Nocturnal hypo?

[Dragonfly1]

Hi everyone, this is a shout out for help as I've been suffering with a problem for 12 years now (since I was 20) and doctors can't seem to figure out what it is. Whenever I sleep badly, I feel terrible the next day; symptoms are as follows: sweating/ flushing (mainly on my face and scalp), excessive thirst and hunger, dizziness, foggy headed and difficulty in concentrating, very tired and sore eyes, irritable and emotional. Symptoms seem to lessen throughout the day but they last the whole day. If I sleep well, I feel totally normal (although always tired). I occasionally get the symptoms when I sleep well but am beginning to wonder if that is when I go to bed hungry. Symptoms seem to match hypo symptoms which makes me wonder if this could be nocturnal hypoglacemia? Whenever my blood glucose gets done at the doctors, it always comes back normal though. I've been feeling particularly bad this week as I've come back from a holiday in Asia and my body clock is totally out of sync. Nobody I've spoken to can identify with my problem or has ever heard of it, so of anyone can help me, I'd be eternally grateful. I would like to have children in the next couple of years but am so scared of the thought of doing that when my life is so controlled by how much sleep I get each night because I feel so terrible when I don't sleep well.

 

[Grazer]

If you are having hypos at night, it wouldn't be diabetes related. Apart from the fact that your blood tests show you aren't diabetic, diabetes doesn't cause hypos anyway. It's insulin and other medication that some diabetics have to take that can cause hypos, not the diabetes itself, and you are obviously not on diabetes meds. Many hospitals now have specialist sleep disorder units - could you get referred to one of them? Sorry I can't be more help.

 

[Mileana]

Sounds sleep related, or like an adrenaline reaction. Components of stress hormones and mood/sleep disturbances. I would ask to have my adrenaline checked - it can also mess up blood sugars, actually and the sweating, irritability, body clock mess-up sounds like something that could be related to this. Do you feel panicky also?

 

[GraceK]

I'm no expert but have your doctors done diabetes tests on you and have they given you the results?

I'm not entirely sure your symptoms aren't diabetes related as I was told over 20 years ago that I was prediabetic but wasn't given any advice or repeat blood tests and I basically just went away and forgot about it. I had a lot of ongoing stress later on and then started early menopause and I had all the symptoms you describe for several years too yet blood tests showed nothing significant until recently. So I just thought it was menopause related. But what many of us don't realise is that with the menopause and the depletion of oestrogen this can send our whole endocrine and hormonal system haywire, including the pancreas and insulin production. Even doctors overlook the menopause factor as a trigger for diabetes. I don't think there's been much research done about it because medicine tends to be very male orientated still. Also just as in cardiac conditions, diabetes symptoms may be different in females, so bear that in mind too. Male and female bodies work differently and they often show different symptoms for the same condition.

I don't entirely trust the diagnostics of diabetes. It's not a condition that comes on overnight so I can't see why the clever clogs with the brains haven't developed some kind of diagnostic test which doesn't take years to find the condition. We now know that on diagnosis they automatically assume you've had diabetes for the previous 6 years.

As far as I'm concerned, no disease or medical condition should be undetectable for years, that only means there is something wrong with the diagnostics. If there are thousands of people supposedly walking around with undiagnosed diabetes that tells me the medical profession need to work out how to diagnose it sooner than they are doing at the moment. You could be one of those people that current diagnostics is not picking up.

I would tell your doctor you're very concerned about the symptoms, particularly the excessive thirst and hunger and sweating and keep pushing for a full complement of blood tests. It could be that there is an underlying thyroid problem also. You could also, if you're female, ask your doctor for a hormone test for menopause. I had to keep on at my GP for blood tests. Whether it's diabetes or not, there is something not quite right if you're having those symptoms so you shouldn't ignore them or allow your doctor to ignore them.

Best of luck to you.

 

[noblehead]

Dragonfly, have you been referred to see an Endocrinologist or a Sleep Clinic to investigate your symptoms?

 

[Dragonfly1]

Thanks for all the responses. I am keen to try a sleep clinic because I haven't yet so it seems an obvious thing to try next.

I havent had adrenals tested but think my female hormones are OK (also, I'm on the poll at present). Re early menopause and diabetes, my symptoms are only present when I don't sleep well or go to bed hungry, does this sound the same as what you had?

It's really great to have some responses as I feel so alone with this and have done for years.

 

[GraceK]

Thanks for all the responses. I am keen to try a sleep clinic because I haven't yet so it seems an obvious thing to try next.

I havent had adrenals tested but think my female hormones are OK (also, I'm on the poll at present). Re early menopause and diabetes, my symptoms are only present when I don't sleep well or go to bed hungry, does this sound the same as what you had?

It's really great to have some responses as I feel so alone with this and have done for years.

Well the reason I responded to your post was because I started having menstrual problems in my early 30s, which the doc gave me hormones for which corrected the problem. However, I still tired very easily so had blood tests and was told I was 'borderline diabetic' but that was it, no explanation, no guidance and no follow up. No internet then either so I basically just did my own thing and watched what I ate but continued eating carbs. My GP didn't seem at all concerned about the borderline diabetes so neither was I. Big mistake. By the time I was 40 I was crawling along like a snail, waking up at night thirsty and hungry and peeing for England, but nothing showed on blood tests and GP thought I was too young to be in the menopause and hormone tests weren't as readily available back in the 80s as they are today. From 40-50 I hardly slept a wink at night and would then fall asleep on the floor during the daytime, felt about 85. So I was basically treated for depression when actually it was ALL hormone related. Eventually arrived at 2010 and in ONE month developed asthma, IBS, Meniere's disease, angioedema, anaphylaxis and then in 2012 I developed gynae problems and I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes.

It's very easy to dismiss all our 'little' symptoms as trivial, especially when nothing shows up in blood tests. As far as I'm concerned my menopause began in my early 30s, not at 50 when my periods ended. My diabetes began when I was told I was 'borderline' and I don't consider the other health conditions as separate illnesses but COMPLICATIONS of UNDIAGNOSED DIABETES and I do think if diagnostics were better they could all have been avoided. I think that for medicine to be called REAL medicine it has to be able to diagnose AT THE FIRST SUBTLE SIGNS not WHEN IT BECOMES OBVIOUS and damage has already been done.

I had a hysteroscopy last November and was told all was OK, no cancer detected. Symptoms returned so I had another hysteroscopy a few weeks ago and now suddenly they're talking about a hysterectomy and I've been called back to the hospital this Thursday to be told the results and talk about treatment. They wouldn't tell me anything over the phone.

My point here is not to scare you or anyone else but to point out that just because 10 or 20 blood tests reveal nothing, it doesn't mean that something isn't developing, so please DO NOT IGNORE ANY SYMPTOMS on the basis of NHS test results. If you're still having symptoms and you don't feel well, keep telling the doctor that. It's your SYMPTOMS that matter because THEY are telling YOU there is a problem, regardless of what blood tests might come up with.

Diagnostics is all about uniform 'acceptable levels' and 'within normal limits'. And we now know that what was 'normal limits' for diabetis 20 years ago is not the same today.

We're all different, one person's normal is another person's abnormal and I really believe our diagnostic services need an overhaul. We already know that NHS dietary guidelines for diabetics are TWENTY YEARS OLD yet recent research in other countries like Sweden have shown that following a different kind of diet is having a different outcome so Swedish diabetics are being given different advice to British diabetics.

Our medical organisations place far too much emphasis and spend far too much money on developing TREATMENTS for illnesses than they spend on developing BETTER DIAGNOSTICS which can detect medical conditions in the early stages rather than in the later stages and I get really angry when I hear the term 'Late Onset Diabetes' when I know damned well it should be 'Late Diagnosed Diabetes'.