[Intuition]

Hello everyone. I am a 3d graphic artist computer guy working at a place called Digital Domain in Venice CA. I have been doing this kind of sitting at my desk kind of stuff for 15 years.

Over the last 5 years I noticed I started getting sweats after eating lunch or dinner. It started lightly but had gotten worse over the years. Sometimes it would be there. Sometimes not. Since the glass windows are cold at night I would often put my feet against them to fend off the sweating and it would regulate my body temperature down.

Anyways. I never thought much of all this until 2 months ago. Feb18th 2010

I was walking up my stairs to go to bed and hit my head really hard where the ceiling of floor one cuts into floor two. Its a spot where that little angle cuts into the next level opening up the turn in the stairs where it goes up to level two.

I digress. I don't go to sleep right away because I have heard that you can go into a coma. So I stay up a little bit, feel fine, shake it off and go to bed. The next day at work everything seems fine until 6pm. Suddenly I get a flutter in my chest and the left side of my body goes pins and needles on me. I feel really dizzy and lightheaded. I get up from work call my wife and have her take me to the hospital ER. They tell me I am having an anxiety attack and hook my up to EKG ( heartbeat monitor) and take my blood.

Blood comes up. Low potassium like 2.9. Also high white blood cell count and a blood glucose of 151. Which that said was not too high but not normal for someone who hasn't eaten dinner yet.

I get a prescription of potassium pills even though an hour before I hit my head I shared a banana with my kid. He only ate half of his so I had 1 and a half bananas and then my potassium comes up low in less then 24 hours.

Ok, ok, at this point your thinking. Why are you in a diabetes forum then? Well, Slowly over the last two months my symptoms have changed. Over time my potassium levels seem to go back to normal but I was having these heavy light headed dizzy sweats worse then ever right in the middle of the day or at night.

I start seeing doctor more often. When they draw blood though I feel fine. One time I went to the ER and asked them to draw blood immediately because the Dr said he needs to see my blood numbers while I feel the symptoms. Well I sat at the er this time going numb and cold and tingly so much that I can't keep my head up. I tell the nurse to take blood now. This was 5pm in the afternoon. I wake up on the same table with no blood drawn yet at.....9:30 pm. I figure at this point. I am conscious and feeling a bit better so any blood they draw is going to come up normal.

It does. I go home feeling defeated.

Numerous times I can't keep food down and start vomiting or having diarrhea.

The Dr prescribed me Ativan since he figured I was having a nervous breakdown from too much work. Mean while we have had Internal CAT scans done just this last friday of my insides (with the barium sulfate dye drinks so they can see my insides) as well as lots of blood work done to check my adrenals, pituitary, thyroid (cortisol), kidneys, pancrease, etc. The ativan did help me keep food down though. It also made me worry less and feel carefree but I could still feel sweats after eating. The only difference was that the Ativan seemed to calm me down.

I continued to lose weight and get sick over the last two months. In two months I lost 20 LBS. One of the nurses mentioned I might be hypoglycemic or type 2 diabetic. So I start researching diabetes. The main thing that got my attention was that going through these symptoms over the last two months I have always had a late night 3-5 am case of cold sweat with the feeling that my chest is burning and I am either sweating hot or really tingly and cold and have kind of a full body headache feeling. I read about Dawn phenomenon on diabetes boards. Also how the body stops being able to use sugar to feed itself so it eats its own fat/protean.

Usually I can't sleep when this happens so I wake up and walk around and feel the need to dink water and nibble on something. I have on two occasions taken a quarter teaspoon of pancake syrup and swallowed that down with water. It stops the body ache and I get hot inside (almost sweaty again but at least the body aches stop and I can sleep again.

I don't know if hitting my head has caused all this bad chemistry or of this is just a continuation of what I was sweating up these last 5 years.

So today I buy a freestyle lite kit with the reader, strips, lancer and lancer tips.

I take my first reading after lunch about an hour and it says 168. I then read a web page on the freestyle light saying that 180 or lower is normal for two to 4 hours after meals. I eat dinner and took a reading again about an hour later and it came up 172 and I am having the sweating feeling even though my body isn't hurting much. I put my feet on the cold sliding glass door as I always have and it goes away after 5 minutes.

My plan is to take a reading this early morning when I wake up at around 3am-5am and see what it says. After having read the different manuals and web pages I realize I needed to take a pre meal reading as well which will continue tomorrow. I have a Dr visit this week and want to have some homework done since it seems my blood works itself out by the time I get there even though I have had 2 months of not keeping food down well or it goes right through me and I keep losing weight. From 172 in mid Feb to 148 yesterday.

Sorry about the long story. I am very new to all this and am trying to be an armchair Dr until my next appointments come up this week.

I am 32 years old and have toughed out these symptoms but they are starting to win. Sorry about the winded intro. I am just hoping to find out as much as I can within confines of what I have experienced.

I am hoping this week I will get test results that help me find out what is wrong. In the meantime I am mentally prepping myself for learning about diabetes in case it turns out to be my new way of life.

 

[Intuition]

hmm. OK 3:30 am. Feeling cold and sweaty. Body aches. Especially lower back. Blood test from freestyle lite says 125. So there is a drop while I sleep but from what I can tell 125 isn't that low right? Ok. I'll try again in an hour or so. :-/

 

[Jen]

125 fasting blood glucose is too high for a non-diabetic. Why don't you just go to the doctor and have an oral glucose tolerance test? That will clear up the question about diabetes. A non-diabetic has fasting BG between 70 and 90, rarely goes over 140 after a high-carb meal, and returns to baseline about 2 hours after eating.

In the meantime, be proactive. Reduce the quantity of starchy carb that you're eating (like rice, pasta, grains), eliminate any sugar-based sodas, and increase the amount of salad veggies, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. in your diet. No fruit juice, and reduced quantities of fruits. Good healthy servings of meats, cheese, eggs.

To see how your carbs are impacting your blood sugar, test right before your meal begins, then one and two hours after you eat. The first test gives you a baseline. The one hour test reveals just how high those carbs took you. The two hour test shows that your blood sugar has returned to baseline (as non-diabetic's would) or that you are not able to process your glucose properly and your blood sugar is still too elevated. Once you see which foods are the biggest culprits, you can begin to adjust the quantities you eat or eliminate them altogether.

Make sure you have a consistent exercise routine. Daily exercise is one of the most important tools for blood sugar control. It doesn't have to be fancy - a half hour walk is a good place to start. Just do it every day.

Remember, stress can contribute to elevated blood sugar numbers. So can illness, among many other things. Try not to obsess over this. Get the information, then take action.

Let us know how you do.

Jen

 

[Intuition]

Hmm. I wonder if anything I am doing is right.

Thanks for the reply. Yes thankfully more Dr visits and test this week.

This morning is I feel kind of ok. A little ache'y but not as bad as last night.

Problem is that I take a morning test and it comes up 151. Hmm. Don't feel hot and sweaty just kind of normal, maybe a little groggy. I try to take the test again thinking the test was bad. New strip. Comes up 211 not 3 minutes later. So I am baffled. Maybe I am using the freestyle lite wrong. Any ideas. I don't feel too bad this morning.

 

[onaughmae]

Your readings do seem high to me. This is what I would do.... Test fasting blood sugar in the morning when you first get up. Make sure your hands are clean, sometimes something on your hands can affect the reading. test before meals, one hour after, two hours after and 4 hours. Also make note of what you ate and the amounts. It is normal to have an increase after you eat, but you should be back down to normal no later than 4 hours after your meal. Also test before you go to bed. Write all this information down and take it with you to the Dr. If they have not done an A1C blood test I would ask for one. An A1C will show an average of how high your blood sugar has been over the last three months.

Thats just a few tips for starters. Please dont hesitate to ask any questions that you need to...we are all here to help each other

 

[Jen]

First, meters have about a +/- 20% accuracy, so on successive tests you can see quite a variation, especially with high numbers. Experience will ultimately be your guide when interpreting the readings.

Second, in the morning your body is naturally kicking out lots of hormones to prepare you for the day. Your liver and muscles are release glucose to power your hunt for breakfast. If you have insufficient endogenous insulin, you have no way to offset this release and your blood sugar rises. This is called "Dawn Phenomenon" (DP for short). The timing and severity are different for each individual. For me, it starts at about 6:45 a.m., so I (a T1) do a little insulin shot at about 6:15 to counteract it. For T2's not using insulin, I understand that a small snack or glass of wine before bed can help minimize DP. I'm sure someone will post with their experience.


Jen

 

[Intuition]

Hmm ok, washed hands with water till they were super clean and dried them off with a towel. Took another blood sample, the lancer poke gave me a larger amount this time. Still small but it covered the strip side pretty good and it came up 112.



I like that number better. Hope its correct.

 

[Shanny]

Hello, intuition, and welcome. The information/advice already offered by Jen & Pam is right on, and there's nothing I need to add. Just make sure you always wash hands with warm water & dry thoroughly on a clean towel. This not only removes any contaminants, but it improves blood flow so you get a decent sample.

Glad to meet you - thank you for joining us!

 

[Intuition]

Thanks for the welcome.

I need to add my name to my sig.

My name is Casey Christopher Benn.

Again, thanks for the warm welcome and I'll keep posting as results from Dr tests come in.

A question. Since the Dr prescribed Ativan for anxiety can that throw off blood tests?

 

[Jen]

Hey Casey! Nice to have your name.

Many meds can increase BG; I'm not sure about Ativan. What does the prescribing information say (the info sheet that came with the med has a lot of interesting information).

A little tip about testing: Only test when you have good reason to do it and can make use of the information you're gathering. This will save your fingers (hee hee), save money (those strips are expensive), and will make the whole thing less overwhelming. Data without purpose is not information!

Jen

 

[Shanny]

In regard to ativan, I would expect it to have a positive effect on your blood sugar, since stress can elevate it and ativan calms you.

Try to relax, Casey, and that will be good for your sugars too.

take care - we'll help you get it figured out.

 

[breezeonby]

Ativan has no impact on your blood sugar. By reading your story I think you are experiencing alot of anxiety. Anxiety and panic attacks can cause all kinds of physical problems. I have suffered from anxiety and panic attack disorder for more than 30 years. Anxiety can be disabling and can make you think that your are going to have a breakdown. Keep your doctor appointments and try to learn some ways to eliminate some of your anxiety.

 

[Intuition]

Ativan has no impact on your blood sugar. By reading your story I think you are experiencing alot of anxiety. Anxiety and panic attacks can cause all kinds of physical problems. I have suffered from anxiety and panic attack disorder for more than 30 years. Anxiety can be disabling and can make you think that your are going to have a breakdown. Keep your doctor appointments and try to learn some ways to eliminate some of your anxiety.

Well there is the anxiety that I feel because I don't feel right which can snowball for sure. But in all honesty, before any of this happened with hitting my head I never was a nervous person. I was the calm guy at work when everyone would get tense. I mean, having a sudden attack due to low potassium did get me worked up at first and made me uncomfortable in my skin no doubt.

My main problems now are that in late March early April I started not keeping food down or it would go right through me practically undigested. Lately I've been taking Lactinex which is a probiotic and that seems to have helped with digestion. This morning I weigh 145.6 so the weight keeps coming down. I've been routinely 165'-175' at 5'9 for like the last 6 years. Once in a while getting down to 162-163 depending on my quick and small eating on busy fast paced weeks (half sandwhich for lunch etc.)

The problem with Ativan is that it does numb down my nervous system which allows me to sleep better or function better but I can still tell the same symptoms are there they are just reduced in feeling due to the Ativan. Believe me, I like the Ativan. Besided the foggy headedness I get around the 4th hour it practically makes me feel like I used to feel my whole like before hitting my head on feb18th 2010.

Haven't eaten anything today chest hurts a little behind ribcage so I took the Ativan about 40 minutes ago. Took blood test @ 11:02 am to see if BS has gone down from fasting. Test just told me 125.

Well, so I am not really nervous at the moment but rather bored of feeling ill and not normal. Kind of like I am done with this "phase" and am ready to move on, get back to work but here I am. Waiting for the Doctor to call me back. Thanks for any and all replies. I am pretty much dedicated to figuring out whats wrong since working seems like the only thing that will keep me going, not only financially but mentally. I love seeing my family more that I am at home but they are constantly worried seeing me in this state and I hate that they feel bad seeing me like this.

Yesterday I got out on my skateboard for about 20 minutes it was the best I had felt in these last two months so I went with it and tried not to exert myself too much. Felt good to feel the wind moving against me again.

I don't think my problems are anxiety. I mean, I have had some moments to be sure when it was all new, but this is getting old and routine now. Like I said I expect to feel crappy around 3-5 am and there it is every night. I think there is a deeper root to the problem. I've read people damage thier pituitary gland or thyroid when they hit thier head and it causes all the same symptoms that I've been having and even specifically the low potassium in the early stages. Nephrologist visit on this coming Friday. Though I am hopeful the GastroEnterologist doctor who took my CAT scans of my insides and blood work will find something.

 

[paula mely]

pleased to meet you

 

[deborawh]

Hi Intuition,
I read your posts while looking up some information and decided to register so I could give you a reply. My thought is, it sounds a lot like what happened to my dad when he had really bad gall bladder problems and ended up having it removed. He lost a lot of weight fast, had stomach pains and other symptoms. He happened to be diabetic, too, but when the doctor saw him he sent him right to the hospital. Just thought I'd mention it because it can be serious, in case someone missed it. Good luck and let me know how you are doing. Deb

 

[Intuition]

Well, just got back from the GE Dr. After having looked at full body CAT scans (neck down at least) and full blood work to include thyroid, kidneys, pancrease, etc. He thinks I do not have diabetes at all.

Says I am as healthy as an ox. I asked him why I feel horrible at night every 3-5am. He says he isn't sure but recommended me a neurologist to look at my head and nerves.

I still wonder why I get sweaty when I eat certain foods though. Arg.

I want to believe the good news and the paper work. Yet, glucose at 93 in the morning before blood tests were taken seems high right? I was fasting btw. Hadn't eaten yet that day.

Sorry, I want to believe the "good news" just my body doesn't tell me the same story sometimes. Oh well. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and care so far.

 

[Shanny]

It's good news, Casey. Would prob'ly still be good to see the neurologist since you did take a nasty crack on the head. Concussions do strange things. Getting the anxiety under control will help too - many times our mental/emotional condition impacts heavily on our physical condition. And you can still watch your carb intake and continue taking your BG readings now & again. Keep us posted, okay?

 

[onaughmae]

Well, just got back from the GE Dr. After having looked at full body CAT scans (neck down at least) and full blood work to include thyroid, kidneys, pancrease, etc. He thinks I do not have diabetes at all.

Says I am as healthy as an ox. I asked him why I feel horrible at night every 3-5am. He says he isn't sure but recommended me a neurologist to look at my head and nerves.

I still wonder why I get sweaty when I eat certain foods though. Arg.

I want to believe the good news and the paper work. Yet, glucose at 93 in the morning before blood tests were taken seems high right? I was fasting btw. Hadn't eaten yet that day.

Sorry, I want to believe the "good news" just my body doesn't tell me the same story sometimes. Oh well. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and care so far.

Actually 93 fasting is just fine. I would be happy with it

 

[breezeonby]

Well, just got back from the GE Dr. After having looked at full body CAT scans (neck down at least) and full blood work to include thyroid, kidneys, pancrease, etc. He thinks I do not have diabetes at all.

Says I am as healthy as an ox. I asked him why I feel horrible at night every 3-5am. He says he isn't sure but recommended me a neurologist to look at my head and nerves.

I still wonder why I get sweaty when I eat certain foods though. Arg.

I want to believe the good news and the paper work. Yet, glucose at 93 in the morning before blood tests were taken seems high right? I was fasting btw. Hadn't eaten yet that day.

Sorry, I want to believe the "good news" just my body doesn't tell me the same story sometimes. Oh well. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and care so far.

Great news! Did you see a gastroenterologist? If so, did food allergy ever come up? If not, you might want to keep a food journal and see if the sweating occurs after eating a certain food(s). Your blood glucose of 93 is right in the normal range. I have a little story for you. I have a hard time swallowing at times. I have many gastro intestinal problems. I have had just about every test in the book to see what might be causing the problem. I do have some neuropathy which is part of the problem, but I have a problem with my primary peristaltic wave. My swallowing tests show that pills and food get caught up in the wave and pills and food just stay there until I eat something thick or they go down on their own after several minutes. My doctors do not feel that this is a problem, but it bothers me. I just have learned that there may be some problems that can happen to us physically that cause no harm but can be a nuisance. You may have this sweating problem and it probably won't cause you any harm but will bother you to no end. I hope that you do get a clean bill of health from the neurologist and take care.

 

[Guest]

I might be able to relate with different readings
I have been using Freestyle lite for few weeks now and I get the same problem with accuracy of reading .i have tried using 2 strips and taking blood at same time and both had different readings .Few times i have checked my readings at the interval of 2 mins and my level could be 180 at one time and 50 two mins later .I highly doubt the accuracy of freestyle lite strips .It is just not possible to describe the error margin of 20 %.