bad day, but frequently around 3 -5.00 pm. I get major craving for chocolate bars such as kit kat :-(.

 

[HpprKM]

Just wondering if Type 2 non insulin user can get hypos?

 

[Brunneria]

Just wondering if Type 2 non insulin user can get hypos?

I can and do.

 

[HpprKM]

That's a real question - just thought might sound sarcastic.

 

[HpprKM]

Oh, and what are the symptoms? How long do they last? Or maybe that is variable.

 

[Patch13]

I've always been able to tell if my sugar was low, but since low carb I can now tell if it is higher than it should be.

Low sugar symptoms appear to correspond to how fast my sugar levels are dropping. Sometimes I just feel a bit funny, but at other times I want to eat everything in sight!

Highs (8 or slightly above) tend to be thirst, slight pain in my tummy area (a bit like a stitch) or slight sick feeling.

I do carry dextrose tablets or glucotabs so I have something to hand. If I did run out in a restaurant i would just ask for some sachets of sugar to eat.


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[Spiker]

I can and do.

It takes a lot of hard work though. ;-)

 

[Brunneria]

That's a real question - just thought might sound sarcastic.

Well, if I stick to my low carbing happy zone (less than 50g carbs a day) then hypos don't happen.

But if I eat more carbs than that, when the BG drops, it tends to drop suddenly, and then I may hypo. But it takes a combination of things, some of them unpredictable. Stress, exercise, delayed food, anger/irritation...

I seem to have 2 danger points - before breakfast, especially if food is delayed. And before evening meal.

Some typical examples:
Busy schedule in morning. Oops, forgot breakfast. 11am, hypo.
Out for a meal. Nowhere to park. Walk 1/4 mile from car to restaurant, including 2 flights steps. Hypo.
Argument with the Beloved. Start preparing dinner. Hypo (with knives handy, sound the klaxon!).

If anyone is getting hypo symptoms 2-4 hours after a meal, that is a sign of reactive hypoglycaemia, and well worth a google.

My symptoms are, briefly, feeling wobbly, hollow, numb cheekbones, heavy limbs, lost words, inability to use numbers, string sentences, apathy, black hopeless depression. Then when the adrenalin kicks in as the body tries to raise the BG I get verbally scathing, sarcastic, viciously angry, coldly aggressive and potentially violent. It is very important that I am left in peace and not fussed over. I'm likely to feel achy and depressed for 3 days after a bad one.

 

[HpprKM]

Thanks Brunneria - I also need to eat breakfast to start feeling 'normal' - otherwise feel sluggish and nauseous. Every day guaranteed around - I get a major yawning attack - assume sugar low around 4-6 I get a huge desire to eat a proper chocolate bar, if out a big muffin - I do not though - battle through by getting wholemeal toast with sugar free peanut butter or low gi oatie savoury biscuits. New Quinoa quaver type snack also good.

 

[HpprKM]

I am a chocoholic tho :-( saw a peanut butter flavour kit kat in local petrol station - major temptation to me!

 

[ConradJ]

Even through my darkest days, I have always 'felt' my diabetes... it's like I've been imbued with the 'force' or something ... or perhaps I'm just a ridiculously oversensitive cancerian

Mind you, during those dark years [That's more like it! - Ed.], the signals were really confused and I could often feel I was low, only to discover my BGs were about to hit the stratosphere, whilst at other times I felt sickening high only to discover my BG was 2.1.

Still, reading others comments about feeling more sensitive to levels like 8 or 9mmol since going low carb has been encouraging... I've been on a long, slow transition to low carb (so as not to to yet another cold-turkey, knee-jerking rebound) and have recently found similar symptoms occuring...

12 months ago 23mmol would have made me feel grouchy, headaches, etc., but when I had a cannula failure just the other day I was feeling horrendously nauseus, including dry-eyed, etc. I tested and had a BG of 14.3mmol. By the time I got home to emergency inject and insert a new cannula (20 minutes of fast walking), I'd reached 23mmol and felt as though I was going to die

 

[this is too difficult two]

Just wondering if Type 2 non insulin user can get hypos?

I did many years ago.

 

[nickynoonoo]

When high I feel nothing until I'm seriously into the 30s and hyper.

Same as me. I get the symptoms blurred vision thirst etc but not always.. i always run high tho. Cant control. R u the same?
Suffering at the mo bcuz of it feet are so swollen and painful think thats to do with kidneys

 

[Pura Vida]

my problem is that I don't feel any symptoms at all, no matter how high my BG level is

 

[ConradJ]

my problem is that I don't feel any symptoms at all, no matter how high my BG level is

You need to see your GP - ASAP. You need a Ketone meter and test strips, and also sounds like a case for a review of your diet and medications.

 

[Kat100]

Oh yes, that tiredness and dreadful yawning that I cannot control, happens all day on bad day, but frequently around 3 -5.00 pm. I get major craving for chocolate bars such as kit kat :-(.

Kit Kat do a lower cal bar now dark,chocolate ...I take it with me for those just in case moments ....often when on a long walk ....or keep some in the car ...my ruck sack was no good in the summer though ...very melted mess ...so back to the glucose tabs .....Kat

 

[Taking Control]

Okay, so this might seem a little odd, but what I mean is, can you estimate your blood sugar from how your body feels?

I don't mean to the nearest 0.5 mmol/l, but more widely.

We are told about warning signs around hypos, but who else also feels the high blood sugars setting in?

I've recently started low carbing, and obviously you end up in a ketosis state. What I wasn't expecting was for it to feel like I had a moderately high blood sugar. By that I mean 12-16 mmol, rather than >16. It was slightly disconcerting but is something that I am getting used to.

It also made me realise just how much of my diabetes I actually 'feel'.

Anyone else get something similar?

Yes everyone has the ability to feel their "highs" and "lows" it's just understanding what your body is telling you,everyone is different even though we share the same condition.I've been a Type 1 from the age of 2 i am now 40 and have gone through several changes in how my body tells me if i'm heading high or low,i've heard many times how those of us which have had this condition for a long time "loose" the first signs of high or low,i believe through my experience that none of us "loose" these signs they just change and we don't recognise the new ones.Everyone needs to get to know their bodies and if a new feeling arises it needs to be understood by you even if it's the smallest of feelings because that could be your body telling you that this is going to be the new feeling that tells you your heading high or low.Taking control of your own body and mind and understanding what it's telling you is the key to controlling any type of Diabetes.

 

[moz1]

Yes I can smell and get a funny taste in my mouth when blood gets to around 14 not sure if it is ketones but when test for them it shows zero ketones. Suppose it could be a very small amount and I am picking up.

 

[Elizwoo]

Hi
Yes, I do 'feel' my diabetes. I am type 1 and, this might sound weird and it is not scientific, but I can tell if my BG is above 7.5/8 by seeing if the outlines of a picture on the wall in my kitchen look blurred when I look at it from the other end of the room. My eye sight starts to blur when I am about those levels and consequently my eyesight changes all day long. I can also have a pretty good guess at my BG on waking in the morning from the clarity of my vision. My house is littered with pairs of spectacles of different focal lengths. I've been assured this constant change in focal length isn't harmful, but I don't like it. My medical team say that I am the only person who reports daily swings in eye sight.

My head also tingles and I feel as though the skin of my scalp is crawling when i am high. By contrast, I feel really energetic and sharp between 4-6. Below that, I feel vulnerable and panicky.

Best

 

[Spiker]

I also have those swings in eyesight though not as rapid and severe as you.