Folks, you have helped! This false hypo really rings true. I can see my blood sugar moving in steps rather than gradually - it's how my body seems to work.
sweating and shaky
- Thread starter buddyscott
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ButtterflyLady
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- Type of diabetes
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- Acceptance of health treatment claims that are not adequately supported by evidence. I dislike it when people sell ineffective and even harmful alternative health products to exploit the desperation of people with chronic illness.
It sounds like it would be a good idea to get a doctor to look into this for you. If you are not happy with your current doctor, you can always see a different one.
While your problem doesn't appear to be blood sugar related, that doesn't mean you should ignore it or just try to live with it.
I mentioned this problem to a number of doctors over the years - they just don't show any interest. My GP will just do a urine and say I'm OK. I had just almonds for lunch today (yesterday when I had an 'attack' at 5:30pm lunch was a buckwheat pancake with jam at 1:30). It's now 5:30pm and I'm fine. Almonds again tomorrow I think.
ButtterflyLady
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,291
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Acceptance of health treatment claims that are not adequately supported by evidence. I dislike it when people sell ineffective and even harmful alternative health products to exploit the desperation of people with chronic illness.
There may be a specialist who can diagnose it, but the trick is figuring out which kind of specialist. I think we can rule out blood sugar, can we? Then let's consider fluctuations in blood pressure or hormones. It could be an adrenalin/cortisol type issue. It also sounds like it could be an autonomic nervous system issue. But my knowledge of that is limited to being able to spell autonomic, I'm afraid
Can you describe the symptoms and the circumstances in which they happen. When did it start? Does it happen every day? Does anything affect whether or not it happens?
Thanks for your interest. The first time it happened, about 15-20 years ago, I had a breakfast of two bowls of organic puffed brown rice with brown sugar and brown rice milk. 20 or 30 minutes later I walked into town (about 10 minutes) but got overcome by the shaking and sweating and had to flag down a taxi to take me home. Since then the attacks usually happen 3, 4 or 5 hours after I've eaten in either the early or late afternoon. I used to get extremely violent palpitations as a teenager - that would last about 10 minutes and my heart would feel like it's literally jumping out of my chest. I think that may be related as I don't get those any more.
ButtterflyLady
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,291
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Acceptance of health treatment claims that are not adequately supported by evidence. I dislike it when people sell ineffective and even harmful alternative health products to exploit the desperation of people with chronic illness.
Palpitations can be checked out with an ECG test, and if that's normal and there are no other obvious issues such as medication side effects, then the doctors usually say they are anxiety related.
When the shaking/sweating attacks happen now, you have been testing your BGs and they have been normal, right? If so, then I don't think that what you eat is relevant, but the timing of your meal might be. The fact that the attacks only happen in the afternoon is relevant but I'm not sure what it means.
Do the attacks happen regardless of what activities you do? ie, would they happen if you were lying down, sitting, standing, or walking?
The vagus nerve is a major nerve that controls how the stomach's muscle contractions change when we eat and when food starts being digested and is pushed out of the stomach into the small intestine. So there could be a nervous system/neurological issue going on.
I'm leaning towards suggesting you ask for a referral to an endocrinologist to investigate hormonal issues like adrenalin and cortisone fluctuations. I think your GP should do more than just test your urine. I'd ask him or her what they are looking for when they test that, and what other tests they might do, eg blood tests. It wouldn't surprise me if your GP said no to a referral, in which case, I'd insist on them doing some tests themselves.
Stress to them the impact of the symptoms on your life... daily episodes of sudden shakiness and sweating need to be investigated. It can't be pleasant. Lay it on thick, say you have to change shirts at work, it happens in meetings and it's embarrassing, your boss is asking questions, you fell over and hurt yourself etc.
The NHS is like NZ's health system in that GPs are usually limited to making specialist referrals when the symptoms are covered in guidelines, rather than being able to make a referral when they have no idea what the cause could be. If you can afford to go private, I would, because in that situation the specialist is willing to listen to your concerns and run whatever tests are needed. Whereas in the NHS they sometimes feel it's ok to just shrug and tell you to live with it (at both the GP and specialist level). Doctors would want to rule out life-threatening causes such as cardiovascular issues and if they see symptoms as minor and they don't know what's causing them, they often disengage.
It's usually related to a small amount of exercise like a 10 minute walk and I'm now convinced it's carbohydrate for lunch/brunch related. At work last year I was having a pear and 2 apples at 11am and often getting an attack at 2pm. Almonds seems fine, so I'll keep a close eye on foods. You've got our NHS nailed - I really haven't the strength for it and I don't find they know what they're doing anyway. I'm nearly 100% convinced diet will sort it. Many thanks for you in depth response.
