Tired

Hi Tosh 1,

I can fully relate to your feelings of tiredness. I thought that I had got away with this problem. However looking back I realise that every now and then I get tired and can't get warm, then get really sleepy. I think this is something that we have to accept and deal ewith. Hopefully someone on her will give a different opinion.

As you are newly diagnosed, high blood sugars are probably the cause of your tiredness. Once you adjust your diet and they start to come down, then you should be less tired.

Have you checked what your BG reading was when you get this feeling?

There are also other factors that can cause tiredness, like Vitamin D and B12 deficiencies, thyroid issues. But my first suspicion would be high BG.

Hi Tosh, tiredness, yes I suffered from this a couple of times since diagnosis. Before diagnosis if I sat on the sofa I was always out like a light. I find I get it when I relax and it always seems to be coupled with (for me) needing to wee and feeling cold and at the time my bloods were always in the 5s! This sounds like the same symptoms as you. I used to shake myself out of it with a cycle but don't know if that is sensible. I read recently this is possibly caused by your body being in a state of mild shock.

This, to me, makes sense. You are changing your life style: eating less, changing what you eat, doing more exercise, glucose levels dropping all the time. The poor thing thinks you are in imminent danger and is trying to shut down parts of your body to keep you alive. I have read that even drinking too much can cause this (who would have thought).

However, you read such rubbish on the internet some times so who knows it could be a load of (insert you favourite ending here) ______

Feeling tired can be due to many things. A very common cause though is oddly enough, lack of exercise. It sounds counter intuitive but some physical activity can 'energise' you. There is a lot to be said for fresh air and fun.

Have a look at the Epworth Sleepiness Scale.

I felt myself getting more and more tired and started dozing off during the day and, after tests, it was discovered that I had sleep apnea. This involved a sleep study and it was found that I never fell into 'deep sleep'. However, now that I have a CPAP machine, I feel very much better. There was an improvement within a couple of days as I benefitted from the first decent nights sleep I had had in years.

Sleep Apnea. My wife said I used to suffer from that and snore really badly. Now though she says I don't even snore so you may well be correct

I agree with indy51, there can be many reasons for extreme tiredness. For years I suffered from joint/muscle pain diagnosed as fibromyalgia. During that time I could sleep around the clock! I was finally diagnosed as vit d deficient and now this has been treated my family are delighted I have stopped sleeping all the time. I walk for miles each day and consider my life to be very normal now. For me I think tiredness, at times was also made worse by high bg levels. However, as I said before, my problems disappeared after my treatment for vit d deficiency. I can now outwalk my sister and sleep at night instead of all day.

I had a blood test to diagnose my vit d deficiency. Once this was diagnosed and treated I googled vit d for info. The general advice seems to be to get gp to carry out blood test to determine vit d levels. This, to me , makes sense to know level and have gp offer treatment accordingly. Too much vit d , I have heard, can be toxic but think this refers to very high levels and does not seem common. On the other hand if treated without knowing degree of deficiency , I think treatment could be ineffective. I was given 3 x 1 monthly injections. Hope this may be of interest. I feel so much better and would be happy if my experience could help anyone.

I still think your tiredness is to do with being newly diagnosed and having had high blood sugar levels. If it doesn't improve (I wouldn't just go out buying Vitamin D tablets), then you need to get some tests done for the following:

1. Underactive Thyroid
2. Iron deficiency anaemia
3. Vitamin D deficiency
4. Vitamin B12 deficiency
5. Depression
6. Stress
7. Sleep Apnea
8. Not getting enough sleep or good quality sleep

Also changing your diet (to low carb) and getting good quality natural foods will probably improve your health and lessen the tiredness.