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Hypos & body temperature

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bigpurpleduck

bigpurpleduck

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi all,

Over the past few weeks I've started charting my Basal Body Temperatures to identify when I ovulate and am due AF, etc, so I can plan ahead with adjusting insulin doses (my cycle wreaks havoc with BG).

My BBT before ovulation averages around 35.6 celsius, and spikes after ovulation to around 36.6. Two mornings this week I've woken to severe hypos, and discovered that when I'm hypo my temperature plummets. This morning with BG of 2.8 my temperature was 34.3 - off the chart!

I can only assume this is normal when hypo. Was just wondering why this happens, & if anyone else has noticed this? Also - at what point is your body temperature worryingly low?
 
Not very scientific, but one possible reason is your body is worrying more about the hypo than keeping warm, another is because you have a hypo you don't have so much energy to keep warm with. I might be wrong, and I'm sure someone will be along with another better answer soon.
 
Yes this happens, i was reading apaper about it on the internet only the other day. My temperature definitely plummets and I have to be warmed up after. And during! Apparently it lowers by one degree on average. You need to keep warm.

I saw one of those programmes where paramedics go out to people a while ago and some relatives of a diabetic had trained a fan on her as they thought she washot as she was sweating! Poor woman! Probably the sweating doesn't help.
 
I am allways very cold with a hypo carnt get warm it takes ages
 
Do people become hot when their glucose levels are too high do you think? I'm often uncomfortably hot - perhaps it's my age!
 
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Definitely turn into a radiator when hyper. I've always tried to keep covered up when hypo but just thought that trying to keep warm would burn more glucose and make it worse. Didn't realise that the body temp actually dropped.

Empirical reseach. Love it 🙂

Rob
 
Most people sweat when they're hypo, and sweating is one of the main ways of reducing body temperature, so I guess that's at least part of the answer?
 
Looking back at my temps again, I have no correlation between temperature & high BG, but the hypos are most definitely noticeable. The lower my BG, the lower my temperature. How interesting!

I have often wondered about the sweating when hypo & thought it very odd. Surely the sweating burns more energy?

I wonder if it's the sweating reducing body temp, or if body temp drops anyway to preserve energy? Seems a terribly quick drop for sweating alone to cause it.
 
Producing sweat does use energy, but the main point is that it is a mechanism to reduce temperature - when liquid evaporates, it takes heat energy from the surface, in this case, skin. Obviously, heat loss is more efficient in dry and windy conditions - sweating among trees in humid rain forest isn't very effective, and clothing also reduces sweat evaporation.
 
During a hypo many of your body's systems have been reduced, urine production for example, or stopped, to keep energy for the brain, breathing, heart. And I'm pretty sure the first part of the brain to shut down is your frontal cortex so that your higher brain functions are impaired, but the things you really need are in place.

In a hypo, the autonomic response is activated which releases anti-insulin hormones – adrenalin, cortisol and growth hormone. These cause anxiety, fast heartbeat, sweating and shaking.

So the sweating is just a by-product, but it has the side effect of making you cold! Plus the shutting down of many of the body's processes are going to add to that effect.
 
Wow, interesting! I'll have to ask Carol whether she's feeling cold when hypo and test her temperature next time.
 
This is all very interesting - I have hypo's sometimes immediately after the gym, and do feel cold afterwards. However I also have a few times now been to the gym or tennis and felt okay afterwards but a few hours later, around bed time, my body temp really seems to plummet and I am absolutely trembling and my teeth are chattering. I am unable to move or speak. I keep saying I will test body temp and bs when it happens but just can't move to do it and end up sleeping it off. I really should try and test next time just in case. Its very interersting post Emma.
 
Sorry to fly in the face of convention, but I get roasting hot as my sugars are getting low - it's one of my symptoms (along with irritability - just ask my wife!). Sure I get the sweats as well, but have never thought twice about it, due to my temperature being high at the time.
Judging by the other comments, I'm clearly "off the beaten track"😛
 
How interesting! Never heard of that before! Try taking your temperature next time and see if it's low or high! (As long as you're sure you're not going to bite through the thermometer...)
 
Better use an electronic thermometer that you place in ear or a liquid crystal strip you put on forehead than a mercury one you put in your mouth (or other orifice). 🙂
 
We had a frightening thought this morning.

If the doctors find a correlation between BG and body temp., it could spell the end for test strips. We'll be given a thermometer and sent packing. 😱

If you're 1c below normal, eat a jelly baby. 1c over and inject 2u correction.

Come back in 6 months.

Rob
 
You've obviously got a very caring GP - mine is writing the prescription as I enter his office .....
 
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