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Drenching night sweat = hypo?

P

pinewood

Well-Known Member
Messages
792
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi everyone. Last night I woke up literally drenched in sweat from head to toe, with my sheets soaking. This has never happened to me before. I have no other symptoms (no fever, do not have a cold/flu etc.).

I immediately took my blood sugar and it was 6.2mmol. However, I am wondering if this was a "rebound high" and whether a hypo could have caused my sweat? It is plausible because I exercised pretty intensively before dinner and stupidly fell asleep at 4.5mmol.

I'm "taking a break" from my Dexcom at the moment so I can't know for certain what happened! Would be so grateful for any thoughts; Dr. Google has scared me senseless with talk of cancer etc.
 
Hi pinewood, from what you've said I'd say it was a nighttime hypo. If it continues then I'd go back to using the dexcom just to find out. Oh and Dr Google knows too much for his and your own good !
 
Hi @pinewood !
First off, don't trust Google. While it can advise on some things, it will just scare you. If you had cancer, i doubt night time sweats to this level would be your first symptom!
Sounds like you've been hypo for an extended period of time and luckily rebounded, how are your sugars today? I say extended as hot flushes are a common hypo symptom, but if you're hot for a long time obviously you're going to sweat a lot more. Drink lots of water to rehydrate!
I find that extended hypos deplete the body of its stash of sugars stored in the liver, hence the rebound. You may want to keep a very close eye on your sugars as they may have a tendency to plummet.
 
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Hello @pinewood what was your dexcom reporting during the night ?

How long have you been wearing this sensor and have you calibrated it recently, although you don't have to I still cross check mine every so often particularly around a high/low event to verify the reading. I wouldn't take a break though, you still need to monitor carefully and unless it's a rogue sensor which would need reporting to dexcom there's little point in not using it.

In my opinion it sounds like a hypo, Google will do your head in, so just take care over the next day in case you rebound again.
 
Juicyj said:
Hello @pinewood what was your dexcom reporting during the night ?
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I think @pinewood is taking a break from the sensors at the moment so this was why he was asking what it sounded like as he wasn't wearing one at the time (though I may have read it wrong).

To me it definitely sounds like it could've been a hypo, but with no actual data we can only make an educated guess
 
Yes, I didn't have a Dexcom sensor on. I've been getting a bit of Diabetes burnout so I am relying on finger pricks and having a week off of constantly knowing my numbers .... will put a new sensor on tomorrow.
 
Sorry @pinewood missed that point and thanks @Rokaab for pointing that out

I agree it sounds like a hypo then.
 
Sorry to hear that @pinewood have you been able to chat to your DSN about how you are feeling ?
 
Juicyj said:
Sorry to hear that @pinewood have you been able to chat to your DSN about how you are feeling ?
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No, it's all okay but thanks for the kind thoughts! I just wanted a break; I've been using it basically non-stop for the past few years and wanted a week off to feel "unplugged". I'm still finger-pricking many times a day it's just (in a strange way) been nice to not always know my number ... although clearly last night it would have helped me!
 
I agree it can be over whelming using it at times, particularly if you're running high and it's constantly beeping at you (as mine is doing now as I am running at 12.6mmol/l !!) Sometimes it's nice to 'go back to nature' and just sense your levels and feel a little free in the process, so don't blame you for going cold turkey !! As long as you're ok.
 
If you are having to do multiple finger pricks a day you are not really unplugged. Unfortunately for all of us we simply can’t switch it off, but on the plus side, let’s face it, there are health condition which are a lot more difficult to live with. I have been a Type1 for about 45 years now. Personally, I have found Libre to be a life changer because it has reduced my finger pricking from 10 to just about one a day. Hope you will soon get back into the swing of things.
 


Yes Pinewood, I've had these a few times (glad it's not just me :***: ), typically about 12 hours after (4am) an intense/extreme exercise session e.g. a days skiing, when you're normally sedentary.

What I've put it down to is your body is using your glucose stores to repair/recover abnormal muscle damage etc. So while your BG levels might have been good during the day, and before bed, you drop much much lower during the night than your normal nocturnal BG profile would.

I've come out of them like a normal nocturnal hypo but more confused because "I'm soaked????", but not sweating ... yep first time I thought I'd wet the bed, but no urine smell and the area pattern wrong.

I don't have access to a CGM so I can't give you a BG profile over time. Nor am I a clinician, just a T1 of 35 yrs in May.
 

Hi Pinewood

A suggestion would be to use only the low alarm on the Dexcom for a while, and don't look at the numbers unless you want to. You can temporarily turn the high alarm off if you want to take a break for a bit.

It definitely sounds like an overnight hypo.

Was it related to increased exercise that day?

With very best wishes,

Ian
 
My wife was waking up in the mornings soaked in sweat for about 2 months. She did not have diabetes. Eventually we consulted our GP who said he did not know what was causing it but (since we were not complainers) he would take it seriously. About 2 weeks later she was referred for cancer tests and later diagnosed with mantel cell lymphoma. I asked my brother (who was a retired GP) what the likely prognosis was and he had never had a patient with it. He would ask his son (who was recently qualified) but he had no knowledge either.
 
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