Intermittent waking during the night ?

CherryAA

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2,171
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Diet only
From reading another thread, it is clear that others experience the same symptoms that I do. I wake a few times of night feeling hot, so my sleep quality is not good.

I have a freestyle monitor and I have tested my blood sugars on each waking - there is no particular change in my blood sugar which would be an " explanation" of this. i.e. it does not seem to be Dawn Phenonemon.

It would be useful if others could perhaps comment on whether they also experience this, or if they used to , but it has got better since, could they comment on anything they did to resolve it, or if it went away inexplicably?
 

heli2010

Well-Known Member
Messages
72
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I have this also and I thought I had cracked it by not eating after 8pm but last night it was back
it doesnt matter what time I go to bed come 4am my body says wake up then every 15 mins after that
 
Messages
6,107
Type of diabetes
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I suffer from polyuria which means peeing a lot. I and many others like me wake three or four times in the night and go for a pee.
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,950
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
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I do not have diabetes
Before diagnosis, I suffered a great deal from intermittent sleep patterns.
Not only to get up for the bathroom but from dreams and hypos.
Believe it was my bodies response to get me to recover from the hypos.
I'm not saying that is what you are getting.
But it may be from fluctuating blood glucose levels.
It could be sleep apnoea, or another breathing problem.
Since I gained good control from the fluctuations, I have slept a lot better!
Still get the odd weird dreams tho!!!
 
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JohnEGreen

Master
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13,247
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Other
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Diet only
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Tripe and Onions
Over the past month or more I have been waking at one or two hourly intervals throughout the night some times needing to pee sometimes not. I have no idea why but wish it would stop I wake up every morning with head ache and feeling like ****.
 

daisyduck

Well-Known Member
Messages
988
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Yup, that's me. My sleep patterns are awful. I wake 5, 6 and sometimes more times in the night, feeling hot and slightly odd. Heart rate is a little faster than normal and it's as if someone has given me a shot of adrenaline ?
It passes in a couple of minutes, after I've thrown the covers off to cool down.
I always get a higher BG reading in the morning from what it was the night before
 

Brunneria

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
21,889
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Various things have disturbed my sleep over the years.

- coffee and caffeine are the biggie. I have become more and more sensitive over time, and have now given up even decaff tea and coffee because they were affecting me.
- when I am nicely low carb I actually need less sleep. So if I expect 8 hours and my body only wants 6, then I might consider it insomnia, when it is actually how my body likes it to be when not sedated with carbs and struggling to heal daily blood glucose damage.
- when I am nicely low carb, my body runs quite hot - the thermostat keeps me toastie. I only need a light duvet and keep my feet stuck out a lot of the time. Very comfortable that way.
- menopause is incoming - heaven knows what havoc that will wreak.
- I often wake up sharply, nip to the loo, and then settle again. This has happened for years. The Libre has shown that this often coincides with a drop in blood glucose, around 2am. Not severe enough to be a hypo. Happens every night. After that, a series of tiny liver dumps keep my bg comfortable for the rest of the night.
- hypos in the night (thankfully rare nowadays) used to wake me from nightmares and horrible sweaty doomladen sleep. But then so did indigestion, a guilty conscience, and various stresses.

I guess, really what I am saying is that it isn't always diabetes related. Though diet, exercise and lifestyle play a huge part.
 

Johnjoe13

Well-Known Member
Messages
398
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Yup same here, it's looking like this is a given for most people with diabetes certainly a lot folks anyway. I did mention this to a GP last year when I was having an issue with some unrelated medication as I'd not have a decent night sleep for a week. She gave me 5 sleeping tablets and said when they have gone to try a herbal remedy, not that I wanted to be permanently on prescription for this but her attitude was like get used to the disturbed sleep pattern associated with diabetes

Further to this and on the weeing theme does anyone else find the issue of weeing a lot is not just specific to during the night? With me it gets more frequent from late afternoon onwards
 
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Bluetit1802

Legend
Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Yup same here, it's looking like this is a given for most people with diabetes certainly a lot folks anyway. I did mention this to a GP last year when I was having an issue with some unrelated medication as I'd not have a decent night sleep for a week. She gave me 5 sleeping tablets and said when they have gone to try a herbal remedy, not that I wanted to be permanently on prescription for this but her attitude was like get used to the disturbed sleep pattern associated with diabetes

Further to this and on the weeing theme does anyone else find the issue of weeing a lot is not just specific to during the night? With me it gets more frequent from late afternoon onwards

Statins are known to cause sleeplessness if anyone happens to be taking them. Possibly other medication..

I only wake when my bladder tells me to, twice a night. I'm the opposite of @Brunneria in that my Libre tells me I have a slight bump upwards at this time, which I put down to having a full bladder and delaying getting out of my warm bed until I really have to. I don't have any caffeine during the evening, nor cheese or chocolate. Nothing but water goes in my mouth from after tea around 4 hours before bed.

On the subject of weeing, I have to get up twice a night, but always have done, at last for 20 years or so. Day time I am the same as anyone else. Possibly for some diabetics more frequency could be related to drinking more, which we all know we should do, rather than the diabetes itself. If it happens to men it may be time to tell the doctor.
 

adele_francis

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I also wake up about 4to5 times in the night this is most nights i have also got heart problems and breathing problems which are in the process of being sorted out i am going to see consultant about this and one who deals with breathing problems and sleep therapy

Adele francis i will update hoping to help with the sleep disorder when I have been seen

I also wake up about 4to5 times in the night this is most nights i have also got heart problems and breathing problems which are in the process of being sorted out i am going to see consultant will update re sleep disorder when i have been seen
 
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Johnjoe13

Well-Known Member
Messages
398
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Statins are known to cause sleeplessness if anyone happens to be taking them. Possibly other medication..

I only wake when my bladder tells me to, twice a night. I'm the opposite of @Brunneria in that my Libre tells me I have a slight bump upwards at this time, which I put down to having a full bladder and delaying getting out of my warm bed until I really have to. I don't have any caffeine during the evening, nor cheese or chocolate. Nothing but water goes in my mouth from after tea around 4 hours before bed.

On the subject of weeing, I have to get up twice a night, but always have done, at last for 20 years or so. Day time I am the same as anyone else. Possibly for some diabetics more frequency could be related to drinking more, which we all know we should do, rather than the diabetes itself. If it happens to men it may be time to tell the doctor.

Then I guess the statin I take has probably added to this issue. For about 6 months or so prior to my diagnosis I had a lot of sleep disruption, what with weeing and restless legs and just basically not being able to sleep. After I was diagnosed along with the other issues at the same time I was then put on three lots of tablets, so I guess they are all probably contributing to it now. I have always been one to stay clear of Dr's unless I was feeling really sick, so I just put up with the weeing and stuff and never thought for one minute it could be diabetes. I actually went because of really bad nose bleeds, and I often think if that has not happened I would have just carried on and left the other stuff probably not knowing it was either pre-diabetic or the full on type two I now got.
 
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Freema

Expert
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7,346
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Diet only
I think metformin has made me pee in the night, I didn´t do that before taking metformin... but till now I am not ready to stop metformin and go from like 80-100 grams of carbs a day til under 20

adding to that I hardly used to drink coffee anymore before being diagnosed, maily due to some medication that took away my taste for coffee, but since not eating anything sugary , I think I have become more sensitive to coffeine and I have treated myself with diet coke for the last coupple of month.. and even what I drink in the morning seems to affect my sleep quallity.

now I try not to drink more than a few glasses of diet coke and to drink mainly Water and tea... and have I thought of lately maybe leave my phone out of the bedroom... but it is also my alarm...:cool: I have been thinking a lot of all these fun jokes of people with aluminium foil hats, and been wondering if there is something in the signals from the phone that keeps me awake.... I am actually rather dependent ....of my iPhone :wacky:.... and maybe all this online comunication and alertness actually hinders my brain in getting into the sleep mode those last hours of being awake... but that doesn´t explain why I wake up so many times even when not going to the toilet...:depressed:

I also feel like **** when having all these bad nights and adding to that I am soo bad tempered too when deprived of my sleep and it makes both night and day to a ****** experience ....I love to get something out of my life and hate wasting all the night awake and having to sleep the day away ..
 

bulkbiker

BANNED
Messages
19,575
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I used to wake a lot to pee in the night (3-4 times per night).. probably the excess sugars being excreted. Since going very low carb and getting bloods under control I usually sleep through until the bloody dog or cat decide to wake me up to be let out!
 

CherryAA

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,171
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I used to wake a lot to pee in the night (3-4 times per night).. probably the excess sugars being excreted. Since going very low carb and getting bloods under control I usually sleep through until the bloody dog or cat decide to wake me up to be let out!

That's very interesting, there are not many people on here with truly normal Hba1C , other than you!

According to this research - averse effects start to come into being once the Hba1C rises above 4.6% (27)

https://chriskresser.com/when-your-“normal”-blood-sugar-isn’t-normal-part-2/

I don't suppose you can recall how far into your program you have got before the sleep issues went away ? or how many months of doing the low carb diet ?
 

bulkbiker

BANNED
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19,575
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
That's very interesting, there are not many people on here with truly normal Hba1C , other than you!

According to this research - averse effects start to come into being once the Hba1C rises above 4.6% (27)

https://chriskresser.com/when-your-“normal”-blood-sugar-isn’t-normal-part-2/

I don't suppose you can recall how far into your program you have got before the sleep issues went away ? or how many months of doing the low carb diet ?
It was a while ago but I reckon it was after a couple of months of very low carb.. Probably about January 2015 when my HbA1c had gone below pre-diabetes levels.
I think there are quite a few of us with "normalised" HbA1c levels.. some ex newcastle dieters and some very low carbers..
I do think its a bit of a shame that more people don't include these details in their signatures as it would give other people more incentive to change their ways of eating.
 
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CherryAA

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,171
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
This is a technical explanation of why a low carb diet can cause disturbed sleep.
I have tried to weigth my 25 g of carbs towards dinner - by eating a bigger portion of cabbage ( 150g and some other low carb mixed vegetables ( 150g cauli mash, mushrooms) , I have actually stayed asleep for a whole four hours - in the last two nights as a result which is an improvement- but my blood sugars have also gone up as well - fasting low sixes instead of high fives.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/162603-how-to-gain-weight-for-a-low-carb-diabetic/

Has anyone tried L-Tryptophan ?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Swanson-L-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=F85JDPWPDRG2JMFNX2SK
 
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CherryAA

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Messages
2,171
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Next question ! ( I do ask an awful lot of questions ! in the quest t understand this .....)

if you have reported that you have problems staying asleep at night, do you know if you also snore? if you have recovered from the problem, do you know if you also stopped snoring?

Snoring is considered to be a risk factor ( or side effect LOL) of diabetes . I have been known to wake the dead on occasion ( including an entire cinema subjected to watching (IMHO) the dreadful and interminable Fantastic Beasts movie which was so bad as to induce unconsciousness!
 

douglas99

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4,572
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
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Other
Next question ! ( I do ask an awful lot of questions ! in the quest t understand this .....)

if you have reported that you have problems staying asleep at night, do you know if you also snore? if you have recovered from the problem, do you know if you also stopped snoring?

Snoring is considered to be a risk factor ( or side effect LOL) of diabetes . I have been known to wake the dead on occasion ( including an entire cinema subjected to watching (IMHO) the dreadful and interminable Fantastic Beasts movie which was so bad as to induce unconsciousness!


Probably as both are related to being obese.
I certainly snore a lot less since I lost the weight.