Hypo low blood sugar & neuropathy whilst asleep

[Guest]

Hello, I awoke this morning with my arm completely numb, no feeling and I should say that I had been laying on my other side so not trapped/compressed. I then checked my libre and found my bs was at just 2.7mmoL so wonder if there may be a connection? I have had peripheral neuropathy in hands and feet for a couple of years whilst awake but this is now the second time in a month where I have woken up to find my arm numb and bs very low, have any of you had a similar experience?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I don’t have any experience of peripheral neuropathy I’m afraid. Sometimes Libre can read lower overnight if you lay on the sensor - was the Libre on the same side as the numbness?

 

[Guest]

Thanks Mike, it was on the opposite side

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks Mike, it was on the opposite side

Ah OK - did you confirm the low BG with a fingerstick reading or do you only use Libre?

Just wondering how low you actually were and it can be hard to tell with sensors sometimes (pressing on the area with the sensor means there is less interstitial fluid available or something like that!).

My understanding is that neuropathy numbness is nerve based, while changes in sensation due to hypoglycaemia are more down to impaired brain function. Not sure if I have that right though.

 

[Guest]

Yes I followed up with the accu check and that said 2.8

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Yikes! Well I can’t help with the numbness - but it sounds like you need to make some changes to your regimen/need to prevent going that low overnight. 😱

No idea how you can do that on met alone. But maybe others can help or suggest things based on the reactive hypoglycaemia (eg lower carb load in the evening?)

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Are you sure you haven't got carpal tunnel?

 

[mikeyB]

I’m with Pumper Sue on this one, a numb arm doesn’t remotely sound like something hypoglycaemia can cause. The commonest cause we were taught in med school was Saturday Night Arm - that is, falling asleep in the chair with one arm over the chair arm after a night on the lash.

I’m not suggesting that is the cause, but the clinical picture is the same. It’s due to pressure on the nerves at the axilla, probably due to a position you assume while asleep - it doesn’t matter how you wake up in the morning, because once the nerves are numbed it takes hours to recover. It can be caused by neck problems, with the position of the neck irritating nerve roots, but you would know if you had such problems.

Just because you have diabetes doesn’t make everything that happens to you is due to diabetes.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

I sometimes used to wake up with one or both of my arms so numb they were completely paralysed - nothing to do with diabetes, as it happened for years before I had diabetes. I got it if I slept with an arm above my head - I always thought it was related to my having supine hypotension (low blood pressure at rest), but it could just be nerve pressure! It only took a few minutes for me to recover though (easier when it was only one arm, because then I could move it with the other one and massage it until I got some feeling into it!). I've now trained myself not to sleep with either of my arms above my head ... at least I hope I have - haven't had the numbness for ages, anyway!

I get a lot of hypos and I've never had numbness as a hypo symptom. It might help you not to hypo in the night if you eat something like a yogurt last thing at night, if you don't already (my partner has hypoglycaemia too, he used to wake up starving until he tried this, and it really helps him).