[auddies dad]

Hi my daughters is a senior in high school. She is a basketball player and is very active. Since starting the season and using the pump since July, she has had a couple episodes of breathing difficulty. She has seen her doctor and he ruled out asthma. Her blood sugar has been high since she started using the pump in July. She went back to shots and has been able to keep her sugar normal. Today, however, she came home from practice and said she had a shortness of breath again. She said it hurt to breath deep. Her sugar level was at 396. The docors say that diabetes does not affect ones breathing and that her blood sugar levels are not causing this condition. Has anyone had this experience?

 

[MCS]

Welcome to the forum. Never heard of having shortness of breath with high BG level, but anything is possible. 396 is kind of high though. Have you looked into Pleurisy. I have had a run in with this a time or two in the past it can be quite the feeling.

Symptoms

The main symptom of pleurisy is pain in the chest. This pain often occurs when you take a deep breath in or out, or cough. Some people feel the pain in the shoulder.

Deep breathing, coughing, and chest movement makes the pain worse.

Pleurisy can cause fluid to collect inside the chest cavity. This can make breathing difficult and may cause the following symptoms:

 

[auddies dad]

Thank you for the response. I believe this has something to do with high BG. Shes only went through this when her BG level has averaged 350. She does go high after intense practices avg 250, however within 2 hours her level is average or low. After 1 game she was at 475 2 hours after she got home and took a shot she was at 250, 2 hours later she was at 35. That night she decided no more pump, that was 4 weeks ago. I will look into your suggestion of pluerisy.Thanks again for your thoughts and time

 

[auddies dad]

Sorry i forgot to tell you she had a chest xray and it came back clear.

 

[valos3942]

Thank you for the response. I believe this has something to do with high BG. Shes only went through this when her BG level has averaged 350. She does go high after intense practices avg 250, however within 2 hours her level is average or low. After 1 game she was at 475 2 hours after she got home and took a shot she was at 250, 2 hours later she was at 35. That night she decided no more pump, that was 4 weeks ago. I will look into your suggestion of pluerisy.Thanks again for your thoughts and time

I hope you find the answer to your problem. Unfortunately, I don't know how to help with yours, and I feel badly. Your post actually caught my eye because I am new here and just made a post myself. My daughter, a freshman, plays basketball, as well. My problem is that she has the spikes during games. Reading your post I am wondering if you could provide feedback as to how you guys handle the situation with those. My daughter gets to where she doesn't feel well and can't perform well...misses a lot of the game. Any help or input would be appreciated.

 

[Nachman]

There is a possibility of heart arrhythmia causing the shortness of breath. Possibly atrial fibrillation or tachycardia. Arrhythmia can be hard to diagnose because it comes and goes. If it is not occurring when the Dr checks her he has no way of telling what is happening. Wearing a monitor for thirty days is the best way to check. If she feels short of breath she punches a button and it records what is going on. Then she plays it over the phone to a center. Exercise induced arrhythmia seems to make more sense than high glucose levels, but the high BG could be part of the stress that is contributing to the onset.

 

[Shanny]

The Holter monitor is a good idea - you need to get a diagnosis quickly here. She places herself in jeopardy by continuing such intense activity when her blood sugar is so extremely high.

How long was she actually on the pump and how much comprehensive instruction did she get for using it? There is a lot of fine-tuning involved in using a pump, but once you get the kinks worked out, most pumpers think it's the best possible control available. Was she lowering or suspending her basal rate during such intense exercise? That is often required.