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What am I experiencing? Please help.

H

Huntinwabbits

Member
Messages
6
Location
South Carolina, USA
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi all. I need to post so I can get some encouragement, advice and how to cope. This is all new to me so I need to put this out there for people I feel understand what I'm talking about. I'm a 32 year old male and everything started about 1 month ago.This will be long so I apologize.

One month ago I left work and could tell I was feeling a little off. We tried going out that night and I could barely walk. I was so dizzy, disoriented, shaky and felt as if I was going to faint though I never did thankfully. Type 2 runs in my family and extended family and I am overweight myself. was hovering around 250lbs. My dad being a diabetic offered to take my blood pressure and sugar levels. My pressure was pretty high as I expected, not absurdly but uncomfortably high. My sugar was 186 that night about an hour and a half after I tried to eat dinner.

I went the next morning to a near by urgent care. BP was high but lower than the night before. Still stressed and scared. They ran an EKG and they said it was the definition of perfect. They drew blood for testing and suggested that much could be anxiety and to find a family doctor. The following day I did I found a family doctor. BP was still high but a bit lower than previous day. I still felt miserable and they performed another EKG for a 2nd opinion because the symptoms for heart attack are similar and I felt tightness in my chest. The results were perfect again. My fasting glucose was 126 that morning. Blood work came back with A1C of 6.8% and all other results pretty normal. The other issue was the doctor said I had fluid in my ear and most likely had an inner ear infection which she believed triggered my worst feelings.

The last month I have changed my diet up and started walking every day. I know with family history I need to try and do my best to keep things from getting worse. In general, things have been going good. I've lost about 13 pounds this month. My BP readings have been ideal since those Dr visits. My glucose readings have gotten lower every week. My fasting readings have been in the low to mid 90s the last two weeks. It would seem all is going well with this. It seems like my numbers have dropped almost too rapidly.

So that's brings me here. I feel miserable today. I had an episode about 2 weeks ago just like this. I feel like I'm experiencing hypo symptoms. I know false hypo is a thing but I can't allow myself to believe that that is my situation on my own accord. All day today, and various other days, I have felt very shaky, nervous, dizzy, blurred vision, the whole deal. I've checked my levels multiple times and my readings were all between 110 and 120. They clearly aren't hypo and not really even that high compared to what I see others online post. And they also aren't really abnormal from any other day. So while I try to tell myself this is a false hypo and my body is still adjusting to lower sugar levels, my mind instantly asks why I didn't feel this way 2 days ago when my numbers were even slightly better then? I'm trying not to let anxiety take over here and be rational about it but the truth is I'm just scared. I suppose it's natural for the mind to wander thru all the worst possible things in life but it's hard to combat that when I feel so awful. Can anyone relate or understand this? Has anyone experienced this or can offer advice? Should I still have random hypo feeling days a month into it? Is this even false hypo?
 
Hello @Huntinwabbits and welcome

It certainly sounds as though you have a lot to deal with.

As a starting point it would be very helpful if you could fill out your profile to say what type of diabetes you have and whether you are on any medication for it. That will help people to tailor their responses.

I should also say that none of us are able to give medical advice and from what you’ve written it sounds like a return visit to the doctor would be helpful, especially given the ear infection that you mentioned.

In the meantime I’m linking to some useful information for those newly diagnosed. Have a good read and ask as many questions as you like.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/basic-information-for-newly-diagnosed-diabetics.26870/
 
Feeling terrible is a good reason to go see your family doc.

I think your suspicions about your body adjusting to the drop in blood glucose levels are probably right. You've gone from high to pretty good numbers and that can at times be a bit of a shock as the system adjusts to lower intakes of carbohydrate and lower levels in a short space of time after running much higher for who knows how long. You've made some pretty good progress in a short space of time, but it's not always going to be smooth sailing. We all hit the odd bump in the road. Monitoring your BP would be a good idea. Sometimes they can get a bit low I find myself if salt intake isn't enough.

Go see your doc, good luck.
 
Huntinwabbits said:
I've lost about 13 pounds this month.
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wow! well done! I agree with all above.
I'm type 2 very recently diagnosed (2 1/2 weeks:)), changed diet has also been successful so far. My mood has changed significantly in response to diet (lots of people report this) so it's possible that your adjustments may also be affecting your mood and that will take a while to equalise. It's just a thought and not based on any real evidence ......
 
Is this even false hypo?[/QUOTE]
Welcome and really well done. You're making such great progress. You may be experiencing the effects of your blood sugars normalizing. I certainly had blurred vision for three straight weeks after my blood sugars started to drop back to normal, after an extreme change in diet and exercise and metformin. High sugars cause your eye lens to swell due to shifting fluids.
 
2 things.I agree,return to Dr.

I have gone thru the shakes too,occasionally before getting BG under control,and later as my body readjusted,and was getting good BG levels at the time.To the point I wondered if I was getting some neuro disease going on.Just what happened to me,FWIW.CBD worked great on the shakes also.

I would return to Dr though.Any time symptoms scare you you should go in IMO.
 
Personally I take no stock in the text-book definition of the hypo BG level. IMHO it is different for everyone and can depend on the situation. The symptoms are more important than the number.

In my personal experience, in some situations the body can start "trying" to keep the BG up, and although the BG can be 110 or whatever, this is a low dressed up as a "false high". I can eat a snack and symptoms go away although my BG doesn't actually rise much.

If your symptoms temporarily go away after you eat, it is most probably BG related so you shouldn't worry. Otherwise you should get medical help urgently.
 
As you said you're losing weight, are you eating enough? Not carbs, but enough calories to keep you going? I feel horrible sometimes when I just need some food, even with normal bg.
 
I started low carb fairly gently, on 100g a day - but this was a huge droop from before and I had hypo symptoms several times. Home testing showed my BG had dropped into the normal range but not low. Sometimes I realised it was partly caused by not drinking enough as the change in my diet included cutting back on lattes and I wasn't always replacing the coffees with water. A drink and a short rest usually worked., but if these don't then try to see the doctor?
 
Thank you all for your responses. I feel like I am eating just fine. My portions are lower than they were but not by much. I feel like most of the weight loss probably just comes from cutting out soda. I've been very happy with things up until this weekend. Yesterday and today we're just not good and that's what I haven't understood. I have felt very woozy and off balance today. There are moments throughout the day I actually feel completely fine but most of the day is spent feeling very off balance. This is similar to how I felt when I originally went to the Dr. I've not been officially diagnosed yet because hey will need more readings in the coming months. But the prior week I was feeling great. Then all the sudden the weekend hit and I felt different. Just seem so random for false hypo feelings. I would think that should happen more regularly, not just once every 2 weeks. I wonder how much of this is anxiety because of this all. Anxiety and diabetes seem to often happen together or at least show similar symptoms.
 
If you are cutting out soda, are you replacing it with other fluids? This hot weather it is easy to become dehydrated, and going low carb is diuretic, plus you might also be low in salt.
I don't add salt in cooking, so I add a tiny amount to my coffee in a morning as otherwise I get cramps in my legs.
 
Well, if its any help....i have very similar at the moment, and have done for at least two months now. Tried visiting local GP surgery to effect a diagnosis and help but all i got was general malaise and not that interested. Am now having to fund private ENT consultation (again) to circumvent the failure of the local surgery to do anything to try and solve my dizziness/vertigo/whatever. My BP is high (140-150/80-ish)when i visit the clinic, but this seems to be of no concern to them. No desire to prescribe anything, not sure if BP could be causing my issues?. Family history of CVD, private cardiologist recommended statin considerations so did manage to get a lipid profile done....Qrisk of 9.6% calculated based on all the former. HbA1C last done "officially" was 26 mol/mmol (low) and bought a home testing kit that around beginning of this month showed me at 35 mol/mmol. Check bloods on and off an usually around 5.6 mol/mmol pre and post prandial. Feel generally awful despite being much lighter and fitter, the dizziness is i agree, a nightmare! could be that it induces anxiety...?...although i don't feel anxious. If you find an answer, let me know, would be great to find a cure, and resume normality.
 
Resurgam said:
If you are cutting out soda, are you replacing it with other fluids? This hot weather it is easy to become dehydrated, and going low carb is diuretic, plus you might also be low in salt.
I don't add salt in cooking, so I add a tiny amount to my coffee in a morning as otherwise I get cramps in my legs.
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When I first started feeling bad a month ago, my BP was high. Because of that I did take drastic measures to adjust my sodium intake. I have gradually eased on that some as once I got past that first weekend my BP was consistently in the 'ideal' range, or so says the internet. I have wondered about caffeine withdraw. I was not a huge soda drinker but had a glass every night with dinner and I cut that cold turkey. I spent the last month forcing myself to acquire the taste for tea and I managed to do that which I am thrilled about haha. I still have a cup of coffee a few times a week when I am feeling good so I am not entirely caffeine free. I have hydrated more in the last month than ever and that has been good for me. I would rule out dehydration personally. However, the idea of withdraw, be it from soda or lack of salt and carbs, seems like a realistic possibility. Does it make you dizzy and woozy randomly though?

Another thought that has come across my mind (besides false hypos) is that my ear infection that my family doctor said I had was more chronic than the temporary 'few days and you're good' type thing. Dr insisted on regular Mucinex to help and I have taken one nearly every day. Coincidentally (or not) there were two days I did not take them because I ran out and didnt have time to get another package, and the day after not taking one, both times, I started to feel the onslaught of dizziness, lightheaded and the all around woozy, crud feeling that prompted me to post here. It's been 4.5 weeks since all these 'symptoms' showed up. Could it be some sort of ear infection for over a month? I don't know. There is nothing different from last week, to last weekend to today which I still find so odd. 4 weeks into this and I go the whole week feeling great then the weekend hit and I was a mess. Today has been better than the previous two. I still feel a little offbalance and woozy and I notice today that I feel like I have pressure in my head. It's not painful. It's just...there.

Again, thank you all for the responses. Just being able to write out what I am feeling on here and see responses and read other stories is therapeutic in its own right.

First.Officer I will happily share anything I discover. It was my son's 8th birthday this past weekend and of all weekends to feel crumby... It was awful.
 
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dizziness, lightheaded and the all around woozy
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You had an ear 'issue' and those could be symptoms of an ear issue.I really think a Dr visit is in your best interests.
 
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