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After a good night's sleep.

WeeWillie

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,556
Location
UK
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Dictators who positively go out of their way to force misery, tears and fears, upon their countryman's lives.
Politicians who, in dealing with dictators, have a wishbone where a backbone should be.
Hi,

I mentioned before that I've difficulty sleeping at night, my doc says I've insomnia but I'm not so sure; I can explain another time.
What I am sure about is that I've sleep apnoea like thousands of people, but over and above the Insomnia,
so I'm stuck with a sort of double whammy.

Anyway, over the past 4-6 months I've managed to sleep undisturbed through three, non consecutive, nights...sheer bliss.
Now, when I check my blood levels first thing each morning the readings, normally in the region of between 10 to 12 however, when I checked my levels on the 3 mornings after I enjoyed those fantastic night's sleep, the readings were, 6.9 / 7.2 / 5.9.
They are never low readings such as those normally.

I had not changed my normal eating habits, poor as they are (I've difficulty facing food at times) proving these lower levels were not attained through diet, they were attained through sleep.
It's obvious therefore, we humans were most assuredly designed to sleep at night.

OK then, what I'd just like to ask is, has anyone experience of anything similar to my own situation, (poor sleeping habits) and did/do you notice a drop in your sugar levels than normal the following mornings

It's gone 3am, I'm tired, but not in sleeping mode just yet, so I trust all this makes reasonable sense.

Bye for now.
Keep smiling,
willie.
 
I have trouble getting my night basal dosage just right. If its too strong my bg dips without waking me. Following this i'll wake every hour through the night. Not saying thats what u have been experiencing but maybe.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Sorry to hear of your sleep problems Willie. I get tired, but for many years I just cannot sleep very well. Sometimes I go to bed with a good reading and in the morning it could be 13. It drives me insane, the lack of sleep, insomnia, I can cope with, but erratic blood sugars are the biggest worry.

Sorry I can't really help.

Take care with best wishes RRB
 
Hi Glucohero,
Blimey you do have problems of your own don't you, I sympathies with you.
I guess we both have different issues with our Diabetes though.
However, I feel it's very important to read every new piece of information
each of us may receive regarding problems with the illness,
and it can always be held on file for later use if necessary.

So I'm grateful to you for taking time out to reply, you were not wasting your time.

Thank you for replying, and trust you're having a pleasant weekend.

Cheers,
willie.
 

What better way could you phrase it. >> It does drive you insane.

RRB, the mere fact you replied is of help on its own.

It may come across as a daft thing to say, but It makes the old mind
rest a little easier learning that someone else has similar problems.

I guess we fight on, and hope we win. No, I'll rephrase that... Fight on, we win. :thumbup:

Appreciate your reply.
Thank you.

willie.
 
I do find that eating something carby before bed helps but I do not take insulin so it might be a little different for me

My mother who has been a nurse since the 50s says they were always trained to give the diabetic patients warm milk and biscuits last thing at night so it is nothing new


Diagnosed Type II 1998 1 x 80 mg Gliclazide, 4 x 500mg Metformin and 1 x 100mg Sitagliptin - HbA1c - 48 mmol/mol
 
I sleep through the night very infrequently. Can't remember the last time, maybe a couple of years ago. I've not noticed any difference in BGs according to how well I've slept. I'd be worried to take sleeping pills just in case I had a hypo that I wouldn't notice.
 
Hi, ive definitely noticed a correlation between a good nights sleep and better morning readings. Also have trouble off and on with sleep, though no other conditions such as apnea as I'm aware of. When I'm awake for long periods during the night my blood sugars can be anything from 1~4mmol higher than usual. Think it is because my liver gives me an extra burst of sugar thinking I ned extra energy cause I'm not sleeping. However after a good nights sleep my levels ase very consistently 5~6. Happy to say of late I am sleeping alot better since I've had my pump.

Sent from my GT-S5360 using DCUK Forum mobile app
 
Neil Walters said:
My mother who has been a nurse since the 50s says they were always trained to give the diabetic patients warm milk and biscuits last thing at night so it is nothing new
Click to expand...

I've got one of those too. - bring back Matron!

I totally agree about the sleep thing. I have to be out and about at anti social hours of the night/morning quite a lot, because of my job. - catching buses/planes, or fishing girls out of boys bedrooms. ( why is it always the girls who go walk about? Is the age of chivalry dead???)
Anyway. I don't even know where to start. On a really disrupted night, my BG will shoot up to the 10's and stay there until mid morning. It doesn't seem to matter what I do.

How are we s'posed to control something so random???

Any and all ideas welcome, got another 2am start coming up soon .....


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Weewillie, according to my consultant diabetics are more prone to suffer from Sleep Apnea, I was tested myself many years ago after going through a period of constant tiredness, the initial test is just a simple questionnaire that you can fill in at home.

Reading your post it may not be SA, usually the symptoms of SA is disturbed sleep rather than the failure in getting to sleep, it's more to do with when you think that you've had a good nights sleep but wake up tired and feeling the effects throughout the day, just the same if you think it's SA then ask your gp to do the checks.

As for better readings after a good nights sleep........definitely!!!! When we don't sleep well we get stressed, stress in turn raises bg so for me that would result in higher than average bg readings in the morning.
 
Hi

I have sleep apnoea and use a cpap machine every night to ensure I continue breathing! There are a list of questions which you can ask yourself which will give an indication of whether you have sleep apnoea and how severe it may be. For me prior to diagnosis I would fall asleep mid conversation and whilst driving ( another dvla notifiable condition and if you don't comply with treatment your licence is revoked - quite sensibly in my opinion)
I have been diagnosed with type 2 whilst on the machine so it certainly hasn't stopped diabetes developing.
For more information on the questions Google epworth sleepiness scale and look at British snoring and apnoea society. Like diabetes untreated sleep apnoea increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke so worth getting a diagnosis if you think you have it. My GP only referred me after I told him I had it and it is not generally tested for in general practice. Again it is associated with obesity but not all sufferers are overweight and losing weight doesn't always cure it....


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Look folks, I'm sorry, I've taken a bit longer to reply than I intended to.

Now, I've checked my spelling, but not my grammar, so please ignore any uneducated drivel I've come up with.

From the your comments it does certainly appear we mostly agree a proper nights sleep does wonders for the old body, that's if we can enjoy one of course.



________________

Neil Walters, you're mother's correct, a warm drink and a biccies before laying the weary head on the pillow, induces sleep...for most people. I long to get back to those days. (or rather, nights)

______________________________________

SamJB, I guess we differ from person to person, so it would be unreasonable of me to assume the majority of people have the same sleep pattern.
Actually, my doctor prescribed a fortnights supply of sleeping tablets last year, but they weren't strong enough for me, and he didn't want prescribe stronger ones.I can understand his thoughts though..I could end up being on them for a very long
time and would,no doubt end up having to increase the dosage as time went on. Kind of dangerous. But boy, I'd love just couple of strong one for a short period.
I can't even indulge myself with snifter of a warm whisky. That would be more than dangerous as I was addicted to the stuff for a decade when I was a young man...gives me the shivers whenever I think about it. Brrr.

______________________________________

brett, "How are we s'posed to control something so random???"
I guess it's nigh on impossible, so I'll be looking forward to reading any posts with suggestions for you.
You mentioned Sleep Apnoea, yep I have that also. The hospital gave me a overnight test, but I couldn't have the test completed overnight in the ward, I wouldn't sleep as normal "normal" do, Harumphh. So I'd to wire myself up at home, though it was more of a very early morning test than the normal night's sleep.
However, it was established I stop breathing 112 times per sleeping period so I was given a CPAP machine. I go to bed (at whatever time) with an elephants trunk hanging from my nose...a real passion killer I can tell you. Mind you, I'm still
trying to remember what the passion once was, so I guess it passion wasn't passion for anything in particular.
btw the 112 figure I mentioned is not high, some poor folks are far higher than that, poor souls.

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noblehead, you'll have read the reply to brett, above, no doubt.
However your post is very interesting. I never ever knew diabetics are more prone to suffer from Sleep Apnoea. I've used the CPAP machine years before it was discovered I was diabetic, but I'm not really all that surprised. I've always felt the diabetes was discovered far too late, so you've put that thought to the back of my mind now, thank you. It wasn't really anyone fault, it was just one of those things that sometimes happen to us in life.

"disturbed sleep rather than the failure in getting to sleep"
Heck I've both noblehead, weird or what. Mind you, me better half tells me constantly I'm weird, so no real surprise there I suppose. She still loves me though.

______________________________________


cott97, "cardiovascular disease", Yep, you're bang on. I'd a heart attack in 2006 and I've unstable angina ever since .

"DVLA"... another yep. They're very interested in me. I'll know towards the end of this year whether or not they will give me the all clear and renew my licence.
I've been using a mobility car for a number of years so it's going to be a bit of a bind if I have to send it back. I prefer driving on the roads with a lot of metal surrounding me, so it's a lovely biggish car, mind you, at my height all cars are biggish. Nah, I'm not as small as that, but I'll miss it if I have to give it up.
But I'd rather give it up rather than risk having a flaky at the wheel and injuring someone.

Thank you everyone for replying, and replying with excellent comments. :clap:

willie.
 
Hi all. My parents are L2 diabetics and I am prone to become diabetic as well. I am 28 years old. I've found out that sleep disorders can lead to diabetes. Is this true? What is your opinion on this? Narcolepsy is not so known and recognized sleep disorder, even though many people suffer from it. I suffer from insomnia and it's bad. That's why I ask.
I've found out thta most common sleep disorder (which is insomnia) affects more than 20% of the total population, followed by respiratory disorders during sleep and up to 10 percent of the elderly population also has restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movements in sleep. Sleep is an important physiological process, for both adult and children. Lack of sleep can significantly affect the functioning of cognition and also for emotional and physical health. The imbalance of wakefulness and sleep is a common cause of fatigue, drowsiness, distraction, headache and dizziness. Sleep disorders are also associated with physical resistance (immune system), elevated pressure, heart and stroke, dizziness. Most are reflected as a bad night's sleep, but it can, on the contrary, show a pronounced daytime sleepiness as well. Long time untreated sleep disorders, such as disorder of breathing during sleep can also lead to the development of diabetes, cerebro-vascular disease and sudden death during sleep.
The problem is that your doctors will usually not ask you about your sleep habbits and quality of your sleep during routine checks. All too often, patients remain unrecognized for many years and therefore untreated. I think sleep is very important and quality of sleep should be a big priority for everyone, diabetic or non diabetic.
 
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