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Type 1 Is anyone else completely intolerant to sun and heat? Is it a diabetic thing?

C

Catsymoo

Well-Known Member
Messages
301
Location
Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Having diabetes
So I don't want to sound grumpy or miserable as I know most people are sun worshippers who love summer.

But I absolutely detest it. I can't cope with it at all. I've been type 1 for 10 years now and since I was diagnosed I feel so unwell in the heat and sun once it reaches about 19 degrees.

It's barely 21C today and my sugars shot up to the 20s and I thought I was going to pass out on the bus because I couldn't breathe. It makes me feel so weak and like my body is on fire even when my sugars aren't like that. I only sweat on my forehead and I overheat. I also am on the hyper mobility spectrum and I've been told that drains electrolytes really bad and diabetes also does that too which is why I get so faint and nauseated.

I've had 2 litres of water since 1pm (one with Sneak which contains electrolytes) and I haven't been gone to the toilet yet.


Does anyone else with diabetes feel this way in summer/late spring?
 
Catsymoo said:
and I've been told that drains electrolytes really bad and diabetes also does that too
Click to expand...
I've never been told diabetes drains electrolytes and have never needed extra in normal-day life (and I've been diabetic a long time)

Personally I start struggling when it gets to the high 20's in temperature (its 27 inside my house now - its not pleasant), but not so much that it affects my breathing or anything else, I just start feeling uncomfortable and as it gets hotter I will start feeling lethargic but then I'm certainly not used to said temperature - it didn't get this hot when I was growing up in Yorkshire
 

My GP told me diabetes drains electrolytes because usually our sugars will be higher than normal people. My control is pretty bad so for me I will be walking around dehydrated all the time.
 
Sorry you're struggling with the heat, you've got my sympathy. I feel nauseous, exhausted and headachy when it's hot and sunny too, anything over about 20 triggers it off. However, I also struggle when it's too cold - get very shivery and feel the cold more than others seem to. I think my body just doesn't regulate my temperature very well. I've been type 1 diabetic for 55 years, and temperature issues only began 28 years after being diagnosed, so I don't think it's anything to do with diabetes in my case.
 
I’m no big fan of hot weather, I either dislike more than everyone around me or I’m just more moany, not sure.

I had air conditioning installed in my house this week, whoop whoop
 
I really struggle with the heat, started some years before I became a T2.
However, due to treatments for endometriosis I also went through the menopause 4 times, with horrendous hot flushes every time. So I developed a hot flush travel pack, that does for too hot days now.
Wet wipes, panty pads, a cooling spritz face spray (cucumber is good), maybe a cooling foot spray too and extra strength deodorant.
When travelling to work on public transport I'd even take a change of undies!
In public, use the wet wipes on your forehead, behind your ears and on the inside of your wrists.
If available, put your wrists under a cold tap/cold water to cool your body temp down faster.

Bedtime routine is a cool shower, and just a cotton sheet on top of you. I even have the cooling gel pillow mats to keep my head and neck cool in bed.
 
Sorry, you lot are suffering!
But I love these days. Sitting in my back garden, reading or having a nap, I'm old!!!!!!
I wanted to move to Greece for the summer once I retired.
I'm not affected by the warmth of the sun and my skin being olive in the winter, means I tan very easily.
I'm not really affected by our winter being able to maintain warmth even being out in and around freezing point.

I'm intolerant to most things, let me have my fun in the sun!

We don't get enough summer days in this country, so please, don't moan when we actually get some moderate warmth of 20 degrees or above. It should be like this every day! Beautiful!
 
No issues here, spend as much time as I can in the sun. Often sitting in the garden or going to the local park. Got to get some of that important Vitamin D!

Only thing I am abit wary of is my eyes. Sometimes too much sun can make my eyes abit blurry/patchy later in the day if I'm reading.
 
I've been intolerant to heat all my life, even as a child. You have my sympathies.
 
I've always hated anything above 24 c lol, way before I was a diabetic. Where we used to live it would get very hot in the summer and I hated it. Now I'm in a more temperate climate and the temps don't bother me.

But sugars will go up and down with temperature changes, and in heat your vessels dilate. That causes some of the issues. And sometimes it's the sudden changes in Bg levels because of a heat change that can make you feel like bunk. I can't take hot showers without my BG level shooting up and I feel horrible. So I've learned to take lukewarm showers on the cooler side so I don't feel so bad and my sugars don't climb very much. Some people hot showers make their BG levels drop.
 
I don't mind hot weather during the day, as long as it cools off considerably during the night - nature's own air conditioning system! However, sometimes, it fails....

Here in Canada, we oscillate between the arctic in January and February, and the tropics during July and August.
 
Hi,

I was diagnosed in the summer of 1976. (Remember that scorcher?)
But oddly, I find i'm more insulin sensitive in the heat.. I pretty much need to lower my basal dose..
On the whole, I don't mind it.
 
zand said:
I've been intolerant to heat all my life, even as a child. You have my sympathies.
Click to expand...


Me too. Long before I became diagnosed diabetic. It is what it is, and there are probably many of us who have to stay out of the heat.
 
Jaylee said:
Hi,

I was diagnosed in the summer of 1976. (Remember that scorcher?)
But oddly, I find i'm more insulin sensitive in the heat.. I pretty much need to lower my basal dose..
On the whole, I don't mind it.
Click to expand...

I was wondering this myself as my BG seems to have dropped around 15-20% since it's gotten hot. My last reading before lunch was 3.5, normally it's around 4.7-5 before lunch.
 
From my personal perspective I do not believe Type 1 has any affect on how hot you feel in the summer months.

I live in the tropics (Steady 32C all year round), formely UK, and I have never had an issue with my sugars, only that I have to drop my daily long acting insulin dose down by one unit to compensate the sweat leaving your body when here. Apart from that no issues, nor do the locals who have Type 1 Diabetes.

The cold is where I really suffer though, shivers, cold feet, etc

Thanks
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I’ve come home from work 8-2 shift and slept solidly for 3 hours. I couldn’t wait to get home to lay on the bed. My job is not physical but I have to concentrate really hard. This hot weather always seems to knock the stuffing out of me.
At night I can only fall asleep with a cotton sheet over me and an oscillating fan going. This is on a timer.
 
My skin used to burn very badly in the sun - even with factor 50 sun screen - but just getting the sun on my unprotected skin was really painful.
Then I stopped using sunflower oil for cooking.
These days I can go out in the sun for an hour or so and there is no pain, no burning - I am even getting a tan.
I do use a middling level sun screen if I am to be outside for the whole afternoon, but that is mostly because I can't really believe that there has been such a change.
 
Personally I love the sunshine and fortunately I’m on holiday this week and able to make the most of it while it lasts. It does affect me. So I need to lower my basal: even so I’m much more likely to hypo when out walking - must be using my available glucose faster than normal.

I’ve been sat outside since 06:30 this morning

I’m sorry if you’re suffering and have to avoid the sun. If you live in the U.K., I’m sure our grey skies will soon return!
 
Can't speak for Type 1, but as a Type 2 diabetic, I find sunlight and heat very difficult to tolerate. So much so, that autumn/winter can't come quickly enough. Feel totally miserable during summer.
 
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