Anyone have energy crashes after injecting?

[Vectian]

I have been injecting for 3 and a half weeks now and have never felt so ill in my whole life. Tired and weak a lot of the time, and I keep having these big crashes in energy (really tired, sleepy, ultra low energy) from about 1 to 3 hours after injecting. Sometimes it improves after 20-30 mins. I had to stop Abasaglar as I just felt like a zombie all the time, so only on the fast acting now for a couple of weeks. Has anyone else experienced these energy crashes or know what causes it? GP said it could be a reaction to the insulin, diabetes centre sceptical about that but not much help other than that and to say you have to take it.

 

[helli]

Sorry to read about your issues.
Looking back through your previous posts, I think you are waiting for a confirmation of your diagnosis and whether you have Type 1 or type 2.

What level is your BG when you experience these crashes?

I have a few theories .. but they are only theories

1. You could be experiencing a hypo where your insulin is working faster than your digestion. This assumes you are taking a fast acting insulin with your food. Do you pre-bolus (inject before eating)? If so, how long before eating do you inject?
2. Your insulin dose may be too high for the food you are eating so you experience a hypo.
3. You could be experiencing a false hypo where you BG drops soon after you inject but not to a hypo range. However, as your body may have been used to running at a higher level, it feels like a hypo.

Without knowing what your BG level is, it is not possible to rule out these theories.

 

[Vectian]

Sorry to read about your issues.
Looking back through your previous posts, I think you are waiting for a confirmation of your diagnosis and whether you have Type 1 or type 2.

What level is your BG when you experience these crashes?

I have a few theories .. but they are only theories

1. You could be experiencing a hypo where your insulin is working faster than your digestion. This assumes you are taking a fast acting insulin with your food. Do you pre-bolus (inject before eating)? If so, how long before eating do you inject?
2. Your insulin dose may be too high for the food you are eating so you experience a hypo.
3. You could be experiencing a false hypo where you BG drops soon after you inject but not to a hypo range. However, as your body may have been used to running at a higher level, it feels like a hypo.

Without knowing what your BG level is, it is not possible to rule out these theories.

Hi thanks. I have a CGM so can keep a close eye. Definitely not low BG, I haven't had a single hypo since starting. Usually when it's going up after a meal, so often 8 or sometimes up to 11 if it was say 6.5 before eating. I have tested ketones and normal. It seems that the BG often rises over a number of hours, sometimes 4 hours after eating before it peaks. I eat pretty much right after injecting. There is never a dip before the food kicks in, the insulin seems to make the peak less or hold it flatter.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Has anyone else experienced these energy crashes or know what causes it?

No. Rapid changes in BG levels can, of course, but you'd see those from your CGM. And I'd expect that to subside fairly quickly as things stabilised (obviously the idea of adjusting insulin doses is to try and flatten BG variations as much as is feasible).

GP said it could be a reaction to the insulin, diabetes centre sceptical about that but not much help other than that

I think reactions to insulin (other than changes to BG) are pretty rare apart from the well known ones (some are known to sting on injection).

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Sorry to hear you are having a difficult time with fatigue in the hours after injecting for food.

Can you remind me which rapid insulin you have been prescribed?

 

[Vectian]

Sorry to hear you are having a difficult time with fatigue in the hours after injecting for food.

Can you remind me which rapid insulin you have been prescribed?

It's lyumjev. I seem to be needing more of it lately to have the same effect. I also tried another Trurapi but much the same and didn’t work as well. I'm wondering if the insulin could be somehow exacerbating a deficiency of something.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

It's lyumjev. I seem to be needing more of it lately to have the same effect. I also tried another Trurapi but much the same and didn’t work as well.

Ah that’s interesting, that you had a similar experience with a completely different insulin. It certainly isn’t a common experience with insulin generally (unless linked with low blood glucose, as @helli suggests)

However, this website does list some allergic reactions that can occur

Lyumjev Side Effects: Common, Severe, Long Term

Learn about the side effects of Lyumjev (insulin lispro), from common to rare, for consumers and healthcare professionals.

www.drugs.com

Other side effects of Lyumjev​

Some side effects of insulin lispro may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. Also, your health care professional may be able to tell you about ways to prevent or reduce some of these side effects.

Check with your health care professional if any of the following side effects continue or are bothersome or if you have any questions about them:

More common​

• Body aches or pain
• sneezing
• sore throat
• stuffy nose or runny nose
• tender, swollen glands in the neck
• unusual tiredness or weakness
• voice changes

 

[Vectian]

Ah that’s interesting, that you had a similar experience with a completely different insulin. It certainly isn’t a common experience with insulin generally (unless linked with low blood glucose, as @helli suggests)

However, this website does list some allergic reactions that can occur

Lyumjev Side Effects: Common, Severe, Long Term

Learn about the side effects of Lyumjev (insulin lispro), from common to rare, for consumers and healthcare professionals.

www.drugs.com

Other side effects of Lyumjev​

Some side effects of insulin lispro may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. Also, your health care professional may be able to tell you about ways to prevent or reduce some of these side effects.

Check with your health care professional if any of the following side effects continue or are bothersome or if you have any questions about them:

More common​

• Body aches or pain
• sneezing
• sore throat
• stuffy nose or runny nose
• tender, swollen glands in the neck
• unusual tiredness or weakness
• voice changes

Thanks that's useful. My diabetes nurse said that it was unheard of to have such side effects from insulin, that I was blaming the insulin when it was probably something else (despite the fact that I never had this before taking it, and episodes alway coincide with injecting) and that I had a choice, to take it or not. I had a blood test earlier to see if it's any kind of deficiency. Vitamin B deficiency is strongly associated with diabetes and very common apparently.