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Quit smoking and high sugar levels

mazza 2

Well-Known Member
Messages
248
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Just wanted some advice from anybody who has been a smoker. I stopped smoking 12 weeks ago as I decided that it’s silly to carry on with this destructive habit while I am being so good with my diet and exercise. And obviously every doctor and nurse telling me it’s the worst thing to do when diabetic. My problem is that my sugar levels are increasing without me changing anything else (eating more etc.) I have been vaping and I take 1.5mg nicotine lozengers, but only when I really have to.

My fasting levels in the morning are now in the high 7’s and 8’s. After the same breakfast as always I was 10.4 one hour after and 8.8 2 hours after.

I saw my diabetic nurse and told her what was happening and she said that my sugar levels should go down, not up when quitting smoking. She then suggested adding another tablet to try and get my levels down. I said I didn’t want to do that, so I am having a HBA1C test next week to check the level. I know it’s gone up by at least 3 points as my blood monitor and mysugr apt. shows this.

Has this happened to anyone else. I’m thinking of taking up smoking again if this doesn’t settle down, I thought not smoking was the best thing you could do for your health , but it doesn’t seem that way to me at the moment.
 
I'm sure that someone else will be far more experienced than I but if I remember there is a form of sugar in certain vaping fluids? It's either that or recovering from the nicotine addiction from tobacco could be causing stress in your body.

Either way I really do hope that it comes down for you soon!
 

I'm not and never have been a smoker, so couldn't comment, using any personal experience, however, if I were to speculate, I'd guess your levels have gone up as your body transitions from old habits. I'll then add the caveat that 12 weeks is a relatively lengthy transitional period.

Were I to have a second guess, I might think you could be eating very slightly differently, or sleeping less well, say?

In terms of additional meds; there's no shame in taking meds, and going onto something to support you through this period doesn't necessarily mean you're on it forever.

I'd tend to take your approach of looking at your A1c done next week, then decide.

Good luck with it all. It's almost certainly one of the best things you will have done, in terms of your overall health.

A big well done. If it takes a little extra support to transition over, don't be too heroic in your approach to it.
 
It could be the glycerine in vaping liquid. It is one of the main ingredients, and is used as a sweetener in the food industry and things like toothpastes etc. Also, propylene glycol is in it and is quite sweet. It could definitely be raising your blood sugars if you vape loads.
 
I have no personal experience of smoking, but almost every smoker I have known ate more and especially more sweet things when trying to quit. So they usually put on more than a few pounds.
Even if you are not doing this, I would expect that your body is under stress from fighting against that urge.
Whatever it is, it is not your fault !
 
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Vaping doesn't raise my BGs and I am a cloud chaser and use really sweet liquids.....
 
I'm not a smoker but it's all speculation, do you think your body is still adjusting? My bf was a smoker and he said his body took some time to adjust.
 
mazza 2 said:
I’m thinking of taking up smoking again if this doesn’t settle down,
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mazza 2 said:
She then suggested adding another tablet to try and get my levels down. I said I didn’t want to do that
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I don't have any advice (I still haven't managed to quit smoking so I'm impressed by your 12 weeks, well done!) but you may want to think about the logic in your statements here. If it's a choice between upping your tablets or taking up smoking again to get your diabetes in check, why choose the latter?
 
Thank you all for your comments. I definitely haven't been eating more and my weight is the same, so that's all good so far. I agree that I do feel hungrier but I have a glass of water and ride it out. I suppose it could be the vaping liquid although I didn't think it would affect blood sugar that much, I thought smoking would have a worse affect. I know everyone is different. I will try and stop the vape for a few days and see if things improve. I don't really want to stop the lozenges at the same time as I really don't want to start smoking again if I can get through this hic-up. It's just when you try and do all the right things and then this happens you can become a little frustrated. Thanks very much everyone.
 

I know, it's just at least with smoking my levels were good and I did enjoy it, regardless of all the literature saying that you don't!! I'm already on 4 metformin per day and I don't want to increase anymore. My diabetic nurse said that from 10 years after diagnosed the majority of people will have to be on stronger medicine for their condition as their pancreas will stop working as well. If I start now, I can't imagine the future. Anyway, I'm hoping she's wrong.
 
Hi Mazza, without sounding judgemental I cannot imagine ANY person being better off in any way by smoking. My type 1 diabetic Mum ended up in a vascular ward in hospital (a stroke, she never smoked) and the rest of the ward was full of smokers, the damage to their limbs and everything else (as told to us by a Consultant) was chilling and that was without them being diabetic. I'm no expert but surely smoking is a higher overall risk to your health as a glucose level a few points higher and continuing gives you a double whammy, or at least equal? You have done so well giving it up, there must be a way to improve your levels without resorting to this. x
 
With vaping and nic lozenges you could be overdoing the nicotine intake a bit and upping cortisol levels.
The upped cortisol levels can up blood sugars.
Lots of people when they first use nicotine replacement therapy can over do the nicotine a bit.
I remember when I first started vaping Phew I certainly overdid a few times
Hope you get to the bottom of it
 

I suppose I could be. I'm not intending to go back to smoking. I'll give it a little more time and cut down the nicotine. Why does everything have to be sooo hard!!!! I just thought, stop smoking and blood glucose will drop even more and I'll be so much healthier. I'm sure it will happen, fingers crossed. Thanks
 
I am a smoker. I gave up for a period using patches. Like you, my blood sugar levels went up and I definitely did not eat anything new to compensate. My food was the same as previously. I didn't last 12 weeks (well done for that - keep it up) but there was definitely a rise in levels, albeit not significantly. I had to give up on the patches because they made my heart race. (it is a known side effect). I gave in and went back to smoking, but not as many. I am currently trying to cut back and using a vape to help. My sugar levels have not risen by doing this. I put it down to the body changing.
 
Can you tell us your source? If those statistics are right, we still don't know if certain groups are more likely to develop diabetes and smoke or if it's a cause and effect link.
 
The more so called reports that come out on any subject, the less I believe them
 
Gave up smoking 2 years ago, shortly after T2D diagnosis. Don't think it affected my BS too much and I quit by vaping instead. (and still do)
 
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