Night time issues.

Geraldjc said:

Hey!

So, I have a quick question, if anyone has any help Id really appreciate it!

Basically I've never been a good sleeper, I tend to wake up anywhere between 4/5 times a night, usually very, very thirsty. I drink plenty of water, I usually have to go to the bathroom when I wake up too, so I know this is half the reason I probably wake up, I'm fine with that, but the issue has started the past 6 months or so. Now when I wake up I literally can not fall back to sleep until I eat food, I get horrendous cravings, am ridiculously restless and no matter what I do I can't sleep until I go and eat something! And that usually turns into eating far too much, which is making me gain weight! I thought it may be diabetes so I went to the doctors a couple of months ago, but he done his test and said I was fine, but clearly something isn't right!
I'm thinking it may be something to do with low blood sugar.

Also, I exercise pretty regularly, eat pretty well and I definitely do eat enough calories (been counting at around 1800) to make sure it's not a lack of food that's doing it!

Anyway, does anyone have any input or advice?

Thanks!

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Welcome. It might be worth asking what the test result was. Either HbA1c or fasting blood glucose would tell you if you are on the way to getting diabetes or not. Do you know if there is any family history of diabetes?

Aside from diabetes, your sleep issues could be caused by issues with your mouth, nose and throat. If you have a partially blocked nose (eg from a deviated septum, enlarged turbinates, or enlarged adenoids) then you may be breathing with your mouth open while asleep, which would make you thirsty. Mouth breathing can also contribute to sleep apnoea, which in a normal-weight 27 year old could also be contributed to by enlarged tonsils, or a small opening to the throat. (Sleep apnoea usually affects people over 40 who are overweight, but it sometimes affects younger people, even children, and usually because of nose/throat issues). There is also a condition called upper airway resistance syndrome, which is less severe than sleep apnoea, but is still sleep disordered breathing that disturbs sleep and causes health issues.

Sleep disordered breathing conditions can lead to nocturia, which is the need to urinate in the middle of the night. Normally, people sleep for an uninterrupted 8 hours, and while asleep, their kidneys slow down urine production, so that the small amount produced can be comfortably held by the bladder without the person having to wake up and urinate. If your breathing is slowing down or stopping for short periods, that disrupts sleep, so the signal to slow down urine production is not sent. Then your full bladder wakes you up, one or more times during the night.

I think it would be worth going back to your doctor and telling him what you've said above, and insisting that he looks into it further or refers you to a specialist, such as an ear, nose and throat specialist or a to a sleep clinic for an overnight sleep study.

In the meantime, maybe you could get small amounts of snack food ready before you go to, so you can quickly eat something and hopefully get back to sleep without spending too much time awake or filling up too much. Eating in the middle of the night can increase your risk of gastric reflux, which, believe me, you want to avoid. Make sure your last snack before bed has some protein, fat, and a small amount of complex carbohydrates rather than refined carbohydrates, that way it should last longer in your system before you feel hungry again.

I'd say go back to your doctor. Without tests and some sort of examination, all we can do is guess (and most of my medical knowledge is diabetes related).

Sorry I can't help further.