I would make an appointment to see your GP as soon as possible. Your stress level sounds pretty high and panic attacks and low blood sugar have some of the same symptoms. Best to get it checked out. I understand panic all too well and it can really mess with your mind. This may not help you much, but I try to do some deep breathing exercises when I feel stressed out. I also take some medication for anxiety but wished that I had never started taking it because it is hard to get off of.
A new symptom, and I'm a bit freaked
Good afternoon folks,
I'm writing today as I have been experiencing something odd these last few weeks. I have not been able to find news on the web about it, so I'm not sure what is causing this... anyway, here goes
For the last few weeks or so, I've been having what I tend to call 'anxiety attacks' but I'm not sure if they are true DSM-IV criteria attacks. I find that most issues happen on Monday mornings, as I'm getting ready for work, and persist through the day. I start feeling like I'm having a massive hypo, but I check and my sugar isn't low. I get the nervous stomach, and I feel my heartrate skyrocket, and I just feel like I'm losing my marbles.
It is very unsettling to me, and I try to determine if my diabetes is causing it but I've been unable to track down a direct cause. I am under a tremendous amount of stress, many things are going on right now that are stressing myself and my wife a great deal.
I've been talking it out with my wife and here is what i'm thinking... I'm on Levemir, and have been for a month or two. On normal days, when I'm not working, I'm able to eat at normal human times, and my morning highs are higher than I would like (170-220+) but I can compensate. My hours for work are 10hr shifts from 9am-8pm, so when I get home I try to eat dinner, but that causes problems as I need to get to bed by 10 or 11 at the latest. Those mornings I wake up with 250-350 levels, and I bolus to bring it back down.
Whenever I bolus at those levels, I can almost feel my sugar begin to drop, and the physical symptoms are disconcerting. I feel 'off' and just not normal at all. I'm wondering if my stress level and the combination of the drop in sugar from the high bolus is causing me to have some sort of physiological reaction that causes me to have these emotional attacks.
I know when I don't eat enough, or exercise outside my routine (which is also messed up, need to exercise more) and I have a hypo, I know how completely messed up I can feel. I just wonder if that same feeling of my sugar being dropped is the root behind all this.
I'm planning to speak with my GP about this soon, I also need to get a new endocrinologist as the one I was seeing wouldn't adjust the Levemir dosage with those numbers. I'm thinking going back on the pump may be a solution.
I know everyone has stress and may have issues like this, but these episodes are making me seriously want to drink to cope with them, which I stopped long ago, but they are rocking me to the core.
I'm writing today as I have been experiencing something odd these last few weeks. I have not been able to find news on the web about it, so I'm not sure what is causing this... anyway, here goes
For the last few weeks or so, I've been having what I tend to call 'anxiety attacks' but I'm not sure if they are true DSM-IV criteria attacks. I find that most issues happen on Monday mornings, as I'm getting ready for work, and persist through the day. I start feeling like I'm having a massive hypo, but I check and my sugar isn't low. I get the nervous stomach, and I feel my heartrate skyrocket, and I just feel like I'm losing my marbles.
It is very unsettling to me, and I try to determine if my diabetes is causing it but I've been unable to track down a direct cause. I am under a tremendous amount of stress, many things are going on right now that are stressing myself and my wife a great deal.
I've been talking it out with my wife and here is what i'm thinking... I'm on Levemir, and have been for a month or two. On normal days, when I'm not working, I'm able to eat at normal human times, and my morning highs are higher than I would like (170-220+) but I can compensate. My hours for work are 10hr shifts from 9am-8pm, so when I get home I try to eat dinner, but that causes problems as I need to get to bed by 10 or 11 at the latest. Those mornings I wake up with 250-350 levels, and I bolus to bring it back down.
Whenever I bolus at those levels, I can almost feel my sugar begin to drop, and the physical symptoms are disconcerting. I feel 'off' and just not normal at all. I'm wondering if my stress level and the combination of the drop in sugar from the high bolus is causing me to have some sort of physiological reaction that causes me to have these emotional attacks.
I know when I don't eat enough, or exercise outside my routine (which is also messed up, need to exercise more) and I have a hypo, I know how completely messed up I can feel. I just wonder if that same feeling of my sugar being dropped is the root behind all this.
I'm planning to speak with my GP about this soon, I also need to get a new endocrinologist as the one I was seeing wouldn't adjust the Levemir dosage with those numbers. I'm thinking going back on the pump may be a solution.
I know everyone has stress and may have issues like this, but these episodes are making me seriously want to drink to cope with them, which I stopped long ago, but they are rocking me to the core.
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Thanks for the update. If you do have GAD, then a short course of a benzodiazepine would be the most effective treatment. Benzodiazepines are very addictive and you build up a tolerance to them really fast. Most doctors are now trying to treat anxiety disorders with other drugs before resorting to a benzo. You might want to ask your doctor about Remeron. It is an anti-depressant first and foremost, but it has some sedating effects and can help with anxiety as well. I also listen to some music when I feel anxious, I have a CD that has nature sounds on it and it is very relaxing. Good luck and lets us know how you are doing.Short update, seems I 'might' have GAD (global anxiety disorder) which I hope is just my mind/body dealing with stress and I can just get past it, but I've been on Cymbalta for 9 days now and I have to say, if I had diabetic neuropathy, this would be a great drug....
I'm at the point now where if my wife pinches me, i hardly feel it, and when she tries to pinch hard enough that i would holler/yelp i just look at her like 'what are you doing' which shocks me to no end. So for that aspect of a drug, it's working. I don't have the neuropathy thank goodness, and this drug is not doing much for the anxiety so I'm going to move off it soon, but wanted to offer the tidbit about the dulled pain, just in case anyone was looking at the drug as treatment for neuropathy.
Yes, Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, Valium, ect. All of these drugs are in the benzodiazepine class. Valium has a longer half life and stays in your blood stream for about 200 hours, therefore it is not necessary to take it as often as Xanax and Ativan. Cymbalta is really not indicated for the use of anxiety, I don't know why your doctor put you on this. But since I am not a doctor, I should not judge. I have suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for many years and have been on many different medications and most anti-depressant drugs do not help with the type of anxiety that you are experiencing.I'm strongly leaning towards going off this drug as soon as possible, the numbing has some effects on my diabetes management, i don't have the same sensitivity to highs or lows as i did last week... and that concerns me a great deal.
The Benzedrine, those are drugs like Xanax and such, correct? More of a 'take once during an episode' than the daily drugs like Cymbalta?
I used to take Effexor and it was way too stimulating for me. Effexor and Cymbalta are very similar. Sounds like you are experiencing some emotional blunting, some anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications have a tendency to cause this. For your type of anxiety, it might be worth your while to see a psychiatrist. They are more likely to treat your anxiety with something more appropriate. Be sure to tell your doctor that Cymbalta is not working for you. No need to take something just to make your doctor happy.Yeah, I try not to directly ask doctors 'what where you thinking' when they prescribe me something, especially when i'm sitting on the exam table rocking back and forth like Max (Mary and Max, good flick) but as I keep taking this pill I'm seeing that it is perhaps not the correct one for anxiety for me.
What really freaks me out, the numbness... just feeling, flat.. both emotionally and physically. I used to be able to just feel oncoming attacks along with checking sugar, but now... nada.
Plus the onset of the drug is very weird. I took my last dose at 6pm EST, the first two hours I turn into a hyperactive ADHD version of myself. That burst of energy makes my anxiety go right off the charts too. Dizzyness, nausea...not what I would call a satisfactory resolution to anxiety. Not at all.
1 - 4 of 11 Posts
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