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Mid-Morning Hypos; Muscle Aches; Memory Lapses?

Mozzy

Active Member
Messages
33
Location
NZ
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hey everyone, well all last week about 10am my BG was under 4 mmol/L . I wake up around 4am most mornings and have breakfast about 6:30am. Perhaps it's the length of time? So I would eat something to get me to lunch time.

I have been getting strong muscle aches in my shoulders, chest and arms. I attributed that to my voice disorder as the muscles in my neck tend to ache whenever I try to speak, besides that fact that I have great difficulty talking. So I thought that that may just affecting the surrounding areas?

On Monday I genuinely thought it was Wednesday. (On Wednesdays I normally go to a sign language group) So I turn up at the house and the lady is dressed in her PJs, so I ask if the group was still on? And she responded with "On a Monday?"

On Thursday evening I was talking to a friend over Skype for a while and I thought why is she still talking to me, she normally has a meeting to go to on Mondays?

I'm not sure what to make of things.
 
A symptom of T2 hypos can be anxiety, nervousness,confusion, amnesia and mood changes, plus a few more.
If you are having a hypo mid morning, you may have to have a small snack between meals, especially if you are eating so early and the long gap to lunch. It also depends on what you have for breakfast, because it seems that hypo might be because of something else is happening. You along with others have been misdiagnosed and are changing meds and diet.
Sleep disruption is common in other conditions, which come under the 'diabetes' umbrella
If the hypos persist you will have to see your GP about getting some tests done.
Are you keeping to a low carb diet? Are you taking too many meds?

Keep in touch, let us know ask away.
 
Jack412 - Hey, yeah a few weeks ago I went into hospital with chest pains after my GP thought it might be a heart attack. They didn't see any sign of heart attack in the tests, but found that I have hypertension. So when I got home I added green tea to my regular diet.

Breakfast normally consists of 4 weetbix with milk and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Followed by a white coffee with half tsp sugar. (That has been my breakfast since being diagnosed with diabetes) However after hospital I cut the sugar out and started having either a kiwifruit or banana with the weetbix.

After a couple days of mid-morning lows, I contacted my diabetes caseworker and she said that reducing the gli may be a possibility, but to monitor it through out the week. If it kept going maybe reduce the gli to 40mg. So may actually start that now.

Nosher8355 - Since my BG has been very good for over a year and regular hba1c tests have showed the results of a person without diabetes, it was believed that I was being over treated. In March 2014 I was changed from Insulin injections over to Gli 80mg 2x pd. In April 2014 I mentioned to the GP a notable mood change and asked if that was a side effect of the Gli. The GP found that lassitude was a side effect and thus reduced the evening Gli to 40mg. I have never really counted my carbs. Just changed to cooking without oil and reduced my sugar amounts, while going to the gym 3 times a week. So really I don't know why my hba1c would look like a normal person either.
 
dropping to 40 mg should settle the midmorning low out, you are still eating a lot of carbs, you generally have good BG going by your A1c, but how would you like to get off of Gli or reduce it further?
read and watch video
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
 
Mozzy, you are high carbing for a T2. I would end up very ill even if I only had 1 wetabix,
Read up on here about the high intake of carbs and watch the video Jack has given you a link to. You are spiking and then your bloods are dropping too fast. No wonder you are having a hypo.
Cabs turn to sugar, so you do have to limit them
 
Jack412 - Hey, thanks for the info. Yeah my carbs do look high, last Monday I had four weetbix with milk and a kiwifruit sliced into it, no sugar. And drank about 3 green teas between 6:30am to 10am. My BG at 10am was 3.2 mmol/L.

Normally it would be 4 weetbix with milk and sugar, as mentioned, with the 10am BG of about 6 mmol/L.

I would definitely like to reduce the amount of meds I'm already taking!

At the beginning I tried to buy separate food for my new diet aside from food for the rest of the family, but I couldn't sustain the cost. In the end I settled to do what I could and changed what I could. Currently family still eat food high in fat and low in vegetables as we are fairly poor. We get food parcels on a weekly basis from a food bank and they generally have canned foods loaded with carbs.

Carty - I was taking Atorvastatin. But recently came off about a month ago.

Nosher8355 - From what I understand and I maybe wrong, but white sugar is a fast burning carbohydrate and tends to spike your levels. Where as weetbix would come under a slow burning carbohydrate and should not have the same effect. So I chose to eliminate the white sugar. After I did that the BG levels have been consistently about 3.5 mmol/L. Would they not spike also with the white sugar? Why would it be worse without the white sugar?

But if weetbix is indeed a fast burning carbohydrate, I'm not sure what I could have to eat from the selection we have? I'm not sure that fruit alone will sustain my blood sugar until lunch time or even mid morning.
 
Unfortunately all breakfast cereals contain sugar and carbs and as a diabetic, you have to reduce your intake and eat more foods that don't raise your blood levels. Have a read about recipes and food that you can afford. And it is cheaper making your own foods than get produced rubbish.
I am on a small pension and cannot claim any income from the social as I earn too much(about £15 a week). So my budget is getting tighter all the time, you can eat well, if you put your mind to it!
As for the sugar and carbs, well some wetabix without the sugar you put on is still heavily produced with different kinds of sugars and would probably raise your blood levels more than just white cane sugar!
Any grain or most sugars are bad for a diabetic, but you need a certain amount of carbs to live, but not many and you get them from fruit and veg. Though not all at once!
Educate yourself and keep asking!
 
sorry to hear your going through a difficult time with remembering things and your glucose levels ave altered, you need to always make sure your gp or diabetic team are aware of these changes so they can identify with you what is wrong, however if you are going hypo and you have done something different to what you normally do with your food and medicine it can affect you, it sounds to me your going too long with out food from 6am till 12pm you need to eat something in between 6pm and 12pm to prevent the hypo, if you do eat something and you find the hypo's stop, that is good, check your sugar with glucose meter before you eat the food between 6 am and 12 pm if you see your levels are dropping look at the time before you eat keep a note of it what time your going hypo, this way you can prepare your self each day to eat food around the time you know the hypo is more active, once you identify this you can prevent the hypo happening again.if there is another problem causing the hypo and it is not food related, you need to see your doctor. hugs xx
 
Nosher8355 - I don't understand why I am getting two seemingly different ideas from you and my diabetes caseworker. She is fully aware of my diet. She has explained and provided books showing cereals as part of the normal diet for a diabetic. She has explained that there are two types of carbohydrates that affect blood glucose levels. Fast burning and slow burning. Fast burning carbohydrates produce the spikes you mentioned.
When you have a hypo the instruction is to have a fast burning carbohydrate, such as a few 'jellly beans' or even 'a tsp of sugar' to raise your BG above 4 mmol/L, then have a healthy sandwich as soon as possible.

You advise to reduce my intake. You seem to presume that I haven't reduced my intake since becoming a diabetic.

You advise to eat more food that doesn't increase blood sugar levels. Another presumption thinking I have not done this already.

We get food parcels. This means we have no money to buy food so it is given to us by a food bank (we do not get to pick and choose what we get).

You advise to read about food that I can afford, clearly you are not able to understand the situation. If we could afford food we would not be getting food parcels.

You say we can eat well if you put your mind to it. Clearly you have missed something.

Grains and sugars are not actually "bad" for anyone, they are vital and must be used wisely. The difference with Diabetics is that they must control their use more than non-diabetics. Otherwise there would be no need to actually use fast burning carbohydrates (sugar) when a person is having a hypo.

The argument that processed foods "probably" raise BG more than sugar, sounds more like an opinion.

The statement "educate yourself" is at least condescending. And considering that you have been presumptuous for the most part, your advice lacks discernment.

You are clearly "old school", have a strong mind and opinion. Overall impression ...
 
I am sure nosher did not mean to offend you,

The info Nosher gave was what works for the majority of diabetics... But then inadverdently Nosher I am sure wasn't considering food bank foods and what they supply.

Unfortunately, there are a large amount of diabetics that are given bad advice from nhs staff reference foods and how they work.

We on this forum post our experiences of what works for us, and there is also a lot of information coming out now about how "don't eat fat, eat carbs" became so ingrained in to the western world from a USA president having a heart attack basically!! His heart attack changed the US way of thinking.. And then it passed like always on to England.
There a lot of healthcare persons that are not aware of this.

I'm sure Nosher will say this for self, but I am sure Nosher had like me, little realisation of what food bank foods consist off...


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I apologise!

It was not my intention to upset you or give you the impression that I don't understand about poverty, because I do, I was born into it, we lived on hand outs and hand me downs until I started working.

My condition is not to do with how the NHS deal with your diet. I have a condition where I can only eat very low carbs and no sugars. I have extensively read and educated myself about the subject of diet and how carbs and sugars react with the body, I test my bloods nine times a day to ensure I do not hypo.
I know about the so called 'diet' that the doctors, dn's and the like advise you to eat and so many people on this site and my dietician and my consultant endocrinologist advise me that most carbs are bad for T2 diabetics.
I had not taken into account what type of food you have to eat, I struggle on my budget, anrd I do not get help from the government even though I need it and both me and my wife have paid full stamp and worked all our life and now when we need it they won' help. My fod budget is spent on salads and cheap cuts of meat. I cannot afford it, but we have to!

All produced food contain additives and other ingredients that you do not find in natural food. Mostly bad sugars. That is a fact!

I stay away from all grains, potatoes, pasta, pastries, rice and batters! I still need to have some low GI carbs. I choose not to eat to despite the NHS recommendations.
I have never felt better or fitter for many a year. Because I stay away from most carbs!

I apologise, if in any way I have tried to help or you feel I haven't understood.

By the way I can't claim food parcels even though my wife is disabled and I have a serious condition and I have never had a day on the dole in my life. I am up to date with my diet and my diagnosis and prognosis!
 

I agree with you that some medical staff give bad advice regarding food and how they work. My diabetes case worker is part of the endocrinology team. On a number of occasions she has had to inform the medical staff at the hospital. I love researching and look at it as a sport. I believe I am making an informed choice about what I eat.

Thanks for your reply
 

We live in different countries with different ways of doing things. The way the health system works in one country doesn't necessarily apply to other countries. But I have also encountered medical staff with a lack of knowledge or even misinformed. The endocrinology team that works with me, have never been dogmatic about carbs. They encourage a 1/4 of your daily intake to carbs. They encourage portion control and weight loss through exercise. This method got my hba1c levels to normal.

Before I was diagnosed, a number of friends who suffer from Fibromyalgia encouraged staying away from the things you mentioned.

Thank you for letting me know a little of your background.

I see the GP this morning and will see what they have to say also.
 
I appreciate your reply and thank you for the time that you have took. I wanted to help.
Through my experience of my diagnosis originally and up to this time has lead me to discover that things aren't in black and white as they seem.
There are too many vested interests in the medical and food industries and Governments have agendas.
To get to the other side of what everyone agrees on this site is that the health industry is under pressure to sell or prescribe drugs. Hence you are on three different types of medication. To try and drop your blood sugar levels to normal. Mine is diet alone with meds to help a faulty organ. I know you are on other meds for other conditions. But it doesn't help anyone especially you to fill you up with drugs, if you really need them fine, but if you don't?
I have not got diabetes but I have to diet like one and I assure you, I have no hidden agenda, I want to help you. I was also misdiagnosed and was really ill until I forced my doctor to send me to a specialist in Endocrinology.
I wish you well tomorrow, ask the questions, why are most sugars and carbs bad for you? You may here him say that you need complex carbs, but they are still carbs! We do need carbs, but not many and certainly not the amount that the health service recommend. I am living proof of that!
 
Mozzy said:
Before I was diagnosed, a number of friends who suffer from Fibromyalgia encouraged staying away from the things you mentioned.

.
Click to expand...

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia...but today my GP has actually listened to me and believes me when I said that I believed it was statin damage and the extra fat has helped to repair my muscles.. First GP that has truly listened and agreed that statin damage more likely and fat could have aided recovery..



Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Sorry to hear about your diabetes and financial hardship. I have recently started shopping in Lidl and it has brought our food bill down tremendously. Their fruit, veg, milk, 97% meat sausages as well as their eggs are really! really cheap. Cooking from scratch makes things cheaper too. I can't get everything here so I plan our meals for the week and I go there first. I usually only have to get a handful of items elsewhere. Good luck!
 
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