Hello. No idea if I’m posting in the right place. I’ve had no diagnosis of diabetes or hypoglycaemia. I’m 62 and have been having visual migraines with aura since my teens. In the last couple of years they have become more frequent and seem to be linked to exercise / exertion. As a result I now do limited exercise part from walking but it seems that after walking for about 20 to 30 minutes I become shaky, have big splodges of bright lights in my vision and my vision seems to jump around. I have seen a neurologist and had a brain scan and the conclusion was just migraines. I’m wondering if this could be related to blood sugar levels / hypoglycaemia. I’m reluctant to contact my gp as they tend to be unhelpful so just looking for any info, other people’s experience and any advice. Many thanks. Rosie
Migraine / visual disturbances
- Thread starter RosGartlandio
- Start Date
Lamont D
Oracle
- Messages
- 17,752
- Type of diabetes
- Reactive hypoglycemia
- Treatment type
- I do not have diabetes
Hi @RosGartlandio and welcome to the forum.
To be honest, I'm not sure if it is blood glucose related.
And we cannot diagnosed you, as per forum rules.
By my experience anything is possible.
I suffered from migraines since my teenage years, and it was good related, as is most of my ills. Mine was the bits of dairy and manufactured sugars in a lot of processed foods. There was also other ingredients or oils that do effect me, such as vegetable oils and palm oil, sunflower oil, and even olive oil if not 100%virgin oil.
If you did have diabetes, and I'm not saying you do. If it is your eyes, it is the blood vessels increasing in size causing the blurred vision. Have you had your eyes tested?
Exercise is dodgy for me, I can walk, swim, light workout with weights. But that is it.
Any more, and I will have problems.
I would have a think about if some food or drink could be triggering the migraine.
The best tip about exercise, I have everhad, is fifteen minutes after eating, walk briskly (ish) for fifteen minutes.
This helps digestion, and lowers the spike of the food you have eaten.
Oh thank you for your reply. I appreciate it. I’ve looked at food triggers but can’t find any apart from caffeine,MSG and being dehydrated. The tip re exercise 15 minutes after eating sounds good. I often get the shakes and aura when I’ve left it too long after eating I guess.
HSSS
Expert
- Messages
- 7,673
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
As already mentioned we can’t offer diagnosis here Hypoglycaemia is a reaction to diabetes medication usually rather than diabetes itself (although there are some less common conditions outside of diabetes that cause lows). Without medication we all have a mechanism that raises blood glucose if it drops below what our body is used to to prevent any serious hypos. If you are generally running high that trigger can be well above a hypo level even though symptoms wise it might feel quite similar. And in those of us with migraine (full shabang with all the aura, nausea, blindness, numbness here too) that might be a trigger. Ive never found mine for sure in 40yrs of them other than post stress seems to be one but not the only trigger. I suspect hormones are another indirectly. Low carb eating, ie keep blood glucose in a ideal range, seems to help a lot of sufferers but didn’t make much difference to me.
There is a simple blood test (hba1c) for diabetes that often gets done as part of a wellness check and really doesn’t take a genius dr to interpret it. Why would you not want to rule it in or out? An alternative would be to find a chemist that does a fingerprick check as a rough and ready check that will pick up major anomalies. Best to go overnight fasted or at the very least a minimum of 2 hrs after and food or drink other than water.
There is a simple blood test (hba1c) for diabetes that often gets done as part of a wellness check and really doesn’t take a genius dr to interpret it. Why would you not want to rule it in or out? An alternative would be to find a chemist that does a fingerprick check as a rough and ready check that will pick up major anomalies. Best to go overnight fasted or at the very least a minimum of 2 hrs after and food or drink other than water.
- Messages
- 13,461
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
There does seem to be some link between blood sugars and migraine, although it’s not the case for everyone. I’d suggest you look at the work of Dr Angela Stanton, she certainly links migraines and blood sugars. https://www.stantonmigraineprotocol.org/about/
She also runs an active Facebook group, which I haven’t been able to link to, but the attached screenshot gives you the name of the group.
- Messages
- 20,842
- Type of diabetes
- LADA
- Treatment type
- Insulin
I don't have migraines thankfully but here's the link (just copy and pasted the url).
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Bildad
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 371
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
@RosGartlandio my nephew (who is 27and non diabetic) has a similar issue. He used to run but recently after each one he has suffered with a bad migraine. He has come to the conclusion that hydration is a big part of the problem. He runs far less than he did but can still do it if he makes sure to drink plenty.
Could you purchase a blood glucose monitor and test to see if your blood glucose is low when the migraine starts?
I used to have chronic migraines but finally realised that caffeine was a trigger for them. I am now caffeine free and mainly migraine free (1 in 18 months as opposed to 15 per month)
I hope you find the trigger for you. Migraines are horrible.
Could you purchase a blood glucose monitor and test to see if your blood glucose is low when the migraine starts?
I used to have chronic migraines but finally realised that caffeine was a trigger for them. I am now caffeine free and mainly migraine free (1 in 18 months as opposed to 15 per month)
I hope you find the trigger for you. Migraines are horrible.
I had very much the same experience; dropping caffeine from my diet reduced visual migraines from several times a month to once in the last two years. The other factor was stress which seemed to actually trigger the migraine itself - but my stress levels haven't changed much. So for me, caffeine + stress = migraine, stress on its own doesn't.
Good luck finding your own solution, it could be that for you exercise does what stress does to me but you need to find out what it is that caffeine does to me....
Thanks for your advice. I did try it years ago but unfortunately it didn't help. I've been trying the high vit b/ magnesium/Co-enzyme combination that's highly recommended but that hasn't helped either. Aghhhh!!
Thanks for your advice. Yes, I've been searching for triggers since I was a teenager and I'm now 62. It's so tricky! I don't drink any caffeine either. I might look into a blood glucose monitor and try that. I imagine they're things that you could carry with you so if I was out and about I could just test myself? I'll have a look on Amazon. Many thanks.
I'm a type 1 diabetic and I also get disturbed vision, auras etc, I find I get them more often when my blood sugar's are low, that seems to be the trigger for me. Hope this can help
- Messages
- 17,246
- Type of diabetes
- I reversed my Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
Thanks for the tag @Lamont D , hi @RosGartlandio .
Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.
HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews if you use this link and select the meter plus 5 packs of strips, and then add the code dcuk (all lower case) at check out you may get money off, I’m not sure if this code is still valid.
https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/
Links to the strips for future orders:
https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/glucose-navii-blood-glucose-test-strips-50-strip-pack/
There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively. Again I’m not sure if these codes are still valid.
Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!
https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/
Discount codes for the Code Free strips, again I haven’t used them in a while.
5 packs 264086
10 packs 975833
SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular however I haven’t been able to find it on their website lately.
(Old link which doesn’t work for me now but maybe works for you, if it doesn’t try the phone number below
https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793 ) or Google it and you’ll find it’s available from other outlets.
The strips are to be found here:
https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097
Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:
Phone number 0800 8815423
If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.
Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)
Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.
HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews if you use this link and select the meter plus 5 packs of strips, and then add the code dcuk (all lower case) at check out you may get money off, I’m not sure if this code is still valid.
https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/
Links to the strips for future orders:
https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/glucose-navii-blood-glucose-test-strips-50-strip-pack/
There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively. Again I’m not sure if these codes are still valid.
Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!
https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/
Discount codes for the Code Free strips, again I haven’t used them in a while.
5 packs 264086
10 packs 975833
SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular however I haven’t been able to find it on their website lately.
(Old link which doesn’t work for me now but maybe works for you, if it doesn’t try the phone number below
https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793 ) or Google it and you’ll find it’s available from other outlets.
The strips are to be found here:
https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097
Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:
Phone number 0800 8815423
If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.
Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)
My mum used to have this as a child a spoonful, not sure why and she didn't know why either! However, she did suffer from severe migraines and took feverfew and she no longer suffered. Did not work for me, I just have to keep away from chocolate, cheese & coffee (arm twisted behind my back whilst explaining)
Incidentally I am not speaking to my husband, I affectionately called him and unmentionable name because he walked in with Christmas pud 