Since my last visit with my DN in December, I have been living in constant stress. I am a full time carer for my husband who has stage 4, C.O.P.D. My Dad who is end stage heart failure, and my mom end stage breast and spinal cancer. My mom died in February, so I have been helping my dad with funeral preparations, and sorting out my mom's estate. Which is still in progress at this time, alongside caring for my husband and dad. All the stress has triggered my IBS over the last 3 months. The G.P. has offered me omeprazole, but this drug causes me to have constant cystitis, which effects my kidneys......, so I try to manage without medication. I have been taking my BG every morning before breakfast and the start of my day. My BG has been fluctuating between 6.0 up to 14.1. If my IBS is acting up, my BG tends to be in the higher levels. Can IBS/stress increase BG levels? Forgot to mention I am type 2 diabetic.
Hi
@mazbee78 So sorry to hear about the awful time you are having. I can only hope things improve. The following might interest you, from the days when I used to be Type 1
Extreme readings in blood sugar levels can also have a profound effect which I was not to understand until 1985. Back in 1964 my Father took us to a Vintage Sports Car Club race meeting at Goodwood in his lovely red 1933 F type Magna MG. We had a wonderful time there and enjoyed many sandwiches beside the race-track. On the way back home my Father had to stop the car and clean me up in an outside loo at the Fox at Crossbush (I think it was). A similar experience caught me unawares in 1972, shortly after arriving at my new school, Lancing College. I had to be sent home. It was in 1985 that I realised that violent episodes of diarrhoea can be related to rapid rises in blood sugar. Consider the body’s reaction to extreme fear. Adrenaline is released into the blood stream to raise the blood sugar level momentarily. Extreme fear is often equated with diarrhoea, I suspect because this is one of the brain’s methods of ridding the system of excess sugar. In diabetics it is usually the urinary system which performs this function, but in the summer of 1985, I started to experience frighteningly prolonged bouts and even more alarmingly, an uncontrollable temper which was fuelled by an apparent adrenaline rush. Having a ten month old daughter in the house would not be compatible. One July morning I went to work and Phil Power, the Traffic Manager, made a slight criticism. I replied in a fast but quiet bass tone which rapidly rose to a high pitched scream as I smashed my fist down on the desk. “I think you had better go outside to calm down” said Phil with a slight element of surprise on his face. Very wise man. Outside I stood against the wall shaking with a mixture of shame and of fright brought on by my lack of control. I went to see Dr Ruth Lister, a well-known GP who was our family doctor in Bury St Edmunds. She thought that my autonomic system might have packed up - a futuristic view at the time. The autonomic system is the brain sending messages to each bodily component to ensure that it works at the due time. Dr Lister referred me to the West Suffolk Hospital for a five day observation. This included a Barium enema.
Not long into my stay the diarrhoea had abated and I later realised that this was due to the precision of the Hospital regime.
I realise that I have not really answered your question, but since diabetes is, like IBS, so closely wrapped up in body chemistry, I can imagine that stress from IBS, let alone your life around it and Type2, would cause your adrenaline to go up and therefore your blood sugar, which as you can see caused me frightening bouts of diarrhoea throughout my diabetic life (1959-2013) I was never diagnosed with IBS however.
This is extracted from the book in my avatar, and is therefore addressed to any person connected with, or interested in, diabetes. I hope life improves for you as quickly as possible.
