Perpetually hungry and shaky

Sani Thomas said:

Hi, does anyone know why I'm feeling so rotten. I'm taking at the moment 24 Humulin I at 20.00, and 8 Novorapid before meals (Metformin 2000 mg too). My Bg is still rather high, preprandial for the last two-three days roughly around 9, and when I check postprandial is around 13-14.
I'm hungry all the time and am feeling shaky, hands and legs, tired and even fatigued.
I started the Novorapid 12 days ago. For the first three or four days my BG lowered to between 7 and 9 at 4-6 units of Novorapid. Then it inexplicably rose.
The diabetic team nurse says not to worry but I feel ever so bad.

Click to expand...

Your body has been used to high blood glucose levels for a long time. As you bring your levels down it needs to 'adjust' to the new levels and it makes you feel a bit rough for a while. It usually passes after a couple of weeks, depending on the individual.

Sani Thomas said:

Thank you. Is there anything I can do to feel better? Surely it is not normal to find it tiring even to go to the loo?

Click to expand...

None that I am aware of unfortunately.

Hi, @Sani Thomas , normal levels are around the 4 to 6 mark, so if you're running at 9 to 14, it means you've got lots of glucose in your blood , but it's not able to get into cells to be used as energy, so you feel tired.

Think of it like a car with a full tank, but a blockage in the fuel line. Lots of energy in the tank, but the engine is not able to burn it.

With T1s, we just inject more insulin if too high to act as a chemical gate to let the fuel into cells.

With T2s it's a bit trickier as it'll either be a situation where the insulin producing cells are just plain worn out, so injections are needed, or that insulin is still being produced but the metabolism has gone wrong making cells resistant to insulin so more needs to be injected, or it could be a bit of both.

There's valid arguments that injecting just turns it into a vicious circle, inceasing insulin resistance, so many try to reduce carbs meaning less need for insulin.

If you were T1, I'd just say increase the insulin, but different factors apply in T2, so best discuss with your nurse whether increasing dose is an option, or see what the many T2s on here day about reducibg carbs (which'll likely require a commensurate lowering of insulin dose otherwise levels may fall to hypo territory).