“Thick” Head, ever since diagnosis

[RobC]

Hi,
Ever since diagnosis, or more precisely since I started on Insulin I have been suffering from a thick or sore head. It’s a persistent surface ache around my forehead, generally weakest first thing in the morning and then consistent from lunchtime onwards. Whilst not painful I’m finding it incredibly distracting and it’s impacting my work. Help! Does anyone have any ideas as to what is going on?

Potted History: I was diagnosed in Jan 2011 as Type 1 age 42 and have probably had elevated BG levels for 12-18months prior. Control is good(HBA 5.9), I go low(3-4) probably twice a week and exceed 10+ around 5 times a week. I take c8units Lantus daily and c10units Humalog, so possibly still in honeymoon period. The advice from the consultant is that I’m too low too often so I’ve been aiming higher of late, with no benefit to how I feel. I work in London during the week so controlling diet is not always easy, but I do subscribe to the low(ish) carb approach and try to keep below 100g carb/day. I drink a couple of glasses of red wine a day, going to cut that out for the next three weeks and see what difference that makes. I’ve been prescribed Simvastatin, but not yet started taking them as I wanted to deal with the thick head first without complicating factors.

Thank you all
Rob

 

[Fallenstar]

Hi Rob C
welcome to the forum, from what you have said about your BG figures they sound pretty good to me, a few lows a week in the 3 to 4 mmol's range don't sound like head crunching type stuff...but then maybe it is for some. I only used to get a bad head if I had gone under during the night or if I hit a below 1 mmol's on my meter.
I used to have a lot of trouble with lows and highs when I was on Lantus, I spoke to a number of other Lantus users who also like me were having problems with this insulin, a couple of them had the thick,constant headache you describe...it was like an allergy to this insulin with them. I had other troubles, ie the crashing lows I spoke of earlier.
Now don't panic, a lot of people really get on with Lantus...but if you Google problems with it ,I did read about the bad headaches and know of a couple of people who when changed from this insulin to another they ceased.
Things may settle ,it may be a control thing, though as I said yours looks good So bear it in mind it could be the meds that don't agree with you and there are other options out there to look into.
It could just be a period of adjustment (hopefully)but bear in mind HCP's never like to blame meds ,when it could be our fault :lol:
Hope things settle for you

 

[copepod]

Always worth considering the simplest possible explanations, and then consider more complicated - it might be allergy to insulin, but you seem to imply that problems are worse on work days than when you're not at work?

A long lasting headache can be caused by things like dehydration (perhaps not drinking enough during work mornings), lighting at work etc. So, worth exploring those possibilities as well as diabetes related explanations.

 

[noblehead]

Could also be stress related or could even be your eyes need examined to see if your prescription has changed, either way I would consult your gp as it's obviously causing you some distress.

Good luck!