Can diabetes affect vertigo?

[Wyman]

I have had diabetes for over 20 years and I have had 1000s of low blood sugar spells, yet lately I have had some when sleeping that has been some super bad ones.. I wake up having peed on myself, sometimes vomiting, yet the worst is what I told the doctor today at urgent care, is I'm not able to stand up. Its like I'm being held down or something like that, hard to explain it, but it kind of feels like vertigo symptoms.

I say that because like I said it is hard for me to stand, if I do pull myself up, I sleep on the floor, so if I'm able to get to the door or wall to pull myself up, if I don't hold on for dear life, I will almost like pushed back down. My balance is super bad, also as I try to walk my legs involuntarily kick out, so that makes it very hard to walk to get something.

I told the PA today and she like I'm fine just call my endocrinologist. Well like I said I have had diabetes a long time so I didn't call and was thinking the PA wasn't really listening to me. Because she said I had ear wax buildup in my right ear and like she didn't understand that can cause vertigo.

Well they tried to clean it out and couldn't , they told me to go home and buy an over the counter medicine and clean out myself. So I did, and trying to clean it out and I'm just scared to go to sleep because of what if say that some how the low blood sugar with that ear wax buildup is some how causing a vertigo in the spells I'm having, and also maybe waking up with it also with the ear wax is causing it because lows when awake don't have those symptoms.

I'm adjusting my insulin more because of all the recent lows, yet this is just scary to have it happen like this.. So

 

[grovesy]

Welcome.

 

[Robin]

Hi Wyman, and welcome to the forum. It's difficult to know quite what's going on without bombarding you with more questions ( like, what insulin regime are you on, do you do basal testing, etc) but a couple of things strike me first off, which have nothing to do with earwax.
Firstly, I keep a hypo treatment right by my bed, so I don't even have to attempt to stand up or walk anywhere to get it if I wake low.
Secondly, I am wondering whether,( as you say you have had a lot of lows over the years), your hypo awareness is reduced, so you don't wake up until you're dangerously low, rather than at the first signs.
Perhaps you should make that call to your endocrinologist.

 

[coffeesnob]

sounds as if you need to look into equipment services to get some aids and adaptations to assist you around the house

 

[PhoebeC]

Get the hypo treatment stuff near your bed. I have a small bad of haribo at the top end of the bed so i only have to reach out and sit up.

Sometimes with hypos at night i feel dizzy, but i have never experienced what you have before.