Can you feel blood sugar/insulin levels rising?

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harbottle

harbottle

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I'm just experimenting on myself using this new ''sibionic" CGM.
Past observations with other sensors and finger-pricks show that when I eat a lot of carbs (up to 70g, > 30g) I see BG rise to the high 7s/8s and pretty much flatline before falling (Sometimes quite suddenly.)

So today I had a subway 6 inch (36+g of carbs). As expected, after an hour it's risen to the 8s (From 5.8) and has flatlined for a few minutes...
I could actually feel "something" when it was rising - a sort of warm tingly feeling in my leg muscles. Not an unpleasant feeling, not a pain, just a sensation.
Now it's flattened off, the sensation has gone and BG levels are falling.

What's weird is that I see the same ''peak" with 70g of carbs, but it just stays there a bit longer.
 
That's interesting. How long after you ate the subway before you started feeling it, and how long until it subsided?
 
I can't feel rises, fall, or indeed hypos. Feel a bit rubbish when over 10
 
I don't feel when my BG is rising but I definitely feel it when it is high (over 10)
I feel it when it is falling fast and, thankfully, I can feel when I am hypo.
 
Tdm said:
I can't feel rises, fall, or indeed hypos. Feel a bit rubbish when over 10
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If you cannot feel hypos, have you reported this to the DVLA if you drive?
You may find it beneficial to run your levels higher for a month or so to reset your hypo awareness. This may mean that sluggish high feeling but that will be reset too.
 
I am the same as @helli in that I can usually feel it when it is above 10 and at night it will often cause me to overheat and feel restless and or have stressful dreams or at least those things tie in with when my levels have been high overnight and I sleep best, most deeply and restfully when my levels are in the 4s and 5s. I can feel sharp drops almost like going down in a lift and thankfully my hypo awareness is good, but I haven't noticed any particular correlation with levels rising, unless I have eaten a lot of something containing sugar and then I can definitely feel the sugar rush and it isn't particularly pleasant. Very rare that I lose control and do that these days though, thank goodness.
 
Tdm said:
I can't feel rises, fall, or indeed hypos. Feel a bit rubbish when over 10
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Can you explain what happens when you hypo then? Surely you don't just lose consciousness?
 
helli said:
If you cannot feel hypos, have you reported this to the DVLA if you drive?
You may find it beneficial to run your levels higher for a month or so to reset your hypo awareness. This may mean that sluggish high feeling but that will be reset too.
Click to expand...
Don,'t worry, your all safe, i never got a driving license and i have never had hypo awareness so i doubt running higher would help
 
rebrascora said:
Can you explain what happens when you hypo then? Surely you don't just lose consciousness?
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My dexcom goes off and i have juice! I have been as low as 2.9 and felt fine. I have never lost conciousness.
Before i got the dexcom i tested when i felt odd, and occasionally found i was low, but i felt odd quite a lot in those early days regardless of blood sugars so not sure that could be called hypo awareness
According up DUK 25% have no hypo awareness so its fairly common
 
Tdm said:
Don,'t worry, your all safe, i never got a driving license and i have never had hypo awareness so i doubt running higher would help
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If you’re concerned, a change of insulin might help. Some people don’t feel hypo symptoms on analogue insulins but do on regular insulins. I know you don’t drive and you have the fab Dexcom, but it might give you a bit more peace of mind.
 
Dishevelled said:
That's interesting. How long after you ate the subway before you started feeling it, and how long until it subsided?
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I get a little 'tingle' as soon as I start eating (And I can see using sensors that BG drops a little quite shortly after I start eating.) then it starts up again around 30-40 minutes after the subway. It's not something that bothers me, but I've noticed it more recently. Certainly gave me great boost of energy!
 
helli said:
I don't feel when my BG is rising but I definitely feel it when it is high (over 10)
I feel it when it is falling fast and, thankfully, I can feel when I am hypo.
Click to expand...

As my hba1c was initially 83, I suspect my levels were above 10 quite often and I felt horrible and in pain a lot.
(Although when diagnosed my morning reading was only in the 6s)
 
rebrascora said:
I am the same as @helli in that I can usually feel it when it is above 10 and at night it will often cause me to overheat and feel restless and or have stressful dreams or at least those things tie in with when my levels have been high overnight and I sleep best, most deeply and restfully when my levels are in the 4s and 5s. I can feel sharp drops almost like going down in a lift and thankfully my hypo awareness is good, but I haven't noticed any particular correlation with levels rising, unless I have eaten a lot of something containing sugar and then I can definitely feel the sugar rush and it isn't particularly pleasant. Very rare that I lose control and do that these days though, thank goodness.
Click to expand...

I did wonder if it's because I'm normally very low carb, and having 36g+ of carbs in a meal is not something I do very often. The sensations do very much feel as if they're in muscles. Maybe they're lapping up the onslaught of glucose they rarely see and sending me tingles of joy!
 
I’ve always had limited awareness of high levels. During my first year on a pump I had a few site failures (no sensors at the time) and I might do a mid-morning check to see how things were going only to discover I was in the 20s, and had no idea.

I do get grumpy if I stay in double figures for several days, and sometimes get a sort of indigestion-like sensation, or quite profound hunger pangs at high levels, bit usually I get very few if any sensations at all.

I could list many symptoms of low BG - but nothing very obvious with highs
 
I'm aware of going hypo but never know when I'm going high even into the 20s so rely on my CGM
 
I can feel anything over 12 (general ‘unwell’ feeling), and anything under 3.5 for a hypo. Unfortunately this also means I feel the rollercoaster as it happens.
 
Can feel sudden drops in bg but not highs, as for sleeping can sleep no matter what bg is as long as I'm not hypo, always liked my sleep.
 
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