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Hi all, long term diabetic and almost collapsed on the street today.

D

dowot

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Been diabetic from days of surgical spirit and glass syringes, fortunately missed out the old reusable by sharpening needles, for once or twice use only ones.

For some time I have been finding I am sometimes a little light headed when getting up from a seat, but thought nothing of it, did mention to doctor but he thought, like me, nothing to worry about.

Today, walking in the sunshine down the high street I found myself looking at the world through dark blobs, and my legs felt like lead, Meet a friend and chatted for a few moments ending up having to sit down. Explained how I felt and it was noticed my shirt was covered in sweat.

After some minutes I got up,said goodbye and started to walk, but very very slowly with a pain at the top of my back bone. Got to another seat and sat down again, tried to text my friend to come and help, but could not make out the screen on my phone. Started to panic a bit, then the phone rang and my friend was asking if I was OK. Of course they returned to me, gave me some coke to drink, whereupon I seemed to feel and see better.

I got up and tried to walk, again very slowly to the car park. Once inside the car and sitting down for a minute or two all the symptoms went away.

Now my blood sugar was 15.7 before I left the house and 15.6 on my return only one and a half hours later. Even at dinner time, 3 hours later it was still at 15. So this was not a Hypo event, nor Hper I am thinking.

Low blood pressure? My doc regularly checks this and says it is a bit high.

I am on Novomix 30 and take an astonishing 80 units a day over two injections. (Back in the good old days I was on 30 and 15 mixed soluble and PZI. Oh how easy it all was.)

Anyone want to take a stab at what might be going wrong?
Obviously I need to see my doctor, but some thoughts before I go would be useful.
 
oh dear how frightening for you. I hope you find out what caused this
 
Hi. I would assume it's not directly due to the diabetes but you obviously need to keep in touch with the GP to try to find the cause. The high number of shots you take implies you may be overweight with insulin resistance? If so, reducing the carbs should help with both blood sugar and weight. This in turn might help with your other problems? Is your blood sugar often in the teens? If so this is far too high. If this is a problem and you do have a high HBa1C you might want to discuss with the GP going onto a Basal/Bolus regime. It means two insulins but you have better overall sugar control.
 
mo53 said:
oh dear how frightening for you. I hope you find out what caused this
Click to expand...
Thanks Mo, yes it is a bit. Expect it is all down to my lack of care and attention over a lot of years that is to blame.
Still had a good innings as they say, over 45 years with few problems. Even took myself off to China for a couple of years.
 
Hi dowot and welcome to the forum

I am also from the days of glass syringes and surgical spirit ;)

It's possible that you might be developing autonomic neuropathy, one symptom is that your BP can drop suddenly when you stand up (postural hypotension). It can also cause problems with sweating and eyesight amongst other things.

The other thing to consider is that you might have circulation problems with silent angina.

Definitely recommend getting checked over for any of the above. Not wanting to scare you but there was one guy I met at cardiac rehab who had similar symptoms to you... turns out it was a silent heart attack (non fatal obviously) but he didn't feel any pain because of the neuropathy in his chest. They can test to see if you have had an attack without knowing. :eek:
 
I'm also from the days of the glass syringe and 2 blunt needles .I agree with above posts on the possibilities of what could have caused this. Another possibility is a TIA , transient ischemic attack which is like a mini stroke, as these can cause similar symptoms like tempoary loss of vision and weakness etc, and usually last from a couple to several minutes. Often you'll feel pretty tired afterwards. . Happens when a microscopic plaque breaks off and affects an artery in the brain, then dissolves as your body deals with it.

Would suggest you see your GP and discuss what happened, as it might be you need some tests done to exclude atherosclerosis or cardiac problems.
 
robert72 said:
Hi dowot and welcome to the forum

I am also from the days of glass syringes and surgical spirit ;)

It's possible that you might be developing autonomic neuropathy, one symptom is that your BP can drop suddenly when you stand up (postural hypotension). It can also cause problems with sweating and eyesight amongst other things.

The other thing to consider is that you might have circulation problems with silent angina.

Definitely recommend getting checked over for any of the above. Not wanting to scare you but there was one guy I met at cardiac rehab who had similar symptoms to you... turns out it was a silent heart attack (non fatal obviously) but he didn't feel any pain because of the neuropathy in his chest. They can test to see if you have had an attack without knowing. :eek:
Click to expand...

I was thinking the same as Robert, though I've no experience of autonomic neuropathy (thankfully). Get seen and tested by a Dr asap to know for sure and hopefully put your mind at rest.
 
Thanks to all of you for your helpful replies. The information will help me when I see Doc, Friday.
Daibell, Not overweight but most likely have insulin resistance.
Today, my BS has been around 5, and usually they are at this level, except when I indulge in a slice of chocolate cake!
So many remember those glass syringes. Makes me feel less of a dinosaur
 
Dowot, I was sorry to read of your experience on Wednesday. How did the Dr's appointment go today?

It's always nice when someone from my era shows up here in the forum. I was on soluble and PZI too when I was first diagnosed. I have quite happy memories of that time, being diabetic was much simpler then.

Sounds like you are a survivor too, and I hope the Dr was able to help today.
 
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