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Sweating

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scanz

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Since diagnosis i've had real trouble with sweating during the night (sleep). At first I thought it was a hypo, but testing my BG levels when I wake because of it and they are averaging between 10 and 11 - so clearly not a hypo :confused:

Any ideas? As it's really annoying because i'm a light sleeper and find it difficult to get back to sleep after waking. Not to mention that my sheets, covers and body feel horrible after the sweating :(
 
I was wrongly diagnosed as type 2 and had the same problem - felt boiling hot when high, and sweating a load at night. It settled down as soon as I went on insulin.
 
Scanz

Sorry don't really know what to suggest. Waking up clammy/sweaty always means hypo for me.

I there any chance you slept right through the hypo and the 11.x was once your liver had kicked in?

M
 
There are ( unfortunately ) any number of possible causes of such night sweats.

Night hypos for sure are a possibility

( For several months I woke up night after night at 4AM ( +/- 10 min ) with upper body soaking wet. In my case they ceased................within a week of starting a gluten free diet! )

I'd suggest that you visit your GP.


K9

( I hope you do better than I did....the second time that I visited him on this he laughed and said that 'he had thought this would have stopped by now' 😡 )
 
Scanz

Sorry don't really know what to suggest. Waking up clammy/sweaty always means hypo for me.

I there any chance you slept right through the hypo and the 11.x was once your liver had kicked in?

M
I thought that, but then surely you'd think that I would wake for at least one of the hypo's? I mean this is happening almost every night. My levels before bed range between 10 and 12 which makes me think it's not hypo related as surely I wouldn't drop enough during the night?
 
Hi Scanz, This is interesting, I get the same thing and can't work out why. I have checked my sugars many times over night and i'm pretty sure now that they are not bs related. I can get up to 3 a night and it's horrible and then I will go for a few weeks without any. To be honest, being a girl, I have put it down to hormones but maybe I should mention it to my doc too
 
Not everyone wakes for hypos - lots of people sleep straight through them.

It's absolutely possible to drop lots through the night - it's no fun, but to rule them out you could test every 2 hours to see if you are dipping at any point?

On the other hand it could be entirely unrelated to hypos and could just be your body adjusting to the lack of hormone it used to have??
 
Not everyone wakes for hypos - lots of people sleep straight through them.

It's absolutely possible to drop lots through the night - it's no fun, but to rule them out you could test every 2 hours to see if you are dipping at any point?

On the other hand it could be entirely unrelated to hypos and could just be your body adjusting to the lack of hormone it used to have??
But to sleep through them every time?

You want me to break my sleep even more!? 😱 lol I guess that's something I could do.

Yep, another possibility I thought of. I'm seeing my GP on Tuesday, hopefully he can help.
 
But to sleep through them every time?

It can happen. Some people wake up, some people don't. Lots of children and several adults I've heard of don't wake up - and that includes children in their late teens. I know we're told that our livers will push out glucose and we'll be fine - or that we'll wake up every time - but that just isn't the case for everyone. I don't mean to worry you or be all doom and gloom, just trying to be informative!
 
It can happen. Some people wake up, some people don't. Lots of children and several adults I've heard of don't wake up - and that includes children in their late teens. I know we're told that our livers will push out glucose and we'll be fine - or that we'll wake up every time - but that just isn't the case for everyone. I don't mean to worry you or be all doom and gloom, just trying to be informative!
Assuming it is a hypo then and it's happening almost every night, what are the things that can be done to stop it or at least decrease the rate of it happening? Not that i'll do anything just yet, but I can bring it up with my GP on Tuesday.

I know and thanks 🙂

PS. When are you becoming my full-time DSN? :D 😛
 
Whenever I've had a hypo whilst asleep and woken up, I've also had a cold sweat, not the same as normal sweating, just a thought.
 
I think the first thing you need to work out is if it is being caused by hypos, then you can start to think about how to stop them! At that point you could talk to your (official :D) DSN and work out a plan of action. 🙂
 
I think the first thing you need to work out is if it is being caused by hypos, then you can start to think about how to stop them! At that point you could talk to your (official :D) DSN and work out a plan of action. 🙂

I agree with shiv. Stress can cause similar symptoms.

Richard
 
Just a thought 1. are you of 'a certain age' ie 40's 50's which could be hormonal?
2. are you under pressure or stress, cos people do actually break out in a
sweat with stress.
3. being hungry during the night seems to also give bad quality of sleep,
giving disturbing and vivid dreams.I do hope you find an answer because you need a decent nights sleep...dont we all. best of luck.
 
I experienced this for several months after diagnosis, sometimes it was due to hypos and adjusting my lantus eventually stopped that happening, but sometimes it wasn't hypos. I think that my body went through a period of adjustment after the trauma of DKA etc. when I was diagnosed. I also used to get a lot of night cramps and it was a few months before I didn't have to get up at least once, usually twice, to go to the loo. Now that I am nearly three years down the line I don't suffer from any of these things and haven't done for months. Hopefully, it will be the same for you. What levels do you go to bed on, and what is your normal waking level?
 
Just a thought 1. are you of 'a certain age' ie 40's 50's which could be hormonal?
2. are you under pressure or stress, cos people do actually break out in a
sweat with stress.
3. being hungry during the night seems to also give bad quality of sleep,
giving disturbing and vivid dreams.I do hope you find an answer because you need a decent nights sleep...dont we all. best of luck.
1. I'm 22
2. I often get stressed when i'm at home, it's a pretty full and hectic home 🙄
3. This could be a possibility, but then when I wake in the morning i'm never terribly hungry.

I experienced this for several months after diagnosis, sometimes it was due to hypos and adjusting my lantus eventually stopped that happening, but sometimes it wasn't hypos. I think that my body went through a period of adjustment after the trauma of DKA etc. when I was diagnosed. I also used to get a lot of night cramps and it was a few months before I didn't have to get up at least once, usually twice, to go to the loo. Now that I am nearly three years down the line I don't suffer from any of these things and haven't done for months. Hopefully, it will be the same for you. What levels do you go to bed on, and what is your normal waking level?
Currently, i'm averaging around 12 (varies, anything between 10 & 13) before bed and waking between 11-12. I'm hoping it's a similar situation to you and that it's just my body adjusting and perhaps my Lantus needs adjusting, but need to speak to DSN about that.

On a positive note, I didn't wake up during the night last night/today, got a nice uninterrupted 8 hours sleep 🙂
 
It doesn't sound like your Lantus needs adjusting if you are going to bed & waking up on roughly the same numbers. Next bit is to get those numbers into range, as in theory you'll wake up in range too! 🙂
 
It doesn't sound like your Lantus needs adjusting if you are going to bed & waking up on roughly the same numbers. Next bit is to get those numbers into range, as in theory you'll wake up in range too! 🙂
Ah right okay, thanks again 😛

Yeah the range is coming down slowly. Been more active this week, going to the gym twice and into town twice. Hopefully when I get back to work some time next week and get to the gym more regularly they will come down further.
 
Ah right okay, thanks again 😛

Yeah the range is coming down slowly. Been more active this week, going to the gym twice and into town twice. Hopefully when I get back to work some time next week and get to the gym more regularly they will come down further.

I know you're on fixed doses, so this is kind of a moot point, but when they teach you to carb count, adjust, correction ratios, etc - you won't have to rely on exercise to bring you down. Sometimes you just need more insulin, you'll be able to/need to give correction doses. For example, if I was 12 before bed and I knew my Novorapid had run out from the last time I bolused, I would correct that 12 to bring me back down into range. 🙂
 
I know you're on fixed doses, so this is kind of a moot point, but when they teach you to carb count, adjust, correction ratios, etc - you won't have to rely on exercise to bring you down. Sometimes you just need more insulin, you'll be able to/need to give correction doses. For example, if I was 12 before bed and I knew my Novorapid had run out from the last time I bolused, I would correct that 12 to bring me back down into range. 🙂

That's interesting Shiv. I would probably just live with it, rather than run the risk of overcorrecting and possibly dropping low in the night. Although I have to admit that it's once in a blue moon that I'm in double figures before bed.
 
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