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No energy and finding life hard.

Geri

Geri

Well-Known Member
Messages
131
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Stress and feeling exhausted.
Hi, Ive had diabetes since 1970 and keep having days and weeks where I have no energy and feel really weak.
When I have a good day I can cycle on my bike and walk about for hours, but I keep on having what I call 'no energy days' where I can just sit about or lie in bed untill I recover.

My diabetes is very brittle. I can yo yo from 2.1 to 21.1 and back to 3.0 in just a few hours, I test regularly because of the sensitivity I have with insulin (and carbs too).
My thyroid has recently been checked and my dosage is fine. i am also taking iron and calcium as my last blood test showed I was low on these.

Does anyone else have this sort of 'no energy' for a long time?

Sorry to sound mopey, I am just so fed up feeling utterly drained.
 
I've had these no energy days, sometimes lasting for weeks at a time. (I've wondered if they're linked to any kind of depression?) You sound pretty active - so I bet these days really bother you, rght?

Now, I'm T2, so take this with a pinch of salt, but if you're sensitive to carbs AND insulin, maybe you should try reducing BOTH?

Obviously, if you reduce your carb intake, your insulin requirements will also go down.
 
Hi Geri,

I would think it's probably swinging from high to low all the time thats making you feel very energyless.

i know you say you have brittle diabetes, have you been on a course to carb count? This could help you make your doses more accurate to what you eat to help these hi's and low's.

It also teaches you how to firgure out your own correction factor, so would help get those high's down too hopefully without dipping low afterwards.

It's good you test regularly, do you keep a diary with your results?, this could help spot any particular patterns so you can adjust doses to help?

Also as you say you are sensitive to insulin, have you considered an insulin pump? it can be programmed to give very little doses so help with your insulin sensitivity.

Just a few ideas that you may or may not have thought of.

Thanks.
 
Geri said:
My diabetes is very brittle. I can yo yo from 2.1 to 21.1 and back to 3.0 in just a few hours, I test regularly because of the sensitivity I have with insulin (and carbs too).
My thyroid has recently been checked and my dosage is fine. i am also taking iron and calcium as my last blood test showed I was low on these.

.
Click to expand...


Hi, what dosage is right...do you mean your insulin? AAgain, i would ask if you are carb counting etc...I am also a "sensitive" type, and this really helped me. I also suspect that it is the low to high and hogh to low swing that cause teh issues, it can just take it out of you. The other thing I wonder wwas about the iron. If you are still anemic I think that this causes tiredness too.

sorry, not much help, but I do feel for you!
 
Thanks for the replies,
I do carb count, I have 90grams of carbs per day and take a very small dose of insulin - in total 21 units total per day. Today I didnt inject at lunch time because I was low after cycling to the dentist, but I still wnet low anyway.

My partner thinks that much of the cause of my tiredness is the swinging from high to low etc. I do tend to over compensate when I am high sugar, however since going on a DEFNE equivelent course I have really tried to reign this in and yesterday I was 21.4 at lunch time (this was following an early morning hypo) and only took 2 units of actrapid (this would bring me down by 8 to a blood reading of 13.4) to bring me down but I went into a hypo again.

I sometimes wonder whether the coffee I drink makes me release glucose from the liver?????. I only had a cup from one of the Italian coffee places in a high street, but I wonder if the caffeine releases glucose in some way, (or perhaps I am being very silly?). I cant drink coffee from coffee machines because experiance has shown me that my sugar levels zoom upwards soon afterwards.
This wouldnt cause the tiredness though?
I think I need to have another iron test. My consultant and diabetes nurses have tested me for Addisons on a number of occasions but all the tests have proved to be negative.
I have considered the pump, but on the morning it was due to be conected I went hypo and, my sight is not very good due to retinopathy.
Thanks for your replies, I will get another iron check done again for peace of mind sake.
 
Geri said:
Thanks for the replies,
I do carb count, I have 90grams of carbs per day and take a very small dose of insulin - in total 21 units total per day. Today I didnt inject at lunch time because I was low after cycling to the dentist, but I still wnet low anyway.

My partner thinks that much of the cause of my tiredness is the swinging from high to low etc. I do tend to over compensate when I am high sugar, however since going on a DEFNE equivelent course I have really tried to reign this in and yesterday I was 21.4 at lunch time (this was following an early morning hypo) and only took 2 units of actrapid (this would bring me down by 8 to a blood reading of 13.4) to bring me down but I went into a hypo again.

I sometimes wonder whether the coffee I drink makes me release glucose from the liver?????. I only had a cup from one of the Italian coffee places in a high street, but I wonder if the caffeine releases glucose in some way, (or perhaps I am being very silly?). I cant drink coffee from coffee machines because experiance has shown me that my sugar levels zoom upwards soon afterwards.
This wouldnt cause the tiredness though?
I think I need to have another iron test. My consultant and diabetes nurses have tested me for Addisons on a number of occasions but all the tests have proved to be negative.
I have considered the pump, but on the morning it was due to be conected I went hypo and, my sight is not very good due to retinopathy.
Thanks for your replies, I will get another iron check done again for peace of mind sake.
Click to expand...

Hi,

have you considered using a half unit pen? maybe this would help a little as you could have small corrections and not risk going low but still managing to bring it down a little?

By all means go get tested again, for peace of mind. if you can rule out anaemia then you can concentrate on improving your diabetes.

There's a recent post about coffee and someone emailed a company that dispenses coffee and the reply said there was a small amount of carbs even without added sugar. I'm not sure that caffeine would trigger the body to release glucose but i'm no expert :) so maybe someone else can fill you in on that one.

Exercise can affect you after you have stopped so maybe that was the cause for your hypo, even though you had no insulin with lunch.

Have you spoken to your specialist about this? i know this forum is great because experience is often better than textbook facts i think. But maybe he/she could suggest something to help you :)
 
Hi

To go up to 21.4 after a hypo is a huge swing? What did you use to treat your hypo?

Some people need less to bring them to normal levels than others....my DSN was adamant that I should have 3-4 jelly babies, but this was too much on some occasions and yet not enough on others....I don't use jelly babies now, as my levels were too erratic when having them to treat my hypo's.

It may be an idea to see just how much or little you need to treat a hypo, rather than getting such high's afterwards.
 
Hi Geri,
As Ebony stated, the huge fluctuations could make you feel pretty wrecked. How long has your diabetes been brittle? I note you are on actrapid, but what long-acting insulin are you taking?
Jus
 
Just a thought, from personal experience, that being deficient in Vitamin D can make you very tired. Whilst you are getting tested for anaemia, I'd get tested for Vitamin D deficiency too. I can see you are taking calcium, does it have vitamin D in it?
 
to answer questions.... I have been brittle ever since changing over to human insluin, last time was around 1986. I have been on an unusually low dose of insulin since my son was born, about 15 years ago. I became aware of severe tiredness and lack of energy around 2007, it started as 2 days in every fortnight and now it is 2 - 4 days every week.
When I have a 'good' day I feel really well and get on with all the things I havnt been able to do, but now I am unable to make arrangements incase I am too ill/tired to keep them.

I am on Levemir as my background insulin and take this in two doses, once in the morning and later in the evening. This prevented major hypos mid day.
When I was on animal insulin I wasnt on quick acting insluin but my long term sugar reading was around 10 - 12, which isnt good really.

I wasnt aware that a lack of vit D could cause tiredness. I am very pale and cover up when I go in the sun, (due to vitiligo) so dont get alot of sunshine on my skin.

I am convinced that I am heading towards addisons disease, even though the tests so far have all been negative. To be honest, it would be good if it was dianosed as I could prevent this exhaustion because it could then be treated. (I realise that addisons isnt very nice, expecially together with type 1)
I thought for many years that my tiredness was due to having diabetes for along time, however, I have since met others with long term type 1 and they do not have this tiredness and lack of energy.

The tiredness is such that the other day I picked up some shears to trim a hedge and I could only hold them for about 4 minutes because I didnt have the strength to lift them. I am also exhausted when I run up the stairs, if I walk up I dont think I will get to the top!

So it is this exhaustion that I feel is at the root of me feeling unwell.
Thanks for your comments, I have read all of them and many points have sunk in and I will check these out when I see my GP.
 
I cmpletely sympathise with you for feeling so exhausted. I have felt that way and have had it listed on my medical notes for at least 10 years. I hate waking up tired. Mine was diagnosed as fibromyalgia, but for a huge amount of years I felt absolutely desperate as to waking up tired and being so exhausted day in, day out.

I do so sympathise with you and hope that you can get some relief from it soon and feel better.
 
one more thing to consider is perhaps ME?
I have little or no knowledge about ME treatments but the comment you made about being exhausted just holding the shears suddenly reminded me about a very good friend of mine who developed ME a number of years ago. She is fine again now and I am not sure what did the trick - perhaps others on here will be able to help - but it's another thing to consider and perhaps ask the doc about.
 
Is the major thing you find is the exhaustion? Do you have any aches or pains, or any depression?
 
You say your thryoid has been checked and it is fine, but did you get the actual numbers for your TSH, FT4 and FT3? What doctors think is 'fine' for thyroid can very often be pathological. You can't necessarily rely on doctors to treat your thyroid properly and thyroid is a major cause of tiredness.

Geri said:
I am convinced that I am heading towards addisons disease, even though the tests so far have all been negative. To be honest, it would be good if it was dianosed as I could prevent this exhaustion because it could then be treated. (I realise that addisons isnt very nice, expecially together with type 1)
Click to expand...

Aside from tiredness, do you have any other signs/symptoms of Addisons? You could ask to have adrenal cortex antibodies tested as these tend to be there in people with autoimmune addisons. What tests have you already had for addison's? (I have adrenal insufficiency and although tiredness was a major symptom, there were a lot of other symptoms happening at the same time).

Also have you been tested for other autoimmune conditions eg. have you had ANA antibodies tested for a start? A lot of rheumatological autoimmune conditions like lupus etc. have fatigue as a major symptom. I'd ask your GP for this basic screening test at least.
 
Might coeliac be a possibility?

Just a thought as that can leave people drained and has close links with type 1 diabetes (both auto-immune diseases).

I had a check for this recently -they just added the test on to my usual cholesterol and A1c blood test. I should get the results in about a week.

Ed
 
Hi

I can sympathise with how you feel. I have had Type 1 since 1974.

At the moment I am feeling exactly how you feel, I am completely exhausted and haven't the energy to do a thing. My BS's have been very erractic for the last week or so due to a Kidney infection, so I have put my lack of energy down to this.

In the past when my BS has been all over the place, my energy levels go rock bottom and my eyesight also goes quite bad. After a few days of stablelising this they both go back to normal, the eyesight sooner than the energy. I also find that if I change my diet a little it helps, eat a little more if possible, more fruit etc, doesn't have to be loads more carbs though.

I also have an underactive Thyroid, so as said in an earlier post, I would ask to have this tested again, it does make a hell of a lot of difference to how you feel if your Thyroid is underactive. Also ask if you can have your B12 checked. I have Vit B12 deficiency also known as Pernicious Anaemia.
The feeling of this is a total lack of energy also, plus very tired and achy limbs especially the legs (in my case).

Maybe a vitamin supplement may help, Vit C or a B vit.

I went onto the Pump nearly 4 years ago now. It is the best thing that has happended to me as far as Diabetes is concerned. If you can get another appointment to have it fitted, go for it. It has given me my life back. Whoever thought it up should have a medal. Easy to use, very discreet, gives very very small basal and bolus doses and (with my pump) you can have up to 12 different basal doses over the 24 hours. Best piece of kit ever.

Hope some of this may be of use and hoping you feel better soon.

x
 
Ed, I didn't know they could test coeliac by blood tests? I had low B12 and folic results many years ago, and I was sent for cameras down my throat and up t'other end to test for coeliac disease. Do you know what specifically they wrote on the blood test request...I'm really interested to find this out?
 
Thankyou for all of your comments.
On Tuesday I was really wacked out and stayed in bed all day, however,today and yesterday afternoon I have felt well again and went to take a drawing class, which I havnt been able to do for a while.
I have been checking my BS and finally got stableised after yo yoing tight up untill the hypo I had yesterday morning. I have also be taking extra iron via Spa Tone water. I really think this has helped.

This energy thing has been with me for a number of years and my local diabetes team are perplexed by it, as I am too.

However, I feel good today and hope it lasts. I am still going to visit the GP and discuss what has been happening. Thanks for your emails, you have all been really supporitve. :D
 
I'm not Type 1 so can't help there, but I would definitely get your thyroid re-checked.

I had loads of thyroid symptoms - tiredness, weakness, aches in muscles and joints, dry skin and thinning hair. Not to mention weight gain! All my thyroid results have been within the 'normal' range, but I finally got a doctor to treat the patient not the numbers. I'm now on 100mg (or whatever!) of levothyroxine and feel much better - but my blood test results have hardly moved! Neither has my weight, come to that :roll: .

I also take Vitamin D3 supplements, but I suggest you research that for yourself 'cos I take much more than the RDA so can't recommend it to anyone else. There's lots of info out there, though - google for Vitamin D Research, or something similar.

Hope they sort things out for you soon

Viv :D
 
Hi donnellysdogs

It's a blood test first of all to look for relevant antibodies then, if the antibodies are present, a biopsy of the small intestine.

More info here
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coeliac-disease/Pages/Diagnosis.aspx
Click to expand...

Ed
 
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