• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Can Sugar highs and lows be mistaken for diabetes?

S

StevOibiza

Member
Messages
8
Hello everyone

I am new to the forums here and hope some of you can help me with an ongoing problem I have.

I am a reasonably fit person, i go to the gym several times a week for bodybuilding and weight training. I was informed by a friend that I should take in plenty of sugar before training as I would burn this off in no time when exercising is this correct? He normally has a tin of coke before every training session so I started doing the same. After training a would find myself passing alot of clear urine, in my opinion alot more than I drank. Then shortly after finding I needed a 30-60 minute nap as I would crash. Now when I have been peeing a lot I have noticed that I was also very thirsty which confused me as I thought to myself surely if I need to pee so much I would not need a drink? This urination would be every 10-15minutes and last up to 60-90 minutes. Pretty much standard after training this would occur.

Recently I have had several viral infections and so therefore training less and having less sugary foods and felt somewhat better. Today was the first day I went back to my original training pattern and had a 2 slices of toast with peanut butter, then a tin of coke and a half a litre of water before training. Whilst training I had a 500ml bottle of Powerade isotonic drink also. I felt fine while training, a little whoosy or tired but just figured it was due to lack of stamina and fitness as I have been training less. Now in the evening I had a Chinese meal which was quite sugary and then a very sugary dessert. Within 15minutes of having the dessert I was out cold on the sofa, sleeping and snoring loudly. My wife described it as a crash. I woke feeling very thirsty and drank almost a litre of water and have still a dry mouth now. I have been to urinate 5 or 6 times in 2 hours and the urine was very clear and plentiful.

Could this be just a case of a sugar high and a sugar low, therefore my body peeing out the excess sugar and me having a little crash or does it sound somewhat diabetic related? I don't have a particularly high metabolism and lose muscle mass rather than body fat if I lose weight.

I would tend to worry a lot so don't want to get carried away but when asking friends and doing research on many of the symptoms I have in everyday life resemble those of a diabetic. I would be prone to abscesses, around one every 11-12 months, get itchy or have skin problems like psoriasis,i get cold sweats at night for no apparent reason, I would be thirsty a lot, have dizzy spells and blurred vision at times. Now none of this is very severe but worrying none the less. I have had a blood problem about 19 months ago called ITP where my platelet count dropped suddenly and it was a close call so naturally all medical problems scare me now. I don't want to end up a hypochondriac so advice is the way for me. Surely if I had type 1 diabetes I would know by now?? Just before xmas I was getting many viral infection symptoms so I had my doctor to a complete blood test, for diabetes, hepatitis, all sorts and everything was normal.

My questions are therefore are these little turns I am having caused by poor diet and too much sugar or does it sound like diabetes occurring? How quick does diabetes affect a person? Can someone have type 1 and not be aware of this? If I had a test done in December is it possible I could of been wrongly diagnosed? I have heard of an instant test that can be bought in a chemist, is this true? If I have diabetes is this something life threatening?

I am sorry for all this abundance of information but I have learned the hard way by googling symptoms it just gets me worried so i hope someone here can help me or even maybe have another answer to my problems as I live in Spain now and have not yet mastered the language enough to discuss this properly with a doctor. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks ever so much

Steve
 
I have just been reading up a bit on hypoglycemia, is this a possibility? Its hard when I have these symptoms and not diagnosis, bloods came back fine and i sit at night like now worrying about it. Please advise.
 
Make an appointment with your GP! At the very least it will put your mind at rest. :)

I just wonder why anyone would want to load up with sugary drinks before exercising? :shock:
 
He said it was instant energy and would be burnt off in training and make me work harder! Guess not!

Have you no advice for me other than seeing my GP cos as I said the language barrier is a problem :S
 
Read this article on the effects of cola,

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4927791_co ... -body.html

I suggest you eat more healthily and see if things improve. If you are concerned that you are a diabetic then see the Dr. again. You could write out what you want to say and have it translated, you can even do this on google. Do you know anybody who could go with you and translate?

You could buy a meter and test strips from a chemist and test your blood sugars yourself.
 
Is no-one concerned enough that it may be diabetes then? I would be happy if this was the case. Any more comments would be appreciated...
 
Hi Steve,

It is not that no one here wants to say to you if it is or not diabetes, it is because no one on here is qualified to make that call, which is why the advice you will get is to see your gp and if needed get a second opinion.

There are a number of reasons you could have these symptoms and as been said, get it checked out and put your mind at ease.

Joe
 
Hi Steve, I think drinking Coke before exercise is a bad idea. Coke contains caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant, it will also stimulate your bladder and therefore you will pee more. I think the same goes for Power drinks.
Caffeine tends to give you an instant lift, then when it wears off you feel deflated, hence the sudden tiredness. The reason your pee is clear, is probably because the coke is going through your system so quickly, cos of the caffeine in the coke. This will also happen if you drink a large amount of water and you are not used to drinking plain water.
I admit to being a cokaholic, but only the caffeine free diet kind. I would not dream of drinking a fizzy drink of any kind whilst exercising. I take a bottle of water when I go the gym.
 
Thanks guys really i do appreciate it, i am sorry to sound persistant just it can be a very lonely place abroad when u are not well, ill try and get a doctor that can sort me out :)

Thanks again for all your advice :)
 
Hi Steve
I also live in Spain so understand the problem with the language. At our Dr's there is an interpreter 2 days a week. I wonder if your surgery has this. Hope this helps

Wendy
 
Hi Steve
Some of the things you have described do happen in diabetes, but they can be down to other causes.
You definitely DON'T need to ramp up your suager before exercising. I'm an overweight grandmother who does at least 8 hours serious exercise per week and sometimes more, on a breakfast with ZERO carbs. Do get your doctor to chck you out again. something could be going wrong. then again it could be all that sugar :lol:
Hana
 
Thanks again, Wendy where in Spain do u live?

Hana thanks for the advice, it may be all in my head but I am worrying alot about things these days, i have been ok since as I have hardly touched sugary products so ill lay off them and see if it helps.

Feel a bit daft worrying so much about it but i was on SUCH a low the other night when i wrote the first post it scared me :shock: :cry:
 
Hi Steve
I live in Torre Pacheco Murcia . Where do you live? Going to the Drs today to try and get more test strips wish me luck.

Wendy xx
 
Hi Steve
Well no surprise the Dr's view on having test strips is unless on insulin only get 1 box every 3 to 4 months Aggggg. I feel really deflated but will have to find a way of buying them for ourselves and shipping them to Spain. The boxes are 45 euros. So much harder with the language barrier.
Hope u get on OK

Wendy
 
Back
Top