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Shaking like a leaf but BS slightly high

T

TheScribbler

Member
Messages
22
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 3c
Treatment type
Insulin
I've only been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a few weeks, following a number of attacks of pancreatitis earlier this year , so it is still early days for me. I'm struggling with getting my insulin right and have had quite a few mild hypos. With my first hypo, my BS was 4.7, but I was told this is not unusual when BS levels have previsously been a lot higher. They normally kick in now at around 3.6. My normal hypo symptoms are first fidgeting with my hands and feeling jittery, then going pale, feeling hot, shaking uncontrollably and feeling very spaced out.

Earlier today, I started shaking like a leaf and was so jittery I could hardly test my own BS levels. I thought it must be another hypo, so I was surprised to see that my BS was 9.0 - just a bit on the high side, but I wouldn't have thought it was high enough to make me hyper. Weird or what! The shaking passed and I tested my BS an hour later and it had gone down to 8.1 Anyone got any ideas what was going on?
 
Could it have been anxiety? for me i often have trouble telling the difference between anxiety and hypo. I have learnt though not to just assume either and to test to find out. got caught out once putting my symptoms down to anxiety because i was in an anxiety provoking situation when i was infact low.
 
Thanks, Sofaraway. I hadn't considered anxiety, but you could be right. I have been quite worried about work and my wife says I tend to bottle things up.
 
TheScribbler said:
Thanks, Sofaraway. I hadn't considered anxiety, but you could be right. I have been quite worried about work and my wife says I tend to bottle things up.
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Some of the effects of a hypo are to cause a dump of epinephrine norepinephrine and cortisol which are also associated with anxiety. Another is to dump glucagon which commands your liver to churn out glucose. It's possible you had gone much lower than that and by the time you tested your liver had cut in and driven your BG up. This is common with Type 2, some Type 1s may have quite uncontrollable liver dumps also. Some don't seem to do it, or not to the same extent.
 
Could someone please perhaps give me some advice. I am now taking Metformin slow release 2x a day and gliclazide 30mg twice a day, both before meals.

I am also taking a lot more excercise than I was two months ago, have lost a stone as a result, but am now getting I think Hypos on an almost regular basis. First thing in the morning for the last week I have been shaking so much I can hardly do the test. My BGs are now averaging 8.2 down from 14/15 two months ago. I also am tending to get them half way round a game a of golf and ma now having to take a nutro bar or some such with me to stop the hypos. Albeit when I get home again and test, my BGs are still around the 7.5-8 mark.

I did test during a hypo the other day and was at 8.5.

Getting a bit worried.
 
Back to the doctor ASAP I suggest, this may be any of a number of things not necessarily connected to your BG, eg hyperthyroid
 
Henry W said:
I did test during a hypo the other day and was at 8.5.

Getting a bit worried.
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This is typical of what may be called "false hypo" and is nothing to worry about. Your body is not used to the lower level and gives you hypo symptoms, but you're not really hypo until about 3.6 and don't need to eat anything sweet until you reach that level. (Eating something containing protein may help stop any hunger cravings without raising your bs very much.) Keep on testing and over a few weeks you'll notice that the symptoms start at a lower level. If your level has fallen quickly, test again after say 10-15 mins as it may continue dropping and you may indeed be hypo the second time. Treating symptoms at a higher level as hypo will only reinforce to your body that the higher level is "normal".

Hang in there. Once your body gets used to your blood sugar being where it should be, these false hypos will reduce. But they can happen at any time when your bs falls, what you feel is the drop rather than the actual level.
 
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