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Afternoon sleepiness - any remedy

elizavk said:
I have some rice, vegetable curries, fish or omlete for lunch. My blood sugar after 2 hours of lunch is usually 140-160mg/dl (7.8 to8.9 mmol/l). Usually very sleepy about 45 minutes after lunch.
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Try testing your blood glucose at around the time you feel tired (45mins) rather than 2 hrs post-meal. Let us know what numbers you find. You may be experiencing dumping syndrome - hypo followed by a rebound hyper. Because 7.8-8.9 mmol/l 2 hour post-meal reading is fairly normal and shouldn't cause the sleepiness. If it was above 10 maybe but not really at your levels.
 
An interesting take on this. I also suffer from severe lethargy and tiredness and am lucky that I am retired as I could not work for the reasons mentioned by ElizaVK. I have tested by "finger-pricking" since diagnosed (about 5 years) and always had my highest readings after breakfast but not always above 8mmol/l. I recently obtained an Abbott Libre and found that I had been suffering hypos in my sleep (about 5 am) my body seemed to respond by producing a rapid rise in BG resulting in high levels even before I ate breakfast. I am forced to eat a snack late at night to counter this and still have my highest readings at breakfast time but at least no hypos in my sleep.
 
do you think you have sleep apnea? mine was discovered 6 years ago when i was in hospital like you i used to fall asleep all afternoon now i wear a mask at night im ok dont feel tired or fall asleep i have had diabetes for 25 years now
 
Agree with others, get rid of the rice if at all possible. It really affects my BGs dramatically, leading to elevated levels for extended periods (dunno why, a bit weird). As well as cauliflower; celeriac, carrot and parsnip all make good rice (don't overdo the carrot). If you have access to a spiraliser and food processor you can make the rice quite easily. If all this is a problem, then a very small piece of plain naan is less of a problem then rice. Or perhaps go for a drier curry that doesn't need something to absorb the sauce. I'd cut out all fruit too, including berries. I do sympathise, I love curries and dropping rice was difficult, as for mango chutney... a distant dream.
 
Thank you rogbert, I hadn't thought of sleep apnea. I will mention this at my next appointment with the clinic. I think my nurse will also have some comments about my previously hidden hypos.
 
SussexDave said:
Thank you rogbert, I hadn't thought of sleep apnea. I will mention this at my next appointment with the clinic. I think my nurse will also have some comments about my previously hidden hypos.
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Be aware that the libre can be very inaccurate, particularly at night. You don't say what kind of diabetes you have, but it's common for the liver to dump sugar anyway in the morning, called the dawn phenomenon. I'd recommend setting an alarm clock for the time shown to give you a hypo by the libre, and testing with a meter.

The libre often reads low at night, particularly if you lie on it.... And if you set an alarm, remember that libre readings lag 15 minutes behind blood sugar readings, so set it for 15 minutes earlier than the hypo time.
 
welcome her Eliza , could you maybe have a handful of nuts with you for your meal instead of rice , nuts are easy to carry in ones pocket ... they are rich in fats nstead of the very carb loaded rice and fast spiking rice.
 
This may be stating the obvious but do you get enough sleep at night? I have a friend who tends to fall asleep after lunch as she usually only sleeps about 5 hours at night. So her sleep pattern is divided into 2 shifts. If she is encouraged to remain physically active after lunch then she sleeps for a longer time at night. She is not diabetic though.
 
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