Major Postprandial Somnolence - are these readings odd?

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Halfie

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At risk of diabetes
Hi all

I was diagnosed prediabetic a few months ago with HbA1c of 42 (UK based) but I have, for months and months, had major fatigue 2 hours after eating. When I say major fatigue, I mean falling asleep in my office chair or with my head on my desk. Its like someone switches me to the off position for 20-30 minutes and I cannot fight it.

This is obviously concerning so I have invested in a monitor and tracked my levels today. There seems to be a huge dip at the same time the extreme fatigue hits:

1220 (before food) 6.2
1245 - Lunch, scrambled egg on toast with cheese and a small piece of chocolate
1345 - 8.0
1445 - 8.2
1450 - 6.9 (and I feel dreadful!)
1500 - 5.6 (yawning, very sleepy, feel awful)
1515 - 5.1 (still sleepy, still feel awful)
1600 - 5.7 (feel ok, lethargy has gone)

So within 30 minutes I've dropped 3.1 mmol/l!! I cant find any info on what the usual trajectory is for blood sugars coming down is, but this seems extreme to me. Could this be causing the general feeling dreadful and overwhelming need to sleep? This is a very regular occurrence, almost daily!

Any help gratefully received.

Many thanks
 
Hi and welcome.

Sorry to hear you are feeling rough and having such debilitating bouts of fatigue.

Rising 2 mmols from your lunch and then dropping 3mmols about 2 hours afterwards would be quite normal and should not be triggering that feeling in my opinion. BG levels go up and down throughout the day but particularly after meals, even with non-diabetic people. I was expecting to see reading in double figures, when I read your symptoms and then dropping to low 4s or 3s but 6.2 up to 8.2 and then down to 5.2 is perfectly acceptable.
If it gives you some perspective, I used to hit 15 most mornings when I was first diagnosed and then crashed back down into the 5s when my insulin kicked in and whilst that wasn't pleasant, it didn't send me to sleep and in fact dropping fast usually makes your heart race and that isn't conducive to sleep, but 3mmols is really not much of a drop at all, so I think you need to look elsewhere for the cause. Stress perhaps? I went through a phase of sleeping at the drop of a hat when I was under a lot of stress. Even to the point of pulling over in the car and sleeping in the middle of the day by the roadside on at least one occasion I can think of. That was long (at least 10 years) before my diabetes diagnosis, so I am pretty certain it was unconnected to that.
 
They seem perfectly acceptable, and normal non diabetic results.
 
Halfie said:
I cant find any info on what the usual trajectory is for blood sugars coming down is, but this seems extreme to me.
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My hunch is that this isn't that unusual, but I'm not sure I have evidence for that. There have been a few trials following people without diabetes using CGMs which do show more gradual drops after meals but I'm not sure how much variability there is and you (quite reasonably) only have test strips so it's hard to compare. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769652/ (to convert mg/dl to our mmol/l, divide by 18).
Halfie said:
Could this be causing the general feeling dreadful and overwhelming need to sleep?
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My guess would be that the falls in BG are within the normal range and probably aren't responsible for what you're feeling.
 
Thanks for the responses. Reassuring in one way that it's typical readings but also a head scratcher as to why such huge effects and what's causing it.
 
Do you track yr blood pressure?
 
Halfie said:
No - but now you've made me wonder if I should 🙂
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I dunno really. I just suppose that a drop in BP might have some effect, more than BG I'd think. Anyway, I actually think everybody should track their BP, given how important it is.

But for post-lunch somnolence: I get this too often & always have, and the only things I can work out as possibly having an impact for me are not enough sleep at night, and particularly if followed by a lot of exertion in the morning.
 
Eddy Edson said:
I dunno really. I just suppose that a drop in BP might have some effect, more than BG I'd think. Anyway, I actually think everybody should track their BP, given how important it is.

But for post-lunch somnolence: I get this too often & always have, and the only things I can work out as possibly having an impact for me are not enough sleep at night, and particularly if followed by a lot of exertion in the morning.
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I'm sleeping a LOT - 10 hours a night and still struggle to get up. Definitely no morning exertions - I dont have the energy for it hehe
 
Halfie said:
I'm sleeping a LOT - 10 hours a night and still struggle to get up. Definitely no morning exertions - I dont have the energy for it hehe
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You should'n't really be getting those sort of symptoms from blood glucose levels if you are only in the prediabetic zone.
I think you would be advised to try to get an appointment with your GP as it could be that you are anaemic or lacking in some vitamins which would be picked up by blood tests.
 
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What about a vitamin deficiency too. That can cause fatigue, but anaemia would be high up on the list too. My Dad was a lorry driver and I can remember him saying he used to stop for his packed lunch and fall asleep. Turned out he had a stomach ulcer and it was anaemia due to that.
 
My folate levels cause similar problem. However I am getting tiredness an awful lot snd I am thinking Covid vaccine might be the trigger.
 
Halfie said:
Hi Emma, Im female.
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Maybe hormone issues? blood sugars can start playing up around the time of hormones shifting when we get to a certain age lol. I’m 45, was diagnosed diabetic 2 years ago and have suffered with this extreme fatigue for the same amount of time, I’ve assumed that it’s blood sugar related even though I’ve got very tight control and I never swing more than 3 points or so. I’m now pretty sure it’s perimenopause as I’m losing hair, my periods got real heavy and the exhaustion is something else, i mean physically impossible to keep my eyes open at the exact same times of day as you mention. I really want to get some hormone replacement but due to a medical condition (not diabetes) it seems it might not be suitable. I feel like I’m the waking dead most days and I’m really snappy with people to, I mean the silliest of things are driving me insane !
 
EmmaL76 said:
Maybe hormone issues? blood sugars can start playing up around the time of hormones shifting when we get to a certain age lol. I’m 45, was diagnosed diabetic 2 years ago and have suffered with this extreme fatigue for the same amount of time, I’ve assumed that it’s blood sugar related even though I’ve got very tight control and I never swing more than 3 points or so. I’m now pretty sure it’s perimenopause as I’m losing hair, my periods got real heavy and the exhaustion is something else, i mean physically impossible to keep my eyes open at the exact same times of day as you mention. I really want to get some hormone replacement but due to a medical condition (not diabetes) it seems it might not be suitable. I feel like I’m the waking dead most days and I’m really snappy with people to, I mean the silliest of things are driving me insane !
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Thanks Emma - I will look into this too. I'm approaching mid 40s so definitely something for consideration.Think a doctors appointment is definitely on the cards! I think I can't have HRT too due to another condition based on what I've read so far.
 
I’m always threatening to go to the doctors but every time I go to book online the appointment are weeks and weeks away so I just think sod it, and I leave it, thinking it will soon get better but it doesn’t seem to. I also considered the low carb diet might be the culprit, I was already slim at diagnosis but lost about 2 stone eating very low carb, I’ve since doubled my carb intake and put nearly a stone back on and I feel worse than ever. However I am lucky enough to have a home gym ( so I don’t have to leave the house, well technically I do because it’s in a barn in my garden) I have been religiously using it for the last 2 weeks or so and I have been seeing some slight improvement ie I can just about manage a flight of stairs without needing bed rest:rofl: funny thing is during workouts I don’t feel too bad, it’s the day to day stuff, like pulling in the supermarket car park and feeling like I don’t have an ounce of the energy required to carry out such duties. To be honest it’s really gotten me down this past year, I’ve four kids, ran a business maintained house, garden and always been into fitness, now I find any excuse to get out of anything requiring any energy Whatsoever… I don’t recognise myself sometimes, maybe that’s because I’m half the size with half the hair and I’m convinced my face seems to be melting:rofl: got to love being a woman
 
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