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Does Pain Increase Blood Sugar?

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TheClockworkDodo

TheClockworkDodo

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
My back's gone, something that happens occasionally - I have what feels like a trapped nerve in my hip and shooting pains all down my leg. I can't get comfortable - it hurts to stand, sit, walk, lie down, and especially to go down stairs.

I've not noticed this effecting my blood sugar in the past, but the pain is particularly bad this time, and at the same time I'm (very unusually for me) struggling to keep my blood sugar down - lots of pre-meal 7s and 8s, bedtime readings of 12 or 13, and today I haven't had a single reading under 9.

Does anyone else find their blood sugar goes up if they're in pain, or are the two things unrelated, do you think? And no, I didn't forget to have my basal last night - in fact I put the dose up!
 
In general, any type of stress, including pain, can increase blood sugar levels - or need more insulin.
 
L
TheClockworkDodo said:
My back's gone, something that happens occasionally - I have what feels like a trapped nerve in my hip and shooting pains all down my leg. I can't get comfortable - it hurts to stand, sit, walk, lie down, and especially to go down stairs.

I've not noticed this effecting my blood sugar in the past, but the pain is particularly bad this time, and at the same time I'm (very unusually for me) struggling to keep my blood sugar down - lots of pre-meal 7s and 8s, bedtime readings of 12 or 13, and today I haven't had a single reading under 9.

Does anyone else find their blood sugar goes up if they're in pain, or are the two things unrelated, do you think? And no, I didn't forget to have my basal last night - in fact I put the dose up!
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Absolutely related Juliet as I find at times of pain and inflammation. Even a high white blood count can elevate levels and it seems to be connected to systemic inflammation. Cytokine and neutrophil activity all conspire to push the levels up.

‘Infection causes a stress response in the body by increasing the amount of certain hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones work against the action of insulin and, as a result, the body's production of glucose increases, which results in high blood sugar levels.’

The trouble seems to be that in its attempt to deal with pain, fracture, inflammation or even anxiety, the processes of the body have an adverse effect on bg’s at the very time we need them to stabilise.

The worse I feel on a morning, the higher my levels. I’ve had a fortnight of ‘fire fighting’ my bg’s and it was only when I finished the antibiotics that my levels started to level a bit. Unfortunately, as I’m not on any meds, I had no means to correct them. It’s very frustrating and I sympathise.
 
Thank you both, that's reassuring (sort of). I knew that both infection and emotional stress could raise blood sugar, but I've not experienced this with physical pain before. And in fact infection tends not to raise my blood sugar - when I have a cold I just have more hypos! But my levels do sometimes go up with emotional stress, so it looks like physical stress is having the same effect.

Must be really annoying when you can't do anything to correct it, @Amigo (not that correction doses seem to be doing much for me at the moment!) - glad your levels have started to level a bit, hope they stay that way.
 
I broke my patella on 16th Oct and had it pinned and wired on 18th Oct BG regularly in the 20s and shedloads of ketones for several days. Released home with it in a brace after about a week, getting about on crutches. About a week later started to get some under 10s more regularly. Loads of TBRs and corrections.

I am still running my basal at + 20% and still need to correct several times daily - I probably need +22.5, but just don't want to set a whole new extra basal pattern - I tell myself this is only temporary so it isn't worth doing that, LOL !

Inflammation = more insulin Juliet and that's that! No point in arguing with it !
 
Thanks, Jenny. I was beginning to wonder whether my monitor was stuck on 9.6 yesterday, I think I had 3 of those in succession. Very weird for me, when I'm normally struggling to keep my bgl above 4. I have put all my doses up a little bit and will see what happens.

I did post on your accident thread, but will say again, I hope you heal up soon. It's not just the pain, is it? - it's the frustration of not being able to do things when there are things to do. It's driving me mad, I have all these bulbs waiting to be planted, the sun is shining, ME-wise I feel well enough to do them, but I can't do them because I can't kneel down!
 
Oh - to be allowed to bend my left leg! LOL

I'm not in pain at all (little bit of soreness from the scar, scabs are all hard and I'd like em to bugger off OL. but since it never comes in contact with anything (protected by the foam inside the leg brace) it will take longer. Just the bone hadn't started joining up when I had it X ryd last week (how long do 67 year old bones usually take to heal? LOL) - and I'm scared it won't and we'll have to start again ......
 
Well, Tramadol, when I take it, does seem to lower my blood sugar, so I suppose that proves the point.

As for old bones healing, Jen, I’ll let you know when Mrs B gets X-rayed next Wednesday, though she is two years younger. Mind you, long bones always heal quicker than little ones, as anyone who has had a fractured calcaneum (heel bone) will tell you.
 
TheClockworkDodo said:
I have put all my doses up a little bit and will see what happens.
Click to expand...

Well, apparently if I inject 3 units of insulin for 65g of carbs I will be 9.6 four hours later, but if I inject 3.5 units of insulin for 65g of carbs I will be 2.8 four hours later ... 🙄
 
I haven't had a reading under 10 yet today, and I now have a bright red cold sore on the end of my nose, so I think my body is definitely under stress! I also feel as though I've been kicked in the shin by a carthorse - I thought at first that was an extension of the backache but as the backache is easing up a bit and the shin pain is no better I'm now wondering whether I absent-mindedly walked into the side of the (sticky-out futon) bedframe last weekend and bashed my shin on that. I've no bruise there, just a nasty throbbing pain :(
 
My bgls are a bit like a rollercoaster since my recent fall when I bruised my ribs and injured my right shoulder ~ and more so when I started taking strong painkillers. Some readings have crept into double figures which is rare for me. When i was in pain post op earlier this year my bgls shot up between 10.0 ~ 16.0😱 which actually scared me to hell as I'm usually in the 5's ~ 6's. Apparently the general anaesthetic & stress of my op had a great bearing on my bgls. So yes I do think pain (and stress) can affect our bgls. I do hope you're not in as much pain by the time you read this Juliet. Chin up x
 
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