Do you ever confuse symptoms of hypo with hyper?

[dowuchyalike]

There have been occasions where I've been pretty sure I've been going low but haven't had my testing kit to hand or have been right in the middle of something and not had my hands free to do a test. Anyway, I'd be on the point of whipping the glucose tablets out of my pocket and throwing a few in my mouth when I'd stop and decide to make the effort to go and test. Lucky for me that I've done this because many a time I've actually had high blood sugar (over 13 maybe, but less than 20) and not low. Overall I have good hypo awareness but there are just some times when all I have is a general feeling of malaise before the real big symptoms kick in and certainly for me that feeling is not dissimilar to the symptoms of early hyperglycaemia.

 

[noblehead]

I can't say I really do, with hypo's I get a hunger feeling and my feet start to feel like I've got lead boots on, with hyper's I feel really tired and start to get a dull headache.

 

[kellyrae]

Sometimes I feel like I'm low when its high, not everytime and not very often but yes i have also felt as though the symptoms are similar.

 

[smidge]

Same as Noblehead really. It's the hunger with hypos that alerts me. I've literally got to the point of testing any time I feel hungry!Hypers I just feel hot and very tired.

Smidge

 

[Mileana]

The only time I have a similar problem is when I am walking (far) and it's hot. I have to be careful because the heat and a slight dehydration will make me feel hyper, when my blood sugar is in fact very low. The hot, bothered, fussy feeling is something I would normally associate with hyper and it entirely masks the hypo symptoms of chills, hunger... The blurred vision and staggering gait is really the first signs I pick up on thinking to myself 'I did drink so and so much, I can't be 'that' dehydrated.

So when I walk far, like I will tomorrow, I test every half hour - I simply have to.

Opposite problem, I know, but still...

 

[Sarah69]

Im only hypo aware, I'd never know if I was hyper.

 

[Sanober]

I know when my sugars are shifting up and down and round and round...I am very symptomatic (great incentive to keep levels steady!) I can sometimes get similar feelings of hypo and hyper but I know with hypo there's other specific symptoms (suddenly very cold/suden hunger/sweats without explanation/weakness and tingling in legs) , I always manage to test just to make sure because ignoring any particular weird symptoms is not a good idea for me.

 

[Sheffield27]

Hi - I have experienced this, many times I have been ready to reach for the jelly babies and then tested and it tends to be around the 12 - 13 mark.. Is strange.... But I also seem to get some hypo symptoms after I take my Lantus which does my head in when trying to sleep! :?

 

[borderter]

Always feel like a hypo when in fact its hyper ! great disease isnt it lol

 

[hanadr]

I never confuse hypo with hyper [ rarely experience either], BUT did confuse Low Blood Pressure with possibly hypo once or twice. medication now changed so shouldn't happen again.
Hana

 

[tio]

yes i've been caught out with that too (the wife thought i was fibbing and just looking for some sweeties lol)

 

[radyeuk]

When I start going Hyper, I get strange almost hunger pains like its been several hours since I've eaten a large bowl of pasta and my stomach is starting to shrink back to size. (Not that Iv'e done that in a heck of a long time) Testing always shows me to be 8 to 10 range at this point. I think I am hungry but I'm not. But a sure sign that I am going Hyper is the back of my neck starts to sweat even is cool weather and not doing anything to generate the sweat.

Going Hypo is a little weird in that the first sensation I get is in the center of my chest just below the sterum. The only way I can describe it is... it is similar to blowing all of the air out of your lungs and then some. Its that odd collapsing chest sensation. It starts to kick in about 4.5 and by 4.0 I am jittery.

PS. Type 2 and 5.5 HA1bc Jan 2012

 

[Ruth3]

The confused symptom Between hypo and hyper I get, is both make me bad tempered. :x

 

[anna29]

What a fantastic question is raised here on this topic !
I 'do' indeed get the 2 muddled up , except when going serious into hypo
as things do go more rapidly downhill "fast"...
Sweat profusely were as with hyper its more of a feeling hot flushed .
With hypo its serious hunger and feel a surge to grab something sweet and eat it as 'fast' as I can...
If dont get it in fast go lollying about like am off my [box] head and act weirdly.
Losing the ability to talk sense, very weepy and cant think clearly or focus properly.
As ruth mentions in her post 'yes' both can make me grumpy the only differing thing
with this is I go grumpy just before my hypo 'kicks' in severely as once its kicked in
I lose the grumpiness to find it replaced with an awful cold clammy wet shaky sweat.
My insulin being an animal insulin 'does' give me great hypo awareness but I do have to
act fast between the sweaty sweet hungry craving stage to prevent the lollying about stage.
Anna.

 

[dowuchyalike]

The confused symptom Between hypo and hyper I get, is both make me bad tempered. :x

I'm the same. If I'm low and I'm grumpy the wife says "I thought you get grumpy when you're high" and when I'm high and grumpy she says...well you can guess.

Nice to know that I'm not the only one that sometimes gets the two conditions mixed up. I think there are times when it's absolutely obvious which of the two is afflicting you but just occasionally there can be that strange grey area where you're just really not that sure.

 

[Glynis01]

I get all the symptoms that you are all talking about on here, the sudden hunger feeling, that feeling of wanting to be sick if I don't eat something now, light headedness, cold sweat, etc, but I have no idea whether they indicate a hyper or a hypo. I've never been told. The Desmond course I attended when I was first diagnosed and everything I read all talk about the importance of controlling my blood glucose, and all talk of the meters. I'm type 2 and according to my drs surgery type 2s don't need a monitor, but no-one can tell me how I'm supposed to control it without or how I'm supposed to know what is happening and whether it has anything to do with my diabetes or not. I also experience the sudden urge that I have got to sleep and I cannot function at all unless I do. Again, I have no idea if that is the diabetes telling me something or not.

 

[radyeuk]

I get all the symptoms that you are all talking about on here, the sudden hunger feeling, that feeling of wanting to be sick if I don't eat something now, light headedness, cold sweat, etc, but I have no idea whether they indicate a hyper or a hypo. I've never been told. The Desmond course I attended when I was first diagnosed and everything I read all talk about the importance of controlling my blood glucose, and all talk of the meters. I'm type 2 and according to my drs surgery type 2s don't need a monitor, but no-one can tell me how I'm supposed to control it without or how I'm supposed to know what is happening and whether it has anything to do with my diabetes or not. I also experience the sudden urge that I have got to sleep and I cannot function at all unless I do. Again, I have no idea if that is the diabetes telling me something or not.

You definitely need a meter while trying to figure out what your symptoms are trying to tell you. The shrinking stomach hunger pains I get used to trigger me into eating carbs which of course just made things worse. Without the meter to show me the proof that I was already hyper, I would just compound the problem.

After two years of being "officially" diagnosed, I am down to maybe testing once or twice a week when things seem "odd". But just yesterday, I went hypo rapidly only 90 minutes after having my afternoon carb snack. Turns out I have my daughters stomach bug. Getting sick drops me really fast and I need the meter to confirm the symptoms.

In my experience, I feel like I am being punished by my Doctor and staff by being given the brushoff.

BTW, if I've had a good nights sleep and there is no other reason for being un-naturally sleepy, then I know to check because I am dropping fast.

 

[Glynis01]

Thank you.

 

[Deleted member 45091]

Hi yes experience the same symptoms. Been diabetic now for about 22 years type one. Last couple years or so as my sugars started creeping up. I can feel really hungry and even a bit shaky when my sugars are around 12. Its annoying because before when i felt a bit hungry it was a gurantee hypo coming on cold sweat etc weak. Ive explained this to the specialists etc so the predicament iam in is this. Before when i felt shaky and hungry i just used to eat. But after testing a few times its clear that its actually higher most of the time. The docs dont want me to test everytime i feel hungry so what do you do. If i just eat it will send my sugars up higher, if i dont test because of the costs of tests strips then eventually as my sugars improve it could be a hypo which could lead to further problems. So to combat all these issues ive asked for a continues glucose monitor so i can roughly see what my sugars are doing all the time.. and yet again all down to costs not funded by the NHS. He said i can try it for a week lol. But iam not leaving it there. Ive heard and seen alot of diabetics that have these problems and can aslong as they feel well continue with levels in the higher levels. Like you said before you felt hungry you would automaticlly eat which is a normal response, but contiuing doing this over time will cause problems itself. So for me personally i know where your coming from. I never used to have this i think its mainly due to elevated sugars over a period of time your body assumes higher levels are the norm and 10s etc feels low. I think i CGM would make me overide these feelings and stop me automatically grabbing food when feeling hungry.

 

[AntLockyer]

It's been happening to me a lot recently. Feel Hypo test and see 10-13

I wonder if it's a bounce back from a Hypo and if I feel it my body is already trying to deal with it.