For the past several years my BS has been way out of control. The past month I have tried my hardest to start talking better control of it. I joined the site and Im learning more here than in the past 19 years. My sugars have come down alot and Im writing everything down for the next time I go to the doctor. Then I will get my A1C checked. Im hoping its alot lower than I think its gonna be.
Here is the question.
I have been getting very light headed, dizzy, sweaty, my vision goes, earing goes all of a sudden. Those are signs youre about to pass out. I check my sugar and its normal. Could my body just be adjusting to my over all sugars being alot lower than they have been in years? How do you know if you are dehydrated? I usually just get some food or a drink, and try to cool off.
Sue I have never really run into a problem like this, but when you say your sugar is "normal" what do you mean? Are you talking the 80 -120 range or higher or lower. The signs you are talking about are classic to me of what I would call hypoglycemia. It very well could be the fact that your body is getting used to more normal numbers however that does seem a bit odd. Granted when I was first diagnosed and I would go low I would start to feel the symptoms around 78 or so. Now, I rarely feel the symptoms and have "functioned" with sugars much lower i.e. 50's without my feeling anything. I would keep track of this though to talk to your doctor about it. I always ran low though, so hopefully someone who may have run high and started to lower things might have a better chance, either way though I would be careful and if this keeps happening and your numbers are "normal" I would call the doctor about it anyway. The best advice is always from the doctor, some of the people on here are close but we are not the ones with the MD after our names.
If your bg has been high for a long time, and then your control gets a lot better (say your normal bg was 300 and now it is closer to 150), you might respond to a bg of 150mg/dl as if you were low. This should go away as long as you keep good control. If you flip-flop between good and bad control it will keep coming back. Talk to your endo if this has been going on for a while.
In terms of dehydration, you might want to be proactive and drink more fluids. I don't know if you've been out in the heat or if you simply don't drink enough during a normal day. If you ever stop sweating even though you are hot, or if you ever get goosebumps in the heat, those are sure signs of dangerous dehydration.
I have the exact same feelings whenever my blood sugar is heading down quickly. I never pinpointed the problem until I got my CGM. I'd test my BG and it would be in the normal range (80-120ish), but I'd feel horrible and the next thing I knew I'd be having a low.
Well now that I have my CGM it shows my BG along with an arrow that points straight down when it's heading down really quickly.
I wonder if that's what's happening to you too. When you test and it comes out normal, do you experience a low shortly after that? Or does it stay in the normal range?
In the hospital (when you are first diagnosed, or back in with DKA) they are careful not to lower your BG to "normal" too quickly because your body will respond as if your are experiencing hypoglycemia.
Not to scare you, but there could be a number of other reasons why you are having these symptoms. Not probable, but definately possible.
If your next MD appointment isn't soon, you might want to consider contacting him or her now to get some feedback, or maybe even get seen in the office sooner.
The lightheadness and dizziness..., does it occur especially when you stand up from a sitting position or when you get out of bed? Does it occur after you've had a meal or during strenuous activity? Do you take any medication for blood pressure, like an ACE inhibitor? Do you have any kind of neuropathy or other complications. If it's definitely not hypoglycemia, it sounds like it could be low blood pressure to your brain. The medical term is "partial syncope," partial because you're not actually fainting. There are many, many situations which can cause syncope. Just be very careful not to actually faint and get hurt. If it happens when you stand up, stand up slowly.
It seems to only occur when I get hot. It happened the other day when I was standing in a store talking to someone. All of a sudden my insides just felt off and then my hearing and vision started going and I got really sweaty. To the point where its very noticeable and my shirt is drenched in sweat.
Another time was just standing at the stove cooking and the same thing happened. I usually just put my head as low to the ground as I can and when I checked my sugar at the store it was 142 but I had some jucie anyways incase it was dropping quickly.
I have run high my whole life and was always in 200-300's for years. Over the past month Ive been really good with not eating poorly and checking it alot. Ive been alot lower most of the time. Like 80-170 (is what I think normal for me is).
I did ask the doctor about a sweating problem so when I go for my A1C they are gonna check my thyroid. Its really strange though. I dont have eye problems either. But when I say my vision was going I mean I walked into the parking lot thinking I was going to faint and I couldnt see the cars but I could see the outer perimeter of them. They were really fuzzy but then I put the air in the car on and drank some juice and my vison came back quickly.
I mean normal number to me are 80-170. Im always in that range when I check but Im wondering if Im dropping and not catching it and just treating it cause I dont know what else to do when I feel like this. It feels like im becoming low.
The lightheadness and dizziness..., does it occur especially when you stand up from a sitting position or when you get out of bed? Does it occur after you've had a meal or during strenuous activity? Do you take any medication for blood pressure, like an ACE inhibitor? Do you have any kind of neuropathy or other complications. If it's definitely not hypoglycemia, it sounds like it could be low blood pressure to your brain. The medical term is "partial syncope," partial because you're not actually fainting. There are many, many situations which can cause syncope. Just be very careful not to actually faint and get hurt. If it happens when you stand up, stand up slowly.
I dont take any medications at all. I feel dizzy when bending down to pet a cat or tie my show, just shot periods of time and then come up and I feel dizzy and my vision is blurry for a few seconds.
I was walking around a craft fair one day and it was really hot out. I felt sick that day also until i wet some paper towel and started wiping my arms and wrists with them. Its something when I get really hot all this happens.
Heat
Syncope (fainting) is a mild form of heat illness which results
from physical exertion in a hot environment. In an effort
to increase heat loss, the skin blood vessels dilate to such
an extent that blood flow to the brain is reduced, resulting
in symptoms of faintness, dizziness, headache, increased pulse
rate, restlessness, nausea, vomiting, and possibly even a
brief loss of consciousness. Inadequate fluid replacement
which leads to dehydration contributes significantly to this
problem.
Heat
Syncope Treatment
Heat
Syncope should be treated as fainting (See Fainting). The
person should lie or sit down, preferably in the shade or
in a cool environment. Elevate the feet and give fluids, particularly
those containing salt (commercial "rehydration" mix or ½
teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon baking soda per quart/0.9
liter) (see Fluid Balance page 00). The patient should
not engage in vigorous activity for at least the rest of that
day. Only after s/he has completely restored his/her body
fluids and salt and has a normal urinary output should exercise
in a hot environment be resumed (and then cautiously).
Yes it sounds like that but I am not doing any exerting, no exercise, nothing strenuous. Im gonna try to drink alot more when its really hot out. My body temperature usually runs hotter to the touch. When people are cold my skin is hot. But when Im cold no one else is.
Very interesting. It makes sense that putting wet paper towels on your arms and wrists would alleviate the the dilation of the blood vessels in your skin, thereby allowing more blood to flow back to your brain.
Many people (inlcuding me) have had dizzy spells at one time or another. I have a good friend who has lupus and she has actually fainted quite a few times. Very often the greatest danger is what happens if you actually lose consciousness and hit your head. This is the reason why you should sit down and try to recover BEFORE anything bad happens.